Boba Is Overrated

CHANGE LOG:

-1 Death Star Stormtrooper, -2 Admiral Ozzel, -3 Viper Probe Droid, -2 Cell Block Guard, -3 General Veers, -2 Bossk, -3 Seventh Sister, -2 TIE Advanced, -2 Force Lightning, -1 Cunning, -2 Disabling Fang (SB), -3 Bombing Run (SB), -1 Chimaera (SB)

+3 Greedo, +3 Crafty Smuggler, +2 Syndicate Lackeys, +3 Cartel Spacer, +1 Imperial Interceptor, +2 Strafing Gunship, +1 Ruthless Raider +2 Asteroid Sanctuary, +3 Surprise Strike, +1 Waylay, +3 Outer Rim Headhunter (SB), +2 Outmaneuver (SB), +1 Change of Heart (SB)

This list has gone through quite a lot of changes since publishing, but with the above edits it is up to date as of 04/02/24. I trimmed a lot of fat, made the deck a lot more low to the ground and tempo oriented. I also dramatically increased its space presence to deal with the Boba Green matchup.

Hello. Welcome to Meta Is Birds II: Admiral Thrawn Edition.

Today I will be guiding you through a sense bending, mind altering tour of the world of Villain Aggression -- an aspect combination so absurdly powerful, so awe inspiring in its violence that one cannot help but be enraptured by its brutality, its efficiency...its grace.

Come. Join the Seventh Fleet. Meet the Seventh Sisters......that's it. That's all the seven theming I've got for you.

Before we slip into the soothing, calm sea of villainous aggression, let us first discuss a matter of upmost importance: Admiral Thrawn, the big blue hero of our list. Well, the black yellow villain...

First thing to note about Admiral Thrawn is that Admiral Thrawn is not a Control leader. He is, in fact, a Tempo leader. If you're looking for Leaders that are good at removing threats and extending into a late game, there are probably better options -- Iden, Krennic, Vader, perhaps even Palpatine. (Maybe not Palpatine). Thrawn's ability doesn't remove threats and his statline isn't particularly useful for efficiently taking out mid-late game units. What his ability and statline is good for is tempo -- temporarily neutralizing opponents threats for cheap while you develop your own. Attacking repeatedly into your opponents base while simultaneously removing the ability to interact with your side of the board. Combined with many resource efficient removal and stun effects we'll see later on, Admiral Thrawn is a master of tempo fueled aggression.

(Erudite readers at this point may protest, "But Mr. Theory, what about Boba Fett? Is he not a master a tempo fueled aggression? Is he not meta?" To which I retort: Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where? Meta is birds, my friend.)

Second thing to note about Admiral Thrawn is that he's not as complicated as he looks. Playing a military mastermind and cunning strategist isn't about holding all of the information you gather in your head at once. Not all information is useful. So forget about attempting to memorize your opponent's hand and foresee every move they can make. Your opponent is drawing more than you're seeing and potentially resourcing the cards of which you have intel. There are in fact only two things you need to keep track of from round to round.

Which player has the highest cost card on top of their deck right now and what is that cost?

What cards are my opponent drawing that have the potential to absolutely destroy me if I don't play around them?

It's as simple as that. Don't melt your mind trying to juggle a bunch of useless information in your head. Simply take what you need, and no more.

Now, onto the deck list.

The backbone of this list is formed by two important keywords: Imperial and Force. 35/37 units in this deck are Imperial, meaning good ol' General Veers, an Empire loyalist himself, buffs nearly everything that hits the table. (Bossk is not impressed by Veers' fancy periscope and immaculate jaw line.) Meanwhile, Fifth Bro, Seventh Sis, and Papa Palp (aka Sheev Daddy) form the Sith triad that empowers our force based removal, Choking and Zapping all the day.

Many of the cards in this list are self explanatory, so I'll highlight some key card choices and synergies to make things simple for you Boba Tea drinkers out there:

Admiral Ozzel, aka Uncle Ozzy: Quite potent if you have the initiative. Many times you aren't unhappy to exhaust a 2/3 in order to ready a bigger threat, especially when you deny your opponent any symmetrical value. However, Ozzy's true power isn't revealed until the mid/late game, when he starts calling in Ruthless Raiders and even the Emperor himself alert and caffeinated and ready to reap violence on the board.

Viper Probe Droid, aka Lil' Squid: You may be asking yourself, why Viper when you have hand knowledge built into your Leader? Well, keep in mind that you're only seeing half the cards your opponent draws and by giving yourself hand knowledge, you know exactly not only what they have in hand but what they can't draw because it has been resourced. But really, the true reason Lil' Squid is here is because 3/2 lines up nicely into many annoying early game Hero units like Battlefield Marine and Sabine.

No Good To Me Dead, aka Ice Pop: Aside from being generally one of the best cards in the game, Ice Pops are especially delicious in Thrawn, where you can quite literally keep leaders or powerful units exhausted from the moment they hit the board through the entire game. Best used on leaders. (Have you ever tried a frozen Boba Tea?)

Sneak Attack, aka What Were They Thinking?: I seriously don't know how this card made it past security. Seriously? 5 resources to bring in a Ruthless Raider ready and it does you the favor of killing itself on its way out the door, resulting in 8 burst damage to base and 4 damage on board? Coke'd out Sheev Daddy dropping on turn 6 to nuke everyone with lightning, swing into a big threat, hit the base and jet? Oh and let's not forget everyone's favorite punching bag, the Star Destroyer that couldn't -- Chimaera. Oh, it doesn't do anything the turn you play it, does it? Well what if I play it with a discount on Turn 6, deal 8 to base and discard a card that I know you have for the trouble? This card is wild, y'all.

Cunning, aka Cheaper Better I Had No Choice: ...it's a cheaper, better I Had No Choice. It's worth it.

The rest of the cards in the deck require no elaboration -- beefy threats, overwhelm damage, damage based removal on a stick, direct damage to base, cheap and efficient removal events, AoE...It's all here folks. Red Yellow Villain has it all.

As for the sideboard, we have Bombing Run to deal with aggro decks that can outpace us, Disabled Fang Fighters to deal with pesky Jedi and their voltron strats, and Forced Surrender and Chimaera to fight against Control decks and their annoying late game superiority.

We have now reached the end of our guided tour. Thank you for joining us for Meta Is Birds. Tune in next time to hear more unsubstantiated claims, contrarianism, and ostentatious blabbering.