Jonathan De Joseph is ranked second in the Constructed ratings for Asia. He is playing a self-concocted four-team affiliation deck that is doing surprisingly well. I managed to get him to spill the beans on his brainchild at the end of the second round.

 

Metagame: You're playing a deck that runs four different team affiliations! What inspired you to build this deck?

 

Jonathan: I have always been a fan of Spider-Man, so I jumped at the chance to play my favorite hero at tournaments. Marvel Knights was required for the team-up Midnight Sons, and the other two affiliations are really just minor splashes. Essentially, Spider-Friends and Marvel Knights are the main affiliations, and Underworld and X-Men are only splashes.

 

Metagame: What's the reason for the splashes?

 

Jonathan: Underworld is in for Wake the Dead and Blade, and I'm running X-Men for Bamf! In earlier versions I found that I often had extra Daggers in hand, so I decided to run more Midnight Sons, which would allow me to splash cards that improve the overall quality of the deck.

 

Jonathan De Joseph

$10K Manila

 

Characters

4 Dagger, Child of Light

1 Black Cat, Master Thief

1 Shang Chi

3 Scarlet Spider ◊ Spider-Man

4 Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man

2 Cardiac

2 Luke Cage, Street Enforcer

1 Cloak, Child of Darkness

1 Spider-Man, Alien Symbiote

1 Daredevil, Matt Murdock

3 Blade, The Daywalker

3 Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly

2 Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man

2 Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man

2 Dr. Strange

 

Plot Twists

1 Coalition of Heroes

1 Weapon of Choice

1 Fun and Games

2 Bamf!

2 Pleasant Distraction

2 Sticky Situation

4 Wild Ride

4 Midnight Sons

4 Spider Senses

4 Wake the Dead

 

Locations

1 ESU Science Lab

1 Latverian Embassy

 

Equipment

1 War Wagon

 

Metagame: Tell us how the deck plays.

 

Jonathan: You want to reach the later turns so you can play Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, and a boosted Dr. Strange.

 

Essentially, I plan on hitting my curve and not missing any drops. I run Wake the Dead and Wild Ride to ensure this. With Scarlet Spider ◊ Spider-Man, I can even use Wake the Dead to find Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly.

 

An important thing to note is that you need to take the even initiative. This is the important thing in the whole game. If you are forced to take the odd initiative, it will be a very tough match.

 

Metagame: Thanks for sharing that with us. Does the deck have any particular favorable or blatantly unfavorable match ups?

 

Jonathan: Not really. It can take on anything in the current environment. As I said, the key is to take the even initiative. I also run Cloak and Cardiac for the rush and concealed decks, while Black Cat and Fun and Games can deal with X-Statix.

 

Metagame: Do you have any other tips for players?

 

Jonathan: I always modify the build of my deck before any major tournament. I play in the league, so most players usually know what deck I am playing. Before a PCQ or $10K, I would change certain cards in the deck for a surprise factor.

 

Metagame: Well, you've done well enough to have won your first two games. Do you expect to make the Top 8 today?

 

Jonathan: I certainly hope to make the Top 8 certainly, but it would depend on my performance for the rest of the day.

 

Metagame: Thank you for your time, and good luck!