Introduction and History

Ever since The Avengers became legal, Squadron Supreme has been a force to be reckoned with on the tournament scene. It doesn’t matter if the format is Golden Age, Marvel Modern Age, or Silver Age; Squadron is going to be there, and it’s probably going to be making Top 8. Squadron has done well in numerous tournaments, including 1st place finishes at $10K Bremen, Pro Circuit Atlanta, and $10K Tokyo 2006.

Every top tier deck changes over time, and Squadron is no exception. However, the evolution of Squadron as a deck has been a unique one, because as the metagame shifted, more and more team affiliations ended up in the deck without the addition of Team-Up cards. The deck actually became “diluted” so to speak, as the off-team characters found their way into slots previously occupied by Squadron Supreme cards. Characters from other teams such as Electric Eve; Hawkeye, Clinton Barton; Genis-Vell ◊ Photon, Transformed; and Firestar, Hellion were splashed into the deck to increase its power and utility. The flavor of Squadron Supreme remained—which was evident by cards like Panacea Potion and Answer the Call still being played—but in general, the deck was nowhere close to the “pure” builds that propelled the archetype to mainstream status.

The Build

This new deck that FTN played to the finals of Pro Circuit San Francisco bears little to no resemblance to the Squadron builds from past tournaments. People have been calling it a “Squadron Variant,” but I don’t think that name does it justice. This deck is an entirely different machine than Squadron Supreme, and while they’re both rush decks, their strategies are extremely different.

“Mexican Hardware Store”

Kim Caton, 6th place Pro Circuit San Francisco

Characters:

3 Ape X, Xina

4 Electric Eve, Live Wire

3 Joystick, Janice Yanizesh

3 Mikado and Mosha, Angels of Destruction

4 Shape, Malleable Mutant

4 Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace

1 Iron Fist, Danny Rand

1 Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon

1 Black Panther, King of Wakanda

1 Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon

1 Moon Knight, Marc Spector

1 Jester, Jonathan Powers

1 Golden Archer, Wyatt McDonald

2 John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man

1 Firestar, Hellion

Plot Twists:

3 Trial by Fire

4 Flying Kick

4 Wild Ride

4 Die for Darkseid!

4 Enemy of My Enemy

Equipment:

4 Image Inducer

1 Laser Watch

2 Light Armor

1 Atlantean Trident

2 Flamethrower

60 Total Cards

Mexican Hardware Store is a rush deck that incorporates burn effects to cause more damage throughout the course of the game. It’s relatively straightforward in what it intends to do, namely cause 50 points of endurance loss before other decks have a chance to set up their defenses. Team-Ups aren’t necessary for the deck to function, as none of the plot twist or equipment cards are team-stamped. In tough situations where team attacking or reinforcing is necessary, Image Inducer provides a fake team-up as well as an ATK bonus.

The standard rush curve of 1- through 5-drops is present, and it contains enough variety to ensure a unique recruit if the game goes to turn 6. Equipment cards are vital for any deck that plans to kill before curve decks get set up, and Mexican Hardware Store has plenty. Eight search cards guarantee you’ll be hitting your curve, and they allow you to include “silver bullet” cards for specific matchups. Mexican Hardware Store plays fast, hits hard, and separates itself from other rush decks by being shockingly consistent.

The Strategy

Mexican Hardware Store prefers odd initiative, but it actually runs fine on evens. Assuming you have no knowledge of what your opponent is playing, your mulligan condition is a 2-drop. There are times when you can break this rule; for example, a hand with a 1-drop and Wild Ride is acceptable. As long as you have a way to get your 2-drop on turn 2, then you’re fine.

Mexican Hardware Store plays exactly like Squadron Supreme for the first two turns of the game. Joystick and Electric Eve are solid 1-drops, having great stats and a nice burn effect, respectively. Ape X is useful for searching out equipment cards, but you need to know which ones to specifically get depending on the game state. Generally, you want to search out an Image Inducer if you don’t already have one and equip it to Ape X. You can transfer your Image Inducer to your 2-drop next turn, so you’re not wasting anything by equipping it to Ape X. If you already have an Image Inducer in your hand, you can search out Laser Watch and equip it to Ape X so she has range. If you’re recruiting Ape X after turn 1 (meaning you’re under-dropping), you should grab a Light Armor or Flamethrower and equip it to whomever you see fit.

On turn 2, either Shape or Melissa Gold is the preferred 2-drop. In rare circumstances, you’ll have to play Wild Ride and search for Iron Fist instead, and while he’s comparatively weak, he’s better than no character at all. While Mexican Hardware Store isn’t based around the no-hand strategy of Squadron Supreme, by playing lots of equipment cards, the deck finds itself naturally low on cards in hand. Joystick and Shape will rarely have their maximum stats, but they will always be above the average stats for their respective drops. I’m not advocating totally emptying your hand, but if you find yourself with Joystick or Shape on the board, you should try to get rid of cards in your hand so they have better stats.

