Well, the Masters of Evil are looking mighty interesting. It's still a bit early, but I like what I see so far. Actually, MoE could be tournament-worthy simply because of the nature of their mechanical theme! They are all about spending every single resource point on curve drops or on efficient effects every turn. No resource point should go unwasted in a MoE deck, I am guessing.

Let's look at the cards we have so far (more will be added as the set is revealed):

Erik Josten <> Goliath
Growing Menace
Masters of Evil Character
6-cost
13/10
When you recruit Erik Josten, if you control a Masters of Evil character, gain 2 resource points. Spend these resource points only to pay the cost of payment powers.

The Wrecker
Wrecking Crew
Masters of Evil Character
13/12
Reservist
Other Wrecking Crew characters you control gain +1 ATK/+1 DEF.
Pay 1 resource point --> Wrecking Crew characters you control gain +2 ATK and can attack hidden characters this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

Titania
Vengeful Vixen
Masters of Evil Character
5-cost
10/8
When you recruit Titania, if you control a Masters of Evil character, gain 1 resource point. Spend these resource points only to pay the cost of a payment power.

Ultron <> Ultron 5
Ultimate Evil
Masters of Evil Character
8-cost
20/19
Flight. Range.
When you recruit Ultron, gain 5 resource points. Spend these resource points only to pay the cost of payment powers.
If Ultron would becomes stunned, instead you may discard a card. If you do, lose 8 endurance and exhaust Ultron.

Crime Spree
Plot Twist
2-threshold
Ongoing: Pay 1 resource point --> Choose one: Target Masters of Evil character you control gets +3 ATK this turn; or target Masters of Evil character you control has invulnerability this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

So...geez. In order, we start with the tag-team of Titania and Goliath. These two characters are extremely similar, and look to me to be basic enabler cards. They generate one or two resource points for payment powers. Both have ATK-oriented stats, suffering in DEF in both cases. So, these characters by themselves are merely enablers.

Then we have Ultron 5. Like Titania and Goliath, Ultron 5 generates free resource points for payment powers. In this case, it is five, count them, five free resource points. This on an 8-drop with a 20/19 body, both Flight and Range, and the ability to regenerate at the cost of a discard (and side-effect of exhausting and effectively losing SEL). So a regenerating 8-drop with a huge body that generates five free resource points. That's a pretty impressive set of abilities! If the resource point payment powers in the set are nasty enough, this could prove to be astoundingly powerful.

That brings us to the last card shown at this point, Crime Spree. This is the first payment power costing resources we see from the set, and of course it is tied to the Masters of Evil. With just the cards shown, we have some pretty interesting things occuring. Assume that you control two copies of Crime Spreee by turn 6 for these examples.

On turn 5, when recruiting Titania, we have two choices: Do we want a 13/8 on turn 5, or a 10/8 with invulnerability, or do we buff our 4-drop by +3 ATK so it can attack up the curve? On turn 6, do we want a 19/10 Goliath, a 16/10 with invulnerability, have two invulnerable characters, two different characters with +3 ATK, or any combination thereof? This is assuming we are playing on curve. We may very well not give a rat's ass about playing on the curve with MoE, if a +3 ATK pump or invulnerability are what you get out of a single common payment power costing a resource.

So far, so good. I like the basic themes I've seen of all four teams for this Marvel set. Masters of Evil will definitely be a great team if these initial preview cards are any indication. Like the Avengers with their reservists, the MoE look like they are designed to specifically mitigate bad draws. Being able to reliably spend every resource point every turn will prove itself to be an amazing advantage, methinks! With the ability to generate free resource points for these payment powers, it's like having an extra set of free abilities to customize your board with every turn, adjusting to whatever your opponent throws at you.

With the addition of:

The Wrecker
Wrecking Crew
Masters of Evil Character
13/12
Reservist
Other Wrecking Crew characters you control gain +1 ATK/+1 DEF.
Pay 1 resource point --> Wrecking Crew characters you control gain +2 ATK and can attack hidden characters this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

We get to see one of the sub-themes of the Masters of Evil. Characters with the Wrecking Crew as their version will obviously be a full line of characters in MAV. The other three are Bulldozer, Piledriver and Thunderball. They'll probably all be nearer the mid-to-high end of the curve rather than the low end.

