With the general Golden Age environment fat with Teen Titans and Curve Sentinel decks, the time is right for new decks to emerge and old decks to be innovated. While it seemed evident that TNB Blitz was going to make a breakthrough from the beginning of $10K LA, there were some major surprises, not the least of which was Brian Eugenios’s DoomGods deck.

DoomGods

Characters
4 Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius
1 Dr. Doom, Victor von Doom
1 Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria
4 Boris
1 Lightray
1 Orion, Dog of War
1 Izaya ◊ Highfather
3 Vykin
1 Mark Moonrider
1 Forager
1 Big Barda
1 Metron
1 Submariner
1 Scott Free ◊ Mister Miracle

Plot Twists
4 The Exchange
3 Faces of Doom
2 Betrayal
3 Astro Force
4 Royal Decree
3 Mystical Paralysis
3 Savage Beatdown
1 Unmasked
1 Flame Trap
3 Reign of Terror

Locations
3 Doomstadt
3 The Source
3 Doom’s Throne Room
3 Avalon Space Station

By the end of round six, Eugenios’ only loss was to Ryan Jones on table one of that very round. Despite its random appearance the deck works exceedingly well, and like previous New Gods variants it works by using a wide spread of drops that are searchable as needed via The Exchange. As a result it can run so many single copies of its important drops.

The deck’s one weak point is perhaps its lack of 3-drops. Though this was part of what cost Eugenios the game against Ryan Jones, the deck just doesn’t have enough space for absolutely everything it could use, due to its toolbox of Boris-searchable plot twists and Exchange-searchable characters.

The deck is essentially a big box of tricks backed by solid stats. I doubt this is a deck that you’ll see netdecked in the near future, but it’s really worth looking at. Combined with the New Gods/F4 deck that saw massive success in $10K Columbus (built by Anthony Calabrese), we’re starting to get a very clear picture of what makes a successful New Gods deck. No matter how awkward the single-character approach can look, it does seem to work, and The Source and Astro-Force provide two wicked high-utility tricks in virtually any matchup.

Pairing New Gods with Doom gives the deck some very obvious advantages, like Boris, and some very subtle ones as well. The subtle advantages are primarily stat-based: the defensive jolt of Doomstadt is something that can really make a difference in any matchup, but perhaps my favorite trick of the deck is the use of Doom’s plot-twist prevention effects against TNB Blitz. Blitz has made a huge impact on today’s metagame and will likely continue to do so on a global basis. It can really look like a poor matchup against this deck, especially with its weak 3-drops. But, combined with the massive defense this deck can play and its plot twist negation and prevention, it can actually be quite strong when it’s used carefully.

If you’re interested in playing a New Gods teamup deck, this is probably the way to go. Abuse The Exchange, abuse the New Gods’ cool effects, and run a minimalistic balance of characters. Two players in two $10Ks have demonstrated what a winning combination this can be, so the only question left is how long it will take for this trend to catch on in the environment?