Hope you guys enjoyed it!

A Finer World
Plot Twist Cost: 3

MEV-168

This card’s cost is actually surprisingly steep if we’re trying for the blitz kill. Definitely a four of though – fix your cure AND find Panoptichron! – and will push the value of Proteus higher.

Maybe we play some amount of the new Rogue – who gains a shift counter during the combat phase – to combat this… seems like it would dilute our kill though : (

Magnus, Earth 27
Cost: 6
Atk: 12 Def: 12
Flight: Yes Range: Yes
Team: Exiles * X-Men

MEV-143

I like this card with substitute characters! Hold all your Oracles in hand then sub her in like crazy, before recruiting this guy. You can then Panoptichron him away to shift out another copy of him that’s shifted. I like it, probably too slow to be really good though.

Optic Blast
Plot Twist Cost: 2

MEV-042

Doesn’t require an exhaust, and can be played on either initiative! Pretty awesome!

Caliban, Pestilence
Concealed Character Cost: 2
Atk: 2 Def: 3
Flight: No Range: No
Team: X-Factor * Horsemen of Apocalypse

While Caliban is shifted with two shift counters, opponents can’t draw cards from effects they control. (This doesn’t affect the normal draw)

This card plus Kid Omega = hardy har har. Double Kid Omega is probably already good enough.

Wee!

Anyways, I like this card alotsle potsles:

Shadowcat, Ultimates
Cost: 2
Team: X-Men * Spider-Friends
F/R: N/N
3/2, Concealed
Remove Shadowcat from the game –> Remove from the game target character that didn’t enter play this turn. At the start of the recovery phase this turn, return that character to play. Use only during your attack step.

This character is sick, but her power isn’t so much in your face as it is in her subtlety and utility.

First, she’s a concealed two drop. This is a huge deal. First, it means you can keep her around so you can use her power in the later turns of the game.

Second, higher cost concealed characters tend to exact an ‘endurance’ penalty for being hidden – one less character to tank – but you take the same amount of damage from Shadowcat regardless of whether or not she’s hidden.

(Some people might bring up reinforcement, but that’s usually played around.)

Anyways, this chick is a walk Warp Shards, with a slight restriction, but Warp Shards is already mad good.

Some applications -

- She can break reinforcement channels.
- She triggers come into play and leave play effects – o hai blink -
- She can recover your second largest character – so that your largest one recovers normally
- She acts as a ready effect in some cases – activate, phase out a character, activate again during recovery – and resets once per turn effects.
- She deals with Radioactive Man(!)
- She can be a Pleasent Distraction.

I think she just be the best X-Men two drop. Period.

The sad thing she’s not quite ‘rare’ power, but she is. As a good low drop she’s also going to be a four-of which is going to make her quite frustrating to trade for.

Check me out at vs-blog today!

Peace,

-TDB

I’m so jealous; Magic players have states, pre-releases, and PTQs. You cam read weekly articles on Magic: the Gathering on multiple sites, quite a few which are really good. If you have the money and a reasonable internet connection, you can find a tournament any day of the week at any time.

Did I mention states already? Man I really want to go to states. Evan Erwin is really doing Magic: the Gathering a service because watching The Magic Show has gotten be itchin’ to play some Magic real bad.

But… I don’t know. Just reading

Peace,

-TDB

One of my favorite VS decks ever was PC:LA’s TDC stall. The coolest thing about this deck to me, was it’s win condition:

The plan here, is to activate Galactus the Maker then keep ready him with Press the Attack until the opponent’s life was reduced to low enough that you could kill him with big G.

The cool thing about this kill to me, was that unlike most win conditions of control decks… Press the Attack isn’t a dead draw during the midgame. Quite the opposite, Press could be used to ready Puppet Master so you could stall out to the later turns.

I am pretty excited about a similar combination from MEV:

You impressed by my ability to relate legendary American Poet Robert Frost with the customizable card game known as the VS System brah? (no big to)

Just like Press the Attack, First Class can help you definitely close the game, but is also instrumental in helping you survive to the later turns and letting you keep board.

I’m having fantasies about Gift Wrapping my opponent’s board, getting him stunned, then using First Class to recover and ready him so I can Gift Wrap again!

So, we’ve seen the fire, and given what kindles it… what the ice is probably won’t surprise you:

Iceman and First Class are…ice cold… hardy har har har

The curve I’m thinking of:

Black Cat
Iceman
Spider-Man
Black Manta
Human Torch

On turn six, activate Human Torch, exhaust a character to First Class, activate Human Torch, Black Manta to rebuy First Class, then burn them again. If you have one more, that’s 52 damage!

