Hello, and welcome to a ridiculously positive state of the union address. The cynics among you might want to click that “back” button now, because I’ve gone a bit gooey for Vs. System today. The big news in the community is the OP shift toward a more local focus with programs such as City Championships. As I have mentioned before, we in Europe had already been through a similar experience. Our OP structure was fundamentally changed almost one year ago with a target of strengthening and building an impressive casual scene. At first, some players were skeptical, but after the dust settled, I saw the massive potential that this opportunity presented. At the end of the day, we all want to play Vs. System. Why else would we be here? A strong and friendly casual scene offers more opportunity to play Vs. System, and to enjoy yourself while you’re at it.

In Europe, we adopted a new structure that uses three main tournament levels:

Day of the Hero is the regular, local level event that brings out the jank in everyone.

Trial of the Finest is a monthly event held at key locations around the country. The competition is generally a little stiff, and winning one of these events is an achievement. For a short while, we also had our very own City Championship events, which proved to be very popular with the serious and casual players alike—except me. I lost in the final to Ape, Metamorph. I had my opponent down to -20 something while I sat at -2. He had one card in his hand and it was an Energy card! Still, I’m not bitter. Honestly.

Master Challenges are the pinnacle of the European OP program. These are our big events that attract players from all over Europe. The first MC was a Golden Age event held in Essen, Germany during February. The next Master Challenge will be at the Game07 (www.game07.eu) convention in Manchester, England. The event will be a Silver Age Constructed tournament that is scheduled to last two days, with the finalists winning flights and accommodations to the Pro Circuit. A more detailed prize structure will be announced over the coming weeks, but I have to say that what I’ve heard so far has got me quite excited.

Another thing that has my toes tingling is the feedback I’ve been reading about the stateside OP changes. Players seem to be embracing the opportunity to build a strong local scene. The new City Championships have really ignited the imagination, and reports that I’ve been reading so far seem to indicate that fewer people are netdecking their way to top honors. There seems to be a movement to embrace a more fun side of the game. More people are willing to experiment with their deck choices and take risks.

That trend seems to follow over to this side of the pond, as well. At a recent Trial of the Finest, I played against Future Foes discard, Superman Clone, and an Avengers / Fate Artifact deck that was amusingly dubbed “Slow-Fate.” This is exactly the type of environment I long to play in, and apparently, it appeals to more and more people all the time. Last week, I had a chat with UDE UK Organized Play rep Rob Hooley about the current state of affairs, and I was delighted to hear that there were several new stores sanctioning tournaments across the UK. If your local store hasn’t gotten around to sanctioning official events yet, petition them to contact UDE straight away. With sanctioned events, you get access to all the cool booty.

Marvel’s Most Wanted is the current Extended Art prize for Day of the Hero tournaments in April, while Royal Decree is the bounty for doing well at a Trial of the Finest during April.

Regardless of which side of the pond each of us is on, we’re all looking at Silver Age at the moment, be it for City Championships or a Master Challenge. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been looking at the impact that the recent Pro Circuit Sydney Top 8 decks might have on the events. Today, I want to take the road less traveled. As more and more of you start embracing a more offbeat approach, it seems appropriate to explore a more “janky” idea.

Loyalty Shmoyalty

Characters

4 The Calculator, Noah Kuttler

4 Talia, Beloved Betrayer

2 Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac, Malevolent Marvel

1 Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant

2 Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive

1 Rose Wilson ◊ The Ravager, Titans Tomorrow East

4 Dr. Polaris, Force of Nature

4 Fatality, Flawless Victory

2 Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1

3 Alyosha Kravinoff, Son of Kraven

1 Deadpool, Merc with a Mouth

Plot Twists

4 Coercion

4 The Uni-Power

4 Justice Is Served!

4 Flying Kick

4 Blinding Rage

3 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

3 Mobilize
3 Enemy of My Enemy

Locations

3 The Science Spire

The basic idea behind this deck is to get around the dual loyalty restriction on Alyosha and Deadpool through Coercion.

