How's 2006 going for you so far? We're going to get things started off right this year by revisiting my favorite deck to be featured on Breaking Ground to date—and I'm not even the one who built it! Tim “Aqualad” Batow created this little gem, and it's a testament to why he's considered to be one of the smallest . . . er . . . greatest deckbuilders to play our fair game. Enjoy, and we'll see you back here next week for a brand spanking new issue of Breaking Ground.
For this, the final Breaking Ground before PC LA, I decided to feature a deck built by one of the best and most well-known players in Vs. System. He is my good friend and teammate, Tim Batow. If there is one thing that I can say about him, it’s that Tim Batow is short.
Okay . . . so I realize that’s rather rude to say about the person who built the deck that I am featuring. But if you recall, I made a commitment in the first Breaking Ground to denigrate Tim “Aqualad” Batow at least once an article. So, I decided that I needed to get my verbal jab out of the way early, since pretty much everything I say after this point will be flowery praise of Timmmmay!*
Despite the fact that I give Tim grief about being vertically challenged, the guy is a giant when it comes to playing Vs. System. There are plenty of players who are strong players or strong deckbuilders, but precious few have mastered both sides of the Vs. System equation. Tim is obviously a very strong player, as evidenced by his appearances in the Top 8 of multiple $10K events. However, it is certainly worth noting that Tim accomplished this feat with a different deck at each $10K!
You’ve Top 8’d How Many $10K Events???
Tim’s first $10K Top 8 was at Gen Con So Cal last year with his League of Assassins deck in the now famous Marvel/DC split $10K. Tim tore the DC field apart on his way to a second place finish on the DC side (which could potentially have been a first place finish had he not left early to catch his flight back to Tulsa!).
His second $10K Top 8 was in Las Vegas, where he won the entire thing with (a collaborative build with his friend Michael Dudley). In a field filled with Titans and Sentinels, Tim took the unlikely concoction all the way to the top, beating strong players like Jeremy Borchardt and Adam Prosak in the process.
His third $10K Top 8 was in Chicago with a redux of Team YMG’s Rigged Elections deck. With the addition of Marvel Knights in the build, Tim was able to drop twenty-five counters before most of his opponents could even blink.
In addition to these Top 8s, Tim also finished in the Top 20 at the last $10K Chicago with a revamped Cosmic Cops build, and he finished 47th at the inaugural PC at Gen Con 2004 with an unlikely GCPD Vomit deck. Finally, Tim was one of the main collaborators in the Dream Team’s Xavier’s Dream deck that I found success with.
Tim has a real talent for finding the utility of underappreciated cards in the Vs. System and then finding a way to surround those cards with the proper support to bring out their power. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to say that Tim is the best deckbuilder we have seen to date. But I would emphatically support the notion that Tim is easily one of the five best deckbuilders currently playing the Vs. System.
Although I don’t live in the same state as Tim any longer, I do manage to stay informed about his shenanigans through my various contacts in Tulsa and occasionally through Mr. Batow himself. While working with Tim on potential builds for the upcoming Pro Circuit stop in Los Angeles, I was privileged enough to catch a glimpse of one of his more unique concoctions.
Just for fun, I put the deck together and played it at my local shop here in Dallas. The results were rather impressive. Granted, there were some inconsistencies in the deck, but I found it to be fairly competitive and—more importantly—an absolute blast to play!
Since we are looking at a deck built by someone else rather than building a deck from scratch, I’ll show you the build before we go into a card-by-card analysis. Without further adieu, I present to you the mad genius of Tim Batow!
Tearing Down the Walls [60 cards]
By Tim “Aqualad” Batow
1 Paul Ebersol ◊ Fixer
4 Yellowjacket
1 Dawn Granger ◊ Dove
1 Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, Mercurial Marksman
4 Beetle
1 Hank Hall ◊ Hawk
4 Jericho
4 Terra
2 Red Star
3 Thunderball
1 Garth ◊ Tempest
1 The Wrecker
1 Koriand’r ◊ Starfire
2 Raven
1 Ultron ◊ Ultron 5
4 Unfair Advantage
4 Optitron
4 Tamaran
4 USS Argus
4 Titans Tower
4 Metropolis
2 Avalon Space Station
1 Stormfront-1
1 Clocktower
1 Lexcorp
Tiny Tim and the Son of Deathstroke
If you haven’t figured it out yet, Tim’s deck is Jericho abuse! Here are the words of the master himself on how the deck works:
“The general strategy is to take odd initiatives. Hit any drops you can on turns 1 and 2, hit Jericho on 3, Terra on 4, Thunderball on 5, steal the opponent’s 6-drop on turn 6 (via Unfair Advantage), and play Raven on 7. By stealing the 6-drop on turn 6, you essentially steal the initiative (thus having it three turns in a row) and gain enough of an advantage from that to win the game.”
Let’s take a look at the individual cards in the deck to see how they work within the build and why Tim chose them:
Jericho: First and foremost is the card around which the deck is centered. Jericho is a unique character in the Vs. System. He poses almost no offensive or defensive threat. However, his potential to disrupt your opponent’s plans by stealing a key character is formidable. The major problem with Jericho is that you’re essentially sacrificing your 3-drop and an
additional drop on a later turn to steal an opponent’s character that is lower in cost than a character you could have recruited that turn (since you must pay resource points in excess of the cost of the character of which you want to take control). But there is an answer to this dilemma . . .
