Last weekend saw the first ARH Mid-Cycle Event. The Top 4 results, it must be said, make pretty unexciting reading: a Hondo Loyalist mirror match final, with another Hondo Loyalist deck and Anakin Leia making up the rest.

However, the Top 8 decks were much more interesting, with a Wookiee deck, a Maul Savage, and another Ani Leia. Completing the Top 8 was Hipo‘s eAnakin/eLumpy/Hoth Trooper deck, which got knocked out 2-1 by one of the pirate decks:

This isn’t the first time this deck has made an appearance in the competitive scene, with Hipo claiming back to back Entourage Gaming wins with it in the previous two events.

We asked him if he’d be willing to share the deck with a write-up and he kindly agreed:

Hipo:
To anyone who has had the pleasure (or displeasure, like Lanza, who calls all my decks stupid 😉 ) of playing with me more than a few games, it should come as no surprise that I’m an aggro junkie, so it’s quite obvious that Transformations Anakin is one of my favourite characters to play.

I’ve been playing him from day one, back when Fateful Companions was still a thing and made characters like Ani and Fives totally bonkers. So obviously I played those two together, but I paired Anakin with Han just as often. I even tried him with Yoda or Ahsoka and BTL in the early days before the rotation.

I’ve tried him with K2, played, like, half a game with him and Sinjir (Han is still sooo much better) and had a great time pairing him with Saw (that was insane). Then Redemption dropped and Anakin got a couple of new and improved options. Most obvious was of course his daughter, but I came to the conclusion that this version is too defensive for me, plus mono blue hero is lacking in a removal department (at least for my taste). So next up was a short but intense bromance of Anakin and Benthic. But after the latter was nerfed, my Anakin felt lonely and abandoned.

All that was before I got my ass handed to me a few times by Wookiees and another interesting option for Anakin presented itself in a furry shape of Lumpy. And that’s how I ended up with this dumb shit – Lanza’s words, not mine 😉

The build is rather boring and predictable and I think the only cards that might rise an eyebrow or two are:

Hull Breach – meta call against Ackbar and Den of Thieves, plus it doesn’t feel that bad if I’m using Lumpy’s dice to do it.
Rendezvous – I’ve loved this card since my Trando days.
Inflict Pain – I feel like for every two wins I get with this deck, at least one is thanks to timely Inflict Pain, which most people don’t see coming (that’s why I exchanged Destiny Fulfilled for a second copy). So it’s probably my runner-up for the MVP title (which goes to Heroic Protector) (echo7: I love that you can Inflict Pain on Lumpy to deal 3 damage to the opponent for 0 resources).

While mulliganing, I’m always looking for Rendezvous, Jedi Lightsaber, at least one piece of free removal (Rallying Cry, Loth-Cat) and a Merchant Freighter.

As for matchups, I don’t have much to tell as I haven’t played this deck for long. I know it can win against Anakin and Leia (which I thought would be one of the worst matchups), but surprisingly it can struggle against Ackbar (usually if I can’t find my Heroic Protectors or they get discarded). Pirates might also be tough, especially if they get Den of Thieves early, which makes flipping Anakin very tricky. And I would probably lose to any Wookiees using Lumpy.

Then there are any other Anakin vs. Anakin matchups where my Hoth Trooper can be seen as a liability. But there are ways of playing around it (Riot Shields, Inflict Pains, going after my own Trooper for Anakin to flip), so I’m quite confident I would be able to win more often than lose, and annoy my opponents while doing so.

But in all seriousness, those two guys really deserve to be nerfed.

echo7:
Thanks to Hipo for the lowdown on the deck. I’ve got to say I agree that Anakin, and especially Lumpy, are very pushed for their points. Being able to combine them both, elite, in a rainbow deck is pretty absurd. Not least of all since you’re dealing about 4 damage before you even resolve a die.

Still, on balance, I’d rather see pirates hit first.

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