Play only if you control a Villains United character.

To play, reveal a character card from your hand and choose one or more of its affiliations.

Ongoing: Crossover Villains United and those affiliations.

Coercion allows us to ensure that all the necessary affiliations are in play before we recruit a dual loyalty character, thus allowing us to “cheat” our way around the normally restrictive recruit condition.

There are many ways that you could use this simple engine. I’ve chosen to go with an aggressive build that aims for a turn 5 victory, but you could use any of the new dual loyalty characters with Coercion.

With a turn 5 win, we naturally want the odd initiatives. The mulligan condition is a bit more relaxed than usual. Ideally, I want to have The Calculator, Noah Kuttler in my opening four, but if he is absent and I have a 2-drop, then I will happily keep the hand. The important play is a turn 5 Coercion, so if we don’t have him from the beginning, we have plenty of time and opportunity to get him later on.

The curve of characters is fairly simple. On turn 2, I decided to go with Talia for sheer size. A 3 ATK / 3 DEF 2-drop is really a solid call at any time. On turn 3, I prefer Dr. Polaris in a lot of matchups, although I’ve allowed myself options. Rose is there to try to counter Quicksilver, and Zazzala is quite handy against a slower deck. Turn 4 is a question of personal preference. Many would go with Bizarro in an aggressive build, but I prefer Fatality’s board control and potential auto-win in the Silver Age environment. Turn 5 is the kill turn with Alyosha, who gives a global ATK boost to all my characters, but if I don’t have my preferred initiative, then Deadpool is a very good choice and really hurts the opposition’s attack step.

The rest of the deck is quite simplistic—a mixture of aggression and consistency enablers. I’ve also added the hugely underrated 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . to the mix. It’s awesome against The Rock of Eternity decks that are doing the rounds, very handy against anything Checkmate related, and pretty good against some of the stall decks you might come across.

Today is a great day to be a Vs. System player. We have some of the best expansions we’ve seen in a long time, we have an exciting new tournament structure, players are experimenting with new ideas, and the general consensus is that Vs. System is the most fun it’s ever been. Things are good.

Deckbuilder Challenge #9 – Pauper Revisited

Here are the top five decks from DBCC #9

Ian Vincent: Fatal Five Thump

Characters

4 Emerald Eye, Fatal Five
4 Computo ◊ Mr. Venge, Hidden File
4 Emerald Empress, Fatal Five (Uncommon)
1 Brainiac 4, Dark Circle Leader
1 Dominators, Alien Invaders
4 Tharok, Fatal Five
4 Mano, Fatal Five
2 Bernadeth, Leader of Female Furies
2 Validus, Fatal Five
2 Scorpion, MacDonald Gargan
3 Mordru, The Merciless
1 Shrinking Violet ◊ Emerald Empress, Emerald Vi

Plot Twists
4 Fatal Five Hundred
4 Mutual Enemies (Uncommon)
4 Revitalize
4 Busted Knee
4 No Man Escapes the Manhunters
4 Five Against One
4 Flying Kick
 

Ian’s Description

The plan is to do insane amounts of damage on a single turn (ideally turn 5). Put one of the opposing characters on 0 defense and then attack it over and over again thanks to the built-in recovery on your Fatal Five characters and Computo. Having a common search card is great, but I’ve completely ignored the discard theme of the team because it’s too slow to be competitive outside of Draft. Bernadeth is splashed to burn each time your opponent recovers from a Fatal Five character, and Scorpion is there to remove reinforcement. His boost ability, which exhausts 5 resource points’ worth of characters on turn 7, works great on either initiative. The Revitalize is used on the turn before the kill so that you can go in with as much ATK power on the board as possible. Mordru has the option of paying 7 endurance to remove your opponent’s recruit for next turn, or 20 if you want to add insult to injury after smashing the opponent for insane amounts. I doubt that you’ll use his ability often, but it can be completely game-winning against slow decks.

