My Black Bolt deck now has a record of 7-1!

Last Night the endurance totals were…49 to -11 On turn 4!!!

The most current list of it looks like this

I was supposed to write about a few more DHQ cards yesterday, but life got in the way, and it could be a while before I put them up.

I should expect them, alond with various other cards from the set in a few days time.

Also, quick side note. I have updated the Black Bolt list, and it is hella fun to play.

So, sorry for the late post today, I was working while 0100…TIRED.

So, today I have two more cards from the DHQ exclusives set.

Yeah.

Hmm.

I wanted an INSANE effect, without being an insanity effect. She is insane, but not you know. Insane. Is that enough insanes for you?

I don’t think there is much I can really say about this. Other than she will be the finisher for the deck. Unless you want to wait for £&$^(%&£ … Hmm, I wondered what happened there? You’ll just have to wait and see who else you could finish with.

Ok, I know the wording of him is a little funky. But since Carrying the Torch is around I wanted to make sure that I put another to stop him from being able to reset himself.

So, I wanted a Joker that showed how expendable Harley is to him and that he doesn’t really care for her, but he does give her strength and drive.

One thing you may notice about this The Joker is range. Every time we see the Joker he has a gun, or something that lets him attack from a distance, and he should. Have. Range.

I really like the synergy that this card allows with some of the other Harleys that will be revealed over the course of this month, and this is one of my proudest creations.

So, check back tuesday for some Ivy goodness that I know you have been crazing for.

So last night was doubles night.

Me and my best friend Phill played in the Golden Age Legend doubles tournement over in loughborough, with us we took Multiple Man and Captain America. We drove down with Chewitt and Rob who were taking Punisher and Kang.

So we get there I manage to get 2 SRA’s putting my total up to … 2, but only two to go.

So we go into game one. Against Scott and Dave(Bungo_Underhill). My partner Phill says “So, how does this doubles work?”

…

There is about a minute of silence.

…

I had thought we had played a few games of with him. Turns out, not so much.

Damn it! Turn one Boris and SHIELD Agent Hits play. In testing we were weak against rush, because we couldn’t build up a sufficient enough board to be able to do out thing. Dave goes on to play nothing until turn 4, where as Scott plays a few more Agents, Cape Killers and of course Squirrel Girl. Turn 5 an Dave plays Abra Kadabra… Ah…DIG, though I don’t worry as we pounded him for 30+ endurance on turn 4. Turn 6 and Phill has his Captain America building up a surprising amount of concealed characters, Dreadnought tank seriously decreases out board, and doom Pystically Paralyses Nightcrawler. Grr. Well, it’s to be expected. A Legendary battles later, and quicksilver clears up with the help of lots of Multiple Men.

1-0, and since I was expecting reign and MP to ruin my day, we did surprisingly well.

Game 2. This time we are at a disadvantage from the get go. Out game to a long time. A LONG time. People were crowded around, so EVERYONE knew what we were playing. So, we go in blind. Blake and Fumo(What is real name is I have no Idea). Early turns reveal a Ra’s / Iron Man Legend. SHITE, I was expecting extremis upgrade to make my cry. Well it didn’t. We pound them for a surprising amount on turn 3, and then turn 4 is just a reinforcement rectangle.

We go in to turn 5 with a LARGE board, and I have Nightcrawler, Wasp and 2 Legendary Battles. I am feeling rather confident and in the space of a second I want to cry, shit myself and hit Fumo. Tower of bastard Babel,(In hindsight I do not know how I didn’t see this coming) I honeslty can think of ANY time(not with rob) that I have wanted to punch somebody quite so much. We lose this game. In style.

1-1

So, we go up against the Husband of Wife combo, Derek and Le-wen. TUUUURRRD. They’re both playing Avengers. What there legends were I still don’t know. We exchange a few Natasha Stuns, a few very awkward turns, then it comes. Out initiative. Turn 5, 3 legendary battles in hand, and both Nightcrawler and Quicksilver on the board along with a Wasp and a playroom just for fun. Then, before they even lay their resources, I think back to the last game. Turn 5 is when we get shafted, and giving that I got a sneak peak at their decks at the end of the last round while they were finishing, I remember Spider-Man. This guy could really upset me. They talk. A lot, and we have no idea what they are planning. They seem to have this very complex plan abrewing. Le-wen annouces Spider-Man’s ability, target Wasp? That’s right, I could have lent over and kissed her (if her husband wasn’t there), I play 3 legendary battles and we manage to get them from 30-Something, to minus 62? I think? Phill did the maths, and I trust him on it.

