This all started with Brother Voodoo. I sat down to sift through all the Silver Age commons that will be legal for Pro Circuit Sydney, and he instantly jumped to the top of the pile and started dancing. He reminded me of the babe with the power, and I had to know more. As soon as I hit enter on my keyboard to Google up his goodies, I was grabbed by the throat and shaken violently. A story of great power glittered on the screen. It called to me like a shining, crazy diamond, and I could not resist. I have a new favorite myth to share with you today, and if I have enough space when we are done, I will do a little Divination to find more hidden gems that might shock the world in Australia.

Brother Voodoo went to a party—not some ordinary stand-around-and-eye-each-other event, but a top-shelf wizardly shindig. Every powerful sorcerer in town was there. It was New Orleans, so the room held more potent Loa (voodoo spirit) energy than any other spot on the planet. They were going to do voodoo with the most awesome deck of cards on Earth, the Inficio Aquilus.

card –noun

1. a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, often one of a set of thin pieces of cardboard with spots, figures, etc., used in playing various games or as a tool for divination.

This will be our working definition of the object of our desire. The Inficio Aquilus brings us a whole new meaning—it is a tarot deck with four additional rares. Tarot cards are generally recognized as the oldest flat, rectangular toys in history; if it wasn’t for them, we might not be flipping plot twists today. And if it weren’t for the Inficio Aquilus, Lili Penrose’s eyes would not have been burned out of her head by Gambit.

Anyone who looks at the four rare cards in the Inficio Aquilus will be blinded by the pure evil they contain. The monks of the Order of Frater Inficio created them inside an asylum, in an attempt to explain and contain the insane. These monks were pure, peaceful people (like most monks are), but they were caring for the most intense cases of madness in the world. Eventually it corrupted them completely.

The power of the cards got totally out of hand. Somehow, the designers had tapped into the pure source of mental derangement. The cards themselves became living things, and began to manifest demonic energies. They served as a transition device, connecting our world to an unspeakable malevolence that threatened to overcome and obliterate all human goodness. In short, the Inficio Aquilus was a really bad deck.

The cards were seven hundred years old when Morgan Penrose decided to have a party to show them off to his friends. He wanted to boast about possessing the deck, and then use it in a human sacrifice that would give him complete dominion of the planet. Brother Voodoo was invited to participate in the ritual, but Gambit had to crash.

A mutant with Cajun roots and criminal inclinations, Gambit had abandoned his X-Men team affiliation and come home. He was tired of being a goody-goody. His old friends in the Big Easy were waiting with open arms, ready to pay him handsomely for his extensive skills in the art of lucrative lawbreaking. Gambit was thrilled by the challenge of stealing the Inficio Aquilus, especially since his employer was the incredibly attractive Lili Penrose.

He hatched a plot with his dear friend Dan Down, and slipped into the Penrose mansion unannounced. As Gambit was disarming the security system, Lili slid up and grabbed him by surprise. She was tipsy and grinning. They had once enjoyed a fling, and she was ready to resume the relationship. He tried to concentrate on the heist at hand, but the seductress dropped her clothes to the floor. Gambit caved in.

When the “distraction” was over, the job was completed. The Inficio Aquilus found its way into Gambit’s pocket, and he went home to recharge. Dan Down was there. (Dan’s is a myth close to my own heart: he’s a kindly old man who can find lucky messages in the arrangement of random cards.) “Fast” Jack Jessup broke into the apartment and strangled Dan dead with a telephone cord, taking off with the magical deck when he was done.

Gambit arranged an elaborate double-cross that tricked a major New Orleans demon into killing Jack Jessup in revenge. The Inficio Aquilus was recovered and Gambit made ready to collect its bounty, but our card-charging Cajun soon found himself in deep trouble. Lili Penrose trapped him in mystical bondage, and it was a bitter betrayal indeed. Floating in midair over a voodoo sigil stronger than anything he had ever seen, Gambit was about to be murdered in the name of evil. Lili poised her ritual dagger over his chest and revealed that his beating heart would be the final ingredient in her spell to become the queen of reality. The Inficio Aquilus would provide the vehicle, and his blood would be the fuel.