Alapai Michaels: “Al Kraven and the Syndicatettes”

Characters
4 Vulture, Adrian Toomes
4 Razorfist, Sociopathic Mercenary
2 Doppelganger, Killer Clone
2 Slyde, Jalome Beacher
4 Swarm, Fritz von Meyer
4 Silvermane, Silvio Manfredi
4 Spider-Slayer V.X., Arachnid Hunter
4 Rhino, Alex O’Hirn
4 Spider-Man Robot, Timespinner
4 Alyosha Kravinoff, Son of Kraven

Plot Twists

4 Hired Goons
4 Sadistic Choice
4 Legion of Losers
2 Trial by Fire

Locations

3 Lion’s Den

Equipment
4 Spider-Mobile
3 Alien Symbiote

Alapai’s Description

It’s a pretty simple idea, and is mainly just a deck that beats the opponent down savagely. Al Kraven gives a big pump of +2 ATK to all your characters. The Spider-Mobiles are in there so that on turn 5, you can recruit him without having Spider-Friends in the deck. Sadistic Choice and Legion of Losers are in there so that you can KO your opponent’s stunned characters, which you will probably do fairly often with such large ATK values. The deck builds up to a final turn where you recruit a lot of low cost characters, especially from your resource row, and have them attack for large amounts using Hired Goons, Trial by Fire, and their already large ATK values. Silvermane and Swarm aren’t as useful on that last turn as they are on every turn before (since you are trying to have a small amount of resources). Slyde can help you hit hidden characters if you need to do that.

Mike Mullins: “Darkseid’s Shamockery”

Characters
4 Beetle ◊ Mach 1, Reluctant Hero
4 Dark Lantern, Mockery
4 San, The Alienated One
4 Dark Firestorm, Mockery
1 Dark Thanagarian, Mockery
4 Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival
2 Dark Martian, Mockery
2 Darkseid, Apokoliptian Oppressor
3 Dark Warrior, Mockery
2 Dark Champion, Mockery

Plot Twists

4 The Future is Changing
4 Epic Battle
3 From the Shadows
3 Furious Assault
4 Hordes of Apokolips
4 Joining the Darkseid, Team-Up
4 Titans of Tomorrow

Locations

4 Furnace of Apokolips

Mike’s Description

This deck utilizes the substitute mechanic to trigger entering play effects, to transition characters from the visible area to the hidden area, and to ensure that all characters in play share a common team (Darkseid’s Elite). While the opposing board grows, builds, and organizes, the Shamockery deck explodes on turn 6 by bringing characters into play into the hidden area. The combination of Dark Champion, Hordes of Apokolips, Epic Battle, and Furious Assault can provide multiple characters with ATK bonuses in the +8 to +10 range. With the card draw provided by Beetle, San, Dr. Doom, Dark Thanagarian, Furnace of Apokolips, The Future is Changing, and Titans of Tomorrow, the deck provides a constant assault on the opponent that even works off-initiative, as the opposing player’s opportunity to attack your characters is limited. In the end, even if the deck is operating on the odd initiatives, it has enough tricks to win an endurance race with most opponents.

Josh Fletcher: “Banned but Not Forgotten”

