The Light Show
Pro Circuit New York’s abundance of Curve Sentinel decks caused extreme frustration among the player base. Although the tournament introduced two new decks that could handle Sentinels—in the form of Xavier’s Dream and New School—it was just a matter of time before Sentinels simply shifted tech slots to deal with these new threats. Shortly after PC: NY, however, the new Green Lantern set became legal for sanctioned tournament play, throwing 220 new cards into the metagame equation. Perhaps within this new set there was a practical solution to the robot problem that would produce a healthy, diverse metagame.
In fact, $10K Philly did present a new deck that could combat Sentinels, but unfortunately this solution was a problem in its own right. This new problem was Light Show, which involved an infinite loop with Rama-Tut, Cosmic Radiation, Devil’s Due, and the new Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. To get the loop online, you would need to have Emerald Enemies teamed-up with Fantastic Four, Rama-Tut in your KO’d pile, Dr. Light in play, Devil’s Due in your resource row, and Cosmic Radiation in your KO’d pile. You activate Dr. Light, bring Rama-Tut back, and retrieve Cosmic Radiation with his effect. KO Rama-Tut to Devil’s Due and put a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter on a Doom character you control, then play Cosmic Radiation to ready Dr. Light. Activate Light again to bring back Rama-Tut who brings back Cosmic Radiation. Wash, rinse, and repeat millions of times. You get infinite +1 ATK / +1 DEF counters, and if you throw Gone But Not Forgotten into the mix, then you can also gain infinite amounts of endurance.* Unlike previous infinite loops, the Light Show combo could come online as early as turn 3 with a good draw because it involved only four cards and a Team-Up.
When the finals of $10K Philly yielded a Light Show mirror match, the player base was split between being excited over another way to beat Sentinels and being worried about the state of the game. Infinite loops that can go off as early as turn 3 are simply bad for the game and create a degenerate metagame. Light Show mirror matches were like playing solitaire; at least the Curve Sentinel mirror had interaction between you and your opponent. Game 1 of the finals took seven minutes, game 2 took thirteen, and game 3 ended on turn 4; it was one of the quickest finals matches ever.
The $10K Sydney event yielded more Light Show decks, now sporting new cards like Hornet to end games quicker and Black Cat, Master Thief for the mirror match. At the same time, other cards from the Green Lantern Corps set were beginning to make a splash in a Green Lantern / Emerald Enemies team-up known as Kiwi Fruit. Kiwi Fruit was the prototype of GLEE and G’Lock builds, playing off the willpower theme that spans both teams. The main selling point of Kiwi Fruit was its easy access to resource destruction via Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern, who could fetch Breaking Ground. Light Show’s biggest (and possibly only) weakness was resource destruction, because if you didn’t have Devil’s Due in play or a Team-Up, then your infinite loop wouldn’t work. Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff was also included to make the Light Show player lose 5 endurance per Dr. Light activation, although dropping her on turn 5 was usually too late. At the end of the day Light Show still won, marking the first time since $10K London and $10K Madrid that a Sentinels deck didn’t win at least one $10K out of two.
Light Show was the third most played deck at $10K Charlotte behind Sentinels and Kiwi, but as the day went on, it was evident that Light Show was easily the best deck. Scarlet Witch often came into play far too late to stop the infinite loop from being infinite, but a well-timed Breaking Ground could destroy the combo. Sentinels continued to pack off-curve hate in an attempt to prevent the Light Show player from having the necessary cards in play to combo out, but most of these attempts were futile and Light Show won anyway. In a metagame like this, Child Lock didn’t stand a chance. The off-curve hate in Sentinels—combined with Scarlet Witch and an infinite loop that you had no way to stop—meant that there wasn’t any reason to play Child Lock. When you have a deck that wins outside of combat on turn 3 or 4, it doesn’t make much sense to play one that wins on turn 5 or has to stall until turn 8 or 9. The final match pitted two Light Show decks against each other, and Jason Hager emerged victorious.
After Light Show tore through three $10K events, Upper Deck decided to take action. They gave Rama-Tut an erratum that made his effect trigger only when he’s recruited, thus preventing the interaction with Dr. Light. While they were at it, Upper Deck made the very first ban in Vs. System—Overload. While the popular Savage Beatdown / Nasty Surprise / Overload combo was the primary reason for the ban, Upper Deck also said that Overload was putting constraints on what kinds of cards they could print in future sets. While there were some people disappointed in both changes, for the most part the player base was overjoyed that Upper Deck had taken decisive action. Jank decks finally had more of a chance now that they didn’t have to worry about being Overloaded left and right, and the disappearance of Light Show meant that decks didn’t have to force four copies of Have a Blast! into their lists to be competitive.