The knife reached Gambit’s ribs, then bent and shattered into a failed shower of sparks. Lili screeched in anger, demanding an explanation. Gambit offered only a Cheshire smirk. The tricky witch ripped open his shirt to discover his protective secret—one of the four deadly rares, taped to his body like a magic cardboard shield.

The betrayal of the betrayal was complete. Gambit watched his plan come to fruition as Lili Penrose writhed in pain. Her beautiful face was burned to the skull. In agony, she demanded to know how he found the rare card without going blind himself. Gambit went into flashback mode, saying he had a buddy in town that could do the job. Wolverine had thumbed through the deck until it hurt, then helped the Cajun apply it. That’s what friends are for.

I cannot recommend those comic books highly enough. They are collected in the second half of the trade paperback entitled Gambit: House of Cards. Check out the myth in person at your earliest convenience. And, just in case you want some early insight into the underdog Vs. System commons that might make a surprise showing on Day 3 of Pro Circuit Sydney, I will now pretend I am Dan Down back from the dead.

In House of Cards, Dan gave Gambit the inside scoop on “Fast” Jack Jessup while they were playing Go Fish. Not only that, but the deck was also missing a few cards (they had been needed as firebombs a few hours earlier). In my attempt to predict the unknown power of a few forgotten favorites, I simply sorted through every legal card with white numbers. These are the ones that jumped out at me from each expansion set.

Brother Voodoo really is the babe with the power when it comes to magic dancing through a deck of Vs. System cards. The new Underworld support will not be able to help him in Australia, but Marvel Team-Up promises to eventually upgrade his moves like nothing before. Mikado and Mosha are the slam-dunk Pro Circuit favorites from Marvel Knights, but Jericho Drumm might get to boogie in the winner’s circle anyway.

Don’t let Sleeper Agent catch you napping. There is a growing buzz surrounding his interaction with the substitute mechanic. Legion of Super Heroes woke him up, and he is stirring as we speak. No Man Escapes the Manhunters has a much better chance of showing up Down Under during the day after the Draft, but flipping this 4-drop has never been so intriguing.

I’ll admit it—I picked Windstorm strictly for the art. One of my best friends in the business painted it. We manifested the wind in person for the Super Bowl and helped get all our Gen Con Indianapolis friends a ring, but it probably won’t be swirling around Pro Circuit Sydney. Hawkeye, Clinton Barton might be the splashiest choice from The Avengers, and Day 3 will be indoors anyway, out of the elements. At least you can see the full-sized image for a while. Let it blow you away.

This might really happen. Anyone who remembers playing Sealed Pack with the Justice League of America set can attest to the insane monkey power of Gorilla Grodd. Keebler Powell actually controlled three different copies in a Day 2 match at Pro Circuit Atlanta. For real. Things surely won’t get that crazy in Oceania—and Slaughter Swamp is an absolute lock to make its appearance known first—but Grodd could be an unexpected force to be reckoned with.

I will never get tired of the images on the monitors behind Sage in the art for Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon. She has been a money-winning example of a perfect PC silver bullet before, and she could very well do it again. Another common from The X-Men that might have an even better chance of slipping through to make things sticky is Tar Baby, who has the answer to many current tricks. I’ll be looking for Sage to show the shiny purple on her monitors no matter what.

 

There are at least ten other Heralds of Galactus commons that will undoubtedly be major players in the Australian horse race to Day 3. Moloids might finally bring home the biggest bacon for the clan of the 1-drop Army characters. San seems stronger, but stranger things have happened. Watch for this set to provide the biggest fireworks in PC Top 8 history, but keep the other eye out for Legion of Super Heroes.

While I love the idea of turning the final tables of Pro Circuit Sydney into a Girls’ Night Out, the Mockeries are gaining steam and showing signs of serious shock potential for Darkseid’s Elite. Dark Lantern says “cannot be stunned.” That catches my attention every time.

If I have held your interest long enough to make it this far, then you remind me of the babe as well. What babe? The babe with the power. The power of voodoo. Who do? You do. If you are making the trip to Sydney in three weeks, I can’t wait to watch you dance.

Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes, and the obscure references are from the movie Labyrinth starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie. It won’t help you make Day 3 at the PC, but it will make you smile if you watch it. Send your review to: rianfike@hattch.com