There are a few considerations that I’m bearing in mind as I go through card selection here. First, I want as many cards as possible to support the main theme of the deck. In case you’ve forgotten, the main theme of the deck is “recruit large characters and beat my opponent in the face, while occasionally pausing to do something horribly frustrating to him or her like make a team attack illegal with Tower of Babel.”

I do love me a nice simple theme sometimes. There are a few sub-themes going on (like the vengeance characters), reasons to include a decent number of locations, and a mix of concealed characters of various sizes with large, visible drops. It’s nothing too restrictive, because I don’t want to start trying to make the deck too combo-like given the relative lack of search, but rather has an eye toward those several broad themes. After all, half the fun of Highlander (There can be only one! . . . copy of each card) formats like Big Deck is that no deck will play the same twice.

Search Cards

I already touched on some of the search cards that I might be playing in the first part, so less needs to be said about them here. I’ll be giving a home to search cards from the solid and simple-to-use (like Mobilize and Brother I Satellite), to the more fiddly (Sovereign Superior, Secret Origins). I probably won’t be running Vicarious Living because it’s simply too unreliable for a curve deck to justify, but I will be running most of the others.

League of Assassins–Stamped Cards

There are a few slam-dunks: Mountain Stronghold, Flying Fortress, Lazarus Pit, Tower of Babel, and The Demon’s Head. Pit of Madness is a strong second-tier option. Shadows of the Past is often, I think, dismissed as Tower of Babel’s slightly slow cousin, but in the festival of team-stamped tricks of every flavor that is Big Deck, it can come into its own by preventing defensive tricks and minimizing the ability of off-curve decks to attack back after you pick off a few characters. Also, remember that you can play it after you’re done attacking if you want to use it to stop offensive tricks on the attacks back but want to cause some breakthrough first. Remake the World skirts the “tech card” prohibition, and can both deny your opponent resources and allow you to take advantage of them yourself; maybe you haven’t drawn Slaughter Swamp yet, but your opponent has? How convenient!

The last League card that deserves special mention is Dual Nature. It’s one of those cards that I’ve never quite found room for in more conventional decks, and it’s capable of some quite brutally unfair things. Trade boards on turn 6, then Dual Nature my 6-drop into Bane, Ubu? Or my 5-drop into Merlyn, Deadly Archer? Turn pretty much any spare character into Alexander Luthor, Duplicitous Doppelganger for a cheeky character search? Sadly, the restriction of putting the character into the support row foils any Sarge Steel–related shenanigans, but there’s still plenty to go around.

Checkmate-Stamped Cards

Again, a few definite inclusions: Brother I Satellite, Threat Neutralized, and Checkmate Safe House (both for the additional Team-Up and the + DEF bonus). As a quick note on some of the Checkmate cards, there’s an additional cost common to Checkmate resources that is, oddly, less of a worry in Big Deck than in regular play. Cards like Laser Watch, Tricked-Out Sports Car, Knightmare Scenario, and Pawn of the Black King look a lot better when you know that you’re going to start the game with a nice exhaust-friendly UN Building in your hand. The certainty of at least that one additional location also helps with cards like Brother Eye and Target Acquired. One last card to mention is Traitor to the Cause. There are a few characters that work particularly well with Traitor: stunning a vengeance character to recover Bane, Ubu; Sarge Steel, Knight; or Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army is pretty brutal.

Villains United-Stamped Cards

The first inclusions here are Baddest of the Bad (although the cost is painful, such a powerful search effect can’t be ignored), The Science Spire, and Coercion. Coercion in particular allows you to lay some amusing traps for your opponents. Flipping Coercion to team-up lets a board with no Brotherhood characters deal with an Insignificant Threat, or allows a board with no League of Assassins characters send an opponent to the Tower of Babel. There are a few second-string cards to consider as well: No Mercy, Systematic Torture, and Grand Gesture.

Brotherhood-Stamped Cards

Sovereign Superior and Rise to Power have already been mentioned, and Avalon Space Station is a dead certainty. Planet X provides both a Team-Up when needed, and an ATK pump and half a card draw when not. Insignificant Threat’s place in the list has never been in doubt. Savage Land is another card that’s just too powerful to ignore and should prove particularly amusing with the Villains United vengeance characters. There are a few options for other Brotherhood stamped resources: Asteroid M provides some bullying power, as does Hellhound; Global Domination provides an extra shot of disruption; while Kill the Flatscans is another possible KO effect. Weaker or narrower cards like Hammer Bay and Misappropriation will probably not make it.

Generic Resources

It’s probably easiest to run through these relatively quickly before the final list, breaking them up into categories and picking out particularly interesting cards.

Combat tricks first, and I’ll be running a healthy number of cards with “+ ATK” on them somewhere. Blinding Rage again fits well with vengeance; a draw that includes Glass Jaw might want to search for Mystique, Villainous Shapeshifter for turn 4 if possible; and Combat Reflexes may be worth considering for both the +3 ATK and comedy potential with Sarge Steel, Knight. Some defensive plot twists will also be in order, from Acrobatic Dodge on down. Sadly, Cover Fire is unlikely to be reliable enough to be of much use. I suppose Overload would also fall into this category, since it’s legal!

Recovery effects are of particular interest to the deck, thanks to vengeance characters, Bane, Sarge, and the rest. Viable options include Home Surgery, Lanterns in Love, Revitalize, and Rise From the Grave. We want KO effects, too, to help manage opposing curve decks and take out key off-curve enablers like Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. Removed from Continuity (three DC teams), Finishing Move, A Death in the Family, and Death Trap all have their uses.