Whether the four members of the Wrecking Crew together can get the job done for the Masters of Evil remains to be seen.

this should be also be on the first page... :)

MoE has alot of sub-themes, including swarm, stall, and KO. Yellowjacket and Beetle will definitely be a popular pair in off-curve MoE decks. i personally like the Scorpion + Unfair Advantage combo.

Man, the Masters of Evil are a damned interesting team! They are designed to run on or off-curve pretty much as the game needs. Each game, the turns you want to drop on-curve or off-curve will differ, sometimes quite a bit. And it looks to be a deck that begs to be character-heavy. I love the resource-point abilities, as they allow you to always spend every resource point every turn. This is a damned good thing. Just like Kang decks have the utmost efficiency in terms of card usage thanks to the global power-up options, the Masters of Evil have the utmost efficiency as far as resource management is concerned.

1-COST CHARACTERS
Yellowjacket nabs the top spot here, I think. The concealed is good when you look at the number of exhaustion effects that are worth playing. The boost is fantastic! On turn two you could search for a 2-drop then either drop another 1-drop or (more likely) spend it on a payment power. On turn three on, the boost allows you to search for and play any 2-drop in your deck, and there are some really good ones! Fixer is the second best option, in my opinion. The ability will grow more useful as time goes on. Black Knight is an Ant Man, Scott Lang that doesn't exhaust, instead requiring a discard. And he picks up range. He's actually rock-solid as well, but there probably isn't room for him. Radioactive Man is certainly an interesting option, but you'll never use his ability most games, and he doesn't offer anything else.

Nathan Garrett <> Black Knight
Corrupt Crusader
Masters of Evil Character
1-cost
2/1
Range
Discard a card --> Target front row character loses reinforcement and cannot gain reinforcement this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

Paul Ebersol <> Fixer
Problem Solver
Masters of Evil Character
1-cost
2/1
Range.
Characters you control cannot be stunned by non-ongoing plot twist effects your opponents control.

Radioactive Man
Chen Lu
Masters of Evil Character
1-cost
2/1
At the start of your recruit step, you may gain 1 resource point. If you do, you cannot recruit characters or equipment this turn. Use this resource point only to pay the cost of a payment power.

Yellowjacket
Rita DeMara
Masters of Evil Character
1-cost
1/2
Flight. Range.
Reservist. Concealed - Optional.
Boost: 1. When Yellowjacket comes into play, seach your deck for a Masters of Evil character card with cost 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck. Gain 1 resource point.

2-COST CHARACTERS
Wow, what an nice set of 2-drops. Beetle is awesome, searching for another 2-drop (or less), and has rock solid stats with F/R. He may be a 4-of. Screaming Mimi is probably the weakest of the MoE 2-drops, yet also has solid stats and in a swarm build her burn ability can get quite high (5-6 endurance loss), so probably warrants one copy. Melter is bloody awesome. He's a 4/1, so tears down many 3-drops unaided, has range, and from turn 5 on is an amazing off-curve play. Shocker allows for some efficient use of resource points to pick off irritating reinforcers or support characters, including nasty hidden characters like the Hounds! He and Beetle are fighting for top spot, with Melter in third. With the way MoE looks to be designed, you will be playing with more 2-drops then normal anyhow, so you'll have room for at least one copy of all four of these bad boys (and girl).

Beetle
Armorsmith
Masters of Evil Character
2-cost
3/2
Flight. Range.
When Beetle comes onto play, you may discard a card. If you do, search your deck for an affiliated character with cost 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Melissa Gold <> Screaming Mimi
Mimi Schwartz
Masters of Evil Character
2-cost
3/2
Range
Pay 1 resource point --> Target opponent loses 1 endurance for each non-Army character you control. Use this power only once per turn.

Melter
Bruno Horgan
Masters of Evil Character
2-cost
4/1
Range
Activate --> KO target stunned character with cost 5 or greater.

