Tech. What exactly is tech? According to urbandictionary.com (the fountain of all knowledge) tech is defined as:

Firstly, I intend to go all "Sue Scheff" on them and sue urbandictionary.com. I am totally not a geek. I can't speak for the rest of you, but I'm currently measuring a mere 1.5% on the geek-o-meter.

If you spend any sort of time browsing websites like VSRealms.com, you will come across numerous threads and discussions debating the latest "hot tech." The idea behind tech is that you equip your deck with cards or strategies that are designed to extinguish the threat of other decks that you are likely to meet in tournament play. If you skirt over these assorted musings, you may pick up the odd useful byte of information, but for the most part, these public forums offer a very superficial view of tech. It's easy to recognize the players that build a deck with a predetermined structure of between 52 and 56 cards relevant to the deck and then 4 to 8 cards designed to handle the metagame. This is a shallow and extremely flawed view, in my opinion, and certainly not something a fledgling player wants to follow. For those of you just starting out, it's important to understand the whys and hows. When should you tech against a deck? What sort of tech should you use? Should you compromise your deck's optimum build specifically for tech? I have a great respect for good tech, and I believe it to be a highly critical factor in Vs. System—when correctly implemented.

I believe that you can learn a lot about a person’s personality from watching him or her play Vs. System and from the decks he or she uses. I always tend to lean toward decks that have an element of control, as I like to be able to manipulate my opponent and thwart his or her plans. This echoes another aspect of my life very much. As a lifelong practitioner and teacher of martial arts, my tachi-waza (favorite techniques) are all designed to limit my opponents’ options, and neutralize or reverse any offense they may offer. In this respect, I find tech-heavy decks the most fun to play in Vs. System. In fact, I used to run a deck I named "Frustration" that had no win condition of its own. The purpose of the deck was simply to annoy my opponent by stifling his every move or play. This was obviously just a casual deck designed for fun (well, it was fun for me) and an exaggeration of the art of tech, but it was also a useful lesson. It helped me to study and identify the two different classes of tech and realize that tech is not just a card, but a combat trick or nifty ability played at the right time.

When I teach my martial art students, I stress the importance of understanding the basics, no matter the person's experience. All techniques I teach can be broken down into two categories: proactive and reactive. Vs. System tech is just the same. Reactive techniques generally allow your opponent to make a play only for you to pull the rug out from under his or her feet. The result of this can be quite devastating for the opposition and will very often result in you getting ahead in tempo. The other option is to go with proactive tech, which will stop or severely limit your opponents’ options before they even have a chance to exhaust a card. Which direction you take is up to you; both have benefits and drawbacks. Before you make that choice, however, there is a question you first need to ask: Do I really need to include tech? Some people prefer to disregard the opposition and purely play to the strengths of the deck. The inclusion of tech is sometimes harmful to consistency and potency. A judo student came to me and announced he had entered a Sport Jujitsu tournament (think UFC, only semi-contact). The tournament was in a couple of weeks and he wanted to practice striking, as judo teaches very few striking techniques at the lower grades. With so little time to prepare, I told him it would probably do more harm than good. I said, "Stick to what you know—just cover up, walk in, take the strikes on the chin, and when inside, use your grappling." He followed the plan and took second place in the tournament. Trying to desperately squeeze in techniques or abilities that don't fit your deck could be counterproductive.

Reactive Tech

This is probably the riskier approach but it can yield the bigger payoff, especially when used in combat. One of the oldest and most potent reactive tech cards is Fizzle. The effect of negating a Savage Beatdown on your opponent's attack step could easily turn the game on its head. For a combat deck, losing the battle on your own initiative is potentially fatal. Fizzle is obviously team-stamped to Gotham Knights (and so a little irrelevant if you’re not using Batman and the gang), so let's look at a few more generic answers.

