Well, this is a little late, but I've spent a bunch of time with my friends preparing for PC Atlanta and we just don't know what to play.

I guess it's a testament to the improvement over DC Modern that there's so many viable decks and so many variations that there isn't an obvious "best deck".

Here's what we've found.. feel free to tell me what I've missed, and/or ream me out for being an idiot if you disagree. :)

======

The recent poll at 10K LA has half the pros saying that Squadron will be most played, while the rest saying Avengers or Brotherhood reservist will dominate. A more recent upstart is Morlocks, which seems to be a forum favourite.

So that's the bulk of where our testing efforts went. Let's look at it in order.

- Squadron
Wins against: Morlocks, Avengers
Loses against: Brotherhood
Key Deck Feature: Turn three with three guys at 6+ attack. HUGE.
Notes:Forum lists aren't using Insect Swarm. My god, it's such a key card. If you compare it directly to Surprise Attack, it obviously pales, but more important in MMA is the utility. Especially with the Avengers match-up, Insect Swarm takes it from a close match to an easy win. You can burn early to make Joystick big, you can attack Black Panther if he's annoying you, and you can return Golden Archer to hand to replay it for another burn.

- Avengers
Wins against: bad draws
Loses against: Morlocks, Squadron, Brotherhood.
Key Deck Feature: Outside of combat stuns, plus huge hidden three-drop.
Notes: I have to question if our decklist is right. Avengers just loses all the time so I don't know why people like it. Morlocks especially schools it hardcore, as they just evade all the extra stun that helps Avengers in other matchups. Squadron beats it after tweaking (mentioned above) and all the stunbacks Brotherhood have make it hard to keep any board presence. The only things Avengers have going for them is that they're easy to play, and quite consistent. You'll win a lot of games simply from other decks missing a drop when you don't. And Black Panther popping out of the shadows to give some beats every turn hurts a bunch.

- Brotherhood
Wins against: Avengers, Squadron
Loses against: Morlocks
Key Deck Feature: Cycling pump and stun-backs. Whether on attack or defense, you're always going to get a stun, and the cycling pump ensures you never run out.
Notes: The massive pump keeps Squadron's big guys from dominating like they need to, and it simply overwhelms Avengers. Morlocks, however, can choose the fights they want, and power through for a huge amount of breakthrough when an opening appears.

- Morlocks
Wins against: Avengers, Brotherhood
Loses against: Squadron
Key Deck Feature: Evasion lets you choose the battles you know you can win.
Notes: Nothing dodges Avengers stuns like Evasion. Morlocks beat Avengers 90% of the time when we played it. More beatings than any other match-up between any two decks we played. It was brutal. It's a little harder against Brotherhood, but still viable. The problem is with Squadron, where you simply can't keep up with your endurance losses from evading *and* their massive turn 3 beats. Losing on turn 5 means you can't win on turn 6.

======

Conclusion: The pros think most of the field will be Avengers and Squadron, which means we should play Brotherhood. The realms think most of the field will be Avengers and Morlocks, which means I should play Squadron.
I have no idea why anyone would play Avengers unless they can't manage a more complicated deck. (which makes me wonder what I'm missing.)

What do we play? What do you guys think of the field?

or you could play something original?

seems like everybody is jumping on the avengers bandwagon, if you dont know what the metas gonna be like play avengers.

Is there anyone considering using Kang in Atlanta? I ask this not because I have an uber-secret decklist that beats everything, but just to see if anyone has experimented. Is there any synergy between Kang and Hellfire Club that abuses the hidden area?

Just curious...

Original doesn't usually win tournaments. You play something original.

I think this uncertainly of what to play is very healthy for the game and it's what UDE intended when they created the different Golden/Silver/Modern Age formats. I remember when every tournament was another crowning of the Curved Sentinels.

So in Atlanta, it's Rock (Atlanta), Paper (Squadron), Scissors(Brotherhood) or whatever (Morlocks). I'd say pick one and play it with all your might and enjoy the tournament.

Sorry... I meant Avengers up there, not Atlanta. Man, I'm gettin' senile...

So much so that you forgot about the 'Edit' function lol...

i don't see how brotherhood beats squad. squad is faster and has panacea potion to keep up the board presence.

also i think avengers beats brotherhood. slightly better characters, slightly better pumps. Marie can be a pain, but BH wins on 6 and Avengers likely can stall it out for 7 and Herc. it's not too bad against squad. it's possible to go 6, where Avengers look good with Wonderman.

Squad (i think) is somewhat disfavored because any stall/disruption will hurt it bad. now, none of those decks really run any of that stuff. but the field is diverse enough to see lots of things hit play, and you don't want to lose to a random magnetic force. the full curve decks (BH and AR) don't have that problem as much.

Rock beats everything

Good old Rock...Nothing beats Rock!

Im telling you their is some secret teck out their like the "Chair" that is going to dominate the field

Sweet!

Now if you could explain to me how will a New Gods deck (assuming it's NG here...) makes an impact on Marvel Modern. I'd be interested to know ;)

I must say that at this stage of the game you should play whatever you are most comfortable with if it has an okay match-up against what the perceived field is going to be. It is ten rounds day one and you will do better in the long run playing what you know rather than playing the "best deck." This would not always be true, but if you haven't been play-testing the crap out of said deck, it will be.

Good luck to you, see you there.