Shocker
Vibro-Shock Villain
Masters of Evil Character
2-cost
3/2
Reservist
Activate, pay up to 3 resource points --> Stun target character if its cost is equal to the number of resource points you paid.

3-COST CHARACTERS
Another amazing drop for MoE characters, the three drop offers the best set of characters they get. And the best of the lot is Scorpion, who is a powerhouse. He's a 5/4 reservist, and that KO ability is worth its weight in gold. Tiger Shark probably nabs the second spot, able to jump the curve to become an 8/5. Bulldozer offers amazing attack options, giving you as many Bamf! instances as you need in a turn (you did notice that Bulldozer doesn't have the "once per turn" clause, didn't you?). Grey Gargoyle gives you a defensive and offensive ability with a nice 3/6 body. It almost dares an opponent to attack or reinforce with certain characters. :cool: Blackout has a decent defensive ability, considering how many low drops you will be playing. Egghead's ability is similar, but his team-up ability makes him an option for any deck that likes giving DEF bonuses.

Bulldozer
Wrecking Crew
Masters of Evil Character
3-cost
5/4
Reservist
Pay 1 resource point --> Target character you control cannot be stunned while attacking this turn.

Egghead
Elihas Starr
Masters of Evil Character
3-cost
5/3
Range.
Leader: Characters adjacent to Egghead have the Masters of Evil affiliation.
Pay 1 resource point --> At the start of the combat phase, characters adjacent to Egghead gain +2 DEF this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

Grey Gargoyle
Paul Pierre Duval
Masters of Evil Character
3-cost
3/6
Flight.
Reservist.
Pay 1 resource point. Target character cannot ready this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

Marcus Daniels <> Blackout
Darkbringer
Masters of Evil Character
3-cost
4/5
Range.
Reservist. Concealed - Optional.
Pay 1 resource point --> Masters of Evil characters with cost 4 or less you control have reinforcement this turn. Use this power only if Marcus Daniels is visible.

Scorpion
Fatal Sting
Masters of Evil Character
3-cost
5/4
Reservist.
Pay 1 resource point. Whenever Scorpion stuns a character this turn, KO that character.

Tiger Shark
Todd Arliss
Masters of Evil Character
3-cost
6/3
Reservist.
Pay 1 resource point --> Tiger Shark gets +2 ATK/+2 DEF this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

4-COST CHARACTERS
Piledriver is the 4-of at this spot, being another plot twist KO effect. Hyde and Zemo both offer curve-jumping possibilities, but I think that the good Baron gets the nod as being the better option. Mr. Hyde is ok, but you will be playing with so many off-curve drops that his Leader ability will see quite alot of use. Whirlwind is a metagame card. Against a curve deck his ability is horrible. Against an off-curve deck, he is a little better. I really wish his ability was "less than or equal to" not "less than". His ability can be used more than once per turn, but really, he won't see too much play in most decks. Turn 4 is a good one to start dropping off-curve anyhow.

Heinrich Zemo <> Barom Zemo
Baron of Zeulniz
Masters of Evil Character
4-cost
7/7
Leader: Characters adjacent to Heinrich Zemo gain +2 ATK while attacking a character with a greater cost.

Mr. Hyde
Engine of Destruction
Masters of Evil Character
4-cost
7/7
Reservist
Mr. Hyde gets +2 ATK/+2 DEF while an opponent controls a character with a greater cost than that of any character you control.

Piledriver
Wrecking Crew
Masters of Evil Character
4-cost
8/6
Reservist.
Discard Piledriver, pay 1 resource point --> Whenever target character becomes stunned this turn, KO it. Use this power only if Piledriver is in your hand.

Whirlwind
David Cannon
Masters of Evil Character
4-cost
8/6
Flight. Range.
Pay X resource points --> Exhaust target character if its cost is less than X.

