If Vs. System were football, I would throw a bomb on every play. It’s risky and I am defeated quite often, but when I win in spectacular fashion, it is a thrill-ride like nothing else in the world. Therefore, the emotional highs and lows of Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2006 were extreme and intense. There are some very steep drops ahead; please keep your hands and arms inside the article at all times.

The journey began three months ago. One of my columns included an Infernal Minions deck created by Julian “Icereaper93” Martin. His build was a Silver Age concoction that had a distinctly split personality. It either stalled to the later turns and triumphed with an alternate win condition, or finished on turn 5 with a flood of force.

In response to the aggressive side of that deck, Ian “bclhockeyfan35” Kasoff shot me an email announcing that Ryan Jones was toying with a somewhat similar 1-cost Army burn strategy for DC Modern Age. Jonesy graciously shared his list with me and the heat was on.

The first time I goldfished the deck, I fell deeply in love. It swarmed better than anything without Longshot I had ever seen. It set up one of the most radical win conditions in all of Vs. System. My pleasure increased with each succeeding shuffle. I took it to my local Hobby League and proceeded to destroy everything in my path, no matter what the format. I actually won a Golden Age tournament with my Modern Age deck.

The deck is called War Paint. George “playswithfire” Shafer from Baltimore suggested the name, and it was chosen in a wacky chaotic online election. At the end of this report, I will list the other nominees and their creators. Thanks to everyone who participated.

War Paint

Characters

18 Infernal Minions

4 Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive

4 Mantis

4 Tattooed Man, Living Ink

Plot Twists
4 World War III

4 Infestation
4 Secret Files
4 Criminal Mastermind
4 Blinding Rage

3 Air Strike

Locations
4 Hard Light Storage Tank

Equipment

3 Cloak of Nabu

The long passing plays that War Paint runs are based on the following individual moves:

Infernal Minions is played on turns 1 and 2. Additional copies are alternately recruited with Hard Light Storage Tank; Mantis; and Tattooed Man, Living Ink.

Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive is recruited on turn 3, hopefully wearing a Cloak of Nabu for protection.

Mantis comes in on turn 4 to add another Minion, swelling to stun big opposing characters.

Tattooed Man, Living Ink sets up the combo that sends the entire stadium into a frenzy.

On turn 5 with the initiative, all the Infernal Minions go deep. They scatter to different parts of the end zone and run into an opposing defender one by one like lemmings. Sometimes they can stun a character with the help of Blinding Rage, but all they really want to do is get another counter on the crazy canvas called Tattooed Man, Living Ink.

Infernal Minions has an insane ability. They can choose to turn themselves into +1 ATK / +1 DEF counters by jumping into the KO’d pile when they stun. Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive thinks that is hot. When each of your four or five Minions transubstantiates into a counter, the opponent starts to steam with direct endurance loss. The counters go onto Tattooed Man so that he can slap out a psychotic slew of sick little pictures. The 5-drop in this deck often exhibits seven or eight tokens on his art-gallery body. When decorated properly, he can swing on almost anything without getting stunned back. Air Strike allows him to reach his chosen victim quite easily. After our painted warrior has dispatched his defender, he shakes that icky ink loose and brings in a whole new crew of tiny demons. This is the time to attack with Mantis. He will be rather huge if all went well.

Sitting pretty with eight itty-bitty 1-cost Army characters and the hottest honey on cardboard is just too cool. There are times when this deck can land a multiple Infestation to the face for over 100 ATK. My personal record is 144. World War III ices the hotcake to burn for an additional 20-something while eliminating any remaining worries. War Paint is, without a doubt, my favorite deck since Wild Vomit.

In my first match of Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2006, I faced Narayan Cook from Seattle. He was running the ground game with Good Guys. That strategy reminds me of the perfect season that the 1972 Miami Dolphins achieved. I was in the stands at the Orange Bowl for every game that year, and the offense was called “Four yards and a cloud of dust.” Simple, solid beats. On turn 5 with my initiative, Narayan had 43 endurance. I had 18. He controlled a full board with John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man as his 5-drop. I was able to take out Booster Gold with an Infernal Minions on Air Strike, who dove into the paint. Then I ran four more Minions, suicide-style and individually, into Katar Hol, and soon the pictures were plenty for Tattooed Man to take out the Hawkman without stunning. War Paint was unleashed, and seven new Infernal Minions started their dance. Mantis was now swollen up to the 15 ATK range for some nasty licks on Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman. She could no longer be reinforced due to a decimated formation. Infestation team attacked Steel for a lot, and then World War III was flipped for a massive firestorm finish.

Hot to trot and headed into the second round, I sat down against a very cool cat named Mike Olivson. Earlier, he had patched up a message board miscommunication by giving me a foil Longshot as a peace offering, so we were already good friends. Then, I saw what he was playing. Mike went on to win the first-ever Team $10K later in the weekend with Kings Games, and their Constructed deck for the PC was almost as sick as my War Paint. The match started with Funky Flashman, and it got freakier with each turn. It was a hybrid JLI / Secret Society team attack deck that used Funky’s Big Rat Code to get Deadshot, Floyd Lawton active by turn 3. Luckily, my Zazz got her cloak on immediately. It was a strange scrambled game, and War Paint’s emphasis on early concealment helped a great deal. Mike KO’d my Mantis with the ability of Joseph Jones ◊ General Glory, but I still had plenty of pigment for the win. The final turn saw over twenty total characters at one time or another. It ended when I used World War III to KO nine of my guys and five of his. I was on fire.

