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It’s that time of the week again, and Deck Clinic is returning to some semblance of normality now that I’ve recovered from the . . . excesses . . . of the Big Deck format. This week’s submission comes from VSRealms.com poster Burnout, who’s submitted an intriguing deck that combines two connected themes within an interesting pair of affiliations—the wizards, witches, and simians of the Shadowpact, and the supermodels, chipmunks, and incompetently bumbling . . . dog . . . things . . . of the Green Lantern Corps. It’s a fine, upstanding type of deck that we should be seeing a lot more of now: a stall deck not running Dr. Light, Master of Holograms, but instead making use of as much team-specific synergy, endurance gain, and plot twist–based board control as possible to drag the game kicking and screaming into the range of Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic or Galactus, Devourer of Worlds.

I have to say, I like it. I’ve had a soft spot for Sector 2814 ever since I first flipped a second copy while I had a hidden area full of Shadow Creatures, Army, and although this deck can’t make quite as efficient use of the Sector as the old Qward decks could, it overcomes that problem quite happily with the use of the plentiful endurance gain available to both Shadowpact and the Green Lanterns. The deck is currently Silver Age legal, and I’ll keep it within that format.

My first impressions are that the deck is possibly trying to do a few too many different things on the plot twist front, and that the character base could use a bit more of the same focus. Looking at the plot twists, Battle of Wills, for example, seems quite out of place in what is essentially a defensive deck. I’m not sure about some of the numbers, either; I’m unconvinced that the benefits of going off curve without Dr. Light available can really justify it, and if the plan is to stay on curve, then the deck will need more than two copies of Witchfire, Rebecca Carstairs in the 4-slot.

Before setting about revamping the character base, it’s probably worth setting out the direction I’m going to take the deck. Despite the appeal of trying to help keep Sector 2814 and Helping Hand powered-up, I feel this deck has the most to gain from simply hitting a strong curve while backing it up with powerful board control cards like Rain of Acorns and the Construct- or willpower-based recovery effects (Guardians Reborn and Lanterns in Love).

If you want to try an off-curve Green Lantern stall deck, there is one unique and powerful way to get around the lack of board advantage with Dr. Light gone: Emerald City, Construct, usually combined with either Catcher’s Mitt or Reciting the Oath to prevent breakthrough, and card-draw effects (particularly Central Power Battery and Birthing Chamber) to fuel the discard cost of Emerald City. It’s a highly unconventional strategy and quite vulnerable to resource disruption (if Emerald City gets hit with a replacement effect after turn 4, you’re out of luck), but it has its merits.

The Green Lanterns and Shadowpact are well-represented with 1-drops. For the Lanterns, Salakk, Green Lantern of Slyggia (for his willpower of 2) and G’Nort, Green Lantern of G’Newt (for his pump effect) are well known, while Shadowpact has Madame Xanadu, Cartomancer to search up all those Magic plot twists. It’s Madame Xanadu (and a certain Green Lantern 2-drop) that I imagine could have inspired the original deck’s tendency toward off-curve play. To justify that decision in my eyes, you’d need Magic cards for Xanadu to find that were devastating against multiple different deck types. A resource point late in the game with a curve stall deck is a very serious cost, and I don’t feel that the Magic plot twists, powerful as they are, provide that kind of devastating, focused power.

The others (Mary Marvel, World’s Mightiest Girl; Nightmaster, Jim Rook; and Nightshade, Eve Eden) are geared more toward aggressive decks. Nightmaster and Nightshade both directly cause endurance loss, while Mary Marvel benefits from it. If we’re in a position where we hit 25 endurance in time for our 1-drop to still be around to matter, we’re probably in too much trouble for her to solve. On the flipside of this deck—an aggressive Shadowpact / Lanterns swarm deck with little defensive game—Mary Marvel might be perfect, but she just won’t do enough for us. Salakk and Madame Xanadu will be the picks for me, with Salakk’s willpower of 2 (primarily to enable The Ring Has Chosen for a 2-drop on turn 2) giving him the nod over G’Nort.

