Being a professional at this game isn’t easy. It requires an intense knowledge of the available card pool, as well as all the game rules and mechanics. In order to gain such knowledge, you must have the time to become proficient in these areas and the desire to devote that time. On top of all of that, add in three rotating formats every year—not to mention four different Draft sets that need to be analyzed—and you have an amount of work equal to that of a full-time job. Today I will try to take some of that work off your shoulders and give you some potential decks and strategies that could show up in the new Silver Age format at $10K Columbus.

Silver Age: The Next Generation

$10K Columbus will mark the first time that the Silver Age format is without the Web of Spider-Man expansion, so essentially, this will be a brand new metagame to explore. This may be a bold sentiment, but there are some compelling reasons for such a statement. Not only are we losing an expansion, but we are actually gaining cards. (The Web of Spider-Man expansion was only 165 cards, whereas the set that is replacing it weighs in at 220 cards.)

As with any format, the more cards you have to test, the more difficult predicting the metagame becomes. Add in the fact that you must adapt cards to current viable decks in the format when a new set is released—as well as try to develop new ideas and concepts—and the face of the metagame could shift dramatically between tournaments. Thankfully, you have me to help guide you through these very murky waters. What follows is a rundown of what the metagame was, what we have lost, and potentially what we have gained. Hopefully we can all get a better idea of the metagame and the environment (especially those who are hoping to attend $10K Columbus).

Ghosts of Silver Age Past

So far, we have had two major tournaments using the Silver Age format. I was lucky enough to attend the first one (Pro Circuit San Francisco), and I followed $10K Charlotte with interest; it was the first major $10K where Silver Age was legal. What follows is a brief rundown of the popular metagame choices from PC: San Francisco and $10K Charlotte .

I like to think that my team and I had something to do with ushering in this dominant deck. I don’t think I need to tell anyone that Ahmed Samsarra is busted, and the interaction he had with all those other techy locations available in Silver Age made this deck a force. Let’s not forget all the help Ahmed’s followers got, either. The Checkmate team had great support locations such as Brother I Satellite and Checkmate Safe House, as well as cards that worked well with the location theme such as Knightmare Scenario.

Notice I call this section “Checkmate Variants.” This is because now, it seems, Checkmate is the flavor of choice when teaming-up a new team in Silver Age. This is most likely due to the benefits the team can give, as outlined above. While I may be biased in thinking that the best version of Checkmate was a team-up with Villains United (my team took that deck to PC: San Francisco), it has since offered a home to those characters with good abilities who had no support within their respective teams. The likelihood for this deck to show up is incredibly high. I would recommend that anyone trying out the new Silver Age format build up a Checkmate deck and become proficient with what the team has to offer and what tricks may be up its sleeve.

The deck that came, saw, almost conquered, and was subsequently banned. The deck, as mentioned previously in many of my articles, was the brainchild of Jason Hager. It focused on emptying your opponent’s hand with discard effects, ensuring that he or she never had more than three or four resources in play. Just in case you didn’t know, UDE decided to ban Justice League of Arkham shortly after PC: San Francisco, so while this deck was a force at the first Silver Age tournament, we don’t have to worry about it anymore. R.I.P. Ivy League.

I did not (and still don’t) understand this deck’s name at all. Regardless, FTN managed to put together a contender with this deck. Essentially, the build is a Silver Age version of High Voltage, using burn cards, massive combat pumps, and characters with hard-hitting abilities (either stat-wise or effect-wise) to end the game early.

It was interesting to see this deck’s matchup against some of the other decks, such as Ivy League or the Checkmate builds. Considering Checkmate’s ability to brickwall attacks, I was impressed at this deck’s ability to push through the necessary damage to win before Checkmate and Ivy League could build up steam. Now that Ivy League is gone, Checkmate decks are really hard to predict given all the potential team-ups, and a new set will be included, it will be interesting to see if this Hardware Store can still be viable in the current environment.

Remember when things were crazy? When we were having people drop characters with 20 ATK on turn 3 with crazy Fate Artifact combos? Well, I sure do. I swear, there must have been a million Chicken Littles running around, ‘cause all I ever heard was, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Well, UDE—being the nice and player-friendly chaps that they are—responded, negating the situation where a player could get multiple copies of the same Fate Artifact into play. When this happened, it seemed that the clamor over the Fate Artifacts died out. Let me tell you—as someone who took a horrible loss to a deck based on those supposedly “dead cards”— that they are alive and well (and kicked the tar out of my Checkmate/Villians United deck at PC: San Francisco).

Essentially, this deck simply pumped out the Fate Artifacts while making use of big characters that are just hard to deal with. Sound familiar? Well, it was part of the strategy (along with locking down characters with Crystal Frost) behind the Secret Society deck that won it all at PC: Indianapolis. I would keep an eye out for this deck, as Squadron Supreme’s synergy with the discard cost of Helm of Nabu is too good to overlook. You just may find yourself staring down a fully Fated-up Shape, and that won’t be a laughing matter!

I honestly have no clue what to call this deck. I just got so excited when I saw an X-Statix character in the decklist that I figured the name fit. FTN (I know, again! You’d think they were good or something!) showed up at $10K Charlotte packing some real heat, and this deck was the furnace that was powering it. Let me tell you something—this deck was a great choice for that $10K. The metagame was already firmly established from the PC, and taking a deck that is not on anyone’s radar is always a big plus. It paid off for FTN, netting a Top 8 with this bad boy.

