Players may not feel that The Fearsome Five are so fearsome after all, but if Israel Quiroz has his way this weekend, they may make a huge impact next weekend at the Pro Circuit. He's playing a design that breaks Shimmer in half, using Marvel Team-Up to make Fearsome Five and Doom work together, where she becomes a board dominating force. Psimon adds to his opponent’s frustration, at which point Dr. Light shows up to finish things off.
Quiroz is an extremely dedicated deck designer, and judging by his 3-0 record thus far, his wackiness also produces results. I sat down with Quiroz after his round three feature match win to figure out exactly how his deck works, and how he came up with the idea.
Metagame: How did you think of this deck idea?
Quiroz: “It's a really weird deck. I was experimenting with the Doom to figure out what he could do, and it was one of those decks where I woke up…I sleep with a notepad.”
Metagame: Really?
Quiroz: “Yeah. Sometimes I'll wake up and have ten stupid ideas I'll write down, and one will work every so often. This deck worked really well.”
Metagame: So you actually have a notepad next to your bed in case you think of deck ideas in the middle of the night?
Quiroz: “I got used to it. I used to design games for another company, and I always had to come up with new ideas for cards. I got in the habit, and now I wake up every so often, an idea hits me, and I'll write it down.”
Metagame: So Shimmer seems really, really good. Has anyone else figured that out yet? Last match you were exhausting your opponent's side every turn.
Quiroz: “Well, I've been trying to experiment with The Fearsome Five since DC came out, but they don’t work well at all. They contradict each other. So, a lot of people just splash them like Neutron or Mammoth. Shimmer has been overseen so far, and I think she's a powerhouse. The deck wouldn't work without her. Psimon is great, he locks down everything, but without Shimmer you can't stall until then.”
Metagame: Do you think The Fearsome Five have been overlooked by most players?
Quiroz: “Like in most games, players read a card a few times, get an initial idea, and that's how they feel about it until proven wrong. I think that everyone feels they're a weaker team, and I'll have to agree with them. As a team, they're pretty weak. But, in the right splash, they can work amazingly well.”
Metagame: Are there any other cool little tricks your deck does that we should know about?
Quiroz: “Oh yes! I can go into beatdown mode, because whenever Shimmer exhausts their characters, they can't reinforce. So, I can pick up anybody and get damage through, but the actual goal of the deck is to stall until turn nine. Then I start using Gamma Bomb, and Dr. Light with boost. Thanks to Doom's Throne Room and The Underworld Star, I'm able to get a lot of big characters in my discard pile. I play Dr. Light when I'm active player, he brings back Psimon, and that locks them from playing characters.”
Metagame: How do you think the deck stacks up against the rest of the field?
Quiroz: “I was actually just talking to someone about that. I've been happily unemployed for about five months now, so all I do is playtest. Back home, I have about 50 to 75 decks built, all Vs. I was a playtester for other games, so it's just a habit. As stupid as a deck idea may seem, I still have to try it out.”
Metagame: Will this be the deck you play next week at the Pro Circuit?
Quiroz: “This is what I was planning to use at Gen Con, but I stumbled into something that I think is better than this. So, I'm just going to throw this decklist out there, and see how the metagame adapts to it, see if people follow it. I may use it at Gen Con, but I probably won't. I don't like to play the same deck twice.”
Metagame: And what do you have in store for us at Gen Con? Something even more off the wall?
Quiroz: “It's really off the wall. Most of my decks are either going to work really well, or they're going to be 0-2 drop.”
Israel Quiroz - $10k Wizard World Chicago, 8/14/04