Meet the Next-Statix!

by Keebler Powell

Take a good look at the metagame today and try to come up with the dominant deck. I would guess that you would be hard pressed to find one that was without a doubt the top of the stack. I would attribute this to the fact that we have finally spread the power of the game out to different places. As most players figure out there is a natural progression evolving and changing over the course of a season.

This is what I would like to call the bell curve of opportunity. Most decks will have a strong turn in which they will attempt to swing the favor of the game in their direction. This is the time where the effects of the deck need to occur. If a player can force these turns to go in their favor they will normally end the game on their terms. If they are unable to do so then their opponent will often leave the table with a check mark next to their name and a smile on their face.

The purpose of this article is to show a certain deck’s ability to steal these turns from other decks and finish the game on its own terms. To do this we have to look at the current meta and try to figure out its weaknesses. Let’s take a look around.

Big Brotherhood - Huge dudes smash face. Consistent, with a really awesome late game.

Donkey Stall- This is one of the best stall decks that I have seen. Very consistent, and not really that difficult to play.

High Voltage- This deck is stupid fast and really reliable.

Teen Titans- Having come off of the top of 10k San Fran we are sure to see a ton of this. The power here is versatile dependability, along with an incredibly strong mid game up to and past turn 6.

Anti-Green Lanterns- This is a powerhouse deck that just likes to smash and blow out on turn 4 with AGLs and Felix Faust. The burn tricks in this deck belong to its opponent-targeting effects thanks to Chomin and Fiero. You can also expect some control with Bad Press and Banished to the Anti-Matter Universe. This deck is really fast and tough to deal with. It does, however, lose steam on turn 6.

Injustice Gang Hand Burn / DIG (Doom/Injustice Gang)- Even though there has been a drought when it comes to the big hand burn, both of these decks can be very harsh. They will have options almost all the time. Expect all of the tricks of Doom and all of the damage of IG. The power turn of this deck is normally 5 or 6 depending on the build and the player. All of this deck’s tricks target its opponent with variables depending on hand size. This deck is fairly strong up to turn 7 in most cases.

Squadron Supreme No Hand-This is very fast and has been refined to be very consistent. It will beat the tar out of you for the first three turns and then finish you off with Golden Archer and Nuke. This deck has trouble after turn 5.

Green Lantern Stall (GLOCK) - This deck doesn’t really have a "win turn" it just has a better late game then any other deck. Time is called and they have more endurance then their opponent has planned on dealing the entire game. Staying power, due to huge Cover Fires and Lanterns in Love really make this deck shine on the later turns.

Common Enemy- Solid. Fairly easy to play. Not really weak anywhere. Strong late game.

New School- Strong. Awesome late game. Very hard to play.

Fantastic Fun- This is the hardest deck in the world to play. Lots of targeting with a strong turn 5. Unless you are playing against someone who has played this deck constantly for an extended period of time then you just have to wait and capitalize on mistakes. This deck wins or loses on turn 5 most of the time.

Combo- Combo has pretty much fallen off of the face of the Earth because the early game doesn’t allow much space for it to exist. The good combos are usually built to win on 5/6.

That is what I have seen in my area’s metagame, and this is the deck and strategy that I have been using.

Please welcome the "Next-Statix"

I have been playing the Statix ever since they were released. Today's format really lets them do their thing.
They really have a weak turn 5, but we will get on with how to fix that later.

Let’s start out with match-ups:

Big Brotherhood- You lose to this match up. They are just too big and the will mow you down. This is the worst match up that you can have.

Donkey Stall-To tell the truth I haven’t had a chance to sit down and play this out. But I would imagine that not being able to target you or your characters would put the game in your favor. Just try to deal as much damage as you can prior to two-face hitting the board. I am not going to put up a win percentage because I have no Idea what it is.

High Voltage-They should be scared of you the most. If you get a Mutant of the Year then you win. Period. Mulligan for this card.

Teen Titians- From playtesting I have found that you will win about 75% of your games against the little guys. You do have to be patient to win this matchup. U-Go-Girl is awesome for getting rid of the early TT advantage. Get 2 Star of the Shows down and don't flip one until 6 when they try to go off with Roy Harper. Flip one in response to his activation and then the other in response them Foiling out the first. (If they do.) With all of the stuns that you will deal from stunning his attackers and your attack back, you should be able to take this game with no problem.

Anti-Green Lantern- This is a really tough match up. You will take a ton of damage in the early turns but you will be able to re-coup once you get your Mutant of the Year running. When they find themselves unable to use Chomin's ability they find it very difficult to keep a board. Once again U-Go-Girl can save the day. Dead Weight can usually pull you out of some mighty bad situations in this match up as well. Once again this is really one of your toughest matches. You will win 35%-40% against AGL.

