I used to run 4X Hostage Situations, but since DGL has rotated out for silver, the only other substitute I can think of is Professor Hamilton <> Ruin but he clashes with Luthor at 3.

I hadn't thought of that, yeah, it'd be nice to be able to dig for CM, since the deck really needs it to be in play.

The deck can work easily without relying on CMs, so long as you have other hand filling effects. Another method of trying to get the CMs or any other on-going PTs is to try to get Scandal into your deck. The only problem is adding appropriate Secret 6 characters to the build to use her discard effect.

for the scandal addition, you could use Deadshot, Dead Aim...

Just a thought, because he wouldn't clash with Lex, and you could just use him for the scandal effect...

But waiting until turn 3 to use him may be a problem...

I know that the original poster only really wants a mono-IG deck but I just want to post a quick link to a S6/IG deck I call SSex which I made a while ago because it demonstrates a lot of the strategy that you need to keep in mind when playing an IG deck. The deck can be found here. It does everything that a mono-IG deck can do and more yet loses no consistency to gain those extras.

I've been playing IG pretty much since I started VS (started in DJL) and its definitely my pet team. So I'm always happy to see other people interested in it :)

As mentioned before, an IG deck is a "do nothing deck". You basically sit there and try to prevent stuns on your side of the board whilst letting Scarecrow finish off your opponent.

The first thing I would reccommend is to put 4 Power Siphons into your deck. Hell, if you could get away with it, put 12 in! These are back breaking defensive plot twists and will save you bacon again and again. You want to draw at least one each game (since there is usually only one key attack you need to stop) so give yourself the best chance possible. Yes, I know they are rare which sucks, but do yourself a favour and put 4 in! Don't forget other defensive tricks though because you can't always use Power Siphon or won't always draw it.

With this deck, its all of nothing with Sexy Lexy. Don't put in any other 3 drops because if you miss Lexy on 3 or 4, you've almost certainly lost the game. Instead, use those slots which you can from removing backup 3 drops to put in cards which either give you more ways to find Sexy Lexy, or more defensive cards.

Joker, Headline Stealer is an absolute BEAST. Most people don't realise just how restrictive he is until not only can they only play 1 plot twist ... but they can't play any cards from their hand either. It doesn't sound very exciting, but neither does having your opponent only be able to play only 1 plot twist ... until you experience first hand just how frustrating it is.

Another nice thing about the deck is the number of options in the late game you have. People have posted about Ocean Master, who is amazing if you have a couple of Criminal Mastermind's online. They've also mentioned Power Princess, Joker, Permanent Vacation and the new Lexy. All of these work well, so its up to you to decide how you wish to play it. The first 4 turns are all about getting Lex down and protecting him but after that there are so many ways you can play its almost pants-wettingly exciting.

I think it would be good to include a good spread of both defensive tricks and recovery tricks. A def pump isn't always going to get you out of a bad attack (or even be applicable e.g. if you only have a Power Siphon and your char is already exhausted) so its best to have other options. Similarly, sometimes you just don't want to let your char get stunned at ALL (e.g. with Fatality in play) so a recovery trick doesn't work.

The only fly in the ointment that I see is that UDE has gone out of its way (or maybe its just that dose of paranoia acting up again) to nerf IG at every turn by introducing teams which pwn IG. For example, Checkmate: they introduced Ahmed so now every other deck out there is gunning to KO your 3 drop. BAD news for Sexy Lexy. Checkmate plays mostly with locations, many with discard effects, so yiur plot twist restriction doesn't hurt them and they can find ways to get around your hand flooding.

Another example is Kree. Either you have a way to search for Political Pressure (only in Golden though!), get lucky and draw into it ... or you lose the game.

Ditto with an equipment based deck, only you have no counters to it.

Yes, I am bitter.

But that shouldn't be a problem if you are playing casually because a lot of those issues become less of a problem in the casual scene.

In short, enjoy IG! Its a blast and I just wish that everyone enjoyed them as much as me. :)

P.S. Sorry about the long post.

Floronic Man is a decent counter to Checkmate. Thought he only counters 1 location, he'll stop them from flip others.

Also, I've tried running Ego the Living Planet in mine. Another good counter-location card.

4sak3n: Don't apologize for the post, it's greatto read the opinion of someone who's a master of the deck. I bought DJL for JLA and Secret Society, but then realized how cool IG is, too.

Floronic man is indeed a good idea to put in your deck against Checkmate. But he is certainly no Silver Bullet, the matchup is still skewed in their favour. As soon as Floronic man gets stunned (and this is VERY likely to happen since Checkmate-based decks have a strong late-game, even without locations) their locations come back on-line.

Again, its not really an issue if you play casually. But it does highlight a nice point, the flexibilty of IG. They have a few characters on team (such as Floronic man and Abra Kadabra) who are "tech" cards and are easily toolboxed i.e. only having one copy of each and searching for them if you need them. Secret Files also enables off-team splashes of tech characters and Sexy Lexy's leader ability means you can keep them on team. So you have access to a lot of different answers for any surprises your opponent might throw up.

P.S. I didn't mention it but I absoluely LOVE the idea of substituting Scarecrow out and re-recruiting him. I usually did it anyway but lost borad presence because I had to KO the first. And the idea of using Darkseid is great but I usually aim to win on turn 6 anyway so his controllish nature wouldn't be thaaaat useful unless your opponent throws up some surprises. Still, awesome idea. :)

Well, I play in three player games 95% of the time, so we ALWAYS see a turn 7 and usually a turn 8, too.