Something about army decks calls to me, rush decks? I can build but not play. The games go longer than my my average curve deck. Curve decks? I am not bad with. Control decks? A Little better. Insane control/aggro/anything it wants? I can build and play. Army decks? I don’t know. There is just some kind of effect that they have on me.
Within the first few days of Squirrel Girls appearance into the vs system, my Jank Brother Soshi Kanpachi came up with the mad idea of the League of Extraordinary Woodrats. Pure unadulterated jank.
It started with a base of:
Novice Assassins
SHIELD Agents
Squirrel Girl
Nick Fury
Helicarrier
Metropolis Reborn
Birthing Chamber
Then it started to evolve, and I adjusted the numbers and twisted the figures to get:
4x Lazarus Pit, Non-Unique * Death’s Door
2x Mountain Stronghold, Non-Unique
4x Metropolis Reborn, Non-Unique * Team-Up
1x Espionage, Non-Unique
4x Helicarrier
4x Birthing Chamber
3x The Demon’s Head
3x Finishing Move
17x Novice Assassins
8x SHIELD Agents
4x Squirrel Girl
4x Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD
The basic premise of the deck was to use Squirrel Girl and Nick Fury to vomit characters out fast as possible. What characters you ask? Well, at that point in modern we had Shield Agents and ones from previous sets. From SHIELD they are still the best option for this deck, but to actually be able to kill the opponent a little more potency was needed, hence the Novie assassins.
I have been using the novice assassins since before DCL was legal for tournement play. Where my Jank counterpart is using shield, I was using Teen Titans.
This is pretty much where it stayed until post Pre-MUN. We were pretty much waiting for the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D, and to see some of the generics.
So, almost 6 weeks and almost 300 cards later how has this deck changed?
Not at all. It hadn’t been in the constant flow of change, and maybe it was for the best. A step back from something and taking another stab at is almost always a good thing to do.
So, thanks to Chris ‘im_all_noobish’ we have a full set of MUN on photobucket available for browsing. So how HAS the deck changed?
Well, when this was in its conception Injustice Gang Concealed and Marvel Knights were good, but now they are everywhere. So, with almost every modern deck packing Skreeeee! I am thinking that Lazuras Pit could be even more important that is originally was.
Espionage was conditional meta-choice. I was thinking that as one of 60 cards it could easily be trimmed and it would be a real bonus to get another birthing chamber online. I figured that depending on what cards we saw in this set, may depend on whether it was worth it. In modern age, rush was almost dead, with the only really viable options being Super Troopers or Titans/Outsiders. In the past few sets there has been a lot of ways to crush weenie decks, one such card is the infamous Have a Blast. How ambivalent can one person feel about a card?
How many times have you won games off of the back of the Destruction of a crucial resource? A mid combat TNB nuking? Destroying the draw power of Birthing Chamber? Demolishing a team-up against a rush deck? In the same way, how many times have you thought, this card is too good.
In this set though, there has been a fair amount of off-curve love. Many rally effects, and a few pretty bitching army cupport cards including a one shot novice assassin.
So, what were we lacking Pre-MUN in modern? Draw, since Rian Fike was wanting this ready for worlds, we had Birthing Chamber…and Genosha. That was pretty much the extent of the draw power. While Genosha may seem steep, it was our only real option. It had been working relatively fine because in an emergency, or if I think I can kill, I will happily sack a resource for two cards.
So, after a brief look through the new set, a few cards me am liking:
Rogue Squadron - I love this card. How many times have you been playing warpaint, its turn four, and you draw Tatts, Tatts and a birthing chamber nets you a Zazz and a Tatts? This card garuntees this won’t happen. It is also smegsational in silver age, with the mass draw effects, Mind/Ego New Baxter building draw engine.
Losing the Argument - It’s turn two, you have a birthign chamber and a Nick Fury you can’t use. Draw two, put those on top your deck, keep them safe. It is also a good out to the madness that is Future Foes. It also works very, very well with the Alias Investigations and Maria Hill
Invasion Plans - Sometimes a deck like this ends-up having a spare character. You have maybe a Squirrel Girl, a Nick, or a lone SHIELD Agent who is pretty redundant. It’s like a one time ego gem on steroids. It is also pretty funky with the various rigging the top few cards of the deck cards.
Agents of Hate - 4 Novice Assassins now attack for additional 9. Four puny little Novices are capable of taking down Galactus, though to be perfectly honest you have probably lost if your opponent plays Galactus. Though I would most likely use it in emergency situations for maybe a shrink or an Agility.
Asgard - We ask, and TBZ and TBS almost deliver, almost like TBS+TBZ=DBZ. Almost there, but not quite. We asked for recursion, and we got it? Almost? I think this is the fairest way of bringing generic recursion back. You couldn’t just make a Slaughter Swamp without the Secondary, because it isn’t what the game needs. It isn’t AS good as it could be, but it isn’t by any means overpowered. It is good in some decks, this deck is kind of a grey area for me. I am still a little unsure as to whether this is better than Rogue Squadron. Sure, rogue squadron is a one shot deal, but it gets three where as asgard is a multiple use single recurring location.
Superhuman Registration Act - Hmm. Rush decks? This card loves. Army decks? I dunno, I am inclined to try it out. First of all it sorts out your team-attacking/reinforcement shennanigans. It also gets you about one Novice Assasin/Shield Agent a turn. Sure it could have a non-character on top, but Birthing Chamber/Asgard/Rogue Squadron sorts that out for you. So it could potentially be a psuedo-part of your draw engine.
Alias Investigations - Now THIS works with the Superhuman Registration Act. It says, draw a card. Otherwise it has about a 50/50 chance of netting you a character and less of a non-character. But to be honest, that isn’t the end of the world. Say you miss, and cycle past a non-character, but it just makes sure that you don’t draw a dead card with another draw effect.
Maria Hill, Deputy Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D - Speechless. There are no words to describe…there are no words. At all. I am genuinely speechless at this card. It most likely be a 50/50 shot at drawing a card and making the Novices even bigger, and making the SHIELD Agents be able to attack.
Damn.
Thats a lot of cards.
We need some wiggle room for draw effects and the like in the deck.
1x Metropolis Reborn, Team-Up
4x Truth and Justice, Team-Up
4x Birthing Chamber
3x Helicarrier
3x Rogue Squadron
3x The Demon’s Head
1x Espionage
3x Invasion Plans
3x Finishing Move
16x Novice Assassins, Army
8x SHIELD Agents, Army
4x Squirrel Girl, Doreen Green
4x Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D
3x Maria Hill, Deputy Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D
This is the way I see the deck. Taking Invasion Plans for Genosha, because even though I said I would sack a resource to draw two, I would rather exhaust a character. Maria Hill and Roque Squadron, you know you like how they work together.
So post MUN, we have a few changes, most of which are relating to the draw engine, and as much as I would like to find room for an all important Agents of hate, but the Assassins are agressive enough as it is, and the main worry was drawing enough cards. Maybe this will be enough.