2-1. Boom.

I was hoping for another round for me to kick some ass in, but it was not to be.

Who won it? Not Dave!!! Blake and Fumo, Iron Man and Ra’s Al Ghul win the tournement.

I also have a few little things to say, not on the doubles.

They caught one of the dudes that mugged me and he is in the clink for at least 2 years for armed assault. YAY!

So, as part of Arkham Month I will be putting up part of my fantasty exclusive set. 27 cards, like the previous DCX and MAA.

This set will revolve around my favourite DC character Harley Quinn.

Let’s get on with the first card shall we?

Since this is the first card I figured I would show you one of my favourite cards. Home Again.

So home again, lets look at it from a flavour perspective.

When our Harley gets caught she gets sent lock up again in arkham, and you never know which Harley will re-emerge. Will it be Mr. J’s Girl? Will it be the best friend of Poison Ivy? Will it be the Clown Queen of Crime?

I would like to go into much detail, but there is very little I can say about this card.

Next card then I suppose.

That’s right, legendary Poison Ivy, because lets face it. She has earned it.

I like this as it is very reminiscant of the World’s Finest cards, and while I dont like the deck. I really liked the way that they worked together.

This clearly, shows the support that a friend can give you in a time of need. I pondered over what the threshold for this should be, and I am still a little unsure as to whether this is a reasonable level. Maybe it should have been a 3? To be perfectly honest though, if you have Harley and Ivy out by turn two, how much difference is one recovery going to make on turn 2?

Next card. Yes that’s right, today as it is the first day, you get a BONUS card. A whole other card for your pleasure.

See you saturday for two more cards!

So. Since they announced the Illuminati I have been dying to try a Black Bolt deck, legend or no.

The Enemy Within is without a doubt my favourite Black Bolt.

I have been looking at him today, and have tried to build a deck. Though I am not sure how it will work … yet.

My plan is to play the Superhuman Registration Act and as many one drops as I can. Though my plans were somewhat thwarted when I re-read ‘I Got ‘Em All’ all the way through the planning stages I was planning on using this to ready him.

Now, I could adjust my deck to run plenty of 2’s as well. But that would make him smaller, as I wouldnt be able to play as many characters as I wanted.

Or i could go with sleeper cells. I have only built the rough list for the Sleeper Cells variant. It is a few cards over, and at the moment I am drawing a blank as to where the 3 extra cards are.

This week could be really awkward.

I pushed for a doubles legend tournement at our local club. There was a little online mini-argument.

I have been looking forward to it for a long time, and then yesterday something happened.

Since I got back from university I have been looking for a job, and yesterday I got one. The problem is, is that my new job is in a pub. And I have the terrible bad luck so as I could end up working on friday, meaning that I couldn’t actually go.

So, what would I actually play?

I don’t know. I have been wanting an excuse to play Kang since it went golden, and I thought I found it. Then I saw him.

I played silver Multiple Man Legend at the Sheffield elite series and had a blast. Since this is golden I found a new love in Madrox. Let’s just say that legendary battles can do all kinds of damage. Quicksilver and Nightcrawler clear up, then lots of 3/2’s team attack to the FACE!

I recently got my friend back into the game for over the summer, and he loves sentinels, so we were talking about him using wild vomit, because that would be one hell of an attack to the face after my crew clears the board.

Too Janky though. I have a thing where when I take the sensible deck I don’t have much luck, and little fun. Where as when I take Jank it craps out on me and I don’t have fun. Take Thriller for example.

In testing, we just stopped. That’s right, we stopped testing because it won almost every game, and the games it didn’t were due to having record breakingly shite hands. I went to one of the elite series’ and I didn’t see a two drop all day, and considering that I was running 8 of the bastards I was a little pissed off.

