by Scott Heise aka HomerJr and Rick DeMille aka Darklighter
[Updated 10/6/2021]
Updated to include the $8 Command Deck ships and High Alert Tech.
Star Realms Card Tier List NEWEST VERSION! (added Command Deck ships & Tech)
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Category Archives: Strategy
Command Deck Strategies Part 5: The Union Command and Hive Admiral McCready
By Eric Navarro aka erictht
Editor’s Note: This is Part 5 of our Command Deck Strategies Series. We also recommend:
- Part 1 on Fleet Director Nandi
- Part 2 on BioLord Walsh
- Part 3 on Overlord Newburg
- Part 4 on High Admiral Jochum
Who Should Play McCready?
If you’re a player who loves going aggro and overwhelming your opponent before they can even get their strategy started, the McCready is the Commander for you. Skill-wise, a player who knows how to sneak in every point of damage possible and loves streamlining their deck is going to thrive with this command build. Plus, if you’re someone like me who loves drawing cards as much as they hate the math involved with scrapping strategies, then good news: The Union is the deck for you.
You need to be a player who can stick to a focused strategy without any distraction, modifying it slightly based on gamestate and match up. If you are a dedicated aggro player, this is your chance to zoom the microscope in on this linear strategy and refine your play until it is as efficient and effective as possible. In summation: burn baby burn.
You start with 60 authority and draw 6 cards per turn (3 if you’re going first). The Union’s starting deck is blisteringly fast, boasting an impressive 16-25 starting damage and few enough deadweight cards that scrapping is not needed. More importantly, the clunkiness of adding a single card that does not fit your strategy will greatly outweigh any scrap benefits later in the game as most games end shockingly quickly. Speaking of which, be prepared to wait a long time between rounds in the in-app tournaments.
With all that said, are you Mc’Ready to play McCready?
…sorry.
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Command Deck Strategies Part 4: The Lost Fleet and High Admiral Jochum
By Rick DeMille aka Darklighter
Editor’s Note: This is Part 4 of our Command Deck Strategies Series. We also recommend:
Introduction
High Admiral Jochum introduces a new card type/game mechanic: Shards. Because of this, Jochum probably has the steepest learning curve – though not the longest – among all Commanders. Hopefully the summaries and insights provided in this article will help shorten your Jochum learning curve, and ultimately assist in your mastery of this great Commander of the Lost Fleet.
- Why Jochum?
- Jochum’s Starting Deck
- General Strategy
- Shard Scrapping: Order of Operations
- Tools for Defeating Jochum
- Matchups
- Conclusion
Command Deck Strategies Part 3: The Pact and Overlord Newburg
Editor’s note: This is Part three of our Command Deck Strategies Series. We also recommend Part 1 on Fleet Director Nandi and Part 2 on BioLord Walsh.
Star Realms recently released the Command Decks feature into the digital app. This has lots of players asking, “How do we play them?” This guide is to help players understand the cards that come with the deck, including a broad overview of how to use them and some quick strategy tips to employ against each possible opposing commander.
Who should play overlord Newburg? Someone who can recognize a winning game state can preserve it with trade row control.
The Pact’s starting deck and gambits offer an advanced opening state. Blobs ships engage already hitting. Funded by the Trade Federation, we are also able to regenerate authority. We are predisposed into a head start in this race. Further Overlord Newburg comes with ready, built-in row scrap; we can meddle in the opening row and throughout the contest.
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Podcast Episode 102: Two Dusto Draws Equals One SilentAl
This week, Dustin and Rick explore new Community terms that have become popular (Mirror Match, Row Punch) as well as answering some detailed strategy questions. Check out the Megahaulin Glossary at: https://megahaulin.com/glossary/
A good amount of discussion focuses on the recently released Commander Deck Strategy Article for Biolord Walsh as Star Realms Commanders continue to take the community by storm!
Lastly, a fair amount of focus on the Online Competitive Star Realm Scene including the start of Dodgeball Season 07, where both Rick and Dustin are on the same team! (Go Team Megahaulin!)
Podcast Episode 101: Who Runs The Gauntlet?
This podcast episode was originally broadcast live on our Twitch channel! Dustin and Rick talk about Star Realms: Commanders with an emphasis on the new Strategy Series. Lots of Origins talk and fun times!
The title comes from a new format that Dustin invented on the cast called “The Gauntlet”!
A note that this episode was not recorded in our typical manner, hence the bit of echo/reverb. Effort was made to reduce this, so you shoulda heard it before.
Command Deck Strategies Part 2: The Unity and Biolord Walsh
Editor’s note: This is Part two of our Command Deck Strategies Series. We also recommend last week’s article discussing The Alliance and Fleet Director Nandi.
Star Realms recently released the Command Decks feature into the digital app. This has lots of players asking, “How do we play them?” This guide is to help players understand the cards that come with the deck, including a broad overview of how to use them and some quick strategy tips to employ against each possible opposing commander.
Who should play BioLord Walsh of the Unity? Someone who balances the value of cards at certain points in the game makes a great candidate. The Unity deck leverages several higher level concepts of Star Realms, such as control of the trade row, choosing between damage and trade on several cards, and placing discarded cards on top of the deck.
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Command Deck Strategies: The Alliance and Fleet Director Nandi
By Derek Thompson aka Aldaryn
While paper Star Realms players are excited about High Alert finally arriving for Kickstarter backers, digital players have another huge reason for hype: Command Decks are upon us! Players can choose between seven different commanders (even the Kickstarter-exclusive High Admiral Jochum), and face off against other players using a commander of their own choice. My favorite commander from the beginning has been Fleet Director Nandi, and I think I am currently the person in the world with the most games of Star Realms played with this commander (maybe five hundred games or more), and that number is only going to go up. So, here are my best tips for piloting Nandi to victory.
Why Nandi?
I do not think Nandi is the best commander overall – Jochum is. After all, she only gets five cards a turn while everyone else gets six or even seven. She’s also often at the mercy of the trade row, and in that sense a bit fragile. She’s also very hard to use well; you will definitely make mistakes.
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New Command Deck Strategy Series!
Great news for regular readers of Megahaulin! We’re starting a new series that reviews each individual Command Deck with an eye towards strategy. You’ll be able to learn about how best to use the Command Gambits, Individual Card commentary for the starting deck and guidance for matchups against other commanders!
This week, we’ll be featuring Command Deck: The Alliance with Fleet Director Nandi written by the brilliant Derek Thompson. Other articles from a wide range of writers will follow in the coming weeks!
If you were wondering, yes, the French language version of the card pack was on purpose! I just love seeing Star Realms being published in other languages.
If you’d like to contribute an article on one of the Commanders (other than Nandi) or on any other Star Realms strategy topic, drop us an email at megahaulin@gmail.com!
Podcast Episode 97: Jump the Space Shark
This episode, Dustin and Rick are talking TECH! Giving our detailed reviews of the Star Realms High Alert: TECH deck.
Cards for this episode can be viewed at Cards for this episode can be viewed here.
Megahaulin Blog for Star Realm Strategy 