During the Marvel Modern Age season leading up to Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2005, I experimented with an Anti-Green Lantern deck that came to be called Hot Dog in the City. The strategy was fairly sound, but it was missing a method of stunning its own Xallarap and Anti-Green Lanterns in order to turn off their text boxes. Now, we have Chomin to teach them how to roll over.

Justice League of America introduces an exciting layer of additional opportunity into our game. Ally abilities dig down to the deepest basic combat strategy by empowering the power-up. But they can wait for the second half of this article; first, I want to talk about the Chomin cherry on top.

Chomin is a perfect example of the kind of card that makes each new set such a thrill. My cardboard swarm of temporary terror has been waiting impatiently for this. Anti-Green Lanterns are always itching to stun themselves, traditionally with the help of Locked in Combat. Chomin actually allows our little pink beat-weenies to flip themselves over . . . with a burning bonus. The high-temperature, self-stunning ability of the Qwardian Spy is an especially incendiary effect when used in the later turns on Xallarap. These Anti-Matter attack dogs just got hotter.

Tim Willoughby sniffed out the smell of roasted weenies at the Bremen $10K when a contingent of players from France tested the taste against the new metagame in Europe. I found another recipe in Scotland.

Paul “Penfold” Mclachlan was hanging out with us at VsRealms.com on the afternoon of the Bremen $10K. It was one of those technologically miraculous moments that allows people in many different countries to share ideas about a beloved hobby. When the discussion turned toward the French Anti-Matter deck, Paul offered an exciting alternative. Since I had pulled multiple copies of Matter Convergence at the Justice League of America Sneak Preview tournaments, I was ready to listen. Here is Paul’s idea, complete with commentary.

Obedience Training

Paul Mclachlan

Characters

14 Anti-Green Lantern

4 Chomin
4 Xallarap
4 Slipstream
4 Johnny Quick
2 Fiero

Plot Twists
4 Matter Convergence
4 Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe
4 Flying Kick
4 Cosmic Conflict
4 Thunderous Onslaught
4 Emerald Dawn
4 The Ring Has Chosen

You’re looking to mulligan for either Chomin or a copy of The Ring Has Chosen, as this will allow you to get access to the sneaky Qwardian Spy. Your optimum curve should look something like this:

Turn 1 – Chomin

Turn 2 – Two Anti-Green Lanterns

Turn 3 – Xallarap

Turn 4 – Slipstream and an Anti-Green Lantern

Turn 5 – Johnny Quick

In most games, you won’t need to concern yourself overly with turn 5, because the deck has a tendency to kill on turn 4.

Some tips for playing the deck:

• Chomin is like the One Ring—keep him secret, keep him safe. If this means you have to use Matter Convergence to get him back into the hidden area after your opponent plays No Man Escapes the Manhunters on him, then so be it.
  
  
• Fiero is great as an alternate 4-drop. She will allow you to win matchups you simply shouldn’t. With a guaranteed 10 burn damage per turn, (Chomin + Fiero = 10), you should be able to win against most stall decks. She’s also a great damage soaker when defending.
  
  
• Most cards in the deck that aren’t ATK pumps (and some that are) are multi-use. Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe isn’t just a way to keep your opponent’s visible area clear of annoyingly big defensive drops; it’s also an anti-equipment card.
  
  
• Abusing your speedsters is fun! Start with Slipstream or Johnny Quick in the hidden area, and then Thunderous Onslaught or Cosmic Conflict them out into the visible area. Once there, pay 3 to ready them and then play Matter Convergence on them, moving them back into the hidden area to gain their ATK bonus. Taking into account that both Matter Convergence and Flying Kick are “for the turn” pumps, your speedsters can do ungodly amounts of damage to your opponent. I’ve had games where Slipstream has killed my opponent on his own in one turn.

This deck barks up my tree perfectly. Obedience Training takes an old Anti-Matter dog that Joe “Captain Cuba” Sanchez once raised and teaches it some deadly new tricks. It also fits the requirements for my new team, The Tiniest Threat. I plan to play it in two Pro Circuit Qualifiers in the next month. I will keep you informed.

I will also keep my deepest allegiances. Longshot, I shall never forsake thee, especially when the subject shifts to Wild Sentinels. Let’s turn back the Vs. System clock even further, shall we?