$10K San Diego, $10K Munich, and $10K Wizard World Chicago
The banning of Overload didn’t slow Sentinels decks down at all; they still managed to occupy the second slot in the metagame breakdown (behind Teen Titans) at $10K San Diego. The new GLEE decks were making a strong showing, but the Top 8 contained only Titans and Sentinels decks, as usual. This time, however, Titans ended up putting the trophy in the hands of Adam Prosak. Even though Light Show was out the of the picture, Child Lock was going to continue to have a hard time competing in the current metagame because Titans was beginning to regain popularity and Sentinels still played lots of off-curve hate.
The Munich $10K saw much more diversity in its metagame, with old favorites like The New Brotherhood and Common Enemy still representing. GLEE was also continuing to gain popularity, proving that players didn’t have to rely on the Origins sets for competitive decks. But the biggest story of this tournament was the winning deck; Karl-Heinz Bergt piloted his Marvel Knights concealed deck to victory by plowing through hordes of purple robots. Bergt’s deck took advantage of the concealed mechanic by playing hidden characters to ensure that he had a full attack step each turn. Most of Bergt’s opponents had no choice but to swing directly, as very few decks were playing concealed hate at the time. Bergt’s deck then simply proceeded to smash face with ATK pumps and KO effects, often defeating Sentinels before turn 5. The sheer speed and brute force of Marvel Knights concealed allowed you to run over decks before they could get off their feet, and in a metagame defined mainly by curve decks and no Overload, this seemed like a good strategy.
Most players were preparing for the DC Modern Age format at this point, but the turnout at $10K Chicago proved that Golden Age hadn’t been forgotten. The metagame breakdown reflected the Marvel Knights concealed deck’s recent victory in Munich, and as always, Titans and Sentinels were still at the top of the list. GLEE was beginning to dwindle in numbers; it was mainly invented to deal with Light Show, which no longer existed. The Top 8 yielded the usual abundance of Sentinels but also revealed an innovative new Spider-Friends / Gotham Knights deck in the hands of Jason Scudder. A deck resembling Fantastic Fun also made the Top 8, but it wasn’t running A Child Named Valeria and therefore wasn’t technically a Child Lock deck. A profile was written about Tony Barda and his deck, which was a remake of the original Common Enemy Child Lock decks from the first $10K events. Barda’s deck incorporated burn effects, such as Volcana, Marsha Rosenberg and Human Torch, Hotshot, as a more efficient win condition. As usual, the Sentinels matchup was nearly an auto-win if Flame Trap never hit the table, but the Titans matchup was much more problematic. Invisible Woman, Protector from the Fantastic Four starter decks added a method of reinforcement, and the Antarctic Research Base engine from Fantastic Fun was incorporated for extra card drawing. Personally, I don’t feel that this build was as strong as Fantastic Fun or Rigged Elections. The concept of Common Enemy Child Lock was obsolete and seems less consistent without Alfred Pennyworth or a full suite of equipment cards. Nonetheless, here’s the decklist:
Tony Barda
$10K Chicago
Common Enemy / Child Lock Burn
Characters:
4 Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards
3 Invisible Woman, Protector
1 Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl
1 Human Torch, Hotshot
1 Apocalypse
1 Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing
4 Dr. Doom, Diabolical Genius
3 Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom
1 Rama-Tut
1 Valeria Richards, Daughter of Doom
1 Volcana
Plot Twists:
3 Common Enemy
4 Cosmic Radiation
3 Reign of Terror
1 Have a Blast!
1 Tech Upgrade
1 Salvage
4 A Child Named Valeria
1 Signal Flare
1 Meltdown
Locations:
4 Antarctic Research Base
3 Doomstadt
1 Avalon Space Station
1 Coast City
Equipment:
3 The Pogo Plane
4 Unstable Molecules
3 Personal Force Field
1 Power Compressor
1 Advanced Hardware
The final matchup ended up being Curve Sentinels against Spider-Friends / Gotham Knights, with Sentinels as the victor. Even without Overload, the robots continued to wreck anything set in their path. Over the past three sets, players had hoped that Sentinels would finally be dethroned by a new deck, but now they were more eager than ever to see a new champion from The Avengers.
