Blending plenty of burn with brutal, precise aggression in the early game, the deck known as “Mexican Hardware Store” has a disturbing tendency to punish formation errors and exhausted characters. With an incredible matchup against Killing Joke and the option to play on curve or off as needed, its flexibility makes it a deadly toolbox in the hands of a veteran player. Take a peek at Kim Caton’s build, currently undefeated after eight rounds of competition:

3 Ape X

3 Joystick

3 Mikado and Mosha

4 Electric Eve

4 Shape

4 Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace

1 Iron Fist, Danny Rand

1 Black Panther, King of Wakanda

1 Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon

1 Deathstroke, Lethal Weapon

1 Golden Archer

1 Moon Knight

1 Jester

2 John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man

1 Firestar, Hellion

4 Wild Ride

4 Flying Kick

4 Die for Darkseid!

4 Enemy of My Enemy

3 Trial by Fire

1 Laser Watch

1 Atlantean Trident

2 Flamethrower

2 Light Armor

4 Image Inducer

Fun facts! 

-The deck runs eleven team affiliations.

-It runs no team-ups.

-It has a Marvel Knights character at every drop.

-It hands out losses on turns 4 and 5.

Cool, eh?

Most members of the team are running Mexican Hardware Store, albeit some are splashing different tech, and some are using a few different supporting themes. Caton’s build definitely seems to be strong, and after observing multiple feature matches she’s played in, I can’t over-emphasize how frightening the deck’s precision can be. Exhausted two characters for The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero? Activated Dr. Light, Master of Holograms? This deck will find the tiniest chink in your armor and turn your best-laid plans into a circus of cruelty and mayhem.

Ape X appears to be the deck’s number one turn 1 play, grabbing an Image Inducer for immediate beats and transferable chicanery later on. From there, either Shape or Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace wrecks face as ideal drops on turn 2, depending on matchup. Shape is absolutely brutal against Killing Joke, simply because he can sit on the field long enough without being threatened and just get huge (Joystick benefits from the same trend). At the same time, variants of the deck that don’t prioritize Hard Sound Construct will often have nothing to turn face down with Melissa Gold’s effect save Straight to the Grave, giving Caton lots of room to smash face in the early game. (Melissa’s especially good when she’s backed by Sage!)

Mikado and Mosha is the tech MVP of the day, so its inclusion here is no surprise. Electric Eve fills the curve quite nicely and offers a little bit more burn when necessary. Iron Fist, Danny Rand operates on the same level, giving extra muscle on off-curve turns while hanging out in the hidden area, protecting your investment for the long term.

For turn 3, Sage just makes life even harder for Killing Joke. No Justice League of Arkham until turn 6? Yeah, that’s a scoop. It also cuts off the 3-cost Enemy of My Enemy, which is possibly the most popular thing in the history of cardboard. In other matchups, Black Panther, King of Wakanda fills the role of “really, really big guy,” frequently toting around a Flamethrower. “But Jason,” you say, “then he could only safely attack a little guy!” Yeah, that’s kind of the point. Like I said, this deck specializes in piling massive ATK numbers into little, irrelevant characters to deal huge quantities of breakthrough. Heck, you can always give him Atlantean Trident instead.

Deathstroke comes out in the bad times, Golden Archer hits the field in the good times when the deck has already burned its hand on big attacks, and Jester passes around equipment for opportune attacks. Equipment has been big today, and for lack of a blunter expression, Jester takes it. Pretty simple stuff, but it’s highly effective. G’Lock?  Gimme that shiny Catcher’s Mitt . . . or the Chopping Block. Fate hijinks? We’ll be taking that Nabu equipment, thanks. Moon Knight is the choice turn 4 drop by far, provided Caton got her preferred even initiative. Coming out as a 12 ATK / 7 DEF behemoth if he’s got an Image Inducer, Moon Knight keeps up the theme of huge ATK values that punish singular openings the opponent lets you have.

John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man is the deck’s preferred 6-drop, with Firestar, Hellion coming out for extra burn as needed. The power of Steel’s ability to stick one of your characters with a departed Flamethrower can’t be overstated, and whether you’re exhausting a 1-drop to burn for 5 or swinging for massive breakthrough, it’s free damage and big numbers for combat regardless. The power-up ability is also very good, as the deck always has a few pieces of equipment lying around on the field.

Wild Ride and Enemy of My Enemy allow the deck to run its toolbox of varied characters. Having access to eight pieces of character search is “kind of good.” Trial by Fire makes little guys huge, and Flying Kick is integral because it gives the deck the ability to make precise, otherwise impossible attacks that the opponent won’t see coming. Die for Darkseid! is nothing short of incredible. Not only does it turn random little guys into damage, but it also allows Caton to play out of turns where she took multiple stuns and bait an opponent into making moves that assume her small, unprotected characters will be left vulnerable. She can even chain the card against plenty of effects, stopping everything from Cardiac to Gorilla Grodd. It might be the single most important reason for the incredible disparities in endurance totals that we’ve seen in her games today.

. . . And boy, have we seen them! I’m pretty sure that her round 4 match has been the closest match of the day so far. When your worst match ends up with you having 30 endurance left over, it’s a pretty good day.

There are tons of exhausted characters just sitting around in today’s metagame, ranging from Dr. Light in Killing Joke to Ahmed Samsarra in Checkmate. Mexican Hardware Store plays into that trend perfectly, presenting tons of options and decisions that fit veteran players like those on FTN to a tee. It’s easily customized for personal tastes and can be adapted for a large number of metagame-specific trends, so expect it to be huge in the upcoming Silver Age season.