Obviously, I’m going to want to include a decent number of locations. Soul World and Slaughter Swamp will both help with discard costs, multiple uses of Genis-Vell, Straight to the Grave, and other miscellaneous things. Another couple of Team-Ups wouldn’t hurt, either; the relatively new United Planets HQ and 31st Century Metropolis stand out from the crowd. Coast City interacts very well with a number of our characters, Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard and Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army being two obvious examples. At least one each of Satellite HQ and Sewer System is probably a good idea to stop all-concealed decks from mauling us at will.

If I have any spare resource slots (yes, I can hear you laughing in the back), some card-filtering locations like Clocktower, LexCorp, Base of Operations, or Arsenal of Doom would be nice to help smooth out draws. Mind Gem can do a similar job and joins other possible equipment like Laser Watch, Tricked-Out Sports Car, Power Gem, Image Inducer, and Soul Gem.

Final Selections

Again, my first trawl through the options available gave just a few too many cards—91 this time. Stripping out a bunch of the more questionable choices (based on power level or on being too close to a tech card) got that number down to a much more manageable 63. Only 21 cuts to go.

Sigh.

This Big Deck stuff is painful! Why can’t it be, like, 150 cards? I would have been fine with 150!

*Heads back to the cutting board*

Down to 43 resources now . . . only three more cuts! This is like pulling eyebrow hairs out with a pair of pliers.

In the end, I couldn’t face cutting any more resources. I turned back to the character list and mercilessly stripped out Ra’s al Ghul, Engine of Change; Destiny, Future Sight; and Mystique, Villainous Shapeshifter (Glass Jaw having already taken one for the team).

So, a final list!

Characters

Connie Webb, Knight

Alexander Luthor, Duplicitous Doppelganger

The Calculator, Noah Kuttler

Talia, Beloved Betrayer

Talia, Daughter of the Demon’s Head

Talia, Beloved Daughter

Sarge Steel, Knight

Director Bones, D.E.O.

Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant

Chrome, Acolyte

Crimson Commando, Freedom Force

Toad, Mortimer Toynbee

Hook, Hired Killer

Ahmed Samsarra, White King

Arthur Kendrick, Knight

Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker, Obsessed Outlaw

Fire, Knight

Graziella Reza, Knight

Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive

The Calculator, Evil Oracle

Dr. Polaris, Force of Nature

Senyaka, Acolyte

Avalanche, Seismic Shockwave

Silver Sabre, Freedom Force

Ra’s al Ghul, Eternal Nemesis

Merlyn, Deadly Archer

Alan Scott, White King

Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army

Adrian Chase ◊ Vigilante, Street Justice

Amanda Waller, Queen

Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1

Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon

Fatality, Flawless Victory

Anne-Marie Cortez, Acolyte

Blob, Fred Dukes

Hawkeye, Clinton Barton

Bane, Ubu

Talia, Daughter of Madness

Maxwell Lord, Black King

Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army

Black Adam, Teth-Adam

Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard

Sabretooth, Savage Killer

Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff

Nyssa Raatko, Daughter of the Demon

Huntress, Reluctant Queen

Hunter Zolomon ◊ Professor Zoom, Sinister Speedster

Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin

Harry Delgado, Acolyte

Genis-Vell ◊ Photon, Transformed

Lady Shiva, Master Assassin

Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin

Magneto, Master of Magnetism

Ra’s al Ghul, The Demon’s Head

Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur

Plot Twists

Planet X, Team-Up

Coercion, Team-Up

Straight to the Grave

Secret Origins

Baddest of the Bad

Sovereign Superior

Weapon of Choice

Mobilize

The Demon’s Head

Knightmare Scenario

Target Acquired
Threat Neutralized

Savage Beatdown
Flying Kick
Blinding Rage
Mega-Blast
No Man Escapes the Manhunters
Acrobatic Dodge

Tower of Babel

Shadows of the Past
Dual Nature
Pawn of the Black King

Insignificant Threat

Overload
Revitalize
Lanterns in Love

Locations

UN Building, Team-Up
31st Century Metropolis, Team-Up
Checkmate Safe House, Team-Up

Mountain Stronghold

Brother I Satellite

Avalon Space Station

Slaughter Swamp

Soul World

Flying Fortress

Lazarus Pit

Pit of Madness

Brother Eye

The Science Spire
Savage Land

Coast City

Sewer System

Equipment

Tricked-Out Sports Car

Laser Watch
Knight Armor

All I can say is that I hope you enjoyed this week’s Clinic. This deck probably contains more of the cards I love than any other I’m ever likely to build. And while I’d obviously be delighted to know that someone else has put this deck together and had some fun with cards that have brought me so much enjoyment, I’d also ask you to try out Big Deck for yourself with your own favorite cards and teams. Casual formats like Big Deck are always a step removed from even the casual environment of Hobby League; there’s absolutely no risk of running into the same old Golden Age staples. Every game, let alone every deck, will give a whole new experience every time. Now go! Have fun! That’s an order. And yes, I will stop channelling Sarge Steel now.

As always, I’m accepting submissions and ideas for Deck Clinic both at vsdeckclinic@googlemail.com and the submission thread on VsRealms. If you have a deck that needs a helping hand that you think would be perfect for the Clinic, let me know!

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.