Gallery Packs. I have been collecting trading cards and making art for as long as I can remember, so those two words go together like a match made in heaven. I am humbled and honored by the privilege of leading off this week as Metagame.com presents a few previews of perhaps the most thrilling product idea that this industry has ever witnessed. It is a new era for collectors and gamers alike. We are about to make history together.

There has never been a set of trading cards like this. Vs. System introduced us to the full-frame pleasure of Extended Art cards when they were awarded for the first time at the Origins $10K in Columbus, Ohio on June 26, 2004. The world was changed forever. The brains of rabid card collectors everywhere were immediately thrown into a state of Total Anarchy. Now, Vs. System is presenting us with the opportunity to bust entire packs of Extended Art cardboard glory. Some of the contents have never been seen in public, and rarely has the artwork had this much room to roam. Some of the cards were previously only available to the winners of various tournaments, but now we will all be able to get our hands on the hottest goodies in the game. When it comes to trading cards, the  excitement that this new experience generates will be completely disorienting. Make sure you are sitting down when you open them.

Total Anarchy is one of the most devastating cards in Vs. System when the environment is dominated by weenies. If your opponent is focused on amassing an army of small characters dedicated to the synchronized destruction of your endurance total, this ongoing plot twist will send them screaming into the KO’d pile with every single stun. The Extended Art version reveals a new low in Arkham Asylum insanity. It doesn’t get any crazier than this.

 

 

April 1, 2004 was the first day that Vs. System cards were available to the public. Three months later, DC Origins introduced us to the dysfunctional side of the major comic books myths by infecting the cardboard population with the Arkham Inmates and their appetite for delusion and destruction. The Arkham Asylum became a real-time prop for the first-ever Pro Circuit event, and it was the perfect symbol for the artwork chosen to depict Total Anarchy in the world of competitive trading card games. Sixty days after Total Anarchy was released into the environment, the Pro Circuit community had a distinct fear that it might invade the entire metagame.

Big Brotherhood decks were undoubtedly tier 1 going into the first Pro Circuit. Total Anarchy allowed players to clear the opposing board of smaller characters so that Lost City could swell their 3-, 4-, and 5-drops to outrageous proportions. Bumper Cars, the original Fantastic Four beatdown deck that utilized Mr. Fantastic, Stretch to shuffle equipment around to each of your big characters, was also considered one of the strongest archetypes in the field. It also enjoyed setting off the mayhem of Total Anarchy to keep the crowds at bay on the other side of the table. Each of these curve decks often relied on the ongoing ability of our first Gallery Pack preview card, and each had thirty-seven different players representing them at Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2004. They were the most popular archetypes of the day.

I was insanely nervous when I sat down for the first round of the inaugural Pro Circuit event. I had never experienced competition on that level. My Wild Vomit was itching like mad to get started. In the first round of the first-ever Vs. System PC, I faced John Nelson. He was a former TCG champion from another game, and he did indeed unleash a sense of Total Anarchy in our match. His Big Brotherhood strategy still had problems clearing my board, with no Flame Trap to scorch the countryside. Reconstruction Program allowed my swarm of Wild Sentinels to replenish itself and create enough Cover Fire for my Sentinel Mark IVs to survive his pumped-up attacks. Then they fed Senator Kelly some seriously hot numbers to burn for the win. Total Anarchy forced me to adjust my calls with Longshot, Rebel Freedom Fighter drastically, but I got lucky and survived the insanity by guessing correctly nearly every time.

The Top 8 at the first PC ended up completely free of Total Anarchy, but the card quickly broke loose on the $10K tour. Total Anarchy has been legal for more than sixty big money tournaments in a little over two years, and it has appeared in the quarterfinals forty-five different times. Vs. System players have cashed in on its board-clearing bedlam for well over $50,000 in prize money. It is a fascinating history lesson in carefully constructed madness.

The day after Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2004, Total Anarchy redeemed itself at the $10K. Tim Willoughby won the tournament with Home Surgery Teen Titans, but Montreal-based J-F Grondin became the first player in the history of Vs. System to unleash this particular ongoing pandemonium in the Top 8 of a big event.

J-F Grondin
Bumper Cars

Top 8

$10K Indianapolis 2004

4 She-Thing
4 Thing, Ben Grimm
2 She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters
4 Invisible Woman, Sue Storm
1 Wolverine, New Fantastic Four
4 Mr. Fantastic, Stretch
1 Ghost Rider, New Fantastic Four
3 Hulk, New Fantastic Four
2 Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing
2 Apocalypse

4 Savage Beatdown
4 It’s Clobberin’ Time!
4 Signal Flare
4 Overload
4 Tech Upgrade
4 Ka-Boom!
3 Total Anarchy

4 Fantasticar
1 Personal Force Field
1 Advanced Hardware

Bumper Cars was the first archetype to carry Total Anarchy to glory, flinging its Fantasticars around with abandon after the Arkham-inspired psychosis had settled in and removed the weenie threat. Big Brotherhood sat on the sidelines, poised to redeem itself at the next $10K tournament.

Alex Agadoni

Big Brotherhood

Top 8

$10K Dragon Con Atlanta

4 Toad, Mortimer Toynbee

4 Mystique, Raven Darkholme

4 Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff

4 Blob, Fred Dukes

4 Sabretooth, Feral Rage

4 Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr

4 Quicksilver, Speed Demon

4 Mystique, Shape-Changing Assassin

2 Sabretooth, Victor Creed

3 Magneto, Master of Magnetism

4 Lost City

4 Avalon Space Station

3 Acrobatic Dodge

3 Savage Beatdown

3 Have a Blast!

3 Total Anarchy

3 Overload

Hurricane Frances trapped me in Florida for this tournament, but it could not keep Alex Agadoni from beating down the competition in the Peach state. Wess Victory earned his name by grabbing the trophy with Common Enemy, but Total Anarchy now had two tier 1 representatives in the annals of time. It was not long until it had a true champion.