This is another spot on the curve with plenty of options. Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern has pretty weak stats, but let’s be honest—when was the last time you even thought about his ATK and DEF? He searches for a Construct. That means he searches for Helping Hand, Lanterns in Love, Catcher’s Mitt, Rain of Acorns . . . pretty much anything a stall deck could want on a friendly, willpower 2 package. Tomar Tu, Green Lantern of Xudar has something of a history as Dr. Light’s bodyguard, but he’s equally at home guarding either of the Green Lanterns of Korugar (Sinestro or Katma Tui).

On the mystical side, Blackbriar Thorn, Druid of Cymru has seen top-level play in a dedicated deck, although with our plot twists split between Constructs, Magic, and generic, we won’t have the critical mass of Magic to abuse him properly. Manitou Dawn, Spirit Shaman, on the other hand, will provide a solid return for even a relatively small number of Magic plot twists; even 4 endurance you wouldn’t otherwise have can be important for a deck looking to drag the game on as long as this one wants to. Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy works for endurance in a slightly more active way—the “getting himself killed” way. Personally, I’d rather have a 2-drop that was better alive than dead. We’re also unlikely to have later drops aggressive enough to capitalize properly on the opportunities for board advantage created by his 4 ATK.

Here’s another spot on the curve that offers more endurance gain, this time in the shape of Jade, Jennifer-Lynn Hayden. Like Manitou Dawn, the plan here isn’t to get some kind of real abuse going, but rather a steady, inexorable flow of extra endurance via Magic, Constructs, and the Sectors offsetting stun endurance loss and breakthrough. Combined with conventional stall measures like recovery and exhaustion effects, it’s a potent strategy. For decks that try to set up for a single mid-game offensive turn, like the Kree, your plan is simply to present them with both an unusually high endurance total and an unusually crowded, defensively oriented board on that turn. As such, I’m uncomfortable with the inclusion of Girl 13 ◊ Traci Thirteen, Hex and the City (and not just because of the pun!).

While she does have solid stats and an endurance-gaining power, she’s also double-edged. The big problem I have with her is that I simply expect my plot twists to do more for me than “gain 4 endurance.” As such, I know that a lot of the time I wouldn’t want to pitch a Magic card, and Girl 13 would promptly punish me for my prudence by hitting me in the kneecaps with a two-by-four. If I’m going to play a 3-drop that costs me endurance, I want something concrete out of the deal, and the more conventional Zatanna, Magical Manipulator provides just that, along with that always-useful willpower.

This is the drop that needs the most attention. The original list runs a dangerously low two copies of a single 4-drop (and more of an aggressive one, at that). Having turned away from off-curve as our main strategy, we need a 4-drop more suited to a defensive deck than the 6 DEF Witchfire, Rebecca Carstairs. The difficulty with the Shadowpact characters at this point on the curve is that they all require you to have 25 or less endurance to function properly. As such, we’ll be looking elsewhere for a primary drop, only considering a single copy of June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch for emergencies against aggressive decks that have done too good a job of beating us down in the early turns.

Turning to the available willpower characters, the Green Lanterns themselves provide a range of options. The massive willpower of Ch’p, Green Lantern of H’lven and the weenie-slaughtering Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Emerald Archer are the most attractive among them, even though they really are quite narrow in their applications. Malvolio, Lord of the Green Flame is the classic defensive 4-drop with willpower, and with good reason (his incredible 10 DEF). As for more recent additions to the roster, Hector Hammond, Mind Over Matter has a strong 9 DEF but more balanced stats overall than Malvolio (although accepting a weaker power for his beefier stat line). Glorith, Seductive Sorceress is much more interesting, with willpower 4 and a potentially devastating power. The word “cosmic” probably tips Glorith out of contention for us, sadly, as our lack of aggression means that her endurance gain power will rarely do anything more than cause a discard of a non-critical card. Her power is strong, just not as the only power of its type in a deck and not when we likely won’t get more than one or two uses out of it.

Speaking of enormous, how about Alan Scott, White King? He has 5-drop stats, willpower 4 . . . and that “King” word that you all recoiled away from might not be as big a deal as you’d expect. His cost of 4 keeps him safe from a few of the threats that plague Ahmed Samsarra, White King (Rose Wilson ◊ Ravager, Daughter of Deathstroke and Total Anarchy, for example), while his enormous stats and the recovery effects available in the deck make him a surprisingly attractive card. He can soak damage nearly as well as Malvolio, and is significantly more effective on initiative.