The deck mainly stalls out for late game, where it beats its opponents with cards like Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch and the ever-menacing Imperiex. The deck used a variety of stall cards such as Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man and Battering Ram to get to the aforementioned cards. This deck is definitely a unique creation, and I would at least recommend looking at it—lightning may strike twice!

Can this deck take a format off? Silver, Modern, or Golden—this deck is determined to gain some respect in gamers’ minds. I wasn’t too certain of this deck’s playability going into $10K Charlotte since it underperformed at PC: San Francisco, but it proved me wrong, notching a Top 8 in its belt in Charlotte. I don’t know if people simply did not put the silver bullets (Unmasked and Kang, Kang Cobra) that would kill this monster in their decks or what, but its showing definitely surprised me.

Given this deck’s strong showing at the Modern Age PC just a month ago—as well as the fact that it has to be considered in Golden Age testing for the upcoming PC: LA—this deck will likely be in the forefront for many players who are having a hard time coming up with a solid deck choice.

Ghosts of Silver Age Present

This is the first time that a set has been rotated out of the Silver Age format. Many of the decks I just went over contained cards from the Web of Spider-Man expansion. I’m going to pick out a couple of cards that were key for some decks so that we might recognize what was lost:

• Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man—This guy is probably one of the most broken 7-drops in the game. If he were to be remade now, I would imagine his ability would be limited to once per turn, as it is just such a powerful effect as it currently stands. Unfortunately, this card is now out of rotation, and the X-Statix deck now has a huge gaping hole at not only its 7-drop slot, but also in the stall portion of the deck.
• Flamethrower­­­—This card was an important part of Mexican Hardware Store, and losing it may mean the end of this deck. Granted, there are cards like Mindtap Mechanism and Atlantean Trident that provide the same ATK modifier, but it was the burn that really made this card shine. Not having that option anymore may be the final nail in this deck’s coffin.

I definitely feel like we traded up when we rotated Heralds of Galactus into the Silver Age format, and this is not just in reference to card count. This new set seems to be ushering in several new and exciting deck concepts in the Golden, Modern, and Silver Age formats. What follows is a brief description of what each team could potentially present a deckbuilder in the Silver Age:

• Heralds of Galactus—This team has a little bit of everything. You have the stall you need in Worldeater Apparatus and Human Torch, Invisible Man while also having some beatdown aspects, such as Firelord, Harbinger of Havoc. I could see this deck trying to find some common ground with a G’Lock deck, abusing the multiple ways both concepts have to gain endurance. The one problem with this strategy is that it may be too slow for the current environment. Only time will tell.
• Inhumans—Does anyone remember the first Modern Age tournament? It was Marvel Modern Age, and the Marvel Knights expansion was taking everyone by storm. My favorite deck out of that format was a straight concealed Marvel Knights deck, and I think that the Inhumans could have that same kind of future in store for them. Being able to have characters hidden only gets better though! With the advent of cosmic—surge, your hidden characters now can chill for a minute and then gain that all-important cosmic counter. If you don’t want to wait, don’t fret! You have access to great supportive cards like The Royal Guard and the always-popular It’s Slobberin’ Time!. The jury is still out on this team; we can only wait and see whether this deck can survive on its own, or if it needs to team with a deck that can build a presence in the visible area.
• Kree—This deck brings new meaning to the phrase “playing down.” Now, it may not be such a disadvantage. This team will live and die with a miniscule 2-drop with not much punch but with one heck of an ability. Dr. Minerva, for the most part, runs this deck. She facilitates the new press mechanic, but also keeps your hand full so that you have those extra characters to drop into play. I have seen firsthand how devastating this team can be in Draft, but I am unsure as to whether or not their strength can be transferred over to the Silver Age Constructed environment.
• Doom—The good Doctor is back and better than ever. This time, he is sporting a brand new theme. Whereas the last theme could be generally referred to as “control,” this time the Doctor is all about himself. Many card effects for this team require you to KO a character or resource as an additional cost, but generally that steep cost is worth it. Instead of giving you a deck idea here, I will be honest: I don’t see this team making much of an impact on the Silver Age environment. I have yet to conceive of a deck that could work outside of DC Modern. If I am wrong, show me up. I dare you!

In the End

So, what does all of this mean? What will win the next Silver Age tournament? Heck if I know. However, what I have set out for you is a roadmap. It would have been impossible for me to supply an exhaustive analysis of the potential of all the decks I listed. Instead, the brief synopsis that I did provide was intended to give you all the strong points that a deck may have. Does this mean that all the decks I listed are top flight? Definitely not. They are simply a good representation of what is out there and available. Having as much information as possible about your opponents and their decks will put you in a better situation to respond to their choices. What you must do, my dear friend, is to sort out the playable from the unplayable. That is the true test of a strong player: being able to analyze the metagame and make the right decision in regards to the deck to play. Hopefully I sparked your creative process by refreshing your memories about what was out there, as well as running down some brief analyses of the popular deck choices. Feel free to email me with any thoughts you may have, or any ideas for the TAWC shirts. Until next time!

Shane Wiggans, one of the nicest guys with a tattoo sleeve, is also a member of Team Alternate Win Condition and is still waiting for fellow writer Michael Barnes to apologize for the recent disparaging remarks. If you have any questions or comments for him, feel free to say hey at any event, or email him at piercedlawyer@yahoo.com!!