Unfair Advantage: Unfair Advantage is a card with a lot of potential, but it’s held back by the proposition of playing no other plot twists on the turn you play it. But Tim found a way around that—he doesn’t play any other plot twists! With a location-heavy build, the deck is able to put up a decent fight without the usual assortment of blue. Plus, Unfair Advantage has a nice synergy with a couple of the other cards in the deck. Obviously, a free burn with Red Star is never a bad thing. But the really amazing combo is with Optitron. As Tim puts it, “Unfair Advantage/Optitron gives you a tutor every turn.” Assuming a Team-Up is forthcoming, you can almost ensure that you will hit your optimal curve.
The rest of the build is fairly straightforward after that point. It plays very much like a standard Teen Titans deck, but without the aid of Teen Titans Go! or Press the Attack. However, there are a few distinct cards of note in the deck:
Thunderball: It’s almost unfathomable to think that you’d want to play anyone but Garth ◊ Tempest on turn 5. However, Thunderball is tailor-made for this deck. According to Tim, assuming that you get the preferred odd initiative and Jericho snags your opponent’s 6-drop, “Thunderball becomes very good on turn 6 (you don’t recruit a character; you steal your opponent’s, so he gets his uber-bonus).”
Ultron ◊ Ultron 5: Says Tim, “Ultron is basically there to recur back with and discard to Titans Tower, but having a play for turn 8 is never bad.” In standard Titans decks, the biggest boost Titans Tower usually gives is 6 ATK for a discarded Koriand’r ◊ Starfire or Connor Kent ◊ Superboy, Tactile Telekinetic. However, Ultron allows you to swing consistently for 8 ATK every turn. If you do the math, that would allow you to attack and defend three to four spots up the curve. With that kind of power, even Jericho could become a beater!
Avalon Space Station: While the straight Titans deck has the ultimate form of recursion in the form of Garth, Avalon Space Station certainly isn’t a slouch. In addition to providing the ever-returning Ultron for Titans Tower, Magneto’s orbital base safely allows you to discard higher cost character cards for Optitron, secure in the knowledge that you will get them back.
Clocktower/LexCorp: I am proud to say that I helped to inspire the addition of this card in the build. According to the esteemed Mr. Batow, “The deck is overly reliant on hitting Terra, though there’s not really a problem getting hold of her with USS Argus and Optitron. But it’s really difficult to keep good locations in the row when you keep nuking them away and replacing them with characters.”
Enter the resource row rowers. With Clocktower and LexCorp to mill unwanted cards out of your resource row into your KO’d pile (where they are easily fetched with Avalon Space Station), you won’t have to worry as much about Terra devastating the resource row with her effect. Moreover, the combination can be beneficial, as it allows you to acquire potentially playable cards through means other than drawing.
Here are a few final notes on how the deck operates, courtesy of Aqualad:
“Yellowjacket, Hank Hall ◊ Hawk, Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, and Beetle, Armorsmith can all be 1- to 3-drops. Beetle can search for Roy Harper ◊ Speedy as a turn 3 play, and he can search for Hawk or Dove on turn 2 for the turn 3 play. If you can’t hit Jericho on 3, he’s still a decent discard to Titans Tower.”
JLA Considerations (Other Than Bumblebee, Of Course)
Because I was given this decklist before the release of the JLA set, there are no cards from the new set in the build. However, I think there is a great deal of potential for some of the Secret Society cards to improve the deck. One combo that leaps to mind is that of Gorilla Grodd with Jericho. Take even initiatives, use Jericho and Unfair Advantage to swipe your opponent’s 7-drop, and then use Gorilla Grodd to KO the stolen 7-drop and swipe your opponent’s 6-drop!
The deck falters a bit against weenie rush or control decks (Jericho and
Reign of Terror do
not get along). In addition,
Jericho is really only safe as long as your opponent has nothing enabling him or her to attack hidden characters. But with the prevalence of
No Man Escapes the Manhunters in the metagame, it would be a difficult proposition to keep Mr. Wilson safe in the shadows.
The deck needs a little help before it can become truly competitive. However, it is still very formidable—I daresay better than any of the jank creations I’ve mustered up so far. In addition, it is very fun to play. The abject terror on your opponent’s face when he or she realizes that you’re going to take his or her best character is priceless.**
And that wraps things up for this week. If you’re in Anaheim for the Pro Circuit this weekend, feel free to stop by and say hello. I’ll be wearing my trademark squirrel hat for the weekend and I would love to speak with you and get your thoughts and ideas for future columns. For those of you who can’t make the trek to So Cal, feel free to drop me a line at BigSpooky1@hotmail.com.***
* There really isn’t a good way to describe how most of us on the Dream Team say Tim’s name. However, it is a reference to how Timmy from South Park says his own name. “Livin’ a lie! Livin’ a lie! Timmmmay!”
** As I found out firsthand in a six-person cutthroat game at my local hobby shop, JJK Cards in Richardson. Because none of the other players wanted to have their characters swiped, they refrained from attacking me out of fear of reprisal. However, this quickly ended when the owner, Tom Magel, whipped out a Spider-Friends deck and proceeded to pound on me. Jericho doesn’t like Nice Try!, either!
*** I apologize if you’ve emailed me and I haven’t responded yet. I do read every email. But with the way work has been treating me lately, I haven’t had as much time as I would like to respond to them. However, I promise that I will eventually get to it, even if I have to sacrifice my sanity to do so!