Last week, I took a look at the Spider-Friends cards that lend themselves to a stall strategy. This week, we’ll take a look at the Sinister Syndicate stall cards.


Characters

Vulture, Adrian Toomes: While any character that gains you endurance may look like a stall card, 1-drops (especially those with an ATK of 2) aren’t stall cards. They’re downright aggressive! The endurance you gain is just gravy. Stall decks can’t afford to have 1-drops on the table, as they can be a liability in later turns when big breakthrough happens.

Alistair Smythe: Alistair fits into stall strategies, especially against decks that pack a lot of ATK-boosting plot twists. However, when you’d like to recruit him on turn 3, there’s very little danger of your opponent ending the game. As a stall play, he works well on turn 5 or 6, when he has the initiative and your endurance total is just a few points higher than the total ATK of your opponent’s characters. It’s very tempting to try for the win with a Savage Beatdown or two, but Alistair puts that idea to rest in a hurry . . . as long as he’s around.

Beetle: An ever-increasing DEF is a good way to make sure that a low drop doesn’t become a liability. It’s often a good idea for stall decks to have some lower drops to play in case the opposition comes out hard and fast. Sometimes you just need a body to keep them from triggering any breakthrough abilities (like opposing Hammerheads).

Boomerang: Boomerang does wonders against equipment decks or decks that rely too much on plot twists and locations. They won’t dare pump up their 2 and unders or make team attacks with them—Boomerang can wreck them! Keeping characters off the board is a great way to make sure that you experience as little endurance loss as possible. And the best part is that you can use his power even after he has attacked or reinforced a teammate.

Hydro-Man: His low stats can be a hindrance to your stall tactics, but some decks need to maintain a certain level of board presence, and there are few characters who can stick around as long as Hydro-Man. He’s a great asset if you are playing with 6-drop loyalty characters in a team-up deck and need to know you’ll have a friendly face on turn 6.

Morbius: Now here’s a character that really says, “We’re going into another turn, bucko!” Just be sure you’re playing with some pump, as his stats are a bit low, and you’ll certainly be crying if an Acrobatic Dodge keeps you from gaining some much needed endurance. His flight means you’ll be able to find a nice juicy target with little difficulty when he attacks. Nasty Surprises are going to be needed when he’s defending, as there’s no way your opponent will be willing to accept a mutual stun.

Scorpion: Characters with the ability to exhaust opposing characters are usually lumped into the stall category, but this guy doesn’t deserve that. The problem is, unless you’re playing against a total weenie deck, exhausting up to 5 points worth of characters is only going to get one character on turn 7. The other problem is that your opponent’s 7-drop is going to crush Scorpion like the bug that he is.

Shocker: Now we’re talking! The first 100% dedicated stall character in the Syndicate roster. When you’ve got the initiative, why bother getting into sticky, sweaty, tights-riding-up-yer-behind combat when you’d rather avoid it? Of course, since you have the initiative, your opponent will see that you’ve recruited Shocker and may not give you two targets to exhaust. Hey, if your opponent puts a couple of non-range characters in the support row, so much the better. If they’re all up front, then now’s your chance to deal some breakthrough—probably for the first time in the game.


Plot Twists

Rejuvenation: The Syndicate has a few ways of making opponents discard cards, but even if your deck doesn’t use them, most decks wind up with a handful of characters in their KO’d piles anyway. Powering-up characters and paying discard costs can add up after a while, and the more you see, the happier you are. This is one time you don’t mind that the threshold cost of the card is 4, as you won’t want to play it until the later turns anyway. It’s especially satisfying to have both players go to negative endurance, then pull the Rejuve and win the game.


Notice how there is only one plot twist and no locations in the Syndicate stall arsenal? Yeah, well, that’s because they really aren’t a stall team. They’re all about aggression. However, they have enough characters with stall properties that they could easily be teamed up with the plot twist and location components every good stall deck needs.

This team has a lot of ways to spend endurance, but if you aren’t playing with that end of the deck and are playing with endurance gain, you’ll have time to see the later turns and turn your stall game into a finishing game. Green Goblin, Altered Ego is one way to spend all that hard-earned endurance, and there are plenty of other ways, too. I’m sure you’ll think of something.

Questions and comments may be sent to me at mhyra@metagame.com.