5-COST CHARACTERS
Ouch, there are some hot options here. Klaw's KO ability should be cake, and 3 endurance is possibly the efficient cost for a KO ability in the game now. He will probably nab the top spot, i'm afraid, even in off-curve decks. Titania offer the nasty above-the-curve use of resource points she shares with Ultron 5 and Goliath. This allows for nasty tricks, especially the damned KO tricks MoE can use with resource points. Thunderball is awesome if you have the even initiatives, being an above-average 10/9 who jumps to 13/12 on turn 6 so long as you spend all your resource points on payment powers instead of drops. Ultron has an amazingly powerful ability, but because it is not team-stamped, I think it is better as a splash in decks that need breakthrough to succeed, such as the Johnny Quick AM decks, certain Squadron Supreme builds, uber-aggro Sinister Sindicate decks and the like. So Crimson Cowl will see play, but probably not in straight MoE decks.

Klaw
Ulysses Klaw
Masters of Evil Character
5-cost
9/10
Range.
Pay 3 endurance --> KO target stunned character. Use this power only once per turn and only if Klaw has caused breakthrough this turn.

Thunderball
Wrecking Crew
Masters of Evil Character
5-cost
10/9
Reservist.
At the start of the combat phase, if you recruited no characters this turn, thunderball gets +3 ATK/+3 DEF and has invulnerability this turn.

Titania
Vengeful Vixen
Masters of Evil Character
5-cost
10/8
When you recruit Titania, if you control a Masters of Evil character, gain 1 resource point. Spend this resource point only to pay the cost of a payment power.

Ultron <> Crimson Cowl
Dark Disguise
Masters of Evil Character
5-cost
9/8
Flight. Range.
Leader: While an attacker is adjacent to Ultron, defenders lose reinforcement and cannot gain reinforcement.

6-COST CHARACTERS
Ouch. First of all, The Wrecker is the worst of the lot, poor fellow. And he's not at all bad! Power of a god, outshined by all of his friends. :grin: Executioner, on the other hand, might be the best of the lot. That KO ability is really nice. Offense or defense, no options for the opponent like Venom, it costs me a card? And MoE, with all the off-curve action, will probably be playing with Nasty Surprise all the time, meaning attacking down the curve with your 7-drop might not be such a good idea. Karla and Goliath both offer very powerful effects as well, and both have totally fine stats as well. 2 resource points for payment powers is a huge boon. It means extra KO, curve-jumping, lockdown or other effects. And Moonstone, damn! That is one helluva disruptive ability, and it happens when combat starts, not your attack step. This means you can shred leader formations such as those set up by Avengers decks with Captain Marvel and Captain America. It also eliminates reinforcement options since it can nail a protected character. I'm not sure who I prefer as the back-up.

Erik Josten <> Goliath
Growing Menace
Masters of Evil Character
6-cost
13/10
When you recruit Erik Josten, if you control a Masters of Evil character, gain 2 resource points. Spend these resource points only to pay the cost of payment powers.

Executioner
Scourge of Jotunheim
Masters of Evil Character
6-cost
12/11
Whenever executioner stuns a character, you may discard a Masters of Evil character. If you do, KO that character.

Karla Sofen <> Moonstone
Master Manipulator
Masters of Evil Character
6-cost
12/12
Flight. Range.
At the start of the combat phase, the controller of target character moves it to his front row.

The Wrecker
Wrecking Crew
Masters of Evil Character
6-cost
13/12
Reservist.
Other Wrecking Crew characters you control get +1 ATK/+1 DEF.
Pay 1 resource point --> Wrecking Crew characters you control get +2 ATK and can attack hidden characters this turn. Use this power only once per turn.

7-COST CHARACTERS
Enchantress all the way. Sorry, I love Baron Zemo's effect, as it completely eliminates standard reinforcement (without Mosaic World, that is), and certain powerful effects such as Spider Senses, Heroic Sacrifice, Insignificant Threat and the like. I will probably throw a single Helmut in, but Enchantress nabs the top spot. a stun ability with a cost like that is much better. If you have the upper hand, which you may with the disturbing amount of KO cards MoE gets, stunning the opposing 7-drop on turn 8 and going from there may very well be better than dropping Ultron 5 out, especially if the opponent didn't lay an 8-drop. Plus, she's got the overall stat advantage on the Baron, plus she has range.

