Rampatine v1.0

Here is my take on a full ramp Palpatine (A.K.A. Rampatine) deck. While it's probably too slow for the current meta, I really like the flavor win for this Palpatine leader. This deck certainly needs more testing, and could just be a fun deck I bring to my locals.

Hope you all enjoy! If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to make them and I'll respond when I can.

The guide below is a WIP:

======= Ideal Curve =======

(2R) Patrolling V-Wing

(3R) Superlaser Technician

(4R) Superlaser Technician dies (+1R) + Command (+1R tapped) + Leader Ability (damage a unit you'd like to steal with Palpatine)

[Once we get to 7 resources, we have multiple options]

Opponent's aggression is running rampant? Control the Board:

(7R) Darth Vader -> 3c or less Official Unit (Set up Piett or Veers) -> 5 or 6 damage ambush

Not too worried about aggression? Big Tempo Swing:

(7R) Resupply / Command (+1R tapped) -> Palpatine Transform -> Steal a damaged non-leader unit

======= When to Mulligan =======

Ideally we want to see some ramp in our starting hand. So this means we want to see at least 1 of the following: Superlaser Technician, Resupply, or Command. We also want to make sure we have some early bodies to play on the board to control our opponent's early aggression. It is okay if your hand has 2 high cost cards (5 or more) as we can resource those as our starting 2 resources, but any more than 2 I would consider a mulligan, as we primarily want to see those cards later into the match.

======= Early Game =======

The ideal turn 1 is playing a patrolling V-Wing and pass. This instantly nets you a draw and or a simple pawn you can sac for your leader ability. It's not worth attacking with it if you can afford to pay for leader ability instead as leader ability allows you to target any unit for the 1 damage (same as the attack would have been) and it nets you another card. Playing any other 2 cost card here is fine just to curb your opponent's early aggression, but do NOT play Admiral Motti. Admiral Motti is a powerful combo piece that is mainly used later in the game. There are very little situations where you play him turn 1, if any at all. If he dies without getting value, it's a waste of 2 resources and the potential combo with him later in the game.

With 3 resources, ideally here we want to see Superlaser Technician. He's a 2 damage body that can maybe trade into your opponent's early units, or at least put a 3 health unit into range for your leader's 1 damage ping. If you don't have a Superlaser Technician, consider playing resupply for the ramp. If the opponent has a lot of early aggression, forego the resupply to play a 3 cost unit. Ideally Emperor's Royal Guard over General Veers since it's not too hard to give him Sentinel (we run a lot of cheap Officials).

======= Mid Game =======

Mid game is all about continuing to ramp and stall. Here you are balancing on a knife's edge of controlling your opponent's board and ramping to your big units.

With 4 resources: consider playing Command to ramp and buff up any units you may have on the field. If you instead are returning a unit from discard to hand, any of the 2/3 drops you played would be good. Ideally returning a Patrolling V-Wing to get another draw would be great. If your opponent's aggression needs to be dealt with, playing units here instead would be good.

With 5 resources: Similar to 4 resources, ramping + playing a unit, or using leader ability would be great here. Just keep stalling until you can get to your pivotal 7/8 resource turn.

With 6 resources: Again continue to keep controlling your opponent's aggression, while progressing your win conditions: Ramp and Draw

======= Turning Point =======

With 7/8 resources: If you only have 7 resources, you can consider ramping with resupply/command in order to get Palpatine out on the board as a leader unit. This should come with a decent tempo swing if you set up correctly as you can steal one of your opponent's damaged non-leader units. Then you can consider playing one of your larger (6+ cost) units. If you managed to keep a Piett on the board from earlier, the ambush should add on to the tempo swing by taking out one of your opponent's larger threats. If you don't have Piett, 7c Darth Vader already has ambush, and can hopefully search you a Piett to have on the board for your late game Boss monsters.

As a side note, if you have a Piett, and you play a Reinforcement Walker, you can trigger the 3HP heal effect twice in one turn! Once on play, and once when it attacks with ambush! This 6HP heal can buy just enough time in certain situations if you haven't already stabilized.

======= Late Game =======

If you got to this point, you should be winning the game with your boss units. Your 8c Reinforcement Walker is healing you every turn. Your 9c Relentless is denying your opponent the heavy event cards needed to regain tempo. Your 10c Devastator is blowing up your opponent's boss units. 5c Overwhelming Barrage is clearing your opponent's board of small bodies.

An awesome combo in the late game:

Devastator swings 10 into opponent's base

Play 2c Admiral Motti from hand

Palpatine Leader Ability / On Attack: Defeat Motti -> Ready the Devastator

Devastator swings for ANOTHER 10 into opponent's base

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