Today, we continue to look at the teams available for the DC Modern Age Pro Circuit Indy by checking out Villains United.
A couple of weeks ago, I made a statement proclaiming Secret Society as my favorite team in DC Modern Age. Recent experiences have given me cause to re-evaluate that stance. Over the last few weeks, I have been playing a lot of Silver Age, and I even managed to get my lazy backside to a couple of tournaments. I’ve gone on record before stating that X-Statix is probably my favorite Vs. System team overall, and with every set released, I look for a new team to partner them with. When Infinite Crisis was released, a few clever chaps across the globe decided that a union between X-Statix and Villains United would make for a good deck. They were not wrong.
I was probably more pleased than anyone when the various builds of this deck began to pop up in high-level tournaments, and I swiftly began testing a build myself. I favored the deck used by Team FTN members Kim Caton and Dave Leader at the Charlotte $10K, and after a couple of personal touches, I took it into the field. I’ve had a marvelous time with the deck, and I’ve dropped just one match in the last two Silver Age events (something of an achievement for me). This recent run of results is probably responsible for Villains United wrestling the title of “my favorite DC Modern team” from the grasp of the Secret Society¾much to Fearmonger’s chagrin.
There are two main reasons that have led me to favor this team from Infinite Crisis. Firstly, The Science Spire.
In the Villains United / X-Statix deck, this card is absolutely awesome, and in any other deck, it is at worst a very good card. It’s probably the most environmentally friendly card in Vs. System. At the very least, it takes a worthless, stunned character whose future prospects lie only in occupying your KO’d pile and turns it into valuable card cycling.
The second reason I have switched allegiances is the new vengeance mechanic. Never has being a bad player been so much fun. My characters are always getting stunned, especially when I don’t want or expect them to. Now, at least I have a game mechanic that allows me to say, “Yeah, I actually meant to do that, because now you get -3 ATK / -3 DEF,” instead of the usual “What!? I stun back!? Darn you (expletive deleted).” Vengeance appears on quite a few characters in the Infinite Crisis set, but Villains United appears to be the team set up to make the most of it. While vengeance may be at the forefront of the villains’ minds, it seems that some of them have different ideas about how it should be carried out.
Vengeance Burn
There is a definite burn element to the Villains United team, and while it might not be as outright and blatant as the Injustice Gang approach, it certainly can be superbly effective.
Ishmael Gregor à Sabbac, Malevolent Marvel is really the first drop to apply a burn ability, and it is a fairly substantial one. He can easily net you 8-10 points of burn before you have to say goodbye, but the problem I have with him is his sub-optimal stats. Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of a 2 ATK / 2 DEF 2-drop, as you too often find yourself in the situation where you cannot stun your opponent’s 2-drop but the opposing 1-drop can quite easily attack up the curve. There are not too many teams that you’ll have this problem with, but look out for Checkmate with the one-two combination of Jacob Lee / Sarge Steel and Shadowpact with their early drops of Nightmaster, Jim Rook and either Ragman, Patchmonger or Manitou Dawn, Spirit Shaman. Having said that, you have to consider whether this potential disadvantage is too much to bear. After all, even if you can’t do anything in your attack step, you’ll probably hit the opponent for at least 4 damage by stunning back his or her 1-drop.
Continuing the theme on turn 3, we have Zazzala à Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive. If you decide to tuck her away in the shadows, her effect on your opponent’s endurance totals can be quite impressive for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the team has several ways to remove its own characters from play. When a soldier has gone down in the line of duty, it can be recycled to effects like The Science Spire, Baddest of the Bad, and Grand Gesture, to name but a few. Additionally, Villains United is one of the few teams in the format that has a decent array of KO effects to remove your opponent’s characters. So, on turn 4, you have Ishmael Gregor à Sabbac, Zazzala à Queen Bee, and Fatality, Flawless Victory; simply running into your opponent’s 2-drop for a mutual stun with Ishmael will cause 9 endurance loss. You can see how there is potential in the build.