Of course there are a few differences between then and now. For example, Galactus didn’t deal you damage, and Press didn’t cost you a card. Still, I think there’s a lot of potential, especially if we get a card that generates invulnerability.

For your consideration:

Characters: 26
4x Aunt May
4x Black Cat
4x Night Thrasher
4x Iceman, Jack Frost
3x Spider-Man, the Sensational Spider-Man
2x Black Manta
1x Polaris, Back in the Fold
1x Human Torch
1x Spider-Man, Stark’s Protege
1x Sentry, the Might Aveneger

Plot Twists: 27
4x Superhuman Registration Act
4x Mobilize
4x First Class
4x Omnipotence
3x Reset
3x Gift Wrapped
3x Pathetic Attempt
1x Death of the Dream
1x Have a Blast!

Locations: 7
4x Empire State University
2x Stark’s Tower
1x United Planets HQ

Cap’n CRUNCH!

There’s another way you could take this. We’d still rely on the ESU, Black Cat, and Superhuman Registration Act synergy but our four drop would be the Captain. The Captain would allow us to draw cards, but also play Concussive Force + Captain America’s Shield.

Captain America’s Shield means we can play Cannibal Tech which lets us play Ego Gem and Med Kit – both of which have great synergy with energize.

Isn’t control so much cooler then rush?

Peace,

-TDB

Characters: 31
1x Dawn Granger ♦ Dove – Agent of Order
4x Lorena Marquez ♦ Aquawoman – Titans Tomorrow West
2x Argent – Toni Monetti
1x Cyclops – Slim
1x Hank Hall ♦ Hawk – Agent of Chaos
4x Wolverine – Logan
4x Roy Harper ♦ Arsenal – Sharpshooter
2x Rose Wilson ♦ The Ravager – Titans Tomorrow East
4x Terra – Tara Markov
4x Garth ♦ Temptest – Atlantean Sorcerer
1x Koriand’r ♦ Starfire – Alien Princess

Plot Twists: 18
4x Teen Titans Go!
4x SNIKT!
4x Phoenix Rising
4x To Me, My X-Men!
2x Time Breach

Locations: 11
4x USS Argus
4x Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
3x Optitron

Mulligan for Lorena. The early game consists of you assembling Lorena and Xavier’s School – so you can ready her – along with the USS Argus.

At that point, you’ll be seeing twelve cards a turn and drawing an extra one. This isn’t Oracle random draw either; this is you drawing EXACTLY what you need. Once you have the engine up, the goal is to find multiple copies of Teen Titans Go and To Me My X-Men to set up ‘the big turn’ where you either attack multiple times or completely decimate their board off-initiative with Roy Harper.

I got two games in with this deck on MWS – thanks Spud and D-Block. In both cases the engine just gave me too many copies of what I needed and I was able to win.

One game against Faces, he had eight guys on the board on turn five when I subbed in Ravager. His first attack resolved when he had two guys left, including the attacker – Ravager a guy, ready her with Xavier’s school, replace school with Terra to stun another one, flip Xavier’s School to ready Ravager, and then ready her twice more with a pair of To Me, My X-Men.

In a format where Lost City seems like it might be tier one, out of combat stuns with Roy Harper seem like an awesome option. No Cloak of Nabu, BeePeR, or Pathetic Attempt means we can start sniping with no restraint.

Few thoughts:

- Phoenix Rising is definitely better then Children of the Atom, especially since you, I, whoever, will never draw extra characters.
- Terra replacing Xavier’s School or Arguses to flip another one is insane. BANG BANG!
- SNIKT is a little awkward, probably better then Titans Tower though. What pump do the Titans and X-Men have access to that is good and not cumbersome?
- I’m not sure I like how Hawk and Dove jive when you’re constantly milling cards.

Definitely really cool! It feels so cheating to filter through your deck like that-

Peace,

-TDB

Even a goofy asian chick can’t diminish the awesomeness of a six foot Pandaren…

BTW, quick thought about Shift: If we see a four drop Exiles Morph with Shift then I’m pretty sure spam four drops is the way to go.

At Planet Kalee they just previewed this card:

From his very good write-up: “Everyone had been wondering if they would have a good 4-drop other than the hidden Illyana and combo-savvy Mimic. Here’s your answer. If you’re looking for a beatstick for the Exiles, Thunderbird is your man.“

I am among one of those. If the Exiles have 1-2 more four drops…

All I can say is, when you go to whatever online store you visit to purchase your singles… you might want to pick up those Common Bonds along with Frog of Thunder/James Barnes.

Peace,

-TDB

I asked the big monkey about the format, and Erick said probably, maybe, possibly Bronze Age which is:

MTU
DWF
MVL
DCL
MUN
MEV – when it rotates in -

(And of course all the small sets.)