Enchantress
Amora
Masters of Evil Character
7-cost
16/14
Range.
Pay X resource points --> Stun target character if its cost is less than X.

Helmut Zemo <> Baron Zemo
Uber Enemy
Masters of Evil Character
7-cost
15/15
Leader: While an attacker is adjacent to Helmut Zemo, defenders lose all team affiliations.

[b]8-COST[/u]
What a powerhouse 8-drop, and with no team-stamps! 5 resource points is just...wow. Your army of off-curve weenies will suddenly all use their powers for a turn. Bamf! everyone with Bulldozer while also pumping whoever you can and giving invulnerability, which is more powerful in the late game. And then we look at his regeneration. The cost is a discard, the endurance loss is an effect. This can totally swing games when you eliminate the opposing attack options. He's a great finish to a fun looking team. Are their characters good enough to get the job done? Well, let's see what they have to back them up, first.

Ultron <> Ultron 5
Ultimate Evil
Masters of Evil Character
8-cost
20/19
Flight. Range.
When you recruit Ultron, gain 5 resource points. Spend these resource points only to pay the cost of payment powers.
If Ultron would become stunned, instead, you may discard a card. If you do, lose 8 endurance and exhaust Ultron.

EQUIPMENT
While the FFB isn't team-stamped MoE, it may as well be. A great many MoE decks will throw this card in, as it allows your weenies to grow with the curve in addition to whatever other weenies and payment powers you use for the turn. This is good stuff for MoE. I'll probably put in four copies.

Force Field Belt
Equipment
0-cost
Transferable.
Equipped character gets +1 DEF.
Pay up to 2 resource points --> Put a +1 ATK/+1 DEF counter on equipped character for each point you paid. Use this power only once per turn.

PLOT TWISTS
The Masters of Evil actually have one of the most vicious set of plot twist I've ever seen. They have no equipment or locations at all that are MoE team-stamped, but have a veritable cornucopia of powerful plot twist effects. Adhesive X is amazing. The second a character gets attacked by the highest opposing drop, oops, no readying for you next turn. Simply amazing. Crime Spree is a staple resource payment power card, as both options are really good, and you will want to see more than one copy if possible. Evil Reborn is also amazing, giving you a mini-search card when a character of yours is going to be KO'd this turn anyhow. Hard Sound Construct lets you play a drop on a turn you want to trigger the "haven't played a character this turn" effects. Plus, it gets you two free resource points worth of character on the board. Who cares if it's going away at the end of turn, it's not like you payed for it anyhow. Hero's Demise is one of the better KO cards in the game. And yet, it's probably not as good as Stolen Power, a Finishing Move that give the exhausted character a +1/+1 counter. Mystic Summons is a very easy to use search card that will be a 4-of in most MoE decks. Sonic Disruption is yet another lockdown card for MoE, obviously a subtheme of the team. They try to seize (most of) the initiative for multiple turns in a row. The Wrecking Crew is a +2 ATK pump that can affect up to 4 attacking characters, but usually it's two characters. Not bad, but there really isn't room in most builds, I'm afraid. Under Siege is friggin' awesome! It steals locations, it steals ongoing plot twists, it steals unused plot twists, it steals reservists! And you can give a completely worthless card to your opponent that you can't use this game, or a copy of a reservist or non-reservist character you have no need of. Finally, the "unique" plot twist for MoE, Unfair Advantage. I really like it. I know some of you hate it, but a) it helps you spend more resource points then you should in a turn, b) it flips back down. It is reusable every single solitary turn in a game you know you will not be playing a plot twist. You only need to draw one copy. Plus, since it flips down, you can use it after you're done with it to play Under Siege. MoE, like all of the teams in Avengers, is a powerful one. I think this entire set is going to change the meta in great ways, taking key archetypes that exist now down, giving older and new archetypes that couldn't flourish before to do so now.

Adhesive X
Plot Twist
2-threshold
As an additional cost to play Adhesive X, exhaust a Masters of Evil character you control.
Target exhausted character cannot ready this turn.

