Thrawn Control - The Best Control Deck

I've been playing with this deck since Superlaser Blast was spoiled. It's a pure control deck that is very powerful. This past weekend I took it to a tournament and 3-0'd. That's only one data point, but I think it has the possibility of being a top tier deck in the meta.

Superlaser Blast is the centerpiece of the deck. Your primary goal is to survive until turn 6-7 and then wipe the board. Most players don't see this coming and over commit to the board, making for an absolutely devastating play. Survive. Superlaser Blast.

If Superlaser Blast is how you gain control of the board, Avenger, Hunting Star Destroyer is how you keep control. After you wipe, they'll try to rebuild quickly, but dropping an Avenger makes it an uphill battle for your opponent.

To help the Avenger, I run Dooku for more control and a body to go for their base. These two cards are almost never played before Superlaser Blast as they are your win conditions and you don't want to play them unless you have control of the board. If you are forced to play them before that point, you've most likely already lost and should concede.

To make sure you get the pieces you need, the deck runs Search Your Feelings and Inferno Four*. Inferno Four is a great turn 1 play and you can play a second copy to kill the first one due to the unique rule, and scry 4. I find myself not attacking my opponent's base with Inferno Four on my turn if it means I don't get to take the initiative, something that is crucial for the deck. The scry ability is vastly more important than the damage, and the best use besides that is swing it into one of your opponent's space units to either take out a unit or sacrifice it for the scry ability.

Bib Fortuna is great in this deck, but ONLY to play your Superlast Blast a turn early. I never play this card on turn 1. Your events are powerful enough to play for their full cost and you want to make sure you have a Bib Fortuna on the field at the end of turn 5 having already claimed the initiative. That way you can wipe the board at the start of turn 6.

Overwhelm is like your mini board wipe. The only better feeling than playing a Superlaser Blast in this deck is playing Overwhelm on back to back turns in the early game.

Power of the Dark Side is really great in this deck, but mostly in the early game or the late game after you have deployed your Avenger. It struggles a little in the midgame, but is fine in a pinch.

Entrenched is fantastic in this deck as you pretty much never play a unit before the board wipe. Just don't forget before playing your Bib Fortuna. It's one of the reasons I wait to play Bib until the end of turn six, because the Entrenched unit will just eat the shield and you can claim the initiative.

Cunning is fantastic. I almost always use it to exhaust 2 units and return one to their hand, but the +4 and discard can help close out games faster. It's worth paying 6 resources to play.

I Am Your Father is great. You want the cards more times than not, and because player's are so protective of their units, they'll typically let you draw three, an incredibly powerful effects in this deck.

Takedown is mostly in the deck for the Sabine leader, but it has some other good targets.

No Good to Me Dead, Waylay, Asteroid Sanctuary are all decent removal, but I prioritize them less than my other removal events. No Good to Me Dead is good for leaders, and Waylay is good for their expensive units that don't have good or any ETB effects. I almost never use the shield from Asteroid Sanctuary as I want my Inferno Four to die and I want to get the initiative immediately have I play Bib Fortuna

Repair and Vigilance are in here for Sabine. The life gain can help take you over the edge. This is also why I don't use a rare base. My goal is to survive and the extra 5 life is more important than a shield for units that I don't care whether they die or not. Make an Opening is a card I included for this reason, but the decks I've seen don't play enough 2 HP units to justify the 3 resources. I keep a playset in the sideboard just in case and I think if 2 HP units become more prominent, this card will move to the main deck.

Last but not least, Grand Admiral Thrawn. I don't care if Thrawn dies to my Superlaser Blast as long as he helps me get to that point. I prefer to not flip him until I wipe the board, but he's just fine before hand. His ability on his leader side is why you play him as your leader. Most of your cards are very expensive so he tends to never miss a target, just make sure to write down which cards are revealed, because forgetting and whiffing is no good. Plus information is everything in card games, so take full advantage of that and cross out the cards after your opponent plays them so you have a good idea of what's in their hand at all times.:) Don't be scared to activate him before the wipe if it gives you enough time to find your win cons. Thrawn as a unit is not how you win the game, most of the time.

In summary, this deck is super fun to play and not so much fun to play against.