Or when I went to the loughborough games and comics day took my insanity deck that single handedly beat galactus down while my friends decks funbled around trying to rectify terrible draws. We were playing it the night before and I had a really terribly shit draw. An Ivy underdrop on 4 with a San allowing the tricks to begin, won the game for me. Bat-Mite with Talia+Crime Doctor worked really really well. I take it the next day it goes wrong, I get a win against Alec’s X-Men and fumble a win against UK Champion Felix playing a shadowpact deck with ALL the shadowpact cards in it. Them’s some brass testes.

So, what I am saying is that I think I will end up playing Kang. 7 searches with no discards needed. Uncertain Legacy was made for Kang. It just was, Origin Story was made for Army and Legend decks, Uncertain Legacy was made for Kang. With the name, even Kang artwork could have made a lot of sense.

The problem I am having is trying to survive the early turns. Since my three drop is hidden, and my back-up three hides himself, my four drop doesn’t arrive till turn 5. The thing is, I don’t like to use my defence pumps before turn 5. Then I like to brick all the attacks then SMACK! So I have a tendency to take a lot of damage on turn 4. Though on turn 5 I can (depending on which 2 I play) have a rediculous board. With a 6/6 two a three drop a 10/10 four and a five it can get a little hectic.

So, thems the dilemmas.

Next on my things to talk about.

I don’t really like X-Men, but they are fun to play. I usually lean towards Jank/Combo/Tricksy/Control decks, but the other week I played with a curve X-Men deck and it was just fun. With no tricks it makes the game a lot more fun, so I have been looking for a curve deck that I can have fun with.

I would really like to make a curve S.H.I.E.L.D deck that has lots of KO effects, but…it just doesnt really work for me. Based on the fact that I have only gotten 2 boxes of Universe I just don’t have enough for it. I tried it but ended up having to steal characters from the Avengers/Thunderbolts/Crime Lords. I would try crime lords, but I really hate them. I have tried, i have tried to like them, but other than the Hand I cant bring myself to like them.

On my Monster army article, I brought up windslow schott and cut off one head… and I have been working on it.

Over, but most definately not out.

P.S: I am really hungover right now, so please forgive any Spelling/Grammer mistakes.

So, we have our new modern age.

In this, the current modern age we will have 25 different army characters. So, with the influx of army in this set, does army stand a chance in modern?

Lets take a look at our options shall we?

DWF

Gotham Central S.W.A.T, Army
The Newsboy Legion, Army

MVL + MAA

Multiple Man, Army * MadroX
Doom-Bot, Army
Doom-Bot II, Army
Pacifier Robot, Army
Swarm Bots, Army
Ultron, Army
Shi’ar Soldier, Army
Random Punks, Army
The Infinites, Army

DCL

Novice Assassins, Army
Sea Creatures, Army
Shadow Assassin, Army

MUN

Cape-Killers Unit, Army * Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D
S.H.I.E.L.D Agents, Army * Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D
Sentinel Squad O*N*E, Army
A.I.M Agents, Army * A.I.M
The Hand, Army * HYDRA
HYDRA Recruit, Army * Hydra
MODOC Squad, Army * A.I.M
The Centurians, Army
Currs, Army
Seekers, Army
Atlantean Warriors, Army

Hmm. What’s wrong with this picture? Other than only a few of those are actually seeing play at the moment. Or, is this picture the best you’ve seen in years?

11 Army characters from MUN alone. This means that almost half of the army characters in the current modern age are coming from MUN. Given that the sets are coming out 6 months at a time, we will hopefully have around 2 years of army glee. This will make for ‘exciting times’ for army lovers such as Rian Fike, Soshi Kenpachi and myself.

So, lets look at the possible army decks that could come out of modern age within the next few months.

The real problem here is the distinct lack of punch. Sure, you could form them up all box like and have some 2/2’s and some 1/1’s. But that is about it. They lack the much wanted range, which means in order for them to attack you have to rely on cards that give them range.

So, what can make them playable?

Smallville is an interesting little card, making them all 2/2’s and the back row ones having of the range.

Sadly, there is no way of finishing the game, because there are other 2/2 one cost army characters which have no extra cards required.

So, if we were to take them just as weenies and not focus quite so much on the army theme, we have the outsiders. Sure the outsiders love army, because they keep their board nice and big. But other than a Kimiyo Hoshi and a few Batman and the Outsiders, there is not a real need for the ‘Army’ in the deck.

So, 50% of DWF through and we are lacking some serious punch.

