The stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder makes his Epic Duels debut in Complete Circle. The Hasbro Han deck matches the character pretty well with it's reliance on luck and big swing-y plays. My take on the scoundrel is a lot more consistent, keeping only the wound point totals from the original version.
The Han design evolved out of an idea for Jango Fett that seemed to fit the leap-before-you-look style of Han better than the calculating lethality of the bounty hunter. My only real regret with the design is not being able to give Chewie more talents, but at least he has the deck's biggest attack (just like the Hasbro version). Check it out:
Han Solo – HP 13 – Yellow+ Deck – Ranged
Chewbacca – HP 15 – Strong+ Deck – Ranged
Han Solo
Blaster at your Side
A4
After attacking, you may move Han up to 2 spaces. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Heroic Charge
A5
If Han is not adjacent to the defending character, discard this card without effect. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Narrow Escape
D{STAR}
Put the unrevealed attack card in the player controlling the attacking character's hand. That player gets an additional action this turn. You may move Han up to 2 spaces. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Fly Casual
Special
Until the beginning of your next turn, Han and Chewbacca are treated as enemy characters. Move Han and Chewbacca up to 5 spaces each. At the beginning of your next turn, enemy characters adjacent to either Han or Chewbacca receive 2 damage. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Chewbacca
Wookiee Strength
A6
If Chewbacca is not adjacent to the defending character, discard this card without effect. After attacking, you may move the defending character up to 2 spaces. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Bowcaster Volley
Special
Choose any character Chewbacca can attack. That character receives 2 damage. Until the end of your next turn, that character may not attack characters that are not adjacent to it. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
3x Blaster at your Side
2x Heroic Charge
2x Narrow Escape
1x Fly Casual
2x Wookiee Strength
2x Bowcaster Volley
Han and Chewie play like a reverse Luke and Leia, with their talents flowing into one another as long as you haven't yet cycled your deck. I went through a lot of "cascade" variants before I ultimately came up with the simple sift mechanic that all the talents share. The duo should be able to cycle using only 3 to 6 draw actions, making them very strong right out of the gate.
It's important when playing Han to get into attack position quickly and stay there throughout the early game. If you can't play talents, you'll have to start drawing: spend too many actions drawing and you start giving up the kicker effect on your cards.
The deck would be extremely straight-forward if not for Heroic Charge and Wookiee Strength. These cards force Han and Chewie to constantly dart in and out of melee range to bring their full damage to bear. A fully ranged rush deck would be difficult to balance because one of the natural limitations on an early game deck is spending early turns getting to the opponent. These cards also make the small movements on Blaster At Your Side and Narrow Escape more important to Han's overall game.
Narrow Escape, while absorbing no offensive resources, serves as in incredible attack deterrent because it can prevent an entire turn of attacking AND speeds up the deck's rush game with the sift kicker. Be aware that it is possible, albeit difficult, to play around the card by getting Han in a tight space. Fly Casual is a bit of a "funsy" card, but it does have nice implications for the deck, allowing Han and Chewie to get behind enemy lines without fear of immediate reprisal.
As a rush deck, Han pairs well with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Artoo, and other decks that are strong in a low-resource environment. The deck is relatively self-sufficient and can run interference while a mid-game deck prepares its salvo, but the strategy is a bit more fragile since Han will lack support when he's strongest.
Playing against Han will involve trying to force him to spend more actions drawing than he'd like and either ignoring Han or trying to burst him down when he has no Narrow Escapes available. Chewie, like any important minor character, is vulnerable to minor-focused direct damage. Strong counter-picks include Count Dooku, Cad Bane, and any deck with huge minors like Nute Gunray or Commander Bly.
Check back tomorrow for deck number 40. It's a crazy deck for a crazy character that breaks more than a few deck-building guidelines!
The Han design evolved out of an idea for Jango Fett that seemed to fit the leap-before-you-look style of Han better than the calculating lethality of the bounty hunter. My only real regret with the design is not being able to give Chewie more talents, but at least he has the deck's biggest attack (just like the Hasbro version). Check it out:
Han Solo – HP 13 – Yellow+ Deck – Ranged
Chewbacca – HP 15 – Strong+ Deck – Ranged
Han Solo
Blaster at your Side
A4
After attacking, you may move Han up to 2 spaces. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Heroic Charge
A5
If Han is not adjacent to the defending character, discard this card without effect. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Narrow Escape
D{STAR}
Put the unrevealed attack card in the player controlling the attacking character's hand. That player gets an additional action this turn. You may move Han up to 2 spaces. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Fly Casual
Special
Until the beginning of your next turn, Han and Chewbacca are treated as enemy characters. Move Han and Chewbacca up to 5 spaces each. At the beginning of your next turn, enemy characters adjacent to either Han or Chewbacca receive 2 damage. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Chewbacca
Wookiee Strength
A6
If Chewbacca is not adjacent to the defending character, discard this card without effect. After attacking, you may move the defending character up to 2 spaces. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
Bowcaster Volley
Special
Choose any character Chewbacca can attack. That character receives 2 damage. Until the end of your next turn, that character may not attack characters that are not adjacent to it. If you haven't shuffled your discard pile into your draw pile, reveal the top 2 cards of your draw pile. Put any Special or Power Combat cards revealed into your hand and discard the rest.
3x Blaster at your Side
2x Heroic Charge
2x Narrow Escape
1x Fly Casual
2x Wookiee Strength
2x Bowcaster Volley
Han and Chewie play like a reverse Luke and Leia, with their talents flowing into one another as long as you haven't yet cycled your deck. I went through a lot of "cascade" variants before I ultimately came up with the simple sift mechanic that all the talents share. The duo should be able to cycle using only 3 to 6 draw actions, making them very strong right out of the gate.
It's important when playing Han to get into attack position quickly and stay there throughout the early game. If you can't play talents, you'll have to start drawing: spend too many actions drawing and you start giving up the kicker effect on your cards.
The deck would be extremely straight-forward if not for Heroic Charge and Wookiee Strength. These cards force Han and Chewie to constantly dart in and out of melee range to bring their full damage to bear. A fully ranged rush deck would be difficult to balance because one of the natural limitations on an early game deck is spending early turns getting to the opponent. These cards also make the small movements on Blaster At Your Side and Narrow Escape more important to Han's overall game.
Narrow Escape, while absorbing no offensive resources, serves as in incredible attack deterrent because it can prevent an entire turn of attacking AND speeds up the deck's rush game with the sift kicker. Be aware that it is possible, albeit difficult, to play around the card by getting Han in a tight space. Fly Casual is a bit of a "funsy" card, but it does have nice implications for the deck, allowing Han and Chewie to get behind enemy lines without fear of immediate reprisal.
As a rush deck, Han pairs well with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Artoo, and other decks that are strong in a low-resource environment. The deck is relatively self-sufficient and can run interference while a mid-game deck prepares its salvo, but the strategy is a bit more fragile since Han will lack support when he's strongest.
Playing against Han will involve trying to force him to spend more actions drawing than he'd like and either ignoring Han or trying to burst him down when he has no Narrow Escapes available. Chewie, like any important minor character, is vulnerable to minor-focused direct damage. Strong counter-picks include Count Dooku, Cad Bane, and any deck with huge minors like Nute Gunray or Commander Bly.
Check back tomorrow for deck number 40. It's a crazy deck for a crazy character that breaks more than a few deck-building guidelines!