Black Panther, King of Wakanda is your preferred 3-drop, while Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon was included to combat Justice League of Arkham. When Black Panther comes into play, you almost always want to search out Atlantean Trident with his effect. There are rare circumstances where you can get away with grabbing a Flamethrower, but it’s a risky play and can often result in losing your 3-drop on turn 3. If you’ve drawn into your only copy of Atlantean Trident by turn 3 (thereby inhibiting Black Panther’s ability to search the deck for it), then Light Armor is an acceptable substitute.

By running only two 3-drops, Mexican Hardware Store runs the risk of missing a drop on turn 3. However, this isn’t a bad thing, as a 2-drop with Light Armor is always a solid play. The time you really need a 3-drop is against Shadowpact, as a well-timed Spectral Slaughter can leave you with only your 4-drop going into turn 5.

On turn 4, you have a few different options. Jester is for any matchup involving opposing equipment, such as Fate Artifact-based decks or Good Guys. In any matchup that doesn’t involve equipment, he’s basically a vanilla 7 ATK / 6 DEF. You only want to recruit him if you can steal something that’s vital to your opponent’s strategy. Moon Knight is a 10 ATK / 7 DEF if you play him on turn 4 while you have initiative, but he’s mainly here because of his Marvel Knights affiliation. Off initiative he’s nothing special, so if you’re going to recruit him, be sure to make the most of him while you’re attacking.

Golden Archer and Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon are great cards for causing extra endurance loss through their burn effects. Deathstroke’s low defense is actually a bonus because his burn effect triggers off him becoming stunned. Deathstroke is better if you have even initiatives because his effect doesn’t require an activation, and because it’s easier to get him stunned if you’re attacking with him. If you have a low number of cards in hand, Golden Archer is the better recruit, but generally it doesn’t matter too much.

It’s important to note that all of the 4-drops in Mexican Hardware Store have a natural 7 ATK / 6 DEF. The average size of 4-drops has increased with the last few set releases, and it’s not uncommon to see 4-drops with 8 DEF anymore. Generally, it’s a good play to equip whomever you recruit on turn 4 with a Laser Watch or Image Inducer to ensure he or she can stun opposing characters while attacking or defending.

John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man is your optimal play on turn 5, not only because he can get a 1-cost equipment into play for free, but also because of his high DEF. Flamethrower should be Steel’s primary target, but Trident and Light Armor are acceptable substitutes. Steel can KO Flamethrower if he would become stunned, which not only powers him up but also prevents him from being KO’d by Flamethrower’s effect. Firestar isn’t exactly a bad recruit for turn 5, but she has weak stats compared to Steel and should be played only if her burn effect will allow you to end the game. You’re better off recruiting her on turn 6 if the game ends up going that far.

One of the most important things to know when playing a rush deck is how to disperse your equipment cards. Image Inducer can be played on anyone because it can be passed around to whoever needs it most. Laser Watch can also be equipped to anyone, but generally you should recruit it onto a 1- or 2-drop without range. Light Armor is mainly used for its discard effect, but if you’re forced to under-drop, it’s never a bad play to equip it to a small character. You should generally avoid playing Flamethrower on 1-drops because of Mikado and Mosha, but once Steel is in play, you can equip it to anyone.

The best time to play Die for Darkseid! is when you have a character you no longer need in play. A good example of this scenario is if you have two stunned characters at the start of the recovery phase. Whichever one you choose not to keep will be automatically KO’d anyway, so it’s better to play Die for Darkseid! and cause some extra endurance loss for your opponent. Also, if your opponent attacks your smallest un-reinforceable character with tons of pumps, you can Die for Darkseid! that character to avoid massive endurance loss.

Matchups

Checkmate/League of Assassins (“Deep Green”):

Even though Deep Green beat Mexican Hardware Store three games to none in the finals of Pro Circuit San Francisco, this matchup is still winnable. The biggest problem card for you is Merlyn, Deadly Archer, because once he hits the table, Rook Control will ship him to the hidden area so he can shoot down all of your characters uncontested. However, by not playing 1-drops and playing Ahmed Samsarra in the hidden area, Deep Green gives up almost all of its early game defenses in favor of dragging the game out to the later turns. To win this matchup, you need to capitalize on the advantage you have in the first few turns of the game, and get the Deep Green player down to a low enough endurance total where you can finish him or her off using burn effects. Once the game gets to turn 6, there’s little to no chance you can win because Merlyn will have KO’d your 3- and 4-drops, leaving you with only a 5-drop drop and possibly a 2-drop to combat a full curve. Watch out for Knightmare Scenario and Checkmate Safe House, and focus more on dealing damage than maintaining board presence.

