A long time ago in a galaxy (well, continent) far, far away a new OP program was born. A lot of players who read the articles on Metagame.com may just be getting their heads around the exciting new Organized Play structure, but the European players have spent the last year adjusting to similar changes. Back in May 2006, the news broke that the standard PCQ / $10K format was being replaced with an OP program designed to bring more casual players into the game. The pinnacle event for this new program was the Master Challenge, where the top players could compete for flights and accommodations for the Pro Circuit. The first Master Challenge was held in Essen, Germany over the weekend of February 10th. The second event will be held on the weekend of June 23rd in Manchester, England at the Game ‘07 convention—one of the biggest organized gaming events in Europe.
Over the next few weeks, I will bring you all the information you need to make the most of this premier European Vs. System event. I know that the UK OP office is really excited about the Master Challenge, considering its track record of three very successful $10K Championships. I am sure that this event will be memorable.
The event will be held at New Century House, Manchester, England and is scheduled for two days. As well as Vs. System, there will be World of Warcraft TCG and Yu-Gi-Oh! events all weekend. (This includes a WoW Regional Qualifier on the 24th, so remember to take those WoW decks in case you don’t make the cut for Day 2 of the Master Challenge.) For more information on the convention itself, as well as travel, accommodation, and all the other practical information, pop along to the website at www.game07.eu.
The Master Challenge will be a Silver Age Constructed event. The sets we have to work with will be from Green Lantern Corps through to Marvel Team-Up and the Hellboy Essential Collection. As with any major tournament, many of the players and teams will be trying to crack the format and predict what they are going to face. Luckily for us, a lot of the hard work has already been done. The good fellows that attended the most recent Pro Circuit event in Sydney, Australia all competed in the current Silver Age format, and the decks that performed well there can give us an idea about what we can expect to face in the Master Challenge. The Marvel Knights expansion will have rotated out by then, but we do have a very solid foundation of information from which to work. We will look at a couple of the decks this week, and follow up with the rest in forthcoming episodes.
Ian Vincent: Checkmate toolbox
Characters
1 Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype
1 Terrax, Harbinger of Ruin
1 Nyssa Raatko
2 Huntress, Reluctant Queen
2 Talia, Daughter of Madness
1 Rose Wilson ◊ The Ravager, Daughter of Deathstroke
1 Beast Boy ◊ Animal Man
1 Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot
1 Jester
1 Human Torch, The Invisible Man
1 Alan Scott, White King
3 Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1
4 Ahmed Samsarra
4 Sarge Steel
2 Silver Surfer, Skyrider of the Spaceways
4 Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle
1 Mikado and Mosha
Plot Twists
4 Enemy of My Enemy
4 Threat Neutralized
1 Check and Mate!
Locations
4 Checkmate Safe House
4 Brother I Satellite
3 Brother Eye
1 Slaughter Swamp
1 Satellite HQ
1 The Science Spire
Equipment
3 Knight Armor
1 Tricked-Out Sports Car
1 Catcher's Mitt
1 Cloak of Nabu
Ian Vincent decided to go green, and he stood tall and proud in the land Down Under with this Checkmate toolbox deck. This deck, a solid build that had answers to a lot of decks, lost out to eventual winner Kyle Dembinski and his “QuickFate” deck. This build actually loses very little in the transition; only Jester and Mikado and Mosha are forced to leave. Jester was a very effective way to deal with QuickFate, and the new Silver Age offers few acceptable alternatives. The use of equipment in the deck could warrant a place for New Baxter Building, but other than that the deck will probably change very little. I think a strong approach against this deck is to attack the resource row. Eliminating the locations or Threat Neutralized can really disrupt the flow of the deck and give you a good chance of beating it.
Jonathan Luey and Shaun Hayward also piloted Checkmate-based builds that suffer and gain in much the same way. Instead of Jester, both decks use Meltdown as the primary equipment hate, and both will now have to look elsewhere. I do like the inclusion of Ego the Living Planet, as Ahmed is everywhere in this format and wherever he goes, locations follow.
Erik Cabanero: Rock of Eternity
Characters
4 Atom Smasher
1 Connie Webb
4 Jack Knight ◊ Starman
4 Ahmed Samsarra
1 Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker
4 Terrax, the Tamer
1 Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot
2 Rose Wilson ◊ The Ravager, Daughter of Deathstroke
1 Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot
1 Power Girl, Child of Crisis
2 Huntress, Reluctant Queen
1 The Fallen One
3 The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero
1 Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype
1 Adam Warlock
Plot Twists
4 Enemy of My Enemy
3 Target Acquired
4 Advance Warning
Locations
4 Brother I Satellite
2 Brother Eye
1 Worldeater Apparatus
1 Dr. Fate's Tower
1 Slaughter Swamp
2 The Rock of Eternity
3 Checkmate Safe House
1 Fifth Dimension
1 Satellite HQ
1 UN Building
Equipment
1 Cloak of Nabu
This is a deck I really like, and it loses nothing in the transition. In fact, it actually gains quite a bit if you look at the new Marvel Defenders. The backup team from Marvel Team-Up makes a very potent contribution to any deck that uses The Rock of Eternity. One character in particular that I think would make this deck particularly strong is Tania Belinskya ◊ Red Guardian, Cold Warrior. This deck can become much quicker and much more aggressive with some of the Defenders tricks, but like the previous decks, it can be hurt by aggressive resource control.
These decks are definitely going to be a part of my gauntlet, and if you’re going to be competing at Manchester—or in any Silver Age tournament—you certainly need to pay them similar respect. With the debut of the Defenders, I see Rock of Eternity decks popping up left, right, and center. The undoubted synergy is there for all to see, and I’m sure there will be a representative of this theme in many Top 8s over the coming months.
Next week we will look at the rest of the Sydney Top 8—especially the QuickFate deck that seems to be snowballing in popularity.
Steve “Kamiza” Garrett has been an active member of the vast Vs. System online community since day one. Steve is an ardent supporter of casual Vs. play and the European game on the whole. If you are interested in supporting UDE games within Europe or have any comments regarding this article, please pop along to his website: www.the-kamiza.com.