So, they have a cost of 2. I have a thing about playing army characters with even costs. It is mostly the fact that turn 3 screws you to hell. You need to have drawn another one drop character in order for it to be any good.

They don’t have huge stats, this isn’t good news, but with stats like this, hopefully we will have a #####ing ability to boot. So, the ability. It’s good. Just good. This ability tells you everything you need to know about this character and how to play it. This isn’t an army character that you try to swarm with. This is an army character that you try to just have at the two slot in a curve deck. You will only be able to get 4 of them out by turn 4, and then they don’t have enough attack to team attack their 4, so they can sit and stop damage. You lose your board, but they can soak some damage.

So, will the loss of DWF affect any other aspect of an army deck? Not really. There aren’t any generic draw effects out there that will be missed when this goes silver.

So, DWF isn’t amazing for Army, which means for me, it can only get better.

So, Multiple Mans second appearance in the game. Basics, 2/2 on a one cost army character with no drawback hasn’t been seen for a long while. Not to mention that this time X-Men has finally seen the weenie love that they deserve. In modern, they have some pretty nice effects to go with them.

Tricks. They have the fastball special which is always a surprise, and is always expected at the same time.

Draw, they have Xaviers Institute, which is amazing. In any army deck wielding an army of one drops this will almost garuntee you a card every single turn.

Pump, Battle Tactics is to put it bluntly Insane. One of these allows two of your one drops to quite safely take out their 5. A single turnabout makes 3 drops cry.

Cable, Nathan Summers. Late game, cable wins. He drops onto the table, and barring an early game Total Anarchy, -which would probably lose you the game anyway- burns for lots.

His enormous stats, and his X-Men affiliation could slot him into a number of modern decks namely X-Babies, and Super Troopers.

One very interesting thing to mention is his dual-version. This then allows him access

They’re back, and they’re kickin it more than ever. But can they hold up in modern age? Well, we lose a few cards from the silver deck. Namely Fister Mantastic and Armies of Doom.

So, they can ready Dr. Doom. Thats, quite interesting given the amount of pumps that are available in modern age right now. We have Crackshot and Combat Reflexes to give him bonus’s for the turn, and we have a few ways of boosting his defence while attacking. So, hopefully with a the Diabolical genius getting multiple uses out of your plot twists, you could stomp the crap out of some little guys.

So. Again with the even costs. For a +1/+1 to a Doom character, which is incredibly useful on turn 2 off initiative making himself a 3/4. Other than that he is a little like the Gotham Central, a curve filler. Other than that, I can’t see him seeing that much play.

Finishing Move on a small stick. At 4/3 he is going to be taking some beatings, and he can’t really dish out much damage. With a built in finishing move, for an ability it is a little better than average. It makes your Dr. Doom a lean mean board reducing killing machine. BUT, it shares a drop with the Doom-Bot, which is a problem. Since I think it would be almost always better to double attack than to KO a character. You can get multiple uses out of this over the game where as the Doom Bot is a one shot deal. I think this is a to taste card, where as I would always go with the Doom Bot, I have seen the Pacifier Robot played.

We have seen cards like this before, in the form of Devil’s Due and Apocalypse, where it is pretty much a resource point for a +1/+1 counter. I really like this card, because with the new cards giving army a real chance, you could beef the Diabolical genius to quite terrifying proportions. This is the kind of army card that really benefits from Rogue squadron.

Say you manage to get a full six out by turn 3, when turn 4 rolls around you can make your Dr. Doom a 13/12. Turn 5, an 18/17. In modern they also have a nice amount of Army love. Sacrificial pawns is pretty harsh after one attack and you don’t worry about KOing a swarm bot.

They also play really well with the Doom-Bot, make Doom Big, and swing swing swing.

Ultron is a pretty funky card. He is a 7/7 with flight and range, which is of course not bad. As for a swarm of him, it isn’t really an option. He is a powerhouse in an army curve deck, he isn’t useless after his turn, and he has the ability to pump himself to rediculous proportions. Can you fuel him to victory in the modern environment? Probably not, for the pure reason that he shares a drop with the Diabolical Genius.

This is one hell of a funky card. It’s turn 4, and you have been able to play and keep 4 of them around. You could potentially give someone +16 defence. This is an army card that even though it costs two I don’t mind playing.

