We are going a different way this week. Not so much random stuff, and a whole lot deck talk. The deck I actually want to talk about is not really finished yet. I have the basic idea of what I think the deck needs to include, but I am afraid that the many parts needed to make it work might be a little much. I am going to give you all the information I have on what I want to do and then I want you to help me build a viable deck. If we can turn it into a really solid deck, I will probably put my five or six hundred dollars on the line (cost of trip to Dallas) and play it a Wizard World Texas. But then again, maybe not. I do want to win money there. So, what?s the idea?

Lock my opponent out of the game at turn seven with Psimon. Read on to see just exactly how I think we can to do it?.
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Suzuki Rg50

The origin of this deck came from one of the threads here on Realms. I am not sure where I read it, but basically the thing you do is recruit Hobgoblin at six with initiative and KO him somehow to destroy a resource on both sides of the field, bringing you down to five, but more importantly taking your opponent to four before he/she gets to play what would have been a sixth resource. While this sounds cool, it is not all that effective, because you are still left with pretty much the same condition you had before turn six. Worse if your opponent has a back up five drop.

The thing is not to do the trick on six, but to wait until seven when you can drop Psimon. Recruit big brain and then let Hobgoblin eat a resource, leaving you at six and your opponent at five. What does this do for you? Well, when they play their sixth resource, what are their options?

Not a damn thing.

That is the idea at it?s most basic. And it isn?t a complete lock unless you throw in Neutron. You got to keep them on five and six if you want the hard lock. And then there is the thing about getting Hobgoblin into the KO pile during your recruit step. There are a few options like Venom and even Betrayaling yourself and then following up with Sadistic Choice. Venom prevents you from dropping Psimon and the other option is somewhat clunky. The best and only real option is Devil?s Due.

Devil?s Due
Ongoing: KO a character you control ---> Put a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter on target Doom character you control.

Of course, if you are not playing any Doom characters, the counter disappears, but who cares about that. Keeping your opponent from playing anything after turn six is a more important benefit for sure.

So we need Neutron too? I didn?t say this deck exercise would be easy. Yeah, Neutron is important if you want to keep the lock. And if you haven?t already figured this out, you need to have the odd initiative to make the whole thing work. He absolutely solves this problem for you. But you have to keep him from getting stunned once before turn seven. That way you blow up a resource, which of course changes the initiative for you.

But what if you have the right initiative already? Well, then you have to let Neutron get stunned turn five and six then. That isn?t that hard to do. Just put him out front and make sure he takes the brunt of your opponent?s attacks.

Unfortunately, letting Neutron get stunned leads to some worrisome situations where they may have things like Finishing Move. I guess this is just something we will have to work around. Yancy Street might be an answer to this. Time will only tell.

So, what does my version of the deck look like right now? This is the current build:

Characters:
4 MSM-022 Vulture-Adrian Toomes
4 MSM-016 Electro-Maxwell Dillon
4 DOR-126 Shimmer-Selinda Flinders
4 MSM-069 Alistair Smythe-Ultimate Spider Slayer
3 MSM-019 Lizard-Dr. Curtis Connors
1 MSM-093 Venom-Alien Symbiote
4 MSM-015 Dr. Octopus-Otto Octavius
4 DOR-124 Neutron-Nat Tryon
2 MSM-017 Green Goblin-Norman Osborn
4 MSM-076 Hobgoblin-Roderick Kingsley
4 DOR-125 Psimon-Dr. Simon Jones

Plot Twists:
4 DOR-127 The Underworld Star
4 DOR-163 Total Anarchy
1 DOR-165 World's Finest
4 MSM-130 Devil's Due
4 MOR-185 Entangle
1 MOR-199 Marvel Team-Up
4 MSM-159 Sinister Six

That's the deck at it's most basic. An alternate build could go like this:

4 MOR-111 Dr. Doom-Diabolic Genius
4 MOR-111 Puppet Master-Philip Masters
4 MOR-133 Mystical Paralysis

These could replace Shimmer, Doc Oc, and Total Anarchy.

If you go this route, you absolutely have to hit a one, two or three drop Syndicate character so you can flip up your Sinister Six.

I'll not go into each individual card. You guys are all smart enough to figure it out. I am basically trying to control the game with the cards until I can get my combo on turn seven.

So, how can I motivate you to participate in this fun little exercise. Well, the person that sends in the best deck (the staff here at Realms will choose) will get one of each of the starters in the VS. System game. And if it is a really good deck, we might throw in a Superman starter when it comes out.