Pre–Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2005
As Vs. System matured, more formats were introduced on the $10K level. Back in the day, every single tournament was Golden Age, but at this point, there were multiple Sealed Pack and Modern Age $10K events interspersed with the regular Golden Age lineup. Therefore, the metagame evolved much more from tournament to tournament because a greater period of time now separated Golden Age $10K events. This concept was demonstrated at $10K Atlanta, which was the first tournament in which The Avengers set was legal. The set’s presence was immediately felt; Avengers decks were the fourth most played behind Sentinels, Marvel Knights concealed, and Teen Titans. Also, a Kang / Brotherhood team-up exploited the power of Lost City and the multitude of Kang cards in the set, literally turning every card in your hand into a +3 ATK / +3 DEF pump.
The big debate behind the new set was Null Time Zone and whether it would wipe Teen Titans off the map for good. By playing Null Time Zone in the build phase and naming Teen Titans Go!, you could neutralize the deck’s biggest trick and prevent any Roy Harper shenanigans, as well.
Of course, in the hands of a good player, Teen Titans can never be thwarted. The $10K Atlanta Top 8 was one of the most diverse seen in an extremely long time; it included two Marvel Knights concealed decks, two Teen Titans decks, one Kang City deck, and three Sentinels decks. Although the new decks tried hard, they still couldn’t manage to take down the two metagame giants, which resulted in yet another finals matchup of Teen Titans and Curve Sentinels. Titans managed to pull through and win it all once again in the hands of Adam Prosak, diminishing any remaining opinion that Null Time Zone meant the downfall of team-attacking tricks.
Another month later at $10K Orlando, The Avengers set continued to influence the metagame by adding Squadron Supreme rush decks and Thunderbolts decks to the mix. Sentinels continued to be the most played deck by far, but by the Top 8 cut, only one of them was left. The final matchup was also an indication that times were changing—it didn’t include a Sentinels deck on either side. The final was between Michael Jacob’s Avengers deck and Josh Wiitanen’s Titans deck, and Avengers came out victorious. The new teams in The Avengers all had something that helped them beat Sentinels, and it looked like the metagame was finally going to take a turn for the best.
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t talked about Child Lock much in this article. While random builds of Rigged Elections and Fantastic Fun popped up at these events, none of them made a decent showing or brought anything new to the table. But with the Sentinels numbers beginning to fade, it looked like Child Lock could take on the new metagame without running into too much hate. Both Squadron Supreme and Avengers were becoming very popular, and both decks were based on combat and had very few tricks like Titans and Sentinels did. Child Lock was about to reemerge onto the scene after a long hiatus of being overshadowed by cards like Flame Trap and Search and Destroy.
Both Guns Blazing
The metagame breakdown for $10K Gen Con UK showed Avengers at the top of the charts, followed closely by Sentinels and Squadron Supreme. This tournament was the first one in a long time that didn’t have Curve Sentinels or Teen Titans as the most played deck. Diversity was finally beginning to prevail with the rapidly shrinking number of robots in the field and the increasing number of new, innovative decks. This $10K also saw the revival of Child Lock decks in possibly the most unconventional and unique way ever. The leader of this revolution was Sam Roads, who dubbed his creation “Both Guns Blazing.” Roads’s deck combined the best aspects of Child Lock and New School for insane amounts of control and minimal amounts of attacks. Both Guns Blazing played seven different teams, and although it could very well team them all up, it primarily aimed for Fantastic Four, Fearsome Five, and Teen Titans to share affiliations. A Child Named Valeria protected your characters as you built up a field, all the while searching out copies of Cosmic Radiation with Alfred Pennyworth. Around turn 6 or 7, the deck began aggressively stopping combat damage by shooting characters with Roy Harper and Dr. Light, Arthur Light. With a few copies of Cosmic Radiation and Garth ◊ Tempest to retrieve them, you could easily stun every single character on your opponent’s board . . . off initiative!