Injustice Gang Hand Burn / DIG (Doom/Injustice Gang)- From what I have seen at recent PCQ's you need not worry about resource destruction from this deck. If you can pull and play a Mutant of the Year you will win this match every time. All of their tricks try to target you and you say nope. My win percent against this deck is near the 85%-90% range. No Joke!

Squadron Supreme No Hand- This is another tough match-up. Just have to get lucky and get Dead Weights and Mutant of the Years early. A good return at the right time from U-Go-Girl is good. This is a scary 50/50 for you.

Green Lantern Stall (GLOCK)- This is with out a doubt the most difficult match if you don’t tech against it. This is when knowing your local meta will save you. If you know that you will see lots and lots of this then use the GLOCK TECH. If you don't tech out to beat this then you stand no chance. If you do tech you will almost always walk with the check. Teched Match-Up is 95%, Non-teched match-up is 0% (You will loose without the tech.)

Common Enemy/New School- I grouped these together because the basic strategies are both the same. You have a very strong end game against both of these decks. Your Common Enemy match-up is really good for you. Save your Star of the Shows for the end game against new school. You will win 70%-75% of these matches.

Fantastic Fun- This deck needs to target you and they can't. Get the Mutant of the Year by turn 5 and you will win this match-up 90% of the time.

Combo-You lose to this match-up. But no one is playing it anyway. Your win here is 0% but your losses to this will most likely be 0 anyway.

Here is the List!

1 Drops:

3 Phat-William Reily
3 El Guapo-Robbie Rodriguez

2 Drops:

3 Vivisector-Myles Alfred

3 Drops:

4 Orphan-Guy Smith

4 Drops:

4 U-Go-Girl-Tragic Teleporter

5 Drops:

N/A

6 Drops:

3 Zeitgeist-Axel Cluney
2 Venus Dee Milo-Dee Milo

7 Drops:

2 Anarchist-Man of the People

8 Drops:

2 Ghost Rider-Danny Ketch
1 Professor X-Mental Master

Twists:

4 Political Pressure
4 Gravesite
4 Star of the Show
4 Spin Doctoring
4 Mutant of the Year
4 Dead Weight

Locations:

3 X-Statix HQ
3 X-Statix Cafe

Equiptment:

3 Force Field Belt

How it Works:

Mulligan for an Orphan or a Mutant of the Year. The rest will normally fall into place.

You shouldn't recruit anyone but El Guapo prior to turn 3. Phat or Orphan will do well on 3.

Your fifth turn recruitment will normally be 2 counters on a belted character and a boosted Vivisector.

Play it out from there.

And there you have it. Thanks for the editing and formating stu.

I fugure that my fans deserve the BEST and you got it.

If you have any questions please ask I am open to answer whatever.

Thanks guys.

Thank you, my friend will be both happy and disturbed by the simplicity and ingenuity involved.

I really wish you would have gotten more feature matchs...

No 5 drops? Is that a missed U-Go Girl drop or phat? No 5 drops whatsoever just seems really ####in wierd in a curve deck.

Your using Force Field Belt! Awsome! Thats gotta be my favorite card in Avengers. I've just never been able to figure out how to use it.

Those are Keeb's words, not mine. (I'm just the producer on this album.)

Is the referred to anti-GLOCK tech the Political Pressures?

He says how important that is without telling us what it is, I'd just like to make sure.

not really at the moment he doesn't have any antiglock tech in there

tell us more about ur progress in mineaopils the matches the results etc etc

There's something wrong with me recently. I can't read worth a damn.

Still think its funky not to have an actual 5 drop.

I too personally would run a couple of that new 5 drop from MXM but no doubt a boosted vivisector and the 2 counters from the belt on ugogirl is a better play

I want to second that. Thank you for posting the deck. I have much to learn about X-Statix!

Jiistme

political pressure is also for the faces match up. remember one of our team mates Loren ran faces at the 10k

We thought that the metagame was going to be mostly faces and burn.

ya i ran faces, honestly i thought it was probaly a bad meta choice cause i thought more anarchy and flame trap would be there than there actually was, went 6-2 and lost my last 2 in a row, shoulda beat josh wiitnam but i had mob mentality brave new world.. and no physical guys, bad beats. oh ya keeb also gets my and alec's votes for over another 10,000. keeb was running henryeta hunter prior to the 10k but cut her maybe a week before.

um michela jackson isn`t a legend any more any one that likes little boys looses everything he has every done in the past. but the rest you mentioned are legends

I got you down. Closing in on $200,000 worth of fan frenzy. Unbelievable.