You could couple this with the various defence pumps that are available in the modern age. Shrink and Combat Veteran with reinforcement tricks like Burn Rubber and Duty Calls.

Gladiator likes the Soldiers as well, as when he comes in he can easily be a 13/9, even a 14/10. With the defensive capabilities of the Shi’ar Soldier he can quite safely make it into the next turn.

So, an unaffiliated army character. Sigh. Sure, 2/1 range are some nice stats, but with the serious lack of an affiliation, you are going to get some serious beats.

So turn one, and on average you can do them for 4 damage, which is pretty good for turn 1, but baring in mind that your characters are unreinforceable, you are going to take some hefy damage without filling your deck with reinforcement tricks.

You can give them affiliations with a few cards in modern age. The legendary Superhuman Registration Act will give you an affiliation and give you on average an extra card a turn. With the various draw effects you should be able to get a punks on top to recruit without diminishing your hand size.

Rigged Explosives could really help these punks to the top. Sure, you have to get it online EARLY, but in a swarm deck running Random Punks by turn 4, should you have filled every resource point, you will have burned them for 20 damage, just from recruits. With a turn one or two Rigged Explosives, you should be able to do some more serious damage in a few turns later.

People like this card. I don’t. Sure a 4/4 is pretty funky. But they get smaller?

I think these are mediocre at best in an army deck, and are best in a curve Horsemen deck, just to fill the curve, or are pure bait for Freak Out/Breeding Pens.

They could also be pretty awesome in some kind of Superhuman Registration Act though. A deck that just plays the cheapest largest characters.

As for support, one thing that MVL does not have to offer is card draw. The only card that they have is Genosha.

Since some of the army cards could benefit from the Superhuman Registration Act, Construction Site / Research Facility could be rather useful, to get you a card deeper into your deck.

The set also has a few good equipments. The Steel Girder is pretty useful, because if were to underdrop with characters, an auto KO is something I would consider worth it.

Forward assault makes for some interesting attack steps, making your one drop army guys stand a fighting chance agaisnt a character with a much larger cost.

Savage Beatdown. Need I say anything?

New Mutations. Simply fantastic, this card will make your characters into a block reinforcing machine. It will easily allow you to make a giant block with your characters and stand a chance of attacking back. Even if it just gave your characters either flight or range it could be rather useful. I think flight is a little more valuable in your average curve deck, but in a swarm deck range is where it is at. Not as aggressive, but can allow you to survive pass turn 4/5 while still dealing some damage out if need be.

Overwhelming Force is good. In army decks? It is really good. It allows to keep a serious amount of board presence, for either attacking with next turn, or protecting characters this turn.

Well, I said it could only get better. It did.

Rian’s little babies. These gezeers are absolutely insane. 3/3 army characters that cost 2 is good, that fact that they can cost one if you have an aquaman in play is pretty funky too.

One downside is the distinct lack of aquaman until turn 4. This can be gotten around with a few cards in Marvel Universe making a character called Aquaman. You could make a 3 drop Aquaman meaning that you can start spamming Sea Creatures out from turn 4 onwards. The problem here is that you not only need draw effects, but you need Carrying the Torch, and an Aquaman in your KO’ed pile. This makes it quite conditional, and less sturdy and more janky. While I am a fan of jank, the complete inability to search for the needed cards is making the deck look less and less possible.

That said, one Common Bond will make them all a 5/3. That is stupidly impressive, making way for some serious beatings.

These little chappies are an obsession of mine. 0/1 with neither flight nor range, to begin with it seems I may not like this. With an ability this powerful, I can’t not like this. 4 one drops can take down most 7 drops with ease. This is pretty darn good, since 4 of your average one drops can only take a 4 drop.

The way I see it is that there are three feasible ways to build this in modern. The first, mono league. This way is the safest as you aren’t relying on a team-up. The problem with this is, is that it lacks punch. The only tricks really involve Demonfang on a duplicate birthing chamber, but thats about it.

Another way this could be built is with S.H.I.E.L.D, using Squirrel Girl and Nick Fury to spam as many out as humanly possible. Maria Hill helps with the hand filling problems of modern and pumps them even more.

They also work pretty nicely with the Teen Titans and Tim Drake. Follow the Leader is pretty ridiculous, boosting them further than they really need to be. Teen Titans Go is amazing for these, as with a few TTG’s and Follow the Leaders you can quite safely clear a board and attack diectly for a LOT of damage.