Both Guns Blazing is certainly one of the more complicated Child Lock variations that you can play because you have to set up your Child Lock fairly early and still be able to build up your character count for the critical end-game turns. Here is Sam Roads’s list from $10K Gen Con UK:
Sam Roads
$10K Gen Con UK
Both Guns Blazing
Characters:
4 Alfred Pennyworth
4 Micro-Chip
2 Dr. Light, Master of Holograms
2 Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards
1 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Sharpshooter
1 Garth ◊ Tempest
1 Dr. Light, Arthur Light
1 Shimmer
2 Mikado and Mosha
4 Dagger, Child of Light
1 Ape X
2 Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl
Plot Twists:
4 A Child Named Valeria
4 Cosmic Radiation
4 Wild Ride
4 Midnight Sons
4 Bat-Signal
4 Millennium
1 Press the Attack
1 Have a Blast!
1 Signal Flare
2 Fizzle
Equipment:
4 Utility Belt
1 Catcher’s Mitt
1 War Wagon
Squadron Supreme and Avengers were two of the better matchups in the $10K Gen Con UK metagame for Both Guns Blazing, despite Roads losing to both decks, in round 9 and the semifinals respectively. The only truly problematic card in Squadron was Other-Earth, which would break the Child Lock by allowing the Squadron player to force through high amounts of breakthrough. The only tool Avengers had against Both Guns Blazing was Hawkeye, Clinton Barton, who could be negated by a single Utility Belt. Unfortunately, Roads drew very poorly in his quarterfinals match against eventual $10K champion Karl Bown and ended up losing because he was unable to set up the lock. Avengers’ victory at this tournament was actually beneficial, because more people would be playing reservists—nearly an auto-win for Both Guns Blazing.
Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2005
The metagame breakdown for PC: LA still included a solid portion of Sentinels decks, but Squadron Supreme and Avengers had pushed Titans out of the top three. Things had certainly changed since PC: NY. Common Enemy, which had been continually on the radar since the very first PC, came in as the fifth most played deck. Surprisingly, Child Lock decks were the sixth most played deck at the tournament, including everything from the recently successful Both Guns Blazing to classic Rigged Elections. Nearly every single incarnation of Child Lock was present at PC: LA, but Jason Hager had broken the mold once again and brought something new. He was running a new and innovative Child burn deck that abused Scarlet Witch, Eldritch Enchantress by replaying her over and over again. Hager lost a few of his matches to time because of the complicated nature of his deck, but it was still a force to be reckoned with that tore through the hordes of Avengers and Squadron present at the tournament. His deck utilized new generic search effects in The Avengers, such as Kang, Kang Kong and Beetle, Armorsmith, to help improve consistency without requiring more Team-Ups. Here’s his list:
Jason Hager
Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2005
Scarlet Witch Burn
Characters:
4 Alfred Pennyworth
4 Beetle, Armorsmith
4 Dr. Light, Master of Holograms
4 Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl
4 Kang, Kang Kong
1 Kristoff Von Doom, The Boy Who Would Be Doom
1 Lacuna
4 Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards
1 Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer, Problem Solver
2 Rama-Tut
1 Scarlet Witch, Eldritch Enchantress
Plot Twists:
4 A Child Named Valeria
1 Bat-Signal
2 Fizzle
4 Marvel Team-Up
4 Millennium
1 Signal Flare
4 The Ring Has Chosen
Locations:
1 Avalon Space Station
3 Birthing Chamber
Equipment:
2 Catcher’s Mitt
4 Utility Belt
After two rigorous days of Golden Age and Draft had concluded, only eight competitors remained. Among them was Dean Sohnle, piloting his trademark Fantastic Fun deck that had undergone minimal changes over the course of half a year. Very few people predicted that Sohnle would make it to the finals because of the obsoleteness of his deck, but he proved them wrong by defeating Neil Reeves and Matthew Tatar to face Karl Horn for the trophy. This finals match was one of the most epic sets of games ever played, with preferred initiatives switching halfway and Sohnle fighting back from an 0-2 record to go on to game 5. Instead of reading my interpretation of it, you should read the official coverage of the match here. Most of you know how it ended: Horn emerged victorious with New School after five long games. Although Child Lock didn’t win the whole thing, it was extremely obvious that it was one of the most solid archetypes ever created in Vs. System because it had been a consistent force on the Pro Circuit since Indianapolis back in 2004.
But the story isn’t over; Justice League was about to become legal for tournament play, adding even more cards that could improve the Child Lock strategy.
Come back next week for the final installment of the Child Lock series, where I will finish reviewing the remaining tournaments of 2005 and move into 2006 and the modern metagame. Also, there will be a bonus section describing Child Lock’s applications and strengths for Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2006, so you may be able to gain some valuable knowledge for the upcoming PC. Thanks for staying with me—just one more article to go!
* Of course, all of these interactions don’t work under the current rules. Dr. Light can only be used once per turn, Rama-Tut’s effect only triggers when he’s recruited, and Gone But Not Forgotten was recently banned.