Kangaroos. Koalas. Perhaps the occasional platypus.

That's what the average person thinks of Australia. Well, I'm glad to say for my sake that my continent can't simply be distilled into such simple clichés . . . though somehow the most famous Marvel or DC hero that has come from Australia is Captain Boomerang. Why all this rigmarole about Australia? Perhaps I should introduce myself.

I'm TBS. This used to stand for "The" Ben Seck, but over the years it has transcended its original meaning amongst gaming circles to become just a nickname. Sure, I would prefer to have a cooler nickname, such as Dr. Light, or maybe Blastaar, but my superpowers seem to be dormant for the moment, so a more grandiose moniker would be inappropriate. I've been a gamer of some sort ever since I was young—on many rainy days, I would play the latest game developed by my brother and myself, from elaborate Lego World Domination strategy games to ones that allowed you to control the financial world (these feelings of megalomania have yet to subside). This pseudo-gamerhood (you see, I'm a sucker for titles and definitions) blossomed fully into ultra-geekdom (hyphens and parentheses are fun!) during my school and university years, when I played every roleplaying and card game I could get my hands on. I live in Australia, which meant that at that time, it was hard to get my hands on some of the games, but my love for it was far greater than the trials it took to get them. I decided to take this gaming thing a little more seriously in the last few years and move myself into essentially what I am now: a professional gamer. The problem that has always been traditionally insurmountable for those would-be pro gamers who live in Australia is that it takes approximately 34 geological ages and the combined fortunes of the Arab sheikhs to get anywhere else on the planet . . . but somehow my love for international gaming has persisted. Which brings us to the here and now.

When I heard that the Vs. System would have a Pro Circuit, I knew that I would have to give this game a go. I'll save my first experiences with Vs. for another time, but suffice to say that on my second attempt, I was able to qualify in the Sealed Pack portion of a local PCQ (limited TCG gaming has traditionally been one of my strengths). The day after, I discovered that I was already qualified via the special "Most Interesting TCG Personalities" category. I was so interesting that my name had a typo on this list! Now, I'm not blaming any of my esteemed editors for this gaffe, so I think I'll just change my name to Beck Seck. It certainly has a nice rhyming quality to it.

What had I done to deserve this honor? I don't think anything, so I'm going to make it up to you, the hard working players out there in the PCQ trenches. I'm going to open up my deck testing process to the people. I will be attending the first Pro Circuit event at Gen Con Indy in a few weeks, and I'd like to do it with a deck that is at least partially contributed to by the players. Each of my articles in the coming weeks will highlight the ideas and decks that have been submitted with full credit to the contributors. I've always been a fan of combo/theme decks, so I will be most impressed with more creative ideas. You can email me your ideas at tbsmetagame@hotmail.com. Get cracking!


Now to some actual strategy content. The deck I want to run, but haven't had the time to test fully, is something I call Cops and Robots:

Cops and Robots (It was a Dark and Stormy Night) V.1
16 GCPD Officer
4 Longshot
14 Wild Sentinel
2 Batman, The Dark Knight
4 World's Finest
2 Marvel Team-Up
4 Fizzle
4 Combat Protocols
3 Reconstruction Program
3 Clocktower
4 GCPD Headquarters

This deck looks a little crazy, but bear with me. The Longshot engine has been largely imported from the now ubiquitous "Wild Vomit" deck, but this deck has a different strategy for winning. With GCPD Headquarters, it seeks to KO every character, every turn, until it hits turn 7, when an inordinately large Batman comes in to clean up the opponent. Now there are many cards that could fit into this deck that aren't there, but this is a work in progress. Commissioner Gordon may have a place in here, but I'm finding it hard to have a spare turn where he should come down. Fizzle is mainly there against Flame Trap, something that would destroy this deck if it was played at the wrong moment. I'd really like to run some version of this deck at Indy, so any insights or testing that you do with the deck will be duly noted.

I'll go into more detail about the evolution of this deck next week, along with the first submissions by you—the reader!

Until next time . . .
Good Gaming!

TBS
tbsmetagame@hotmail.com