Some players will go to their graves spouting the virtues of their favorite team, while others will switch teams so quickly you’d think they were renting the cards by the hour. Should you show your loyalty to one team, or should you hop from team to team? We'll look at the virtues of both.


Wear Your Team Colors Proudly

I’d guess that a fair number of Vs. System players came into the game hoping that their favorite comic book team would be the best team out there. And you know what? It is. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. In wanting them to be the best, you probably traded for all of that team’s cards first, dreamed up a few strategies, and made a deck. Now they are the best team because you’ve dedicated yourself to them, played them, and taken some pride in ownership.

If you decide to show some backbone and stick with a team, the rewards will come.

1. Early adopters reap early rewards. If you decided which team was going to be the best before the cards even came out, you probably had a reasonably focused deck within a week of the Marvel Origins release date. Your competition, not being as dedicated, probably just had some random cards thrown together in a deck. You probably won your first few games. These early wins convinced you that your instincts were correct and that you chose the right team. It’s hard to give up on the team that gave you your first victories. Early wins show you that you have a knack for the game, and people will look to you for deck advice. Everyone wants to be the local hotshot.

2. When you play one team exclusively, you’re going to know that team inside and out. You’ll know the team’s best formation with initiative or without. You’ll know the character synergies like the back of your hand. No matter what characters you have out, you’ll have a very good idea of what they can do and what plot twists or locations they are vulnerable to. You’ll never miss a trick. Some people are still getting used to the cards and sometimes miss the subtle nuances. Focusing on one team helps to make sure you don’t have the text of 220 different cards all fighting for room in your head.

3. You’ll know your deck so well that decisions like when to mulligan or when to concede a game to get to the next game will become second nature. Same goes for the recovery phase. You won’t have to think twice about which character to recover and which to KO, as you know which one will be most useful next turn.

4. When a new set releases, you’ll be able to quickly identify the cards that will do well in your deck. You get to hyper-focus on just those cards, while everyone else is still trying to sort out what the new best team is this week.

5. The Vs. System is still very new, so there are reputations to be made. If you post your unique deck design the deck might get named after you, like the "Skippy Skrull" deck, or the "Timmy Titans" deck. Obviously, you want to play a team that has good alliteration with your first or last name to make it stick. The key is to be an early adopter of a team and a champion of that team in as public a way as possible. Maybe write some articles for a website or keep a thread alive on a message board for far longer than the topic deserves.


Play the Field

I’d guess that a fair number of you came into the Vs. System hoping to find broken cards, killer combos and the undefeatable deck regardless of what team ends up being the best. And you know what? You probably did. In wanting to be the best you probably traded for all of the best and most broken cards first, then started building dozens of different decks. Now you have the best deck because you dedicated yourself to making it. You’ve tested the heck out of it and taken some pride in having found what you hope will be a sure-fire winner.

Your ability to change decks from week to week and to stay ahead of the metagame will have you reaping rewards in no time.

1. When a new TCG comes out, it usually takes a few weeks for the metagame to develop and another few weeks after that for sanctioned tournaments to start up. No need to pick a team right away. Better to quickly collect up the staple cards that every deck will need. Study the cardpool, test out several different deck design theories and wait until you see what most of the people in your area are playing before you make any decisions about what you’ll be playing at the first event.

2. Because you play every team and every card (at least initially), you’ll have a good idea of what the entire cardpool is all about. You’ll know what to look out for on turn 4 from every different deck out there, as you’ve seen it and done it. This is especially important when you have the initiative. You need to know what your opponent is capable of playing in order to optimize your recruits and formation for the turn.

3. By playing a different deck every week, you remain unpredictable. If an opponent sees your name on the pairings list and knows that he or she is facing a Sentinel rush, he or she will already be working on a strategy to defeat you. Don’t give out that luxury. The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown, so make your opponents sweat it out as they try to figure out what your deck strategy is. The less your opponents know, the better off you are.

4. When a new set releases, your opportunities are limitless. Several new deck archtypes, several new combos, and even an alternate victory condition card get added to your repetoire. By trying out all the new teams and combining some old teams with the new ones, you’ll see any metagame shifts in the cardpool quickly. You’ll also understand how each of the old archtypes has been improved or weakened by the new set.

5. Who wants to become famous for building a deck? You’d rather become famous for winning the first Vs. Pro Circuit event. Anyone who plays the same deck so much that the deck is named after him or her is not even trying to be competitive. He or she is just trying to prove that one team is the best, and when the deck wins on ocassion, he or she feels that that devotion is justified. By playing the field, you’ll have experience with all the cards. This helps a lot in Constructed play, but it pays off even more handsomely in Limited, where you will often be playing with cards you otherwise wouldn’t.


So where do you fit in? Players will make the game what they want it to be. Competitive players tend to go with whatever works best, while casual players like to pick a team and a deck and make it work no matter how long it takes. Neither way is better than the other. It’s all up to your own personal style.


Seen any tactical blunders, brilliant moves, or crazy games during a Vs. System tournament? I’m compiling a list for an upcoming article. If you’d like to share one, write me at mhyra@metagame.com.