eChopper/eR2-D2/C-3P0 - Deck Analysis
(CLICK THE IMAGE to go straight to swdestinydb and start tinkering with the deck list yourself!)1. INTRODUCTION:
Written By LUKE MAGNUSON
R2-D2 and C-3PO have already shown themselves to be an incredibly dynamic duo. Their abilities and synergies (particularly with Fateful Companions) make them powerful AND flexible, which is exactly what you’re looking for in a top tier Destiny deck. The question becomes then, who do you pair them with? Satine Kryze and Han Solo are the most obvious choices, and both of them have proven to be good when paired with the droids. But is the best pairing in reality another droid?! Not many would have chosen Chopper as the ideal partner, but he just might be - this deck has unique disruptive capabilities that separate it from other droid decks and should allow it to remain a force in the current meta.
And boy, can this deck be DISRUPTIVE! Between Chopper and R2-D2, disrupt sides are all over the place - and between C.3PO and Salvaged Arm (which is possibly the best card in the deck - to be discussed later) you can pump those up to 2 or 3 Disrupt regularly. The occasional Discard side on Chopper can also be pumped for 2 or 3, and the deck runs Convergence, allowing you to blow up cards that do hit the table. This makes it extremely difficult for your opponent to establish any sort of board state against this posse of droids. All of this is to say that Chopper Droids is not Aggro (like the Han version) or Ramp (like the Satine version) - this really is a CONTROL DECK, and probably the best non-mill control deck we’ve ever seen.
Jonathan Magnuson from The Destiny Council, who piloted the deck to top4 at the North American Championship just released his own analysis of the deck and it's definitely worth a read as well!
2. CHARACTERS:
I won’t spend too much time on R2-D2 and C-3PO, since they’ve already spent a long time in the limelight. But suffice it to say: They are very, very good! Good dice for their cost plus abilities that are outstanding when you pair them together. They can spike damage, disrupt the opponent consistently, add shields when needed, and ramp really well. All of this with incredible consistency. Oh, and they are terrifying off of action cheats!
CHOPPER is the unique one here. His die isn’t amazing, but because this deck is seeking to disrupt the opponent the Discard and Disrupt sides are good in this deck as well. It’s his ability (combined with a couple great mods) that make him a little terror. He is a resource engine onto himself, allowing this deck to run really tight on resources and save C-3PO pumps for damage and disrupt.
His Power Action gets even better when you realize it allows you to pull off some sick recursion plays! One of my favorite plays Chopper can pull off is to roll out, pump 1 die with Salvaged Arm, overwrite it with a Riot Shield, Power Action to get the Salvaged Arm back, and pump his other die. There is so much value in a play like that!
Lastly, I want to mention how well these three work together! Chopper’s mod package is much better when he’s paired with other droids (giving you other outs), and some of the card package gets a whole lot better with a third droid (mainly Droids Day Out and Convergence).
3. UPGRADES:
SALVAGED ARM is the bread and butter of this deck. It is just so darn flexible. It can add damage if needed, pump some extra shields to save a character, and gain you extra money. But where it really shines in this deck is adding to disrupt and discard sides. Chopper with Salvaged Arm becomes a nightmare for your opponent, as any Disrupt or Discard sides he rolls become really scary as you stare them down (especially if a C-3PO pump can be added to it). I mentioned above the sick recursion plays you can use with Salvaged Arm and Chopper, which just makes it even better!GRAPPLING ARM is just a solid 1cost die, and it is amazing for free. It has two damage sides (including a +2 Melee damage), which puts it on par with other 1cost upgrades that have seen lots of play. Watch out for the Focus side, which can help facility huge damage plays when combined with pumps from Salvaged Arm or C-3PO. Oh, and it adds yet another Disrupt side to the deck!
The ROCKET BOOSTER'S die is all over the place, but when you’re playing it for 1 it’s pretty good. The 2 Shields side is clutch in some matchups, i.e. against Ewoks, and the Indirect damage sides can be really useful for closing a game with C-3PO. The action is usually useless, but occasionally it can come up big in key moments!
