Kergy’s Korner #71: Defenders Assemble!

Indy…DC Modern Age…GLEE…Avengers Draft…yadda yadda yadda.

Skip all of that – Indy will unfold in its own way, no matter what we predict (and for my predictions, you’ll just have to wait until Thursday when my Metagame preview is posted). No, instead, I bring you a deck of Marvel’s greatest team which was no team! I bring you:

***THE DEFENDERS OF EARTH***

Ah, how I loved the Defenders (and still do!) From the original Marvel Preview issues, which I’m fortunate enough to own, to the Gargoyle mini-series, which I’m fort…erm…which I own…the Defenders were special. From their fight against the evil Yandroth through bickering and infighting between Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, the breakup and then Nighthawk’s bringing them back together and leading them, the introduction of Tania Belinsky (AKA Red Guardian), their travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Foolkiller saga, the post-Champions third team, the betrayal of Moondragon, decimation of half of the team and final fallout/breakup.

And Howard the Duck. God bless Howard the Duck.

And so, imagine my thrill that KEITH GIFFEN and JM DEMATTEIS have taken on the Defenders, JLA style, bringing their wacky humour to what is one of my all-time favourite teams. And making it so gut-bustingly funny that I not only laughed out loud repeatedly, but actually wrote a fan letter (-gasp!!-), which is something I’ve only done twice before (and one even got published! Fray # 4 or 5, can’t remember which…)

So in honour of Keith Giffen and JM Dematteis, I present the deck to end all decks! So casual that even Hulk could play it! So magical that Dr. Strange just had to build it! And so hideous that even Gargoyle feels comfortable in its company! It’s…it’s…it’s:

Kergy’s DEFENDERS OF EARTH Deck

Now, before you go scrolling down to look at the deck, here’s a few things to note about this deck and my deck ideas.

The Defenders do not exist in Vs. as of yet – and who knows if or when they’ll show up? So we don’t HAVE any Defenders affiliation. Hence every character on this team no longer has their own affiliation – replace their affiliation with Defenders.

Secondly, there are no Valkyrie, Gargoyle, Moondragon, Son of Satan, Red Guardian, Hellcat, Clea or Devil-Slayer cards yet. So I’ve built this deck around every actual member of the Defenders that exists in Vs. (As much as there were members, since the Defenders were never a true team as much as a rotating group of bored superheroes who fought evil villains like Plant Man and Electro….hey, I should build a Defenders Villains deck, too…hrm…ideas…) And yes, Daredevil is a bit of a stretch, but he WAS in the Defenders for several separated and disjointed issues…

As well, every plot twist in this deck features a member of the team on it. As with all of my fun theme-team decks, such as the Giant-Sized X-Men deck I created for a recent issue of Inquest Gamer, I like to keep the deck as thematically correct as possible for the purposes of…well…casual fun. So every plot twist has to have a character in the deck featured on it, or has to be directly related to the team in some way.

So, without further ado, here’s the deck!

CHARACTERS
4x Archangel, Warren Worthington III
2x Beast, Dr. Henry McCoy
3x Daredevil, Protector of Hell’s Kitchen
2x Iceman, Bobby Drake
1 Hank Pym<>Yellowjacket, Pym Particle Creator
3x Luke Cage, Street Enforcer
3x Hawkeye, Clinton Barton
2x Daredevil, Matt Murdock
2x Sub-Mariner, Atlantean Monarch
1x Nighthawk, Kyle Richmond
2x Hulk, New Fantastic Four
2x Luke Cage, Power Man
3x Dr. Strange, Stephen Strange
2x Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd

PLOT TWISTS
4x Acrobatic Dodge
4x Bring the Pain
4x Entangle
4x Head Shot
4x No Fear
4x Savage Beatdown
4x Surprise Attack


As with the X-Men deck, this deck only uses cards that fit thematically, including the image. This is a straightforward beat deck, with a little dodge, and exhaustion (via Iceman and Entangle) to keep your characters alive and kicking until they can attack. The deck prefers odd initiative – which suits Sub-Mariner fine - and should win by six or seven if you hit your curve.

