In the world of TCGs, the “pet deck” is a project that you never really give up on. No matter how long you’ve played the game, you’ll always have a soft spot for that deck. With every expansion that’s released, you look for new cards that will improve it.

Many Vs. players keep pet decks. There’s no denying it. Some of us embrace them and take them out in public to show off; others try to hide them away like an embarrassing relative. But I say, “Let the pets go!” After all, even the toughest pro players have pet decks—and let’s face it, those pets are fun to play with! 

My Pet Deck Epiphany

When I began playing the game, I pretty much net-decked my way through Marvel and DC Origins. As I mentioned in my previous article, I had no gaming experience before Vs. and had no clue about how to build a viable deck. But when Web of Spider-Man was released, I decided to try standing on my own two feet, so I attempted to build something of my own. I began with a Sinister Syndicate deck because I liked its potential endurance-gain effects. Cards like Morbius, Dr. Michael Morbius and Vulture appealed to me, and I tried to build a deck around their abilities. While the experience was fun and definitely educational, the deck never really took off because it suffered from consistency issues. Since that time, I’ve kept an eye out for new legacy cards that might help Sinister Syndicate, and any other options that might improve things for the bad guys from Web of Spider-Man.

When Marvel Knights came out, I quickly ranked it as one of my favorite sets because of the X-Statix team. This was the first Vs. team that really made me sit up and take notice, because its “loner” strategy was totally different from anything we had seen so far. I had been practicing with my Curve Sentinels deck for several weeks before the London $10K, and on the eve of the tournament (my first-ever Vs. tournament), I had something of an epiphany—I realized I didn’t like Curve Sentinels. The deck is not exactly a barrel of laughs to play in the first place, and all the pre-tournament chatter indicated that the field would be saturated with robots. So, on the night before the tournament, at approximately 9:00 p.m., I threw out my weeks of preparation and picked up a deck that I had played perhaps half a dozen games with: X-Statix Loner. If you’re interested in my decklist, it can be found on Metagame.com by clicking here.

On the day of the tournament, I racked up three wins and five losses before I dropped. Although my record was not exactly stellar, I have never regretted my decision to change decks at the last moment. This is not something I would recommend to anyone else—especially if you’re interested in doing well at a tournament. But for me, it was the right decision. I was sick to death of Curve Sentinels, and I know that if I had played it, I would not have enjoyed the tournament. As it was, the experience of playing in a $10K tournament was awesome, even though I didn’t do well. If you are a casual player who’s never played in a big tournament, I strongly recommend that you try to play in at least one in your Vs. lifetime. I had an absolute blast, and it taught me a lot. Since that time, X-Statix has been my pet deck—be it a mono-team version or a crazy hybrid with another team. Some of its unlikely allies thus far have been Sinister Syndicate, Darkseid’s Elite, and Green Lantern. Its current bedfellow is the Hellfire Club.

Here is the latest version of my X-Statix pet deck—my piece of Hobby League heaven:

“One Man’s Hell”

Characters

4 Friedrich Von Roehm
4 Orphan, Guy Smith
2 Sluk
3 U-Go-Girl, Tragic Teleporter
1 Roberto Da Costa
1 Empath
1 Madelyne Pryor
4 Henrietta Hunter
1 Shinobi Shaw
3 Zeitgeist
1 Donald Pierce
2 Anarchist, Man of the People
1 Emma Frost, White Queen
1 Dark Phoenix, Alien Life Force
1 Doop, Ultimate Weapon

Plot Twists

4 Evil Alliance
4 Spin Doctoring
4 Dead Weight
4 Army of One
3 Power and Wealth
2 Mutant of the Year
2 Enemy of My Enemy
2 Join the Club!

Locations

4 X-Statix Cafe
1 X-Statix HQ

The Pros’ Pet Decks

First, I talked to Rian Fike. He’s known for playing decks that have lots of 1-drop Army characters. Also, he’s a regular contributor to Metagame.com.

Me: You’ve had your fair share of Pro Circuit appearances, and you’re renowned for favoring decks that are not what people would call “tier 1.” What is it about the underdog that you like so much?

Rian: I guess I enjoy thumbing my nose at the establishment. When the game first started, the Sentinel team affiliation was said to be non-competitive. All the “big pros” from other trading card games insisted that I would be foolish to continue pursuing my shiny purple dreams. I enjoyed proving them wrong. There is probably a deep psychological construct that drives humans to cheer for the little guy. I mean, who would root for the tyrannosaurus rex against their best friend?