When I first saw these, I thought they were mildly impressive. The ability to attack directly is always good, but on an army character it is funky. The problem is that you have to devote a lot of energy to exhausting the entire visible board AND swarming.

These do have potential just not in the current modern age, it is too aggressive. These Assassins are not as good as their novice counterparts. I think they could have been a little more competitive should they have only costed one. But for a character that costs one it would have been way too powerful.

Birthing Chamber, if DCL had only one card to give army a chance this is it. The thing that seperates good army jank from bad army jank is the handfill. Wild Vomit had Longshot and Warpaint had Hard-Light Storage Tank.

The problem is that it also gives us some serious hate. Blind Sided will nail your endurance down like nobodies business, and Total Anarchy just down right wrecks you.

So does DCL help or hinder? Help. Even though a few cards can absolutely nail you into the floor, Birthing Chamber is a little too good to pass up.

I like these, they’re pretty darn funky. It’s like a conditional psuedo-press. You have the chance of pressing, but also the chance of failing. But if you manage to press, you get another card.

So, lets talk swarming ability. With a way of revealing the top card of your deck, this has some serious potential. Since between recruits you can activate the Birthing Chamber and go frickin’ nuts.

Having 2/2’s with flight and range that cost 1 or 2, can do some serious damage. With a Common Bond thats 4/2’s which I would call impressive.

The other possibility is that you can gain the resource point and spend it on something else, like a Steel Girder, Twin Firearms, S.H.I.E.L.D Agents or Maria Hill.

S.H.I.E.L.D Agents are awesome. In my eyes, the ability to burn your opponent for 2 endurance outweighs the lack of an attack. So, in a similar fashion to the Random Punks, by turn 4 you can have burned your opponent for 20 endurance without ever needing to attack. But unlike random punks, it doesn’t kill you as well.

Maria Hill plays nice with these. Giving them some actual functionality, making them playable. 1/2 with range is respectable for an army character.

The reservist on them is what makes them so good. It gives them access to the Research Facility and Construction Site, since they have reservist it doesn’t matter what you replace into.

Squirrel Girl has never looked so sexy. She is as crucial to any army S.H.I.E.L.D deck as Owen Mercer is to Outsiders, or as Tattooed Man is to Warpaint.

These, I like. I am not sure how they can hold up in modern because, well they cost 5. they don’t have a game breaking ability, but what they do have is the S.H.I.E.L.D Affiliation. And what does S.H.I.E.L.D have? Secret War.

Why is this important? What affiliations can we give these guys. Manhunters, There Is No Escape. So, you could in thoery have 4 of these in play on turn 5. This isn’t an easy deck to build, or play. But it could be worth it. Even if you don’t really like this, his boost can give him three power-ups.

Hmm. 1/1 with range is respectable. Discard ability as well? I like this card, just not really with swarm. Though Crime Lords do have a nice amount of Army love, like Cut off One Head… and Underground Laboratory.

One reason I do like this is Squirrel Girl. Bounce them back, and you can discard them if you need them. Between S.H.I.E.L.D and Crime lords you can have some serious swarm capabilities.

But to be perfectly honest I am thinking that the A.I.M Agents may be best used in a curve Crime Lords deck. As if you draw one on turn 5, it is not a dead card.

When I saw these, I was for the first time in a long time speechless.

Finally, I had a replacement for the Infernal Minions. By this, I don’t mean the ability but an awesome concealed one cost army character.

Golden age and Random Punks, the mind boggles the possibilities as to what could happen with these. Hellfire Club, Morlocks, X-Men…

In modern age though, I think there are a few ways to build this. Build: the first, Mono Crime Lords. Give a little character reinforcement, and go frickin nuts with the reinforcement and just defend every attack.

The second way, Is to play Windslow Schott to keep rebuying Cut Off One Head… to keep swarming then smack peoples with Fortress Yashida.

Third way is to build with Gotham Knights and equip a visible character with the Batmobile. Take very little damage, which could be fun.

I think the best way though is the most obvious. X-Men Assemble. Pack your deck full of New King in Towns, draw effects and X-Men Assemble, and Nasty Surprise type effects. I am not sure how this would actually work, but no doubt in a few weeks I will.

