As for decks from Superman, Man of Steel, that’s a different story. Simply put, I’m holding off on talking about Superman-based decks, since I don’t think they’ll have a sizeable impact on the format.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand—you want decks, and I’m a man who hates to disappoint. Check out this beauty.
Characters
4 G’Nort
4 Olapet
4 Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern
1 Tomar Tu
4 Dr. Light, Master of Holograms
1 Tomar Re
1 Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern of the Universe
4 Malvolio
3 Katma Tui
2 Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar
2 Kyle Rayner, Ion
1 Krona
1 Sinestro, Enemy of the Corps
1 Hal Jordan, Parallax
Locations
3 Sector 2814
3 Willworld
3 Book of Oa
Plot Twists
4 The Ring Has Chosen
4 Breaking Ground
2 Reciting the Oath
4 Lanterns in Love
2 Helping Hands
2 Zero Hour
1 Rain of Acorns
It’s a beauty, ain’t it? Yup, this little puppy can take the worst that life can toss at it and shrug it off. It’s got more staying power than the Energizer Bunny. *Sniff* I’m so proud. OK, enough strutting. As the great Mr. T would say, “I ain’t got time fo’ none of this jibba-jabba.”
All “jibba-jabba” aside, this deck has enormous potential to take control of the tempo of a game. Control junkies, you can stop worrying about having to learn how combat works in this game. You now have a deck to play that hates the combat phase as much as you do. All this deck aims to do is survive. I’ve gained a reputation around here as a somewhat passive player. In fact, my motto at one point was, “Why win when you can not lose?” That’s the perfect motto for this monstrosity as well. It aims to keep as many guys around as long as possible, eventually firing off a copy of Zero Hour for well more than your opponent can handle.
Let’s take a look at how this deck doesn’t lose. First off, you may notice that the basic skeleton of this deck is similar to that of another one you might have read about recently—last week, in fact. At least, I hope you read it. If you didn’t, shame on you. Regardless of your disloyalty and my hurt feelings, I’ll continue for the nice people out there who tune in every week.
G’Nort is so amazing. He gives all of your guys a little boost, which is huge in the early game. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a turn 1 G’Nort, you may understand. He makes your 2-drop bigger than theirs. Now they have no good turn 2 attack. I promise you, it’s the most frustrating feeling in the world to have to pass your initiative without an attack. “No, I insist. Please utterly wreck me. I don’t mind.” He’s good enough that I frequently find myself KO’ing larger guys to keep him around. He’s especially good in this deck for reasons I will explain later.
Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern is the backbone of every deck he’s in. This time, though, he’s got an accomplice: enter Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. You may remember the good doctor’s antics from such compelling headlines as, “Over one half of Top 8 plays Rama-Light combo,” “Too broken to continue,” and “UDE issues errata for Rama-Tut.” That’s quite a lot of trouble for a relatively unassuming 3-drop. Give him a good 2-drop to recur, though, and you begin to understand why he’s not just called “Mr. Light.” He knows what he’s doing.
Allow me to break this down for you. Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern comes into play. You get to dig a card out of your deck. Uh oh, Kyle dies. Dr. Light resuscitates him. Yay! You get another card from your deck. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Laugh with maniacal glee as your opponent is buried under a storm of constructs and card advantage. In order to abuse the good doctor, though, you have to have a card to bring back from your KO’d pile. This is another reason G’Nort is so good. If you have to choose between recovering G’Nort and Kyle, your decision is easy. You keep the little guy and just use Dr. Light to get your Kyle back and get another card.
Dr. Light is also good at keeping guys around. It’s great with cards like Lanterns in Love and Reciting the Oath, which both work best when you have lots of guys in play. Both also are key components of your defensive strategy. Your goal is to stay alive for as long as possible. As I’ve said in past articles, the aggressive decks in this format are very good at dishing out huge amounts of endurance loss. Reciting the Oath will save you near-infinite damage since most of the damage your opponents will deal to you is through breakthrough. Lanterns in Love lets you keep important pieces of your board around for more. Did your opponent stun your Dr. Light? Don’t worry, someone up there loves him. Did he go all in to stun your Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar to get around his ability? Make him do it again. And try not to get hit in the process.
Malvolio and Katma Tui are in the deck for one reason—they have some of the largest DEF values in the game at their respective costs. Malvolio also helps keep your draws consistent and can find that one specific card to help in a given situation. Katma Tui is another of those cards that wants as many guys as possible in play on your side, and she’s especially good once you have a Reciting the Oath flipped. Now, since all of your guys have reinforcement, they’re free to tap and gain massive amounts of endurance. Add this endurance to the steady stream of endurance that will be flowing in from Sector 2814, and you get virtual immortality. Lots of endurance equals lots of not losing. And we love not losing.
Another of the SAT words I constantly use is consistency. Without it, you miss drops and key cards. Worst of all, it can lead to losing games. I hate losing, so naturally, I want all of my decks to be as consistent as possible. That’s why cards like Willworld, Book of Oa, and The Ring Has Chosen are in the list. Thanks to Willworld and The Ring Has Chosen, you should always hit all of your drops. Another added bonus is that the discard drawback lets you get a Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern into your bin for the good doctor to start having some fun with. Book of Oa allows you to search for any plot twists Kyle missed, as well as the big non-Constructs like Zero Hour and Reciting the Oath. Reliable access to them will spell the difference between losing and not losing.
I love the things Green Lanterns can do with their rings. Maybe can do isn’t the right way to put it. I love the things they choose to do with them. They range from the incredibly imaginative Emerald City to the rather boring Uppercut. A boxing glove? You’re joking. This guy built an entire freaking city and you’re making a boxing glove? I could make better constructs with Legos. Kyle Rayner, though, he’s an artist. He can create anything for any situation. Need to kill that Prison Planet? Kyle can snag a Breaking Ground. Need to slow down your opponent’s swarm? Send him to get a Helping Hands or a Rain of Acorns. The possibilities are limited only by the Constructs you put in the deck.
The final turns of this deck are spent first delaying the inevitable, and then inviting it over for dinner. Kyle Rayner, Ion is awesome to watch in action. He basically makes a single turn of the game not exist. Since we’re merely trying to not lose, this is fine with us. However, our opponents are actually trying to win the game. Fools. They will probably not like missing an entire turn. I already said it’s one of the most frustrating feelings in the world. Lucky for you, the next turn is the end game. Hal Jordan, Parallax is one tough cookie. He costs 9. He is a 25 ATK/25 DEF. He has near-infinite willpower. And this is Zero Hour. Zero Hour plus Hal Jordan, Parallax plus a game spent trying to not die should equal about 30-plus endurance loss for your opponents. Game over man . . . game over.
Well, kiddos, I think that will about do it for this week. I hope I’ve convinced a few more of you out there that not losing is a viable game strategy, and that the Green Lanterns are the team to do it. Think about it, guys, and start hitting the gauntlet hard. Because in my house, slacking will equal losing.
And I hate losing.
Questions and comments can be sent to the_priceis_right@yahoo.com. Thanks a bunch for all of the feedback so far, I really appreciate it!