One of my dearest and longest lasting friendships in the game is with an Arkansas native named Chris “cmacbgoode” McDaniel. When I asked Chris to give me some ideas for Justice League of America strategies, his stream-of-consciousness brainstorm transported me back to my risky roots. It went something like this:

Any deck with Longshot, 1-drop Army guys, Vicarious Living, and whoever has the best ally ability. Fire’s a good start . . . hmmm . . . Wild Sentinel attacks, Fire on the board. Power-up three times, +3 ATK / +3 DEF, 6 burn . . . Reconstruction Program . . . more fun . . . hmmm . . .

How about three teams? Teen Titans, Sentinels, JLI . . .

A Wild Sentinel team attack . . . Fire on the field . . . New Teen Titans powers them all up . . . Fire triggers several times . . . Reconstruction Program is still the absolute nuts . . . UN Building makes the triple team-up easier . . . hmmm.

“Hmmm” is right, and that is the kind of crazy stuff I live for. It also gives me the chance to fulfill one of my fondest cardboard fantasies: the marriage of Omen and Longshot. Senator Kelly makes the perfect Justice of the Peace to perform the ceremony in this flammable fix-up. The deck would look something like this:

Burning Up for Your Love: Longshot Loves Omen

Characters

24 Wild Sentinel
4 Longshot
4 Senator Kelly
4 Omen
4 Fire

Plot Twists

4 Vicarious Living
4 Reconstruction Program
4 New Teen Titans

Locations

2 Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
2 Birthing Chamber
4 UN Building

Chris also mentioned Teen Titans Go!. While that would surely be insane with this strategy, it might be overkill. Burning the opponent to death with Senator Kelly and Fire is the win condition, and it should leave your opponent well-done. Like all Longshot decks, it will be fragile and it will sputter quite often. But Omen promises to keep the Mulletman focused, and I have always wanted to see them together. She can get us closer to him if he doesn’t show up in the first two hands. She can also make up for his lack of a secondary target, since he is without his Sentinel Mark IVs in this deck.

Wild Sentinel swarms have always been a paradise for power-ups. Reconstruction Program states in no uncertain terms that 1-cost Army characters with the Sentinel team affiliation will always have a decided advantage. The new ally abilities are creating an exciting new era for these tiny toys, and I can’t wait to explore it with you. I am sure that there are many improvements to be made; keep me posted if you have any burning breakthroughs.

Gabe “profparm” Schmidt broke through the first round of the VsRealms.com online Tier None tournament by playing a wacky Crime Lords smorgasbord flavored with a pinch of X-Statix and a dash of Underworld. Here is his deck, complete with commentary.

Lords of the Bottom 8

Gabe Schmidt

Characters
4 Roscoe Sweeny
4 Cobra
1 Stilt-Man
2 Mr. Hyde
2 Kingpin, Wilson Fisk
1 Masked Marauder
2 Saracen
2 Bullseye, Deadly Marksman
2 Hitman
2 Jigsaw
1 The Russian
1 Kirigi
3 Jaime Ortiz ◊ Damage
2 Bullseye, Master of Murder
1 Kingpin, The Kingpin of Crime

Plot Twists
2 Glory Hound
4 Face the Master
4 Sonic Disruption
2 Hell’s Fury
4 Boss of Bosses
2 Shakedown
3 Rough House
2 The Family

Locations
4 Geraci Family Estate
1 Dracula’s Castle
2 Hand Dojo

This is very akin to a deck that I ran in Marvel Modern Age with quite a bit of success. However, in Marvel Modern, you had to worry about Marvel Knights and all of their various pumps. In this format, you have none of those shenanigans, so stuff like Dracula’s Castle and Sonic Disruption become playable because people aren’t expecting any defensive pumps. Those become an even bigger shock when you don’t have reinforcement.

In case anyone wants to play this deck in his or her own Tier None format, you mulligan for Roscoe or Cobra. Either one will assure you solid drops for long enough. Jamie Ortiz is the real winner of this deck, and both of the 7-drops are good enough to end the game consistently when they hit. If I were to change anything, it would be to splash in more Underworld for Deathwatch and their plot twists.

I would like to sign off by wishing Gabe and all of the other players good luck for the remainder of the tournament as they celebrate the motto of the Tier None format: Take a loser and make it win! I will see you all next week.

Rian Fike is also known as “stubarnes.” If you have taught your old dog a new trick, report it immediately to rianfike@hattch.com.