On turn 4, Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon is, at first glance, the obvious choice. But given a little consideration, I would think of him as a backup only. His meager stats make him a prime candidate for anyone attacking up the curve. The burn of 4 may simulate the effects of your opponent having his or her 4-drop stunned, but try telling yourself that when said 4-drop is free to smash you in the face because Zazzala is concealed. Personally, I prefer Fatality, Flawless Victory. Her ability is amazing, especially with the predicted abundance of Good Guys and Ahmed (and for the fact that you get to shout, “Finish him!” in a Mortal Kombat-esque manner).
On turn 5, I prefer to use Cheshire, Jade. It’s at this point that you can really open up a gulf in endurance. You should already have been burning your opponent quite readily, but if you can start gaining endurance as well, then things get pretty sweet pretty quickly. It was when I first added Cheshire into the build that I thought about the team-up with Secret Six . . .
Secret Hot-Sauce
Characters
4 The Calculator, Noah Kuttler
4 The Fiddler
4 Ishmael Gregor à Sabbac, Malevolent Marvel
1 Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant
4 Zazzala à Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive
4 Fatality, Flawless Victory
1 Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon
1 Ragdoll, Resilient Rogue
4 Cheshire, Jade
3 Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath
2 The Calculator, Crime Broker
Plot Twists
4 Baddest of the Bad
4 Systematic Torture
3 Return Fire!
3 Blinding Rage
3 Multiverse Power Battery
2 Watch the Birdie!
2 Coercion, Team-Up
Locations
4 The Science Spire
3 House of Secrets
As always, I do not proclaim this to be the deck that will break the format, but rather to be a little food for thought to see if any of you jank chefs out there can cook up a sumptuous little Vs. meal.
Vengeance Control
The other side to Villains United is a strong control element. Things start early for the Villains with Count Vertigo, Werner Vertigo. His ATK is very nice and can stun quite a few 2-drops in the format. Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant may not appear to be a control card by traditional evaluation, but his ability, combined with his stats, can force your opponent into making decisions that he or she otherwise would not make. The good doctor’s ability to take down two characters can cause a major headache for anyone facing him. Dr. Polaris, Force of Nature is an excellent character. His stats are not great, but we really want him stunned anyway, and the flight and range don’t go amiss.
When we get to turn 4, Sinestro, Villain Reborn is again an obvious choice for the theme. However, as with the vengeance burn strategy, I’m not sure that the thematic 4-drop is the right choice over Fatality. Fatality is such a strong card, especially given that her flight means that she can reach the weenies in the back row.
Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard is an awesome choice for turn 5. He has impressive stats and an equally impressive ability. On your initiative, he’s fantastic. When your opponent’s 4- and 5-drops have just been stunned (assuming Mr. Freeze is stunned in the process), does he or she recover the 5-drop (knowing that it is useless as an attacking force next turn) or the 4-drop (thus sacrificing statistics for a useable body)?
Turn 6 doesn’t give us any real gems for the control theme, but turn 7 gives us a fantastic character in Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin. He has a particularly low DEF for a 7-drop, but once again, this is not a major problem. If he is attacking, you’re going to kill two birds with one sword-wielding, gun-toting, uber assassin. On defense, he can be equally problematic. You opponent will clearly have to leave him until last, which can play into your hands.
So, what’s the point of all this stalling and control? You clearly need something decisive with which to end the game. I’m not a big fan of the Villains’ own 8-drop, Black Adam, Lord of Kahndaq, but I can see why some players like him. Personally, I would go with Psycho-Pirate. You will have more than enough characters in your KO’d pile thanks to The Science Spire. The only thing I don’t like about it is the time restriction. I’ve often thought that if Gorilla Grodd can steal people whenever he likes, why not the Pirate? Anyway, if you’re not down with the Pirate, then you could go for a more thematic 8-drop in Ultra-Humanite, Metahuman Manipulator. Hmm, serious vengeance.
