In honor of the act of coining new words, I am announcing a manhunt. I need you, my risky readers, to find someone. I must know who invented the word “jank.”

Jank is a relatively new word that helps to describe the world of trading card games. It’s my personal favorite. To me, jank is an outrageous strategy so risky that it could be seen as non-competitive and foolish. I know that there are many other definitions, so I’m also asking the community to send me any other possible meanings of the word “jank.” Thanks.

I will report our findings in a future article, but for now, we will review a few of the older words that have taken on new definitions because of trading card games.

en·vi·ron·ment:

The overall set of strategies that will be faced in an upcoming tournament. Also known as the “metagame.” In Vs. System, Modern Age and Golden Age have very different environments.

ween·ie:

A small attacker or defender, often used in a swarm strategy. Only 1-cost characters qualify. Joystick is the biggest weenie in the game if you can keep your hand empty.

bro·ken:

A strategy or card so powerful that it is the only possible method of victory in a given environment. This classification is almost always false. There are no documented cases of broken strategies in the history of Vs. System.

vom·it:

A term that was coined by Michael Thicke to describe the effect of Longshot filling a hand with characters that can spill all over the table for victory. The original concept used Wild Sentinel swarms, so the deck was named Wild Vomit. Now we can play with strategies such as Spider Vomit, Super Vomit, and Witch Vomit.

con·trol:

A strategy that takes away the opponent’s usual method of victory, often through KO effects such as Finishing Move or Hounds of Ahab.

rush:

A strategy that attempts to end the game early, usually with weenies that can attack for 50 points of endurance loss before the fifth turn.

With those modern meanings in mind, let’s take two risky dips into the mailbox and share some spicy strategies from our faithful Metagame.com readers.

Owen Burke has translated a recently coined word into Vs. System strategy language. The word is “sligh,” and it could be very competitive.

I’m building a deck based around a TCG concept called sligh. The basic idea behind sligh is that you use all of your resources in one turn to reduce your opponent to 0 endurance in the shortest time possible. Usually, this involves huge attackers with explosive stats and expensive drawbacks, similar to Xallarap and Anti-Green Lantern. If you don’t get in the required attack damage by a certain point in the game, you are probably toast to your opponent’s strategy. As a crutch to your risky-but-fast beaters, there is a sideline in resource destruction. To stop your opponent from getting to the point where he or she could get back into the game, you set the player back in resource development while developing your own board position.

Vs. System should be able to adopt the concept of sligh into its metagame. The New Brotherhood is close because it hits hard and early. Perhaps once a certain resource point is reached, it could retard the development of the board. If you are better in a sprint, make the game stay a sprint. The obvious cards for this strategy are Foiled!, Ka-Boom!, and Neutron. Are there others? Is there a team besides Brotherhood that could benefit from a sligh strategy?

Michael Gilmore has a late-game resource destruction strategy that is as risky as can be, especially since all its key characters have loyalty to different affiliations. I don’t think his idea could be considered sligh, but I love it just the same.

This is a real jaw dropper of a strategy. When it goes off, the opponent will slump back in his or her chair and say, “I hate you . . .”

On turn 7, recruit Psimon and use Manhunter Giant’s effect to KO Hobgoblin. This will cause the opponent to drop six cards from the top of his or her deck and KO a resource. 

On turn 8, recruit Brimstone and knock down an opposing resource at the start of combat. With initiative again the next turn, bring in Doomsday and wipe the field clean.

Here is my latest build:

Jawdropper

Michael Gilmore

1 Basilisk

1 Beetle, Armorsmith

2 Blade, Eric Brooks

2 Brimstone

4 Dagger, Child of Light

1 Daredevil, Protector of Hell’s Kitchen   

1 Doomsday

1 Dr. Strange        

1 Hannibal King

2 Hobgoblin 

1 Jericho

1 Luke Cage, Street Enforcer                                            

3 Manhunter Giant                                                 

1 Melter                        

2 Moon Knight                          

2 Psimon

1 Rhino                                                                

1 Scorpion, Fatal Sting                                                     

1 Stick                          

1 Tiger Shark                                     

1 Ultron ◊ Crimson Cowl                                        

2 Venom, Alien Symbiote                                                  

2 Vermin                                 

3 Crime and Punishment

1 Evil Reborn

2 Judge, Jury, and Executioner                                          

4 Midnight Sons                                 

2 Mystic Summons

4 Sinister Six                  

2 Stolen Power

2 Unfair Advantage

4 Wild Ride

1 War Wagon

When (after seven matches) I did manage to pull this off, it really was a jaw dropper. I had KO’d his 6 drop, and then I recruited Psimon and blew up Hobgoblin with Manhunter Giant. He didn’t even know it was coming until then because he had always beaten me before turn 7. I have discovered that Hobgoblin is not counterable because it is a trigger effect, whereas Brimstone can be countered in many ways.

I’m glad you enjoy this concept as much as I do. The deck will evolve. I’m not giving up on it yet. Major kudos to you and this website for your encouragement of jank decks and experimental combos. This game has so much to offer for the creatively minded.

Whatever the word jank actually means, Michael Gilmore’s strategy is a perfect example. If he continues to work on it as passionately as he has so far, the term “jawdropper” might even become popular. He has been testing intensively with the Midnight Sons team-up engine and actually has the beginnings of a viable jawdropper deck. I hereby challenge all my risky readers to stretch the boundaries of Vs. System like this until we find ourselves totally “off the chain.” Perhaps we will actually coin some new words as a reward.

Send your definitions; origins of the word “jank;” and comments, questions, or suggestions to rianfike@hattch.com.