Flying 40,000 feet in the air tends to make the whiffed drops land with a thud. The third round introduced me to an incredible player named Josh Mulcahy, and it also foreshadowed my ultimate demise. I missed Mantis against a full complement of Good Guys, and my fate was sealed. The list I used in the tournament only ran two copies of the 4-drop. It has been adjusted accordingly above. My fall was cushioned by some great conversation with Josh. A friendship was formed following failure. He is from Reynolds, Ohio and had a former girlfriend living in Newark, Ohio, where I grew up. Josh is a solid individual and I enjoyed sharing in his success throughout the weekend.

The fourth round was bizarre. I had roomed with Robert “whydoesithurt” Paasch and Team Stupid last year at Indy. This year, he provided me with the three Air Strikes I needed for my deck mere minutes before the Pro Circuit began. Now we had to square off at 2-1. His Shadowpact deck squashed me fairly badly with Spectral Slaughter, but I hung in there by playing all three of the plot twists he had given me just hours before! Only swinging my 3-, 4-, and 5-drops almost got me the game. If I had one power-up on turn 5, I would have won. Alas, I was happy to see Rob move on. Almost as happy as I was while watching him take Team Stupid to the semifinals in the Team $10K the next day.

I was 2-2 and wondering. Then I was given a wish. I had desperately wanted to play a War Paint mirror match at least once during the Pro Circuit. Round 5 was my chance. Aaron Most from Minnesota matched my Minion immediately, and I couldn’t stop laughing. Party on! This battle lasted less than twelve minutes, but its memory will linger a good long time. War Paint desperately wants the odd initiative . . . except in the mirror. Who would have known? Aaron won the roll of the dice and didn’t think twice. He picked odds. World War III, we quickly learned, allows a lightning fast win during your attack step on turn 4. Aaron missed Mantis, allowing me a double Infestation before I blew the board. It was incredibly fun and it moved me up to 3-2 halfway through.

In my humble opinion, Matt Hyra is a god. He is the designer responsible for War Paint, though Justin Gary added the burning cherry on top. In the Justice League of America set, 1-cost Army characters run rampant. Now that Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive has given them a temperature upgrade, they will burn forever. Matt was drooling all day over the possibility of his World War III backhanding Justin’s Ahmed Samsarra for the turn 3 win. I had my chance to satisfy his bloodlust in round 6.

Chris Smith from Rockford, Illinois was too smart to let me. When turn 3 rolled around, he recruited Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker instead of Ahmed. Yes, we have a player on the Pro Circuit who can recruit his actual namesake. Chris Smith played Chris Smith all day long. Given the fact that his deck revolved around the up-curve abilities of hidden Mr. Terrifics, it didn’t really matter. War Paint loves to face concealed characters. If Good Guys was the rock of Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2006, then Checkmate variations were the paper. War Paint was scissors and it cut this deck to shreds.

I was 4-2 and having fun. My confidence was growing as the War Paint was being laid on thick. My seventh opponent was Jean Baez from Puerto Rico. He continued on to finish well into the money when the weekend was over. Once again, against Good Guys, I delivered the goods. This time I was trailing 40-18 on endurance going into the fifth turn. I had all the tools for the finish and won by a comfortable margin to get one game away from Day 2 after only seven rounds.

Then the wheels fell off. I was eight miles high going into round 8, and soon I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Watch out below!

When you take the War Paint deck into mortal combat, watch out for Fatality. She stops the Minions from turning themselves into ink. This match tore the heart directly out of my chest. I never recovered. On turn 4, I had seven Infernal Minions in play with no honey to heat them. I drew into one Secret Files and wrestled with my decision. I fetched Zazz and hoped for the guy with the pictures on turn 5. I had the match in hand if I could topdeck my Tatts. We didn’t do it. I died by Grodd on turn 6. My confidence was shot. I cannot describe the pressure of securing that last win when Day 2 is on the line. It felt like I had killed my own puppy or something. I had a blast talking hockey with my opponent, Colin Winter-Harstone from Toronto, for thirty minutes after the match, but it didn’t do much to ease the pain.

Ben Rislove from the Minnesota powerhouse team called Irken Elite has the most amazing sports-announcer voice, and he also had the answer to War Paint in round 9. Maxwell Lord, Black King denied team affiliated abilities while Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1 beat me senseless. It wasn’t even close, since I continued the bad habit of missing my Mantis when it mattered most. I was falling fast.

I was beaten for the third match in a row, missing Day 2 by one game. It hurt really badly. I whiffed on Mantis again to confirm my fears, and I played two plot twists early that I should have saved for turn 5. I was so worried about missing my 4-drop and losing before I could recruit Tattooed Man that I panicked and played scared. Good Guys pump can win on turn 4 occasionally, so the other two copies of Mantis seem like a real good idea now that it’s all over. Living and learning on the Vs. System rollercoaster . . . I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I am almost healed now, and I can’t wait to play the deck on tour in the coming DC Modern Age PCQ season. I hope to see you there.

Just in case you died a little along with me during the awesome ride that was Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2006, let me reassure you. There were hundreds of happy success stories at this PC, and some of them might not have happened without my downfall. I can’t wait to get back up for another article and tell you all about them. Especially when I explain the $3,700 surprise that we found in our hotel room. Meet me here next week for a much more pleasant tale.

Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes. His War Paint deck was almost called Buzz-Kill by Ronald “taleweaver” Ramos from Manila, World War Bee by Jason “Korinthe” Steel from Gainesville, Ink Poisoning by Richard “PowerIsParallax” from Cape Coral, Praying Mantis by Calvin 10 from the Philippines, Miami Ink by Perry “capnoni” King from Omaha, Inkblot by Juan “deviann” from Mexico, Beez Nuts by Jason “BabyArm” Bunch from Denton, Ink-festation by gdaybloke from somewhere in Canada, and Honey I’m Home by magusxxx in an unknown location. Send your own war stories to rianfike@hattch.com.