Global Domination is a personal favorite of mine. Many people overlook it, thinking it's team-stamped and therefore useless outside of a Brotherhood deck, but really its most potent effect is available to all who choose to wield it. There is a wealth of powerful locations out there, from the Checkmate decks to recent Heralds of Galactus-inspired builds. Global Domination can stop a hefty Brother Eye-boosted attack or any Stargate shenanigans. Not So Fast can certainly live up to its name and slow down some of the fast rush decks, taking out a lot of the 1-cost attack pumps. Meltdown and Misappropriation are at their best when you play them on an equipped, attacking character; removing the bulk of the attacking character’s firepower often leaves it bouncing harmlessly away. Plays like this can leave you in an incredibly strong position to land a knockout blow. The essence of reactive tech is the ability to absorb or deflect your opponents’ offense, whether by reducing their combat effectiveness (neutralizing pumps), increasing your defensive capabilities (through strong defensive pumps like Cover Fire), or my personal favorite—running away. The last of these is not an act of cowardice, but a clever strategic maneuver. One of the reasons I enjoy using the X-Statix / Villains United deck is its natural ability to use "tai sabaki." This Japanese martial art term basically means body movement to avoid an attack. A frame of reference that you might understand would be the spine-breaking, bullet-dodging tomfoolery of Neo and the gang from The Matrix. When your opponent commits to an attack, instead of meeting it with equal or superior force, simply avoid the attack. This will leave your opponent off balance and expended. The XS/VU deck does this very, very well through abilities like Spin Doctoring and The Science Spire. There are more generic options like Revitalize or Swift Escape, and while these might not fit the theme of your deck, they do highlight another area of "tech" that you could explore.

Proactive Tech

This is the steadier and more methodical approach. Potential gains may not be quite as immediate, but there are generally very few options that your opponent can respond with. One of the most common forms of proactive tech is resource hate. By this, I mean disrupting your opponent's resource row by replacing or KO'ing cards that he or she is reliant upon. I mentioned earlier the usefulness of The Science Spire in the X-Statix / Villains United deck. If you can remove that card via some kind of replacement effect, you severely hamper the effectiveness of the deck. The opposing player now has far fewer options than before, and access to the deck’s one-man trickery is restricted. There are decks that rely entirely on cards in the resource row for their win conditions. What does the Xavier's Dream player do after you've replaced the keystone card? How powerful is the Faces of Evil deck after you get rid of all copies of the Team-Up? There are many options for resource hate, but the one that is most in vogue at the moment is the Reality Gem. This is an incredibly useful card that you can get multiple uses out of in any game. It is also very easy to find, as equipment search is quite prevalent throughout the game.  

Character removal is another aggressive form of tech. Against off-curve decks, character removal effects can be quite devastating. The granddaddy of them all is Total Anarchy. This ongoing plot twist deals very firmly with those smaller, annoying characters and has been doing so since DC Origins hit the shelves. With Infinite Crisis it got a makeover and a rather large hairdo, and was stuck on the 4-drop Fatality, Flawless Victory. Weenies beware. Character removal really hurts the off-curve decks, but that doesn't mean to say that curve decks fare any better. If you can KO or remove your opponent’s highest drop on his or her initiative, it should mean that things will go a lot easier for you next turn, and you could easily generate an unassailable lead in endurance.  

Some would argue that plot twist and location control is not considered "tech," but I would disagree. Deep Green was a deck that had a veritable toolbox of characters to deal with most situations. I should know, after I met Tom Reeve (the deck's designer) in the final of a Trial of the Finest tournament last month. I was sporting my X-Statix / Villains United deck, and he was running his own creation. Although the game ended on turn 7, he actually beat me on turn 5 when he brought out Floronic Man, Alien Hybrid. That character locked me out of my normal game by denying me access to my important locations.

When to play tech? 

The simple rule is never, ever do anything until you need to. It's your opponent's initiative, he or she has a field of 2-drops, and is about to attack. You drew a Total Anarchy this turn and placed it as a resource. Do not flip it yet! If you flip the plot twist before your opponent has even considered attack options, you're giving away information that could very easily save him or her a lot of bother. Wait for your opponent to attack and make a play, and then you can consider flipping the Anarchy. I'll stress this again—never, ever do anything until you have to. Tech is at its most potent when your opponent doesn't know it's coming.

Deckbuilder Challenge Cup #7 - Teh Tech 

While we wait for the results for DBCC#6 to roll in, it's time to set the next challenge. Given our topic for the day, the challenge is to build the ultimate tech deck. You must build a deck that has answers to as many of the current top decks as possible (just check recent Metagame.com tournament coverage for ideas). The format is Golden Age, and all cards are legal—including banned cards. If you have room to fit in a win condition of your own, great, but don't fret about it if you can’t. I'm more interested in seeing how your deck can handle the big guys. The requirements are:

·       Golden Age

·       60 card minimum

·       All cards are legal, including the official ban list

·       Deck must have a name

·       You must submit one paragraph of description with your deck

·       Closing date for submissions is Monday, November 6th

Please submit your decks to me either by email (kamiza989@gmail.com) or by posting them on the dedicated thread on my website.

Many thanks and good luck,

Steve

Steve “Kamiza” Garrett is an ardent supporter of casual Vs. play and has been an active member of the vast Vs. System online community since day one. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to email him at kamiza989@gmail.com or pester him at his website, www.the-kamiza.com.