Fate Squadron:

Save an Enemy of My Enemy for Jester on turn 4 because he single-handedly wins this matchup for you. If you steal Amulet of Nabu during the combat phase, the opponent’s massive artifact-wielding character will shrink by 3 ATK / 3 DEF. Once you get the artifacts off their characters, this matchup is like playing against a normal Squadron Supreme deck—except you have Fate Artifacts, and they don’t have any attack pumps. In general, your characters match theirs drop for drop, but you have more ways to cause damage and can easily cut off their Fate Artifact engine. The early turns may be a bit rocky if they can get all three Fate Artifacts in play, but generally they can’t get all of them online until turn 3 or 4. Watch out for Panacea Potion, because if you get stuck with your 3- and 4-drop staring down an opposing Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, chances are they won’t be able to team attack for the second stun. I don’t expect to see this matchup surface too often because of the abundance of Slaughter Swamp in Silver Age, but it never hurts to be prepared.

G’Lock:

At first, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of pressure on you to end the game quickly. However, you have to end the game on turn 5, because by turn 6, Katma Tui will be gaining the G’Lock player more endurance than you can deal with. An extra 10 or 15 endurance may not seem like much, but it will always be enough to keep G’Lock alive until turn 8 when they can play Mogo, The Living Planet or Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic.

G’Lock is one of the few matchups where a Flamethrower on Black Panther is an acceptable play because the opponent’s 3-drop is unable to naturally stun Panther. Jester is useful for stealing Catcher’s Mitt, which can be a real hindrance on your ability to deal damage. If you have any spare copies of Wild Ride sitting around, fetch Mikado and Mosha to stun G’Nort or another 1-drop before combat begins to decrease the power of cards like Helping Hand or Lanterns in Love. Black Hand should be your primary target for every attack step, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you should attack him first. A well-timed Helping Hand can wreck you, so make sure you can safely stun Black Hand by attacking other characters with willpower first. Use Steel’s effect to KO all of the equipment on your characters (after they’ve attacked) to deal extra endurance loss on turn 5, and don’t hesitate to play any remaining plot twists to cause more breakthrough. Just make sure you can seal the game up before turn 6, because if you don’t, G’Lock’s endurance total will stabilize, and you won’t be able to bring it back down to 0.

Good Guys:

As I said in my last deck analysis, this is a tough matchup for Mexican Hardware Store. It’s pointless to try to match Good Guys’ massive power-up effects by playing large characters, so the best way to deal damage and maintain board presence is through safe attacks. Make sure to have an Image Inducer in play to enable team attacks that ensure stuns. Burn effects such as Deathstroke the Terminator and Golden Archer are helpful in causing out-of-combat endurance loss. Flamethrower would be useful here, but the abundance of flight in Good Guys makes it hard to prevent the equipped character from becoming stunned. The longer the game goes, the more likely it is that Good Guys is going to win. Try ending the game fast, and don’t play conservatively with your pumps.

X-Mental:

This deck was basically engineered to beat Ivy League and Mexican Hardware Store. Four copies of Sage make it hard for Ivy League to get its combo off, and the plethora of defense pumps and out-of-combat stunning effects make it hard for Mexican Hardware Store to make successful attacks. I’ll admit this matchup is definitely not in your favor, and the only way you can win it is through burn effects and getting lucky. If your opponent doesn’t hit Cardiac or Sunfire, then you’re in good shape. While attacking, always factor in two +2 DEF pumps just to be safe. If Cardiac and/or Sunfire are in play, always attack them with a 2-cost or 3-cost character, respectively, to force the X-Mental player to use either character’s effect immediately. You have to end the game before turn 6, just like with G’Lock, but for a different reason. Gorilla Grodd forces you into making bad attacks, and if any of your attacks fail, then you have no chance of winning. Don’t make risky attacks, and hope your opponent doesn’t draw into the cards that can wreck you.

The mirror:

To win the mirror match, you need to capitalize on every single advantage you get. Examples of these advantages are hitting a 1-drop while your opponent doesn’t, getting odd initiative, and being able to play Die for Darkseid! on your excess characters. Swing up the curve every chance you get, and make risky attacks, because the only defense pumps Mexican Hardware Store runs are power-ups. If you get stuck with even initiative, do your best to drag the game out to turn 6, even if it means KO’ing your equipment with Steel to stop attacks. Basically, you just have to draw well and cause more endurance loss than your opponent.

Conclusions

After the emergence of Checkmate/League of Assassins, Mexican Hardware Store should play No Man Escapes the Manhunters instead of Trial by Fire. Sage can be dropped because Justice League of Arkham is no longer a threat, and Kang, Kang Cobra could take her place to help with the Good Guys matchup. Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath could be an interesting finisher, having higher stats and a more damaging effect than Firestar. Other than that, the deck is already prepared to combat the Silver Age metagame.

Mexican Hardware Store is the fastest deck in the format, capable of handing out turn 4 or 5 losses. It’s consistent, powerful, and versatile, meaning it can easily tech for problematic matchups while maintaining its focus. In addition, it’s a comparatively simple deck to pilot, so playing it for the duration of a PCQ won’t leave you completely drained. If you like playing rush decks and beating down your opponents before they get a chance to set up, Mexican Hardware Store is a solid choice for your next Silver Age event.