Players have been toying with League of Assassins decks since the League hit the scene in DC Origins. However, with the release of The Demon’s Head and Merlyn, hopes have been high for a tier one League deck, and players continue to refine their decks and seek better builds. With Tower of Babel, Ra’s Al Ghul, The Demon’s Head to take out Teen Titans, a wealth of combat tricks, and a character-search card, the League really does seem to have everything a tier one team needs.
Steffen Kraemer played a top-notch League deck in Hanover. “My strength is the Tower of Babel. It can hurt other teams, as well as help my own attacks by preventing reinforcement. In most cases, I can stall until turn 8 and then recruit Ra’s Al Ghul. At that point, in most cases, the game is over.”
Here is what Kraemer played.
Steffen Kraemer’s League Of Assassins
Characters
1 Josef Witschi
4 Malaq
4 Hassim
4 Ubu
3 Kyle Abbot
4 Merlyn
1 Ra’s Al Ghul, Immortal Villain
4 Bane, Ubu
2 Ra’s Al Ghul, Master Swordsman
1 Lady Shiva, Master Assassin
1 Ra’s Al Ghul, The Demon’s Head
Plot Twists
3 Dual Nature
3 Acrobatic Dodge
4 Tower of Babel
2 The Demon’s Head
Locations
4 Lazarus Pit
4 Flying Fortress
4 Mountain Stronghold
2 Pit of Madness
2 Latverian Embassy
1 Yancy Street
1 Base of Operations
1 Avalon Space Station
The deck’s characters only stray slightly from what is generally accepted to be standard for a solo League deck. Hassim provides big ATK boosts in combat and is thus a great character to play in the early stages of the game. The deck foregoes Hassim’s usual early-game accomplice, Talia, for Malaq and Josef Witschi, gaining a surprise factor and some interesting effects in return for giving up its ability to dig for specific locations. As you’ll see later on, this deck features an imprecision that's not often risked with League decks.
Kyle Abbot and Ubu fill the 3-drop slot, giving options whether you can fulfill loyalty or not. Merlyn takes turn 4 and feeds off the deck’s multitude of locations for direct KO’s. He shares his spot on the curve with Ra’s al Ghul, giving five characters on turn 4, and freeing up Mountain Stronghold to be used strictly in the late game. Four copies of Bane, Ubu accomplish the same goal, allowing the deck to curve naturally until turn 6. Once it hits that turn, it can use the Stronghold to search out Ra’s Al Ghul, Master Swordsman
, or it can search out multiple smaller characters if such an option should be better than hitting the curve. One copy each of Lady Shiva, Master Assassin and Ra’s Al Ghul, and The Demon's Head finish the deck’s character lineup.
Because of the way the characters are skewed, the deck can be more versatile in the late game. For instance, if the deck is being played against X-Stall and it doesn’t want to curve on turn 6 due to a fear of being paralyzed by multiple exhaustions, it can always swarm. It can then use Flying Fortress and Hassim to pump up the attacks it gets through, attacking with high ATK values against targets that probably can’t be reinforced, due to their potential reinforcers already being exhausted for activated effects.
“It does really well against Teen Titans, as it removes Teen Titans Go! and their team attacks. It also does well against Fantastic Four, removing Fantasticar’s bonus.”
Kraemer is pretty big on Tower of Babel. He sees it at as the reason to play League of Assassins, and I don’t think many players would disagree with him. Packing four of those, the rest of his plot twists are a little less conventional. Kraemer plays three each of Acrobatic Dodge and Dual Nature, and just a scant pair of The Demon’s Head. Dual Nature isn’t really played that much, but it can give the deck resiliency and options that it can often put to good use. Acrobatic Dodge
keeps Hassim and Merlyn around. You really want to have them on the board for as long as possible, since the effects of both can lead to an extreme advantage in a matter of turns.
The pair of The Demon’s Head are probably the deck’s one weakness. They make the deck a bit less consistent and precise than other League builds, and as a result, this deck takes more skill to play. However, with its variable curve options and better-than-average resiliency, a build like this could be best for the current environment. If the League is to become tier one, expect it to receive more innovations like those employed by Steffen Kraemer.