Words of advice. The less parts, the better the deck. So, if you can weed out anything unnecessary, chances are the deck will run much smoother. And, do you see why I wanted that card made from last week. It would certainly be a cool addition to the deck. Here it is again in case you have forgotten.

Fanatical Devotion
Plot Twist 5

As an additional cost to play Fanatical Devotion, KO a character you control and discard a card from you hand.
Target a character with a cost equal to or less than the character you KOed. Stun the target character.

So, raise your hand if you are still trying to qualify. Got a qualifier you are attending soon and need a deck? I am gonna give you one already built and ready to go. Part of me being already qualified for SoCal, is that I don't have to grind through the qualifiers for the unforeseeable future. And being the magnanimous guy that I am, I see no reason why I can't share with you a deck or two that has been testing well.

I call this one, "A Version of Me Won Two PCQs Last Weekend!"

2 Thorn
4 Destiny
2 Mastermind
2 Lorelei
2 Phantazia
4 Pyro
4 Toad
4 Quicksilver, Pietro
4 Sabretooth, Feral Rage
4 Magneto, Eric Lehnsherr
4 The New Brotherhood
4 Mutant Menace
4 Savage Land
4 Savage Beatdown
4 Finishing Move
4 Genosha
4 Kaboom! and/or Foiled

The thing with TNB is that over the course of a tournament previously you had to pretty much draw the nuts (some # of opening hand TNBs) 2/3 of the 21 games you played. I came to this number by multiplying the maximum number of rounds you probably would have to play in any given pcq by the best of three format. With the change to the one game format, the nut draw only has to show up in 5-6 of your regular swiss matches. Any time you lower the number of times you have to get good draws, you increase your chances of winning. The percentages are still the same of course, you just don't have to do it as much.

There are many versions of this deck, but this is the one I like most. It even has game turn six, especially if you hit any number of the many low drops and Mutant Menaces off a Genosha/Magneto activation. It is not uncommon to do 6-12 damage this turn with a couple of Menaces. That usually puts you over the top for the win.

Foiled or Kaboom! is purely a meta call. Foiled probably wins out most of the time, because team-ups are all the rage, so it will probably be easier to use. Both keep the resource level low so you are not facing the really big dudes.

If you want a more control type deck, try this one out:

3 GCPD Headquarters
4 USS Argus
3 Optiton
3 Dynamic Duo
4 Brave and the Bold
1 Marvel team Up
4 Fizzle
4 Teen Titans Go!
2 Heroic Sacrafice
1 Bat Signal
1 Kaboom
1 Foiled
1 Raven
1 Conner Kent - Superboy
1 #### Grayson - Nightwing (DoB)
1 Kuriand'r - Starfire
4 Alfred Pennysworth
4 Mirage
4 Beast Boy
4 Terra
4 Garth - Tempest
1 Batman (cc)
1 Red Star
1 #### Grayson - Nightwing (HFA)
1 Hank Hall - Hawk
1 Dawn Granger - Dove

Mirage really makes this deck run smoothly believe it or not. Her ability to give you the team-up from the start is pretty awesome. This deck really likes having initiative around turn six. Batman is really the only drop you need after Garth hits play. Depending on what opposition you have and how many times Batman can double stun someone with some Teen Titan's Go, the game rarely goes longer than six. Look at this scenario:

You have just Batman and Garth teamed up against an opposing four, five, and six drop. You flip up Dynamic Duo and send the boys in. Repeat with TTG! and then once again after paying three with Garth and bringing TTG! back. You have just 30 points of endurance loss. Seems good.

Whatever you take, remember to just calm thyself and play error free. Those one games mean a lot more now. So don't do something dumb and get a game loss. It will cost you the match.

We found an excellent location for our upcoming pcq. I am very excited about sitting back all day and watching other's play. I promise you we will have all the decklists from the entire event online that weekend. I hope we end up posting like sixty decks!!

I am not sure you guys know this, but Team Realmworx and Team VsUniverse have a friendly rivalry going. Kergy featured both teams in a metagame article last week, so go there and get to know the culprits. Chris Price (Chris *Rocket* here) has officially taken over as team leader today. He has already added a new teammate to replace the now retired Bill Hodack. Hopefully those guys can keep up with us here and not fade into oblivion. Typhon and Chedy need to come up with some kind of friendly contest between the two teams for sure. Come December, I am sure you will see a lot of both these teams atop the day 2 standings.