Vengeance Swarm
Burn and control are the two dominant strategies of the team, but there is another approach you could take. Dr. Light is back and up to his old tricks, this time in the guise of Dr. Light, Furious Flashpoint. The ability on this version of our favorite is not quite as strong as Master of Holograms, but it is still worth a look.
3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . is very interesting. We are expecting a lot of locations in the DC Modern Age format, so in theory, this card should not be short of targets. But how do we maximize its potential? Clearly, if we can manage our opponent’s resource row, that’s a good thing. If you’re facing a Checkmate deck that is designed to follow a specific curve, making your opponent replay a turn could really mess up his or her plans. The trick is to maximize the effectiveness of your deck in that scenario. If we are going to limit our opponent’s recruit options by blowing up his or her resources, then we want to generate a strong field advantage to make the most out of the situation. Dr. Light helps in with this, but there are also some other guys to consider.
Two characters that I really like in this strategy are Weather Wizard, Mark Mardon and Cheetah, Feral Feline. They can give solid attack enhancements to your field when they go to meet their maker. Talia, Daughter of Madness is another way to bring out extra characters each turn. I’m not so sure that the Villains can pull this off on their own in the DC Modern Age. Perhaps a team-up with the JLI would be in order. Justice League Task Force is a good card, and as I mentioned last week, there are other team attack options within the JLI that a swarm strategy might be able to utilize.
So, the Villains are my new best pals (well, for the time being, anyway), but in order to try to smooth things over with the Secret Society (don’t you just hate a jealous ex!), I decided to get the two together to see if we could work things out between the three of us. This is the result:
Like a Woman Scorned
Characters
4 The Calculator, Noah Kuttler
2 Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster
4 Jesse James à Trickster
2 Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant
4 Dr. Polaris, Force of Nature
2 Quakemaster
1 Fatality, Flawless Victory
3 Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon
1 Poison Ivy, Kiss of Death
3 Black Adam, Teth-Adam
1 Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard
3 Gorilla Grodd
1 Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin
1 Mark Desmond à Blockbuster
Plot Twists
4 Straight to the Grave
4 Sorcerer’s Treasure
4 Divided We Fall
3 Blinding Rage
2 Coercion
1 The Plunder Plan
1 Multiverse Power Battery
1 Transmutation
1 Watch the Birdie!
Locations
4 Slaughter Swamp
3 The Science Spire
Basically, use Divided We Fall to steal characters, simultaneously triggering the vengeance abilities. It was something I began to look at shortly after Infinite Crisis was released, but unfortunately, the prevalence of the Fate Artifacts and BWA HA HA HA HA! and a plethora of removal tricks makes it highly likely that the deck will blow up in your face. However, if you feel like living dangerously, then why not give it a try?
Deckbuilder Challenge Cup! – DBC #3 Results
The time has come to announce the results of Challenge #3 – Poor Man’s Vs. System. This was the tightest vote yet.
Voting results:
Tom Reeve, Teen Guy Squad: 33%
Ian Vincent, TNB reservists: 31%
Mike Mullins, Endurance Loss with a Vengeance: 18%
Craig Perso, Avenging on a Budget: 10%
George Shafer, MOHawk: 8%
So, the points awarded for this challenge are as follows:
Tom Reeve, Teen Guy Squad: 5 points
Ian Vincent, TNB reservists: 3 points
Mike Mullins, Endurance Loss with a Vengeance: 1 point
The leader board now looks like this:
1st: Brian Herman, 5 points
2nd: Tom Reeve, 5 points
3rd: Nick Seamans, 5 points
4th: Jin Yi Huang, 3 points
5th: George Shafer, 3 points
6th: Ian Vincent, 3 points
7th: Zach Luster, 1 point
8th: Mike Mullins, 1 point
9th: Sam Roads, 1 point
So, will we see three new names in next week’s top five announcement, or will one of the existing leaders return to add to their points tally? There’s only one way to find out.
Steve Garrett