Four weeks until the big dance. We've all been frantically testing the format, hoping to come upon some busted tech which will tear the format in half and guarantee us day 2 and hopefully day 3 if we don't suck at draft. The top dogs right now are Avengers, Squadron, and Faces of Evil, but those aren't the only decks that have a chance of contending, because unlike DCMA this format is extremely balanced and power is distributed pretty evenly among the nine main factions that will be legal for this PC.

Sounds like the PC is gonna be loads of fun, right?

One thing I've noticed is this entire format is decided on the flip of the coin. Avengers needs odds, Squad needs odds, Faces prefers odds, and anything that has a chance of going toe-to-toe with them wants odds. If you lose the coin flip, you almost always lose the game. Having odd initiative is almost like taking an entire extra turn. There has yet to come a deck that thrives on even initiative, and even if a deck does prefer evens most of the time it wants odds just to hinder the Squad/Avengers player.

Anyone else come across this? I don't want all my matches on day 1 to be 50/50 :(

What turn do you expect most games to end on? 7? I'd think most decks would want initiative when life totals go below 0.

Yeah I noticed that too, and you can add X-men energy to that list that wants odds too and more than likely Brother reservist also. It's seems 5th turn is when most of these decks are designed to go off and maybe the last turn of the game.

That's convenient... my testing with Morlocks so far looks to win on 5 or 6 with some reliability, making a general consensus for odds a Good Thing (TM) for the deck. Then again, trying to win on 5 might be the safer plan now that Wonder Man can be hit with an optimum resource row even more reliably.

most games will end from 5-7 morlock beats wants it on 2 because there 6 is an actually seven and wonderman isnt a problem because the have mo mentallyt and all beatish morlocks are physical if youve noticed and the even have defense like momentary distraction which all their own drops a 1 drop below the characters

Faces die to their own burning out and Mutant Masscre. Too many cards screw them anyways, from Hawkeye to even Momentary Distraction.

Squad is the equivalent of a neutured cat. They lost very big pumps and really good damage-contensers. They still got other-Earth, but the ability to deal under 30 with a good draw by turn 3 are gone now.

Revengers probably are the most stable deck. If you can't beat it, go home.

Morlocks and HFC actually have an advantage according to your "Everyone wants odds!" deal. Morlocks can deal with either inish, while HFC wants evens to get 6 and 7 for the win via Power Play.
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I think he's saying the game ends on 5 or is put out of reach on 5.

Yeah, those pros like to talk in code. I have no idea what he is saying.

Mutant Super-Secret Tech finishes on 6, but I hate it's match-up against Faces, so I'm reluctant to call it the deck of choice.

hey, Kang likes evens!!

Oh wait, you said contenders :(

My Reservist Avengers Wins on 6, who needs seven drops when you have a wonderman and the attack step!

It has the most solid characters to attack with on evens, black widow, warbird,wonderman... on odds you get to attack back with rick jones and black panther.

turn five is the only poor turn but since your opponent has no 4 drop because of the previous turn you are in a more solid position...

If init is so important, Does that mean that we will see JJJ splashed in decks (Faces...) ?

I would hazard a guess at no as his ability doesnt work in tournaments, and if it did he would be a couple of modern ages late.

Ditto. My reservist builds are eschewing seven drops now in order to run more pumps. It just seems like it's really quite easy to kill on six, and with evens you can go crazy with Spoor and what not.

I hope that you use JJJ on me so I ccan get a free Game win in the top 8 :grin:

Seriously, I think that SqS and FOE can still win on 6. My team have been testing with off inits like running FOE with evens. You have to go for max breakthrough on 4 instead of 3 and you have to watch out for System Failures but it can be done.

Also, I don't know who said this, I still think that FOE and SqS are viable. There biggest problems will be an Xmen build with heavy recovery and the same REVengers decks that have been around. I have had success with my Morlocks deck on evens and odds because I control who you can attack so it doesn't really matter. i think that you are making too much about who gets odds.

later

P.S. Kang LOVES evens:p