After some small amount of thought and a slightly larger amount of sleep to recover from Gen Con, I have come to the conclusion that I am better than most superheroes. Maybe all of them. I am definitely better than Superman, and by extension loads better than anyone who is worse than Big Blue. Here’s the thing. The majority of superheroes don’t really make the world a better place. All they do is stop it from getting worse. This isn’t really their fault, as much of the time they have big bad nasties to deal with, and the rest of the time they have to protect their secret identities, stem threats to the security of the planet, and find ways to clean super-sweat out of their skintight garments.

So far, I haven’t had to face a mortal enemy who was looking to do major harm to my world, and as such, I have had more time to get into the net positives of life. I’m sure that if I had to deal with as many maniacs as Batman, I’d be paranoid and world-weary also. While the Fantastic Four are busy being fantastic, I’m here to make your lives that little bit easier in my own way—by giving you tech.

First, a short word about playing Sentinels in LA.

Don’t.

Now, a slightly longer word about playing Sentinels in LA.

Inadvisable.

I am slightly overstating the case here, but not as much as you might think. Metagame shifts have created many tough matchups for Sentinels and a rapidly decreasing number of truly favorable ones. There are beatdown decks that look to finish people off prior to turn 6 (Concealed Beats, Squadron Supreme, TNB), control decks against which Sentinels aren’t aggressive enough to create the necessary pressure or win in the late game, and odd combo decks (Team Tactics, Both Guns Blazing) that are generally built to have a favorable matchup against big robots. If you are looking to play a pretty straightforward beatdown deck, I would venture to suggest that Karl Bown’s build of Avengers Reservist, “Everything but the Hulk,” is the most consistent and straightforward beatdown deck I’ve seen in a good long while.* It’s not as immediately tricksy and cunning as Michael Jacob’s build, but it makes up for it with more uniform draws. Also, it’s a low stress deck to play, which is great if you find yourself suffering from tournament fatigue (which can be a real factor in a three day event like a Pro Circuit).

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily depending on how much you like surprises, the field for PC LA is pretty wide open. And assuming that you are well practiced with your chosen deck (which needs to be powerful, though not necessarily as abusively powerful as in previous formats), there is every potential to do well. From all of my testing and extensive scrutiny of various events leading up to the Pro Circuit, I haven’t seen a single deck with which one could confidently show up and expect to run the field. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from looking for tech. Whenever there is a metagame shift, card values also shift, and finding the gems in the rough is one of my favorite pastimes in Vs. System. Having teammates point out to me when I am trying to be different for different’s sake tends to keep me on an even keel, but being aware of all the options has never yet hurt.

I should probably go on record as stating that I am about the biggest fan ever of Latverian Embassy in an unclear or controlling metagame. While it is possible to play around it sometimes, there are various decks that it completely destroys, and it will on occasion force even prepared opponents into difficult positions. If nothing else, it will make your own decisions easier, as it effectively lowers the number of tricks you need to worry about your opponent having. Anything that makes a long complicated day of long complicated games more straightforward is good in my book.

At the other end of the scale of reactive cards is a new entry to “Tim’s Fallback Trick Bag.” As Avengers has become more popular, there has been quite a bit of talk about the resurgence of Purple Man . . . if indeed he were ever really around in the first place. Stealing an opponent’s Wonder Man is quite savage. I am a pretty big fan of Common Enemy in the current metagame, and his inclusion certainly seems reasonable in there, but he isn’t the object of my intrigue right now. There is a fun little ongoing plot twist in the Green Lantern set that can potentially be the most frustrating thing ever for an unprepared player. Against Avengers, Trapped in the Sciencells can quickly add up to quite a lot of free endurance loss. With many of their powerful effects keying off reservists, having to second guess between playing characters and plot twists in the resource row is far from ideal. With two copies flipped up early, the Avengers have to win about a whole turn earlier. The best bit? In combination with Latverian Embassy, opponents have to make some serious decisions about how many plot twists they want to be flipping up early; while they will save on endurance loss, they will close off options for later in the game. And there are plenty of other decks in the field that can get caught between this rock and hard place. Squadron Supreme can be in all sorts of trouble if forced to hold cards in hand, and many of the combo decks can get in deep doodoo when they get locked out of a few search effects.