Crime Spree
Plot Twist
2-threshold
Ongoing: Pay 1 resource point --> Choose one: Target Masters of Evil character you control gets +3 ATK this turn; or target Masters of Evil character you control has Invulnerability this turn.

Evil Reborn
Plot Twist
2-threshold
You may KO a Masters of Evil character you control. If you do, reveal the top X cards of your deck, where X is the cost of the character you KO'd. Put one of the revealed cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your deck.

Hard Sound Construct
Construct
Plot Twist
4-threshold
Play Hard Sound Construct only during the build phase.
Put target Masters of Evil character card with cost 2 or less from your KO'd pile into your front row if you do not control a character with the same name as that card. KO that character at the start of the recovery phase this turn.

Hero's Demise
Plot Twist
3-threshold
Play Hero's Demise only if you control two or more non-stunned Master of Evil characters with the same cost.
KO target stunned character.

Mystic Summons
Plot Twist
2-threshold
Play Mystic Summons only if you control two or more characters with the same cost. Search your deck for a Masters of Evil character card with cost 3 or greater, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Sonic Disruption
Plot Twist
1-threshold
Target defender you control gets +1 DEF this attack. If that defender has the Masters of Evil affiliation, target attacker cannot ready this turn.

Stolen Power
Plot Twist
3-threshold
As an additional cost to play Stolen Power, exhaust a Masters of Evil character you control.
KO target stunned character. Put a +1 ATK/+1 DEF counter on the character you exhausted.

The Wrecking Crew
Plot Twist
2-threshold
Target Masters of Evil attacker you control gets +2 ATK this attack. Non-Army characters you control that share a cost or version with that attacker and are adjacent to it get +2 ATK while attacking this turn.

Under Siege
Plot Twist
3-threshold
Play Under Siege only during your attack step.
As an additional cost to play Under Siege, exhaust a Masters of Evil character you control.
Exchange the positions of target face-down resource you control and target resource an opponent controls.

Unfair Advantage
Plot Twist
3-threshold
Play Unfair Advantage only during your recruit step and only if you control a Masters of Evil character.
If you have played no other plot twists this turn, gain 1 resource point. Spend this resource point only to play the cost of a payment power.
You cannot play plot twists this turn.
If Unfair Advantage is in your resource row, turn it face-down.

With the strategies of the team firmly in mind, here is my first Masters of Evil build:

MEET YOUR MASTERS

1-Drop Characters
4 Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara

2-Drop Characters
4 Beetle, Armorsmith
1 Karla Sofen <> Screaming Mimi, Mimi Schwartz
1 Melter, Bruno Horgan
3 Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain

3-Drop Characters
2 Bulldozer, Wrecking Crew
4 Scorpion, Fatal Sting
3 Tiger Shark, Todd Arliss

4-Drop Characters
2 Heinrich Zemo <> Baron Zemo, Baron of Zeulniz
4 Piledriver, Wrecking Crew

5-Drop Characters
2 Klaw, Ulysses Klaw
1 Titania, Vengeful Vixen

6-Drop Characters
1 Erik Josten <> Goliath, Growing Menace
1 Executioner, Scourge of Jotunheim

7-Drop Characters
1 Enchantress, Amora

Equipment
4 Force Field Belt

Plot Twists
3 Adhesive X
4 Crime Spree
4 Mystic Summons
4 Savage Beatdown
4 Stolen Power
3 Unfair Advantage

Keep in mind this is a first build. It looks for an early advantage, KOings as many drops as it can while swarming and growing. Adhesive X gives you an extra half-turn's initiative, locking down the highest opposing drop. Flip Crime Spree early. Like I often do, I went for a well-rounded build as a basis to see how the team performs.

I had to build a Wrecking Crew deck. Because they are the Wrecking Crew.