The one downside with these is that you have to get them back off the top of your deck. But if you can get some draw effects on the go you should be able to do that, even if not you know what is coming next turn and that you will be able to recruit something.

Urgh.

Standard stats, meh ability. They lack punch, they lack everything. Sure, when it gets stunned you can possibly get another one from your deck. But how much damage can you realistically do with these? Since most of the blanket attack pumps are gone with the X-Men set, and in modern you only really have Forward Assault. Even then, a 4/2 is good, but a lot of work is required.

Cape-Killers are one ATK less, but can cost less so I am inclined to think that these are not for me.

I will try them out though. The one thing that they do work well with is the Hand. HYDRA Recruit becomes stunned and goes past your the Hand, then they have to go through it again, and you have a chance of getting another Recruit. But it is a lot of work, and probably not worth it unless you are a Jank/Army enthusiast like me.

These are interesting. Not sure what for, but I like their effect. It’s really annoying, because I love this ability, but I just wouldn’t know where these can fit in to any decks. It’s almost like Coast City, but not as good, its almost like Batmobile, Burn Rubber but not as good. But it is these on a stick.

The only thing I can think of with these is just in curve crime lords, and I am fairly certain that there are many better choices.

When I first saw these, I thought they were awesome. Then I thought about it, and I thought they sucked. Then I thought about it, and I thought they rocked. Then I thought about it, and I thought they sucked. I am fairly certain you can see where this is going.

Lets be realistic. You can play three of these by turn 6, and you have 3 extra resources to spend between these turns. What can you spend them on? Currs? I’ll get to these later. So that leaves us with equipments. What can we equip these bad boys with? Twin Firearms is pretty good, but what really shines is the Steel Girder. Turn 5, your initiative, they can lose 2 characters so long as you form correctly.

These also work really well with the Seat of Annihilation, because you are going to be having less stunned characters for the most part.

Finally. A free army character that I like. Free.

Turn 5 is when you can start playing with these, and boy it’s the most interesting playtime you’ve ever had. You can pretty much get a free character per card in your hand.

So then. The question is, what do want them for? To attack is my best guess, but I am really liking them for the Negative Zone, Gateway. To make sure that you can get everybody.

Sleeper Cells is a pretty neat card, but is it too pricy? Three cards, and three exhaust to ready a Centurian or Annihilus. Or maybe even a Punisher if you can get him online by turn 4.

It costs 3. It almost draws you a card when it comes into play. So, I like it. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to draw cards, it is my favourite thing ever.

But it lacks punch, along with quite a few characters in this set. The Doom-Bot readies Doom, the Pacifier Robot KO’s stunned characters and the MODOC Squad is Coast City on a stick. Drawing a card, not quite the same.

This is awesome. They can be recruited from the KO’d pile which means you really don’t need that much handfill, as birthing chamber works in your favour both ways.
A Concealed 3/2 with range that you never need in your hand?

Can I get a “hell yeah”? Can I get a “what the hell”? I love this card. But, it costs two. Which I can get over. But it only has the Atlantis Affiliation, so I will struggle to fill the resource points, especially since the awesome equipments in modern don’t have concealed-optional. So a team-up is going to be needed in order to fill your resource points, otherwise you are just pissing them away.

MUN has the biggest amount of army support in modern age. Some actual army love and some general awesomeness.

Alias Investigations works pretty darn well with army, especially the Superhuman Registration Act/Losing the Argument, as it guarantees at least one card drawn. It also works pretty awesomely with The Hand, as you know what is coming next.

Agents of H.A.T.E loves the army characters, as guess what? They all got that army version. Novice assassins on a stick. This makes even the S.H.I.E.L.D Agents playable and able to actually attack, or the Novice Assassins go even further up the curve.

Annihilating Conquest can get you a mini Quicksilver/ Nightcrawler on a stick, and can let the Novice Assassins kick more arse than Chuck Norris. Three of these in one turn can clear up, if only there was a reliable way of making people unstunnable.

Invasion Plans is a fair trade. A one shot exhaust for a 2 cards, a reusable exhaust to draw usually gets you one card. So an Ego Gem usually gets you about 4 cards a game, because sometimes you just need to attack. Since we don’t actually have the ego gem in modern anymore, can Invasion Plans take its place? I think it could. Even though it is restricted to your attack step, two cards could be worth it.