The best way to play this deck is hyper-casual – as I suggested earlier, call every character Team Defenders and replace team names on every card with ‘Defenders’. That way you could even add cards like the 7-drop Sub-Mariner without Doomstadt, or the Gamma Rage Hulk without Avengers cards. If you insist on playing their proper affiliations, add the Marvel Team-Ups by removing a copy or two of some of the other plot twists. If you want to cut down on rares, put Iceman as the 6-drop; increase toss in some 5-drop Archangels, dropping Matt Murdocks; use Daredevil on 7 instead of Dr. Strange; and drop the Beatdowns for other attack pumps. Finally feel free to use Midnight Sons if you prefer synergy over theme, and you can always throw in some Wild Rides for searching (which you can also add thematically by making it a Defenders card instead of a Marvel Knights one.

Oh, and if you DO add team-ups, you’ll really, really want to look at the Avengers 1-drop Beast. He loves him some team-ups…

Finally, I included Yellowjacket and Nighthawk for flavour, as they were each Defenders, and I wanted every possible team member in the deck. If you want more Yellowjackets, you may want to add some equipment (just don’t ask me what – I can’t think of much that fits the theme…). Or, if you find either of them to be simply not useful enough, dump them altogether (who needs thematic flavour, anyhow??) for an extra Matt Murdock and Iceman.

The deck itself is pretty straightforward. Odd initiative if possible, pump your attackers and stomp your opponent, dodge when your opponent attacks, and exhaust your opponent out if you can. And don’t forget to look at the synergy between some of the drops’ abilities – some of these character will work extraordinarily well alongside the others, so pay careful attention to formation and drop choices.

great idea now just get the villains going and you'll have a setgoing.

if they dont make an defenders set or team maybe you could... hell make a whole set just gotta find another team whitch will fit in with the 2 other teams.

Nice, I wonder if it could actually win in a tournament....... This now makes my needs for vs. to bring out to : defenders, a howard the duck card, and Alpha Flight. Opps forgot about Galactus.

Interesting article ^_^ I can't wait to see your post on Indy on Thursday!

hmm, I like this, but I'd throw in some team ups, like stated above

also, I'd add in 7 drop subs instead of one of the doctor stranges

Dr. Strange is a solid 7, but I am a big fan of submariner: his ability is quite unstoppable, and that extra defense point can help out in a pinch

just my 2 cents

ski

But you can only recruit him if you control Dr. Doom. Even with changing his affiliation to "Team Defenders", you still won't be able to recruit him.

wrong submariner dude

Well, I think Skilanky might be referring to what I said in the article - it depends entirely on how casual you want to be.

If you want to be strict, team-ups works best. If you want to be hyper-casual, just replace team or recruit requirements with 'Defenders', or Defenders cards - so that Subby would only have Loyalty instead of needing Doom, or would perhaps need a specific Defenders character in play (like Dr. Strange, or perhaps 'Recriut Sub-Mariner only if Hulk is NOT in play' -lol-)

I really like this theme deck.

For my play I would not super-impose the Defenders affliation just because they were the "non-team" team. Having to create teamups would be part of the fun. I would make myself play teamups cards. I need to see if any leader cards were members.

Did you consider Moon Knight? He appeared in a few issues of Defenders when they fought the Zodiac.

Glad to hear you like it =)

The great thing about casual paly is you can do what you want =) So the Team Defenders idea is, as always, just a suggestion - throw the team-ups in! Toss in a couple of furry blue scientists! Go for it! And I'd also love to see other ideas for teams like this...

Also, I used to HAVE Moon Knight in the deck, but when Avengers came out, I decided to try and be more true to the team - since Hawkeye was actually part of the team, he replaced MK. Still, for those who want to stuff as many different characters in as possible, LUke Cage IS there on 6, so go for Moon Knight instead of him =)