4x Nathan Garrett
4x Yellowjacket
4x Bulldozer
4x Scorpion
4x Piledriver
2x Heinrich Zemo
4x Thunderball
2x Klaw
4x The Wrecker

4x The Wrecking Crew
4x Stolen Power
4x Mystic Summons
4x Hard Sound Construct
4x Adhesive X
4x Entangle
4x Savage Beatdown

--

That's right, Skippy, nothing bigger than a six! Who needs seven-drops when you have TEH WR3XX0R? Spend those resource points on Bulldozer and Wrecker on turn 7, and get two seven-drop-sized attackers (Thunderball and Wrecker) that don't stun.

Hard Sound Construct is there to force Nathan Garrett back into play, since he'll die pretty quickly an' all. Forcing Nathan back into play for a turn lets you play Mystic Summons effectively in this short-curve deck - also it gives you a Blindsided whenever you need it.

Also, a bit of stupid trivia, mostly unrelated to this deck. Remember how everybody was drooling over teaming Darkseid's Elite with the Masters of Evil because of Brimstone?

Brimstone has the version "Engine of Destruction." The Masters-aligned Mr. Hyde has the version "Engine of Destruction."

...THE WRECKING CREW (the plot twist) WORKS WITH THEM! HAHAHAHAHA! (You're welcome.)

Has no one considered the power of Jericho+Unfair Advantage or Radioactive Man?

Stealing their biggest guy on their initiative (which translates to KOing theirs and playing your own)? Nasty, nasty, nasty.

Sure, it's Golden Age only, but that's a nasty trick.

SHHH! Damn, I totally saw Jericho's synergy with this team too. ;)

If you play your cards right and have A LOT of luck, Radioactive Man can be quite scary.

Turn 1: You play Radioactive Man with a Force Field Belt. He's already a 2/2, thanks to his above average attack.

Turn 2: You make sure that a Crime Spree is in your resource row. Now instead of recruiting a character, you flip Crime Spree to give RM +3 attack. Use the other two points on the Force Field Belt. Radioactive Man is a 7/4 for this turn.

If you get another Crime Spree next turn, you can have him up to 12/6, etc.

Now, granted, you need to be very lucky. But just imagine pulling something like that off. :)

Ha ha. Starting a strategy thread while concealing a combo? ;)

Well, the cat's outta the bag. If Jericho can last to turn 6 and you had Thunderball out on turn 5, you may end up with 2 six drops. :)

Theres a motive to play a drop twice.

Turn 2:
Beetle
Armorsmith
Masters of Evil Character
2-cost
3/2
Flight. Range.
When Beetle comes onto play, you may discard a card. If you do, search your deck for an affiliated character with cost 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck.

Look for Melter.

Turn 3:

Yellowjacket
Rita DeMara
Masters of Evil Character
1-cost
1/2
Flight. Range.
Reservist. Concealed - Optional.
Boost: 1. When Yellowjacket comes into play, seach your deck for a Masters of Evil character card with cost 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your deck. Gain 1 resource point.

Search out another 2 drop based on the situation/if beetle didnt come into play etc. Play Melter.
This can allow you to have 2-2drops and a 1drop. Melter can also hit 3 drops easily.

A different variation might be;

Turn 2:
Play Yellowjacket boosted to search for Melter. Spend extra resource point for Fixer/Black Knight, Force Field Belt or Crime Spree.

Turn 3:
Play Beetle, discard melter, search for Fixer/ black knight if u haven't already. Spend extra resource point for Fixer/Black Knight Force Field Belt or Crime Spree.

You can have 3 1 drops and Beetle out or at least Beetle and 2 1 drops.

The discarded melter can be used with Hard sound contstruct, but discarding him is just an idea, definately not something I'd do most of the time.

Both scenarios allow a pretty nice early game with swarm since you have multiple characters out, or to get some early control with Hero's Demise. Yellow Jacket and Beetle search out each other/other drops. But since you will have multiple similar drops you can easily use Mystic Summons to search for whatever else.

Turn 4:
This scenario doesnt need to follow the above strategy, but does seem to work well in many MoE decks.