EZRA'S LIGHTSABER and DAGGER OF ,MO fill the redeploy slots in the deck. Dagger of Mortis can be particularly clutch into ReyLo and benefits from having a 2 Melee side that can be turned to with R2-D2's aftern ability regardless of spotting both R2-D2 and C-3P0.
FICKLE MERCENARIES are the best bang for your buck at 1 resource, and they’re here to help push damage. The damage output for the deck can be low at times, especially if you go all in on controlling resources and hand with R2-D2 and/or Chopper which is when Fickle Mercenaries can come in handy!
Other options for the deck include Mandalorian Vambraces (which gives you more disruptive sides), Treasured Lightsaber (a solid damage upgrade in this deck that also serves as a cantrip and can easily be resolved for the 3 Unblockable damage with Droids Day Out), and Mr. Bones.
4. REMOVAL:
Direct removal is actually kind of low in this deck, as you are relying more on disrupt to slow your opponent. AUTOMATED DEFENSE is always on in this deck, and serves as a great 1 for 1 removal option. EASY PICKINGS is, of course, always a hyper efficient removal option for 1, and is especially crippling if you’ve also kept your opponent from adding extra dice to the pool by disrupting his resources.HIDDEN MOTIVE might not be the strongest removal around, but is most of the time soft mitigation, while able to remove consistent dice.
OFF THE SENSORS, while primarily included for action cheating, also serves as removal in many matchups, as a high percentage of decks across factions contain Scoundrels, i.e. Han Solo, Jabba The Hutt, Entourage, Fickle Mercenaries, etc.
Though low on direct removal, this deck has lots of options for blocking and healing (which can be big in a meta with Aphra and Ewoks!). FIELD MEDIC is always a solid option for one, and can help keep your low health characters alive an extra turn. PACIFY is a solid option in this deck, as you will often have extra dice lying around that you would love to resolve as 2 Shields. RIOT SHIELD is good in this deck, primarily because of the overwrite on Chopper, allowing you to recur your mod upgrades for extra value!
5. TECH CARDS:
CONVERGENCE is one of the MVPs of the deck. Besides the occasional Vader’s Fist or Megablaster Trooper, almost all the upgrades/supports running around cost 3 or less. Which means Convergence will almost always be able to blow up what your opponent lays down! Imagine you start a round by disrupting your opponent 2, they spend the round building back up to 2 or 3 money so they can play a support - and then you proceed to immediately blow it up! Talk about demoralizing! It’s also useful as Downgrade removal - especially against Target Acquired in the pesky Ewok decks.
DROIDS DAYS OUT, SEIZE THE DAY, INSTIGATE, and OFF THE SENSORS are all there to help get R2-D2 and C-3PO into the pool at once, using the combination of their abilities to resolve and pump whatever side you’re looking for. Droids Day Out is the STAR of the lot, as it also replaces itself while all three droids are still standing. It’s important to note that, for the most part, these are NOT used to spike damage, but to cheat in disrupt plays at the beginning of the round. With the exception of the occasional Seize the Day + Droids Day Out play, which can lead to some pretty big damage spikes if you pull it off!
6. BATTLEFIELD:
With the Restricted List pushing out Military Camp, there is no obvious battlefield choice for this deck. THEED ROYAL PALACE is the safe choice, as it will provide you value with all the low impact dice running around. Salt Flats is also a decent choice if you’re looking for some extra defense, especially if you expect most of the meta to be slow.7. MULLIGAN OPTIONS:
You’re always looking to start the game with at least one Mod Upgrade for Chopper, with two being even better! Salvaged Arm is the best one to start with, but Grappling Arm is also pretty good. Convergence has it’s highest value at the beginning of the game, and is almost always a keeper if you draw into it! To round out the opening hand, an action cheat play (to get the quick disrupt online) and 1-2 pieces of removal is what you’re looking for (the matchup will dictate which ones are the best.
8. GEN CON 2019 STREAM:
Check out the deck in action here from The Hyperloops Stream from Gen Con 2019. Andrew Rothermel from The Destiny Council face off in the top cut against Nick Cuenca from The Hyperloops.
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