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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017

While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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Deck Profile: Bin Chen

Julia Hedberg

December 03, 2004

Bin Chen played an interesting dedicated Spider-Friends deck this weekend. Previous Spider-Friends decks put a high priority on evasion and team-attacking, relying on the oh-so-helpful effect of Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and bonuses from Wild Pack and Mary Jane Watson. This deck, designed by David Leader, takes a different tack. It plays an honest game, hitting its drops and working on synergies involving Mattie Franklin ◊ Spider-Woman or Scarlet Spider for big late turns.

Chen has a decent spread for his drops. They start at 2, with Black Cat, Master Thief, and then two characters for each drop up until 8, when Spider-Man, Cosmic Spider-Man makes his appearance. Each drop reinforces the Spider-Friends synergies. Black Cat messes with the opponent's early game. Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man bolsters your team attacks, while Ricochet rewards you for playing with so many evaders.

Moving on to the 4-drops, we have Will O’ The Wisp, whose ability lets him build up to quite a threat, and then the mighty Puma. Already above the curve at 7 ATK/8 DEF, Puma's ability to evade while attacking lets you draw out your opponent's tricks at minimal risk to you. The main player at 5 is Spider-Man, Alien Symbiote. With so many Spider-Men in the deck, he's quite the monster. Daredevil is no slouch either.

Turn 6 is when the really funky stuff happens. If your 6-drop is Scarlet Spider, you can follow up with a swarm of low-cost Spider-Men augmented by the +2 ATK Scarlet Spider gives them. If you've got Mattie Franklin ◊ Spider-Woman, you can recycle your resource row while delivering big beats. The high concentration of characters in this deck means she'll be clobbering on turn after turn.

If turn 7 rolls around and your opponent is still alive, your next move is dictated by your situation. If you need to control your opponent's board, then use Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man to neutralize problem attackers. If you just need a boost, then use Ezekiel to fill up your hand, either supercharging Spider-Man, Alien Symbiote or setting up a big Scarlet Spider turn. Lastly, there's the 8-drop Spider-Man, Cosmic Spider-Man. He cleans up like nobody's business. Rounding things out is a fairly standard suite of combat-oriented Plot Twists.

Spider-Friends decks made an impressive showing this weekend. Several players used this kind of deck and did quite well with it. It will be interesting to see how the metagame changes when the So Cal Pro Circuit has ended. Expect a future with a little more Spider-Friends in it.