This post originally started out as speculation about the new format – which I know Erick likes quite a bit… until I came to the realization that Bronze Age is a terrible format. The difference between Silver Age and Bronze age is Heralds of Galactus – of which only two teams are good enough to see play at the top level – and Legion of Superheroes which seems no play.

So the difference between Silver Age and Bronze Age is basically Moloids? Why not just play Silver Age and indulge the people who want to play the Future Foes… snicker…

My Suggestion for Super Saturday

One format I’ve always been curious about is the no Origins format. All sets are legal except Marvel and DC Origins. Same banned list, but maybe you pre-emptively ban Surrounded? I would do this on principle since there are a lot of free characters floating around. Remember the Insiders deck I posted for April Fools day?

The way I look at it: Most of the unfun Golden Age cards stem from Origins: Puppet Master, Reign of Terror, Rigged Election, Cosmic Radiation.

At the same time, there are a lot of interesting and fun cards and teams that get cut off from the ever-widening Silver Age/Golden Age schism lsuch as the X-Statix.

The addition of the older non-Origin sets also introduces a lot of powerful answers to threats. Is Wolverine to the face pissing you off? System Failure him. Don’t like the Fate Artifacts? Play Jester or Meltdown. Don’t like the Trinity? Black Panther for an Atlantean Trident and rush that shit DOWN!

The best part is that while there is a lot of deckbuilding depth for those looking for a competitive fix, there is also a lot of incentive for casual and creative players, who can combine new and old interpretations of popular teams such as Secret Society, Marvel Knights, and Team Superman into something more spectacular.

There’s something very refreshing about digging out old cards. I’m sure it’s not just me. I might try to run something like this as a tourney to convince Erick.

Anyways, just a thought: I know Erick ‘never’ reads this blog. Hopefully he ‘won’t’ read it today…

Peace,

-TDB

PS: Actually, I don’t care about people and their random favorite goofy teams… I just want to Enemy of my Enemy for stuff. : )

Got a comment today:

“Have you considered anything for Modern Age yet? Would be extremely intrested in your thoughts.”

Let’s see:

Disregarding DWF – which will soon rotate into MEV, which we know very little about -, Modern consists of MVL, DCL, and MUN. Let’s take a look at what these sets can offer the lock.

Illuminati

What deck can’t be made better by the Illuminati?

Our first ‘must play’ Bucky starts at four, and there are lots of great Illuminati characters with cost three or less.

The best one is Sub-Mariner, Protector of the Soul Gem. Not only does he allow you to stack Frog of Thunder on top of your deck, but he allows you to play Atlantis which is incredibly. Mr. Fantastic can help you draw cards to feed your Frog of Thunder too.

Sub-Mariner, Atlantis, and Black Manta is a perma lock – provided they don’t have disruption or you don’t run out of cards.

Clash of Worlds

Clash of Worlds to double up on Buckies or Black Mantas to set up.

I personally don’t really like Clash of Worlds personally. In my experience, the card has this interesting dichotomy of being both a card crucial to functioning and a terrible card at the same time.

Clash of Worlds also lets you set up a permalock too, but I personally am very adverse to playing it. This deck already seems very vulnerable to disruption, and you don’t want to have more ways to lose to yourself.

Aquaman + Poisedonis

Aquaman is a free Frog of Thunder in that he recurs and pays for a copy of the card. The problem with Aquaman + Poseidonis set up is that it’s slow and Aquaman is pretty bad after he comes into play.

Underdropping

This is basically Remote Facility + Floronic Man spam along with Namorita. This bleeds cards out of your hand even more, but seems like it could be a potentially viable route.

Win Condition

I think you wanted a deciated eight drop – probably Ghost Rider to pick up all the guys you didn’t shoot – but I’m sure if you keep shooting their board you can lethal with your onboards without too much trouble.

What MEV May Come

We don’t know what exactly MEV offers yet, but if you are interested in playing this archetype I would look for re-usable draw effects, recursion, and search.

For example, some cards we know of that I think have potential (no badboy2):

Black Manta and this card is also a lock too. You dont really care about the heavy exhaust cost since you’re not in too much of a rush to attack early. SRA and a single X-Force character fulfills the stamp too.

There are certain timing issues – Frog is playable only during the build – but definitely might be good enough… really depends on what X-Force has I think.

Aurora also lets you play Alpha Flight Reborn which is sick. This seems pretty good. Plus you can play Beta Ray Bill on seven – who has awesome synergy with Frog of Thunder spam – to clean up the board.

I think Gday just came. Ew…

Anyways, hope this helped! Trade for those Frogs while they’re still ‘bad’!

Peace,

-TDB