Jacob Hershberger

Curve Sentinels

$10K Orlando 2005 Winner

Characters
4 Boliver Trask
1 Sentinel Mark III
8 Sentinel Mark II
8 Sentinel Mark V
4 Nimrod
4 Bastion
4 Magneto, Master of Magnetism

Plot Twists
4 Savage Beatdown
4 Nasty Surprise
4 Overload
4 Cover Fire
4 Reconstruction Program
3 Total Anarchy

Locations
4 Genosha

This deck represents a few different beginnings. It was the first time that either Total Anarchy or Curve Sentinels had ever won a trophy. It was the first time that Jacob Hershberger had ever played in a Constructed Vs. System tournament. It also signaled the start of the most dominant era in tournament history for Bastion and the bots. Total Anarchy had arrived, but it had a challenger for the spot. It soon became clear that Micro-Sentinels was equally effective for sniping the small guys from the other side of the table. Adam Bernstein burst the biggest bubble in the game by winning Pro Circuit New York with the shiny purple sans Total Anarchy. Alex Shvartsman carried our card of the day all the way to Day 3, and there was another deck packing pandemonium that was almost too good to be true.

Michael Barnes

Number One Dream

Top 8

Pro Circuit New York

Characters

4 Alfred Pennyworth

12 GCPD Officer

4 Dazzler, Alison Blaire

4 Longshot, Rebel Freedom Fighter

4 Beast, Dr. Henry McCoy

1 Lacuna, Media Darling

Plot Twists

4 Xavier's Dream

4 Bat-Signal

4 Fizzle

4 Total Anarchy

4 Pleasant Distraction

3 Marvel Team-Up

3 A Death In The Family

1 Flame Trap

Locations

4 Avalon Space Station

I always grin from ear to ear when I see this list. Cheering at home for Big Spooky running that risky recipe got me all loopy. On the day he pulled Longshot into the biggest winner’s circle on Earth, he was actually wearing a shirt that I painted. “Day 3 Mulletman” will never be merely a delusion again. It actually happened. Total Anarchy is unwrapped on your own characters when you play this deck, and it got loose for the only Pro Circuit quarterfinal finish of its illustrious career. This deck is not a dream. There is nothing else like it in all of Vs. System.

The Curve Sentinel era included countless copies of Total Anarchy, and it lasted a good long while. Then the Avengers set introduced some answers and the metagame shifted away from big bad robots. Another way to get wacky on the opposing weenies bubbled up from Australia soon enough. It once again took full advantage of the bigger beaters, but this time they were dark and devious.

Andrew Corney

Matter Knights

Top 8

$10K Sydney 2006

1 Element Man

1 Johnny Quick

3 Luke Cage, Street Enforcer

3 General Fabrikant

4 Slipstream

1 Elektra, Elektra Natchios

2 Xallarap

1 Iron Fist, Danny Rand

2 Chomin

4 Anti-Green Lantern

3 Micro-Chip

3 Dagger, Child of Light

4 Mikado and Mosha

Plot Twists
4 Wild Ride

4 Thunderous Onslaught

1 Midnight Sons

3 Total Anarchy

4 Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe

4 Mega-Blast

4 Flying Kick

4 Matter Convergence

The residents of Oceania are becoming well known for their creativity in deckbuilding, and Total Anarchy continues to break out down there. Two more decks, completely different from any of the others in this article, found a way to harness the power of today’s preview card and exchange it for riches and fame. Check out these beauties.

Bobby Rana

Top 8
Fate Suited Psychosis

$10K Brisbane 2006

Characters
4 Ape X, Xina
4 Madame Xanadu
4 Detective Chimp, Shoeless Gumshoe
4 Rose Psychic
4 June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch
2 Witchfire
1 Dr. Occult
1 Nightmaster, Demon Slayer
1 Dr. Fate, Hector Hall
1 Shazam

Plot Twists
4 Total Anarchy
3 Divination
3 Secret Origins
2 The Conclave
2 Conjuration
1 Absolute Dominance
1 Fate Has Spoken
1 Spectral Slaughter

Locations
4 Chimp Detective Agency
4 Dr. Fate’s Tower
1 The Oblivion Bar

Equipment
3 Amulet of Nabu
3 Helm of Nabu
2 Cloak of Nabu

Early Nguyen
Avengers Return

Top 8

$10K Brisbane 2006

Characters
3 Rick Jones
4 Dane Whitman ◊ Black Knight
4 Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, Super Spy
4 Black Panther, T'Challa
4 Quicksilver, Mutant Avenger
2 Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Emerald Archer
2 Anne-Marie Cortez
3 Hawkeye, Clinton Barton
1 Scanner
3 Sub-Mariner, Namor
1 Gorilla Grodd
3 Wonder Man
2 Hercules
1 Magneto, Ruler of Avalon
2 Adam Strange, Champion of Rann

Plot Twists
1 Flying Kick
3 Savage Beatdown
4 Heroes in Reserve
4 Total Anarchy
4 Enemy of My Enemy
3 Call Down the Lightning

Locations
2 Avengers Mansion

And there we have it. Total Anarchy allows deckbuilders to tip the balance toward the big side of things, and the rewards have been rather large. You may see one of those seven separate archetypes that set you free on a flight of fancy, or you may have some insane ideas of your own. Either way, you will now be able to expand your collection and double your pleasure by busting a Gallery Pack or two. I am on pins and needles just fantasizing about pulling an Extended Art version of Total Anarchy of my very own. It’s enough to drive me crazy.