Vs. System Pro Circuit Qualifiers are a great way to spend a day. You get to meet new people who share your interest in trading card games. You get to make friends and measure the metagame. You even get a chance to win $250 on the spot.
I have been blessed with the means to attend at least a dozen PCQs during my Vs. System career, and the sense of community they have brought into my life is priceless. I drove from Miami to Knoxville for the first-ever Pro Circuit Qualifier way back in April 2004. There, I started my lasting friendships with Pro Circuit superstars such as Dave Spears, Russ Pippin, David Leader, Anthony Justice, and Matt Oldaker. I have continued to attend PCQs all over Florida, and my circle of friends has expanded exponentially. This game has enriched my life like no other hobby ever could.
On Friday the 13th of January, I embarked on the journey from Miami to Winter Park for my next PCQ fun-fest. Although we had a very unlucky road trip on that day of all days, we survived the traffic mix-ups and made it unscathed. The next morning, it was time to party with some brand new, card-flipping friends. They did not let me down.
I am the kind of person who experiences just as much joy when my endurance ends up less than my opponent’s on the deciding turn as when it ends up more, so my losing record in the Sealed Pack PCQ did not faze me. My matches introduced me to many more wonderful players from our fair state. That was reward enough.
Because of my poor showing, I had a chance to float around the room and check out the Constructed environment. I realized quickly that Patrick “Majestic” Yapjoco was at it again, even though he was 2,500 miles away. His “Glock” deck from Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2005 took its place at the top of the Golden Age food chain and was on every table at our PCQ. Patrick is also credited with the earliest versions of Curve Sentinels, and his new Green Lantern life gain strategy looks like it has already made a lasting mark on the historical metagame as well.
Enter another one of my old friends, Cameron “gator7870” Robinson. Cameron has always been one of the most dedicated contributors to the wealth of Vs. System knowledge and the community spirit on the forums of VsRealms.com. He is the kind of person I want to see at every tournament I attend. He has a great sense of humor and he always has fun. And he won the PCQ on Saturday with a brand new archetype. He won one game by attacking with an Infernal Minions pumped up to 22 ATK with All Too Easy! That’s money. The massive burn potential of the deck keeps you just barely ahead of the life gain, but just barely can be enough.
Gator’s deck grabbed the $250, and he saw a way to make it even better against the Glock willpower stall—he’ll be adding The Joker, Emperor Joker to this wicked masterpiece:
Cameron Robinson
First Place, Winter Park PCQ
“Easy Money”
Characters
4 IQ, Ira Quimby
6 Infernal Minions, Army
4 Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist
2 Abra Kadabra, Citizen Abra
4 Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist
3 The Shark, Karshon
4 The Joker, Joker’s Wild
1 Dr. Destiny, John Dee
2 Evan McCulloch ◊ Mirror Master
Plot Twists
3 Rise from the Grave
3 System Failure
4 All Too Easy
4 Secret Files
4 Power Siphon
4 Unmasked
4 Flying Kick
4 Criminal Mastermind
Cameron had this to say about the deck’s performance:
“It seems that Rise from the Grave was the card that caught people the most off-guard. Several times, people tried a Finishing Move or Chopping Block, just to see Sexy Lexy come right back. Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist has a huge target on his back, and this is the way to keep him around. The cost is minimized because saving him with an IQ on the board will burn your opponent for more than you lose within two turns. Not to mention that Lex is mandatory for the deck to work. Infernal Minions is excellent. You can drop it on turn 1 and get the Criminal Mastermind online, and then you can use Secret Files on turn 2 to get IQ. Then, a few turns later, you run them into a 4- or 5-drop with an All Too Easy and get a counter on Lex!”
Cameron Robinson plays at Dragon’s Tale in Jacksonville. That city has become a hotbed of Vs. System power. Irving Diaz won the Sealed Pack tournament on Saturday after collaborating with Jeremy Thomas on a new, improved version of Billy Zonos’s Solitaire. (Remember, gang, Billy gets props for every deck that includes Puppet Master.) The North Florida update of this classic stall strategy is insane; just look at all the different team affiliations! This deck was built to control the weenie rushes that have spread throughout the environment recently, and it is exceptionally effective:
Jeremy Thomas
Eighth Place, Winter Park PCQ
“Jacksonville Slowdown”
Characters
4 Dagger, Child of Light
4 Mikado and Mosha, Angels of Destruction
4 Puppet Master, Philip Masters
2 Iron Fist, Danny Rand
4 Cardiac, Elias Wirtham
2 Brother Voodoo, Jericho Drumm
4 Rogue, Power Absorption
1 Cloak, Tyrone Johnson
3 Glorious Godfrey, Persuader
2 Sunfire, Shiro Yoshida
3 Mimic, Calvin Rankin
2 Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath
1 Magneto, Lord Magnus
2 Sonar, Dastardly Discord
Plot Twists
4 Straight to the Grave
4 Wild Ride
4 Midnight Sons
4 Pleasant Distraction
Locations
3 Slaughter Swamp
3 Avalon Space Station
One of my newest Vs. System friends played the deck that I was most in love with. Even though he did not make Top 8, David Spencer had the courage to play 1-cost Army characters in a whole new way. I think everyone will be able to understand why I fell so hard for this:
David Spencer
Winter Park PCQ
“Bugs!”
