The numbers are in! The new Silver Age format has ushered in a new era of playable decks, and people are playing teams that were previously deemed unplayable in this event. The tournament is dominated by the Justice League of Arkham “Killing Joke” deck, but there is a breadth of different strategies that have been employed. It seems that the most successful new team is Checkmate, which has turned up in two significant varieties: “Checkmate Toolbox,” which utilizes Ahmed Samsarra to get a range of different locations, and “Chess,” a hybrid team-up with the Hellfire Club. Chess utilizes the synergies between the hidden and visible elements of both teams, in particular the terrific Rook Control, which allows multiple characters to be affected by Shaw Industries.
Squadron has still remained a force in the metagame, but it has evolved into a much more open toolbox style deck, using Enemy of My Enemy to make sure it has the right character at the right time. Also up there in the popularity stakes are the “Good Guys” JLA / JLI Ally deck and G’Lock, the Willpower stall deck.
Here is the breakdown:
“Killing Joke” – Justice League of Arkham - 41
Squadron variants - 35
“Good Guys” – JLA / JLI Ally - 25
Checkmate Toolbox (inc. “Chess”) - 21
G’Lock - 15
Fate-a-Tron (decks that involve getting all the artifacts) - 9
Anti-Green Lantern - 8
Shadow Creatures (“Gremlins”) - 8
Faces of Evil (inc. X-Faces variants) - 8
Avengers reservist – 7
Burn (High Voltage Style) - 6
Brotherhood reservist - 5
Injustice Gang Hand-Flood - 5
Midnight Sons control - 5
Marvel Knights concealed - 4
Justice League Task Force - 4
Underworld / Secret Society (KO pile manipulation) - 4
Villains United Toolbox - 3
Shadowpact - 2
JSA / Checkmate - 2
X-Mental - 2
Secret Society leader - 2
Morlocks / Parademon combo - 2
Other decks (including GLEE, Manhunter hidden, Spider-Friends, IG / Villains, JSA, Villains / Revenge Squad, Villains control, Checkmate / Syndicate, SSociety, Villains United, Unaffiliated, Concealed beats, IG Army, Hellfire / MK, X-Men beats, Avengers / X-men Team Attack, X-Energy) - 38
Keep checking for more updates on the new hotness that is the Silver Age metagame!