Me: A lot of casual players I know point-blank refuse to play any of the big-name decks. Would you say that you fall into that category? If so, why?

Rian: No, I would play a tier 1 deck if I loved the characters and the strategy. I enjoy the Anti-Green Lantern (AGL) deck, and I played The New Brotherhood at Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2004. Any deck that tickles my fancy gets a ride, and I don’t discriminate on the basis of its success.

Me: At Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2005, you were one of the first people to run an AGL deck. Since then, the addition of new cards like Chomin has elevated the deck from the ranks of “jank with potential” to “serious contender.” Will you stick with the now-proven deck, or move on to something a little more risky?

Rian: The true beauty of AGL is its versatility. I don’t think we’ve yet to see a tier 1 deck that can be adjusted so completely and still win every time it gets a decent draw. AGL has as many as sixteen slots available for tweaking, since its basic tactics are so tight. That does not mean I would play it if I were going to Pro Circuit San Francisco. Multiple Man ◊ Jamie Madrox currently owns my soul.

Me: Do you have one deck that you would describe as your pet deck? If so, can you give us a brief description?

Rian: My pet deck contains at least twelve copies of whatever 1-drop Army character we get to play with next. As obsessed as I am with my Madrox, I will shift allegiance quickly when Infinite Crisis is released if it provides a new fix. I really want to see a tier 1 deck that features Infestation, but besides that, my pets run wild.

Next on my list of likely candidates was Billy Zonos. Billy is known for his deckbuilding skills.

Me: You’ve been involved with the Pro Circuit for a long time now and you’ve always been regarded as an innovative deck builder. What is it that drives you to make something different?

Billy: Well, I would say that “involved” is a strong word. I’ve only played in three Pro Circuits. However, my monstrous ego will allow “innovative.” As for being different, I don’t know. I find standard beatdown decks to be quite boring. They don’t do anything exciting. There’s so much more thinking with control decks, and control is janky by nature, which is something I can really sink my teeth into. It’s what drew me to “FF Burn,” “Solitaire,” New School, and G’LOCK.

Me: When reading Metagame’s event coverage, I often see that you’re running your own unique deck called Solitaire. Could you tell us briefly what Solitaire is about? Would you describe it as a pet deck?

Billy: Solitaire (for those of you who aren’t sick of hearing about a deck that never really did anything major except make Top 8 at a $10K) is the ultimate stall deck—more robust than X-Stall and a lot more fun to play. It basically exhausts down your opponent’s board every turn until you can play 8- and 9-drops for the win. The first version started out as a Mutant Nation team-up. But once the Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock starters were released and I got my hands on the Spider-Man 7-drop . . . it was over. Solitaire didn’t change with every set release, but by the time Pro Circuit Los Angeles 2005 rolled around, I believe it was on its fourth iteration.

Me: What is it about Solitaire that made you defy conventional wisdom and turn your back on the proven tier 1 decks?

Billy: It’s just really fun to play. And it’s my deck. Of course, the deck required a ton of luck. Hitting Puppet Master on 2 was required in almost every matchup. And as the game grew, it became harder and harder to control the metagame. But really, the look on my opponents’ faces when I’ve completely locked them out of the match is priceless. I think that’s the real reason I played it for so long. That feeling of hopeless frustration that the deck put into people was what really got me going. Not being able to attack for the whole game is pretty crappy. No other control deck I’ve played has elicited the angry responses that Solitaire has. (Man, I sound like a real jerk.)

Me: We’ve seen you running G’LOCK in Golden Age events recently. Does this mean that Solitaire has been retired?

Billy: Yes, Solitaire was officially retired after I went 5–5 at Pro Circuit Los Angeles. What a terrible performance! I’m not blaming the deck, though. Play mistakes and lack of concentration are what killed my game that day. The smart player would have played G’LOCK or New School. The thing was, that was going to be my last PC, and I wanted to go out playing my favorite deck. Also, I’m not a smart player.

Me: At what stage would you say that a casual pet deck becomes a good and viable rogue deck?

Finally, I talked to Shane Wiggans. Shane has done well at several big Vs. tournaments and is a highly respected player.

