Set 3 Mono Palp Ramp - With Explanations!

Hey all, this is the decklist I have been using for Set 3 in my local showdowns, amongst friends and other events - it has had a extremely high winrate, being roughly 16-3 since I have started playing this specific list, not counting my dozen of win streaks versus friends and in casual settings.

As always, this is a work in progress, so please keep that in mind - as the meta evolves, some cards may become worst than originally intended and need to be changed. I also understand that not everyone may have every card, so I'll do my best to help explain choices so that decent replacements can be found when needed.

I will not be giving an explanation of every card - Palpatine Green has been relatively standard for some time now, and I feel it is well understood at least at its core why certain cards are present. I'll be happy to explain in more detail upon request, but I will mostly focus on the set 3 options included here for now, and the sideboard - with a bit at the end about options for other colors than mono-green.

TLDR available after unit explanations.

Main-Deck

Mas-Ammeda: The main reason I opted to stay into mono-green rather than other colors. This unit is phenomenal if you can drop it on turn 1. It helps cycle through needed early game units, and can guarantee a strong hand going into lategame. He shines the most versus aggro where I drop him on turn 1, play a sentinel turn 2, then use him to find another sentinel to drop right after, or a ship if needed. He is also an official, making him incredible with the Royal Guard.

Poggle: A bit more tentative on him. Also an official, which is great. Theoritically, he helps generate infinite useless bodies to use with Palpatine ping for great card draw, without harming your board much. Realistically, this deck already has a lot of good targets for Palp ping, so I am unsure. He seems to be either incredible or horrible depending on the game. Feels a bit slow versus aggro, might be a good option to sideboard for the Gamorreans vs fast decks.

V-Wing: I mention V-Wing because there are a lot of other decent low cost ship options, but I feel as if the card draw for Palpatine outvalues any body early game.

Black-Sun: One of the few options we have for early space that can actually kill 3HP ships without needing us to use additional sources of damage to deal with them. I used to play Star Vipers instead, but they felt much slower, when the only point of this slot is to survive early space aggro anyways, so forcing a sent feels a bit better.

Merciless-Contest: A misunderstood card. This card is basically Power of the Darkside. If you control no units, you can still play it, as per the rule of (tldr) "completing as much of a card as possible". If you do control units, this card is great with Poggle, Superlaser, V-Wing, to just kill off a token unit for something bigger. A great addition to green decks, as we suffered greatly by not having any defeat cards. I wanted to play 3 copies of this, but in the lategame, Strike True can still be really good with large ships or Walkers and such, and so I decided to only play 2 and keep a Strike True. Realistically, could play 3 copies of this, it is excellent.

Those are mostly I believe the more tech-choice cards for the maindeck. The rest is pretty standard. You can always swap out Return for Mauls or whatever but this is what I've enjoyed most.

There's also the looming threat of a lot of Space Units right now with Jango's surge and Tarkin's comeback. Might need to add more Space Units to keep up eventually.

Side-Board

Scanning-Officer: Main purpose here is to counter Han tbh, but it's also been a nice addition against the odd Hondo or decks with Tech in their list. I have been swapping out Poggle and another card I feel like for them.

Gamorreans: An excellent card vs Aggro and even Midrange. Against exceptionally fast decks, such as Kylo, Grand Inquisitor, Sabine, etc, I swap out resupply for these. I rarely get to ramp for free anyways against those decks, and this card often can trade up. Also annoying to deal with later when you randomly drop one on turn 6. Alternatively, swap out Poggle for 2 of them in any matchup and it's probably good.

Gladiator Star Destroyer: One of my more debatable choices. This exists purely for testing currently, I've put it in as a counter to Jango and Tarkin. It's done... Alright. Can delay Firespray quite well. But very uncertain about it though. I've been swapping out Crumb for this in those matchups, which is also questionable. Idk.

Maul: Just a good card. Can help stabilize the board super quickly, works with Palp's Return, obviously can be used with Crumb to not take damage. Feels weak vs Blue decks, but great against basically anything else. I've put him in in exchange for multiple cards, including Piett, Strike True, Poggle, Relentless, etc. I'm not sure what's best to swap him in for yet, but go with your feeling - with the mentality of slotting this card in because he can help you stabilize into endgame when dropped very quickly. So far, I believe he's best to slot in instead of Relentless against low-event decks.

->TLDR<-: Set 3 has given us significantly better early game card rotation and draw. Use the new cards to have a much stronger hand, giving a lot more options than before to stabilize with our first defeat a unit card, tons of tokens to use Palp on, and a card to search for exactly what we need. The main worry currently is the strength of Space decks, which needs to be monitored carefully. I believe we will be adding a lot more space units to sideboard as the meta progresses.

Other colors

For me, Mono-Green remains the best. The additional card draw and cycling we've gotten has made it even better, and with modifications, I do believe this deck is easily top of A tier contender, could win big tournaments. Relies on a good knowledge of the meta however, which makes it hard to play this early into the set. 9/10, A tier deck.

Yellow is quite strong, has been for a while. It offers significantly better stalling options to reach the lategame, but I've found it's also significantly worst against control matchups. The main positive argument I have for yellow is that it is EXTREMELY stronger in the Space Arena than Green is - this color might eventually become standard just to counter Jango. It is also very strong vs Aggro and Midrange. I've not found it particularly overall better, but it's still a very strong options. 8/10, A tier deck option.

Red Palpatine is surprisingly good. Being able to play "early" Krayt Dragons can just instantly win you the game, it adds a good amount of removal through the help of Open Fire for example, with Sideboard of Bombing Run and such. Playing Palpatine (red unit) can swing boards, and it overall feels like the best option versus aggro specifically. It doesn't particularly fall off harder than the other colors in late game, and can even be teched into have some discard with Pillage and Throw and such which can feel really good situationally. A personal favorite of mine, so I am slightly biased. 8.5/10, A tier deck option.

Blue Palpatine is my least favorite. It feels super boring, and the curve always feels off to me personally, as the main reason to play blue decks is to have access to the best control events in the game - however, focusing on controlling the board with events often makes you have a weak board yourself, and the blue variant doesn't feel like it has particularly better comeback options than the other colors, which is what Palpatine is all about - survive early, win late. It allows for a better ship, Childsen, better events, and potentially more healing with stuff such as the client, but... Meh. The color I recommend the least - it's still decent though. 7/10, B tier deck option.

Hope this helps!

If by a miracle someone sees this I'm more than happy to answer any questions.

GL HF cuties.