Characters
15 Insectoid Troopers
4 Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee
4 Shadow-Thief
4 Dr. Light, Master of Holograms
2 Mantis
2 Tattooed Man, Living Ink
2 Lex Luthor, Evil Incorporated
Plot twists
4 Die for Darkseid!
4 Secret Files
4 Cover Fire
4 Infestation
Locations
3 Royal Egg-Matrix
4 Hard-Light Storage Tank
4 Birthing Chamber
Before I leave you today, we’ll jump quickly to New York for another PCQ party and another dear friend. Joe “CaptainCuba” Sanchez has stubbornly stuck with Spider-Man through thick and thin. Even though his web-filled quest was denied in Last Chance Qualifiers at two different Pro Circuits, he did not give up. He was recently rewarded with a Top 8 PCQ finish at Kings Games in Brooklyn for it. Sometimes, dreams do come true. Enjoy his report, and I’ll see you next week, with a surprise.
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The Other: Evolve or Die
Joe Sanchez
I’ll start by saying that net decks annoy me. I understand them and why people play them, but they are just not for me. Obsessing over pet decks is my thing. My obsession with mono Spider-Friends started before Pro Circuit New York. The metagame was perfect for the evasion tricks, Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal was running rampant, and Bastion was king of the hill. I had surmised that Ricochet and friends, along with Pleasant Distraction and Not So Fast, could neuter Arsenal. I hoped that Amazing Spidey could win the matchup with the purple bots. Testing proved my hunches to be correct, but unfortunately, I ran into Mutant Nation at the Last Chance Qualifier.
Fast-forward to Pro Circuit Indianapolis. I was still not qualified. This was right before The Avengers became legal, so Peter Parker and White Tiger were still on the horizon. I finished one match away from winning the tournament even without them. The lack of a tutor and the dependence on Scarlet Spider to “clone” my late-game drops frustrated me. I decided to go against Spider-Friends tradition and drop Scarlet Spider and the cloning trick altogether. Then the team received a gift from UDE in the form of a Secret Society plot twist. Straight to the Grave gave the recursion-loving Amazing Spider-Man the perfect tutor. I began testing an all-stall build with the new Justice League of America cards. The metagame was shifting, and in response to all of the rush decks, I took a chance and started testing a long-forgotten friend, Cardiac.
Cardiac had always been a suggested card on the forums, but he was usually discounted because of his small DEF. With every single game against Squadron Supreme, I realized that it didn’t matter how big or small your 3-drop was—it was getting stunned anyway. I slipped in Cardiac and saw the results immediately. He stopped the onslaught on turn 3 by stunning Melissa Gold. That reprieve extended my games by one or two turns! I kept removing staple Spider-Friends cards, much to the chagrin of my teammates, and adding stall cards. Out went Spider-Tracer for Pleasant Distraction. Entangle came in for Spider Senses. Before I knew it, I had removed every piece of the classic Spider-Friends build. It finally made the matchup against the rush decks about a 50/50 split, which was enough for me to give it a shot. I made these three final changes less than a week before the PCQ, and I’m convinced that they were the final push the deck needed.
I hope this hard-won success with my pet deck inspires others to continue to swim against the metagame current and keep evolving into better deckbuilders and players in the Vs. System community. Here’s the decklist I played to a Top 8 finish:
Joe Sanchez
Top 8, Kings Games PCQ
“Spectacular Spider-Stall”
Characters
4 Jessica Drew ◊ Spider-Woman
2 Dusk
3 Cardiac
3 Ricochet
4 Spider-Man, Peter Parker
1 Julia Carpenter ◊ Spider-Woman
3 White Tiger
1 Firestar
4 Nova
4 Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man
4 Ezekiel
1 Spider-Man, Cosmic Spider-Man
Plot Twists
4 Straight to the Grave
4 Reconstruction Program
4 Entangle
4 Pleasant Distraction
4 System Failure
4 Total Anarchy
Locations
4 Slaughter Swamp
1 Avalon Space Station
Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes, and he wants you to party like mad at your next local Pro Circuit Qualifier. Send evidence of your attendance to rianfike@hattch.com.