Chris's BLOG

Chris is a funny guy, but check out his sexy girlfriend in the "Monkey Vs. Robot" section.

She is sooo hot!!

Go out there and win some pcqs....and tell your friends to play VS. We need lots of people so we can have like 350 people at SoCal!

Here is a special treat for you guys. The Inquest smallish Superman preview:

You?ve heard it all before: ?Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive?? For Krypton?s sake, the man spun the planet backwards to turn back time! All of this begs the question: If Superman is so powerful, how do you fit him in a game with ?ordinary? Joes like Robin and Two-Face? The answer, for Mike Hummel and the rest of the designers of the Vs. TCG, is simple: new mechanics in a set designed to play off larger-than-life characters. Hummel gave us the scoop on the new mechanics and teams in Superman: Man of Steel.

INVULNERABILITY When your whopping Savage Beatdowned Onslaught rumbles over and smacks down my Superman, he?ll be stunned and take the breakthrough damage, but I won?t take Superman?s cost in stun endurance loss as he gets turned face-down. Yeah, baby.

COSMIC This one allows more powerful heroes to enter play well ahead of the typical resource curve. You see, characters with cosmic are undercosted and powerful, till they get stunned. For instance, take Kara, a.k.a. Supergirl. She enters play with a counter. As long as she has that counter, se gives the new invulnerability ability to every Team Superman character that?s protecting other characters. As soon as she gets stunned she loses that counter and access to that power. She can recover, but the counter is gone for good unless another source puts that counter back on her. Look for a lot of the potential heavy hitters in the set ? like the low and mid-cost Superman ? to have some variation of the cosmic ability and for characters and resource cards with counter manipulation.

What about teams? You can?t have the big Blue Boy Scout without backup, can you? Four new teams launch with the Man of Steel expansion.

TEAM SUPERMAN In addition to its namesake, you?ll find members of Supes? family and friends like Steel, Kara and the Daily Planet crew. This team in particular will play heavily with cosmic counters and reward strategies that involve wise formation and character protection.

REVENGE SQUAD Filled with Superman foes like Lex Luthor, Bizarro, and Mr. Mxyzptlk, the Squad strives to set up long-term plans through ongoing plot twists.

NEW GODS In the comics, Mister Miracle, Big Barda, Orion and others rely on a mysterious sentience called ?the Source? to provide them with intelligence; in the game, this info gives them better reaction capabilities and powers that interact heavily with the cosmic mechanic.

DARKSEID?S ELITE These forces are built to manipulate and degenerate foes? resource rows and to sacrifice weenies to pump up your power players. Like no team yet, Darkseid?s Elite punishes opponents for having face-down cards in their resource rows.

The 165-card set leaps into action in late November.

I am gonna end here to give you guys some more time to work on that deck for me!! Let's get those submissions in and see how much fun we can have locking people out of the game.

Laters!
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ANAL FETISH

Without even thinking, you could add Garth.

The 5,6,7 drops are all pretty locked in. You want Neutron at five, Hobby at six, and Psimon at seven.

Dave
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Extreme q

I sir am no Fanboi! However... Great article. En-Kur rules.

"Of course, if you are not playing any Doom characters, the counter disappears, "

Actually, you need to target a Doom character you control to be able to use the effect.

My thought was to use Garth to return either your Hobgoblin OR your KO card

Not true. It a generated effect...not part of the cost.
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Buy no2

Garth has loyalty no?

He does but Sinister Six handles that.
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TSX

"Not true. It a generated effect...not part of the cost."

You may want to refer to 505.1c.

You need a legal target of the effect to play the ability.

So yes, unfortunately true in this instance.

Although if you can find me of an example where a cost has a target, I would be MOST impressed.

True, Sinister Six does handle that. A bit risky though considering that makes 4 cards you need out by the 5th turn to play Garth. Prolly a good reason it isnt in your deck :>

The entire Man of Steel preview ripped straight from the page?

Now this is an article!

Who needs Devil's Due anyway.

Play Oscorp Board Room instead, it lets you KO your Syndicate characters at will, and makes the opponent discard a card to boot.

OK, now I have to go make a bunch of create-a-card topics so I can use the new mechanics....

Sorry Dave, DarkAlliance is correct, you can't use Devil's Due.

To announce an effect and put it on the chain, you need to have legal targets.

If you don't have a legal target, you can't play the effect.