The field as a whole seems to have become an intriguing polarization between very aggressive beatdown decks and defensive control/combo decks. About the most aggressive build that I would immediately consider playing is Squadron Supreme. Niles Rowland was the first to break Top 8 with it at $10K Orlando, and last week, Team Hans amply wiped the floor with the rest of the field in the Swiss of $10K Gen Con UK. Of the two builds, the German one seemed more aggressive, electing not to use AIDA and gunning for the win at quite a pace. Other-Earth seems on occasion to break open even the most steadfast defense, and as such, this more consistent New Brotherhood has game against a large proportion of the field. Interestingly, it tends to have a slightly harder time against other beatdown decks. The Avenger team’s large characters and access to Call Down the Lightning (and similar effects) up the pressure in what often proves to be quite a swingy matchup.

At the controlling end of the spectrum, it seems that there is a whole raft of decks doing nifty things with A Child Named Valeria. Pablo Molina’s build of Common Enemy cannot realistically be called Common Enemy at all. It is, in essence, a deck designed to lock down the game with a countless number of copies of one of the most powerful plot twists ever printed. This is a great plan against generic beatdown, including Sentinels and Avengers, but it can run into a little trouble in the face of burn from Golden Archer or effects like Blind Sided or Other-Earth (from Team Tactics and Squadron Supreme respectively). A safer route would be to have a win condition that can apply pressure on both an opponent’s endurance total and board. Fantastic Fun and Both Guns Blazing do this in their own ways, but in terms of raw board control, I am a big fan of Sam Roads’s build (seven teams in all). It can not only use Fizzle or Utility Belt to deal with opposing threats to its control, but it also has Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Sharpshooter and Shimmer to keep the heat off. A Child Named Valeria is certainly an important card in the deck, but should someone name it on a particular turn with Null Time Zone, the deck still has outs.

Null Time Zone is, for me, one of the most interesting cards in the metagame for PC LA. Not all decks have space to squeeze it in, and even those that do have some serious decisions to make about whether it’s appropriate for them. Against various decks (most notably the Team Tactics beatdown/combo deck that uses Team Tactics to create one colossal attack), it can be massively powerful. It can also protect the deck from such myriad frustrations as System Failure and Fizzle as the deck goes off. The big question is: against what proportion of the field will it be of minimal effect due to cunning deckbuilding? Against the Squadron Supreme deck, there are no cards that cannot be played in response to it (Mega-Blast being a great replacement for Savage Beatdown in the deck for this, among other reasons). Likewise, the Avengers deck isn’t especially fettered by having access to fewer plot twists. How many matchups where Null Time Zone is a dead card are enough to stop one from playing it, and how good does the card have to be in the matchups where it isn’t dead to warrant its inclusion? I am not a hundred percent on the Null Time Zone issue, but I would personally be inclined not to run it in favor of more broadly useful effects. I would then spend the money I saved from not acquiring Kang’s Best Trick on going out and having a good time. On Kang.**

Speaking of good times, I would quickly like to thank everyone who sent suggestions for my playlist. I have a whole different set of playables to sort through for LA. Summer sun in the middle of November? I know for a fact that I’m going to have a good time at the Pro Circuit, and I really hope that you do too, either in person or vicariously through the coverage. If there is anything specific that you really liked in previous PC coverage, then send me an email and we’ll try to do it again for LA. If there was anything you particularly didn’t like, email Toby Wachter at toby@metagame.com and we’ll do our best to improve. (That was clever, wasn't it? -TW)

Have fun and be lucky!

Tim “On His Way to La-La Land!” Willoughby

timwilloughby@hotmail.com

* The name refers to the fact that the deck runs almost all of the Avengers reservists. Technically, there is no Falcon in there either, but we’ll just ignore him. He’s hiding behind the Hulk on the bench.

** Here is my other cunning suggestion. If you can be confident of there not being too many Null Time Zones in the field, there is a certain deck by the name of Legion of Doom that is pretty competitive in the current Golden Age format. Try looking on Metagame.com to find a starting decklist. I am currently building it in foil with all the cards signed and doodled on by friends. If you would like to be my friend, then I will happily accept donations to my cause.