Losing the Argument is pretty amazing. I love this card, because while it may not net you a card. What it does is get let you mildly rearrange your hand, and get things in advance.

Rogue Squadron is pretty amazing. While it doesn’t actually get you any cards, it does make sure you don’t draw multiples of team-ups, locations and non-army characters. It ensures you will have something to play next turn.

Superhuman Registration Act is amazing, and I don’t think I need to say anything about it.

Trouble With Dinosaurs. Who doesn’t want a massive defence pump? Not amazing, but could be pretty game breaking should you be able to brickwall an attack.

Uncertain Legacy, amazing. Rogue Squadron puts them back into your deck, then Uncertain Legacy shuffles them back in. It acts as a free card draw that guarantees you get what you want.

Underground Movement, because hiding characters is fun.

Then again, it also has a few cards that kills army decks as well. The Stamford Incident and the Raft are pretty devastating for you, for relatively obvious reasons.

So, let’s review. I think that as support goes this is a pretty good modern age, with plenty of draw effects and free handfill. Enough I think to sustain the needed draw to support an army deck.

There are also some pretty vicious army characters in modern like the Novice Assassins, the Hand, S.H.I.E.L.D Agents and Currs. Do they have enough to win in the current modern meta?

I’ll let you figure that out for yourselves.

So I may have told you, but we have a new player.

WOOOT!

Since he is just getting into the game he is playing mostly from when he can get from CoolStuffInc from the legends sets onwards. Two weeks ago we built him a random punks X-Men curve deck.

It has since been named ”Sexy X-Men”, as for some reason it just wins. All the time.

There is nothing more annoying than a Turn 2 turnabout + finishing move from blink on your Black Cat, Nine Lives. Especially when she is the main draw engine for your entire deck…

1- Blink
2- Gambit-Sunfire
3- Wolverine/Cable
4- Iceman/Archangel
5- Cyclops/Psylocke
6- Cable/Storm
7- X-Man

And it packs cards like

Death Trap
Finishing Move
Turnabout
Commanding Nature
Nasty Surprise

Simple. But very effective.

Last week we branched out and we built an MK/F4 equipment deck. This has also been kicking arse. Even though this does have rares, he has most of them on the way.

In order to continue the weekend pattern we built a deck for him last night. A thunderbolts short curve, but this one we only got to play once, and it lost. But I would be lying if I was saying if wasn’t because of B****** worldship and Red Shift killing your board and nuking all your counters.

MUN. I got it. I finally got to open mine on friday. At about 23:30 I busted 23 packs and got some cool rares. No real money rares, but cool ones.

Then about 01:10 we started a little friendly sealed, at which in my first pack busted a foily TWDinosaurs, and a My Name is Slim Shady… This is when I realized soemthing.

There are TOO many teams for sealed. Draft is fine, because for the most part you can get the team you go for. In sealed I had like one or two characters per team at each drop, and one/two support cards from each team.

Urgh. I ended up with some kind of united front thunderbolts thing…

Most importantly. I am there, in the draft. I open my second pack, and there it is. FOIL Collect them All. Awesome first pick you say, but then…I find the other rare. Dr. Strange, Secret Avenger. We are keeping what we draft. ARGH!

I am drafting thunderbolts, and I know no-one will trade me for the Collect them All so I take it.

I am trying to trade my cousins Kidneys for a foil Dr. Strange, which NOBODY has. My cousin is not pleased by this by the way.

I am drafting, and behind the money cards another one of my obsessions comes around. Ultron, Ultron Prime, and I pick him over some kick ass cards. What. A. Pick.

This guy is the nuts in draft. I played 4 games, the two games I got him, I won with EASE. He makes things easy, except against thunderbolts. Who the hell do you give the counter to? Grr.

I am busting packs, and I keep saying, there is a Dr Strange in this pack. As it turns out 19th time is the charm.

And there he was. All shiny and … shiny. There may have been a little scream. I don’t want to talk about it though. Now he is being played, NEVER. He being kept safe in a safety deposit box. Because if movies have taught me anything, it is that banks cannot be stolen from.

Friday night was the night of success. Within 5 hours of the draft starting I had my playset of ultrons.

Nice.

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.