Me: First, congratulations on your recent second-place performance at Pro Circuit Atlanta and a not-too-shabby showing at $10K Austin. If I remember right, you ran the much-favored Squadron Supreme deck at the Pro Circuit and then switched to the Mutant Mental deck for the $10K. What made you decide to take the path less traveled for the second event?

Shane: Well, for one, I thought that I may have used up all my mojo with the Squadron deck. I figured, why push my luck? But really, pretty much everyone on my team agreed that Mutant Mental was probably the strongest deck in the Marvel Modern Age format. (I think Vidianto “Vidi” Wijaya must have sold his soul to beat two of them in the Top 8 rounds of Pro Circuit Atlanta. Or maybe he is just really good. Who knows?) Anyway, I think Mutant Mental matches up favorably to Hellfire, generally owns Faces, and can beat Squadron Supreme unless Squadron gets the absolute perfect draw. Mutant Mental’s main problem is the difficult decisions it presents. I think with more practice—and War of Attrition rather than System Failure—my team would have done way better with it. Michael Barnes had mentioned that change, but we were reluctant to make a switch on the night before the event.

Me: You and other members of Team Alternate Win Condition (TAWC) have done quite well in the recent Marvel Modern Age format. In spite of those achievements, all the talk centers around two other teams: The Donkey Club and FTN. Does it bother you that your guys are not getting your share of the spotlight?

Shane: Personally, I am fine with it. There are some glory hounds out there who want the fame and attention, but to be honest, it’s not in the forefront of our minds. In the end, we want to have fun. We want to be competitive. And we want to be able to hold our heads high and say, “Good job” to our competitors—whether we win or lose. (Check out that huge smile on my face when I shook Vidi’s hand after he beat me in the finals of Pro Circuit Atlanta.)

Me: The name of your team suggests that you guys like the “rogue deck” approach now and then. Michael Barnes’s “Xavier’s Dream” success springs to mind as one such example. Do you actively look for something different to play at tournaments, or are you happy to go with the tier 1 flow?

Shane: We looked like no one’s business for something crazy to play at Pro Circuit Atlanta, but I take the deck that I know the best and that makes me the most competitive. There just wasn’t a janky deck in this last format. For the last DC Modern Age format in Indianapolis, we had tested a Zero Hour deck for a long, long while. It’s not completely janky, but it’s fun. That’s what’s so appealing about these un-played decks. They’re different and allow us to generally use cards we wouldn’t normally use.

Me: I’m trying to get the dirt on pro players and their pet decks. So come on—spill the beans. What floats Shane Wiggans’s boat?

Shane: I’m a huge fan of The Joker, Emperor Joker and its deck depletion effects. Anything that lets you win regardless of how much endurance you have is a good thing in my book.

Me: Let’s say that, for some perfectly logical reason, you find yourself unsupervised in the print room at UDE headquarters. You have just enough time to set up a card template designed to break your pet deck. What is that card?

Shane: Well, the deck itself may be viable as it is. But what I would like to see is some support for the deck depletion theme in the form of an Arkham-stamped plot twist. All the real deck depletion cards are found in Manhunter or Secret Society, but the win condition is found in Arkham.

Jank Sensei

See, even the pros have their pet decks. If you’ve read any of my stuff before, you’ll know that I like to draw analogies from a subject I know quite well—the martial arts. When I began learning the ins and outs of Vs. System, I was amazed at how many parallels I could draw. This pet deck issue is no different. All my martial arts students pick a Tokui Waza (a favorite technique) to develop and nurture. And just as Vs. players keep going back to their pet decks, my students always go back to their Tokui Waza—regardless of any new techniques they’ve learned.

No matter at what level you play Vs. System, it’s important to remember that, at the end of the day, we all want to have fun with the game. If the fun dries up, so does the game. So I challenge you: If you’ve not already done so, pick your Tokui Waza and stick by it. Play other decks, of course, but keep that team or strategy close to your heart. (Of course, you have to make your choice a bit of a challenge; picking Teen Titans is just plain cheating.) Also, I suggest keeping notes on how your deck develops. In writing this article, I looked at my notes on how I developed my Sinister Syndicate deck. It was really interesting to look back and see how I changed the deck as I learned more about the game and particular matchups.

If you have a deck that you think fits the profile for a pet deck, please feel free to email me at kamiza989@gmail.com with some details and a little background. I’d love to hear your story.