Heinrich Zemo <> Barom Zemo:
If you just under dropped on turn 3, hes perfect. But he's good for curve jumping in general and also works with a possible turn 5

Turn 5:
Mr. Hyde:
You purposely under drop but Mr.Hyde gets a boost to stand toe to toe with other 5 drops. With Heinrich Zemo, he can hit opposing 5-drops with 11/9 stats.

Once again you have 1 Resource point for any ability! Also can play Hero's Demise or Mystic Summons.

Titania does most of the same, but won't work with the many plot twists MoE has.

Keep in mind this is not the whole curve of the deck, playing Scorpion on 3 is great too, but since lots of the plot twists are based on same cost, it works. It also generates free resource points without using Unfair advantage.

My last post favors the odd initiative. You will swarm and get your plot twist effects by 3. And with Heinrich and Hyde you will be on par and have an extra resource point for payment powers.

I'll try to figure out a good build for the even initiative;

Turn 2:

Melter: Just a great 2-drop, with some use later.
-----------------------------------
or Shocker: You'd end up playing no character on 3, allowing you to stun 3 drop for free and clear house with stolen power etc...

Turn 3:

Scorpion: If you are lucky you'll hit an unfair advantage and go to work. If not, he is a solid drop and works with a potential drop 4.

Turn 4:

Tiger Shark: Here you have a decision to make based on how the game is running. You can spend the free resource point on Tiger Shark to make him an 8/5 which can tackle opposing 4 drops, or you can spend the point on Scorpion and team attack and KO their 4 drop.

Turn 5:

Thunderball: He has great stats, but no ability on this turn, obviously a set up for a big turn 6.

-I'd like to mention that off initiative turns are perfect for using Adhesive X, Sonic Disruption and Stolen Power-

Turn 6:

No character recruit: Wow, Thunderball is 13/12 with invulnerability and now you have 6 resource points for whatever you want. You can recruit Forcefield belts, Kevlar body armor(kudos to whoever mentioned it in deck garage I think) and pay for Crime Spree, Pile driver!

Turn 7 is Helmut Zemo <> Baron Zemo I guess since he has a great ability.

Turn 8 is almost like turn 6 except you can't recruit Kevlar.

If it seems I am working a little hard for resource points, its just that ; Unfair advantage is surely a 3x or 4x in the deck, but we gotta use those tasty plot twists as much as possible!

I'd like to make a deck list, but I am a little lost. Obviously I view the Masters of Evil having an even initiative deck, an odd initiative deck and Wrecking Crew(which I haven't mentioned). There's just so many possibilites and crazy combos it has me bewildered.....and I love it :devious:

I have been thinking about a Sinister Syndicate and MOE team-up
Fisk Tower helps get out the little folk.
Lion's den is a great one resource payment power
Having some points later on for a goblin glider may be nice.
(thinking turn six)
nobody swarms like the syndicate.
and Doc Ock's reinforcement will always be handy at four and seven in case you are behind the curve too bad.

Although the MOE don't really need any help it might be fun to play with.

Well after combining the even and odd initiative ideas I had, here is the deck I have come up with;

35
4x Yellow Jacket
1x Fixer
1x Black Knight

4x Beetle
3x Shocker
1x Melter

4x Scorpion
3x Tiger Shark
1x Bulldozer

3x Heinrich Zemo
1x Mr.Hyde
4x Pile Driver

3x Thunderball

2x Enchantress

25
4x Forcefield Belt

4x Crime Spree
4x Hero's Demise
4x Mystic Summons
3x Unfair advantage
3x Sonic disruption
3x Savage Beatdown

In the end it looks similar to Korinthe's build. Character wise I'd like to have Fixer and Black Knight strictly as back up or if I can't get beetle on 2 (see my first post).
The 2 and 3 drops look to be solid, might have to change the count of each though.
I view Piledriver as more of a plot twist, that is character back up. If the deck runs good, I'd rather drop another 3 drop on 4.

Plot twist wise, I'm going to try Sonic disruption over Adhesive X. While not as versatile, there is no cost, and it essentially does the same thing.
I also went for Hero's Demise over Stolen power. Once again it is essentially free, and I'm not sure how good +1/+1 is in an off-curve deck.