Characters

17 GCPD Officer

4 Fiddler

4 Scandal

3 Zatanna, Showstopper

1 She-Thing, Sharon Ventura

1 Hawkeye, Clinton Barton

4 Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee

2 Skinner

1 Admiral Galen Kor

Plot Twists

4 Bat-Signal

4 Gone But Not Forgotten

2 Strength of the Grave

4 Surrounded

1 Millennium

Locations

4 Clocktower

3 United Planets HQ

1 Hala

Josh’s Description

Ever since Gone But Not Forgotten came out, I wanted to make a deck based around it. Unfortunately, as soon as the cards to break it came out, it was banned. Because all of the alternate win conditions are rare, I had to go for good old-fashioned beats to finish the job for me; recruiting Fiddler an insane number of times on turn 6 thanks to Zatanna’s card drawing and GBNF’s endurance gain means that Surrounded provides just the beats I need. To top it off, if some unforeseen reinforcement happens, I can do it all again next turn thanks to Strength of the Grave—I’d hate not to have any backup if something goes wrong. Admiral Galen Kor is there to provide big beats with Hala on turn 6 or 7 if necessary. Skinner with Strength of the Grave does the same. Even if I don’t have those characters on the field, I can still use either Strength of the Grave or Hala thanks to Detective Chimp. Detective Chimp + United Planets HQ + Bat-Signal = search for any character in the deck. Hawkeye is for use against rush decks. On a side-tech note (because I wouldn’t expect to see it played), Skinner demolishes Big Hand. I’d mulligan for Clocktower to set up the draw and exhaust GCPD, and pick the even initiatives if I got the choice.

Christian Leblanc: “Moncton Manhunters”

Characters

4 Harlequin, Molly Mayne-Scott
3 Lana Lang, Manhunter Sleeper (Uncommon)
7 Manhunter Engineer, Army
6 Manhunter Excavator, Army
3 Manhunter Giant, Army
4 Manhunter Guardsman, Army
8 Manhunter Soldier, Army
4 Sleeper Agent, Manhunter Sleeper

1 Manhunter Conqueror, Grandmaster

Plot Twists

4 No Man Escapes the Manhunters
4 ¡Ole!
4 Plans Within Plans
4 Qwardian Pincer

Locations

4 Birthing Chamber

This deck simply aims to explode on either turn 5 or 6 (usually 6 works better, so you want the even initiatives), putting a huge swarm of characters into play quite suddenly and attacking for massive breakthrough at the end with Qwardian Pincer. It has no search cards, but Plans Within Plans should help you get anything you want. Play Lana Lang on turn 1. Start piling up cards into your own KO’d pile so that Plans Within Plans (which also puts cards in your KO’d pile) can go fish out whatever you want later on. Note that Birthing Chamber also helps put cards in your KO’d pile from which you can choose later on.

Play Harlequin on turn 2. It’s not very necessary, but she’s good to exhaust for Plans Within Plans later. Turn 3 should see either Manhunter Soldier or Manhunter Guardsman—usually Guardsman, just to defend a little better. Pay 4 resource points on turn 4 and recruit two 3-drops. Start going for more Soldiers and an Engineer or two. On turn 5, boost an Excavator into play in order to get a 3-drop from your KO’d pile into play for free. Remember to boost one of your Soldiers early on in the game to ensure that you have a body in the KO’d pile to bring into play.

Turn 6 is the kill turn. Hopefully, you’ve got a resource row that includes a Manhunter Giant, maybe a Manhunter Excavator, and as many Sleeper Agents as you could get. Exhaust an Engineer to bring in a Giant for free; do the same for an Excavator. Bring in as many Sleeper Agents from your resource row as you can, and either recruit Manhunter Conqueror (this is your first choice!) or another Giant into play (10 ATK), or just pay your resource points to bring in up to three Soldiers (15 ATK). In the scenario I’ve just described, each Pincer can easily be worth +7 ATK, just for the characters you bring into play this turn alone (three Soldiers, one Giant, one Excavator, and two Sleeper Agents). Even if you only have one Pincer in your hand, you’ll get to use it again if you have any Plans Within Plans left in your resource row. Between all your characters and ATK pumps, you should be able to team attack to take out the opponent’s bigger characters, and then finish things off with all the Pincers you can get.

There are the choices for you to vote on. You can pick your favorite by voting on the poll over at my website (www.the-kamiza.com) or by emailing me (kamiza@the-kamiza.com).

As promised, I can now present the new, updated leader board after last week’s results:

Until then.

Steve “Kamiza” Garrett has been an active member of the vast Vs. System online community since day one. Steve is an ardent supporter of casual Vs. play and the European game on the whole. If you are interested in supporting UDE games within Europe or have any comments regarding this article, please pop along to his website at www.the-kamiza.com.