It’s hard to argue with Katma Tui, Green Lantern of Korugar. So, I’m not going to. A brutal endurance gain power and 11 DEF have made Katma a lynchpin of stall strategies for a long time. She represents a pretty good countdown for aggressive decks, which really need to do the bulk of their damage before Katma hits or lose all hope entirely. As for other possibilities, Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onnz marries willpower with a decent, concealed—optional body and a potent reinforcing power. But with Catcher’s Mitt available, we have less need of his services.

The original list leans completely (and with some justification) on Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar. He’s powerful on his own, deadly with something like Tomar Tu or Coast City, and absolutely brutal with recovery effects. Gorilla Grodd, Simian Mastermind, a popular splash character in the past, is a lot weaker now that Kree-based decks are among the most popular aggressive builds; targeting a character with Grodd’s ability and having the character returned to hand in response is a beating. Zatanna, Showstopper provides a powerful on-team alternative and a much better character than Sinestro against other stall decks, making you much more likely to hit Conjuration into Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic on turn 7 rather than 8. Mordru, The Merciless is similarly interesting against other decks that plan for the end-game, and is basically the flip side of Zatanna: Zatanna works to ensure that you hit your ideal turn 7 play, while Mordru attempts to deny your opponent his or hers. In this age of Slaughter Swamp and Soul World, Mordru loses some of his power and isn’t worth including if you’re only aiming to hit resources.

Turn 7 brings with it yet more interesting options, probably more than at turns 5 and 6 combined. I actually feel that Hal Jordan, Reborn is one of the weaker of the available options—if you have 20 willpower worth of characters still face up in the recovery phase in a deck with Katma Tui, how likely are you to be below 0 endurance in the first place? Rather than Hal, I’d recommend one of the 7-drops that will help you get to turn 8 and recruit Captain Marvel against the aggressive and full-curve beatdown decks of the format. Krona, Creator of the Anti-Matter Universe is one option, thanks to his enormous DEF and his ability to hide Sinestro in the hidden area, while the other (and usefully on-team) option is Guy Gardner, Egomaniac. There’s a lot to like about Guy. Giving Sinestro 19 DEF and Katma 16 DEF are pretty high on the list, as is allowing Katma to exhaust alone for her own payment power. As with Sinestro, your opponent will go for Guy first, and as with Sinestro, a recovery effect on Guy during the next attack can be crippling.

Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic is the character toward which the rest of the deck is working. Failing to include a copy of him at this stage would be forgetfulness so severe that even I can’t imagine it. The copy of Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, on the other hand, should be unnecessary; the Green Lanterns, particularly Katma, are more than capable of pushing even a sub-25 endurance total back into Captain Marvel territory in the build phase on turn 8.

Before I sign off until tomorrow, this is how I see the character base for the deck at the moment:

It’s worth pointing out one drawback of the lack of Dr. Light: the reduced reliability of The Ring Has Chosen. Looking at this character curve, The Ring Has Chosen only becomes truly reliable searching for 5-drops and higher, because if the deck hits Manitou rather than Kyle, you’ll usually only have 3 willpower in the build phase of turn 4, thus preventing a search for Malvolio (the reason for the current weighting of the 4-drop and 5-drop numbers). I’m not sure yet whether I’ll be retaining the copies of Green Lantern Ring from the original list or some other willpower booster, but if not, we need to keep that in mind for the character base.

Check back tomorrow, where I’ll have a look at the tension caused by the need for two different plot twist versions alongside Team-Ups and other utility cards. Hopefully, the final list will be able to overcome these difficulties and start frustrating aggro players wherever they may be!

Tom Reeve is a member of the Anglo-Canadian Alliance (like the Rebel Alliance, but with public transport instead of X-Wings) and would-be professional layabout from London, England. While his love of all things ninja has resulted in an arguably unhealthy affinity for the League of Assassins, that particular quirk turned into a healthy plus with the birth of the Silver Age deck Deep Green, with which teammate Ian Vincent took home the Pro Circuit San Francisco trophy to dear old Blighty.