Quintessentially Quirky – First Lady of Crime

First Lady of Crime

This is another quirky golden age deck that is once again designed to demonstrate the possibilities there are for some really very odd combinations of teams.

There are a few teams that really struggled to find a place in the competitive histories of VS. Teams like New Gods, Man-hunters and X-Statix have all missed out on their chance to shine. Another team has always hovered just outside of the competitive circuit, with an unusual play style they promised much but never quite delivered. The Crime Lords featured in the Marvel Knights set and tried to make us believe that penalising your opponent for daring to attack was a good way to secure victory. To some extent they worked, making attacking difficult through high defence pumps and redirection was something that has always been a strong play in a combat focused world. Unfortunately, the reliance on reinforcement and the inability to use formation proved too much. The lessons learnt here were put to good effect in the Team Superman re-feature in DC Worlds Finest.

But the Crime Lords should not be forgotten. If we can find away to give them consistent reinforcement and even some additional attack control then there may be a way to bring the best out in them.

There has been one character in VS that has always been synonymous with protection and reinforcement, and that is Invisible Woman. From Marvel Origins, she has been negating attacks on herself and reinforcing her family simply by being there, and over the last few sets her repertoire of sneaky tricks has just got bigger.

So I hereby present you with the new First Lady of Crime….

Queen Pin.

Characters: 28
3x Rosco Sweeney
This is the first drop and this guy is potentially ridiculous. For a tiny cost he hits your next drop. Sure, keeping him on the field is a challenge, but if can allow you to hit your next couple of drops without losing board position then that should be considered a bonus.

1x Invisible Woman, Walking on Air
Her high defence is boon to the early game. (and it allows me to hit the Legend Count for her)

4x Mr Fantastic, Reed Richards
Way back in Marvel Origins this was one of those cards that allowed F4 players to go wild with equipment. As I will be using some equipment to support the defensive qualities of the team, the ability to dig in to the deck seems strong.

1x Sniper
Range is a great enabler and if I choose to switch to the daddy of defensive pumps (cover-fire) this will enable it. The hidden area is also a good place to put a 2 drop.

4x Kingpin
If you have the Queen, then you need a king, and if you can provide reinforcement easily then his ability becomes extremely useful. His attack also allows for some aggressive plays on initiative.

1x Thing, Idol O’ Millions
I have chosen to include a copy of the chief enforcer simply because if I do miss the Kingpin then I need another solid defensive character and Thing literally is a brick wall.

4x Invisible Woman, Sue Storm
This is the linchpin of the deck, once the Team-Up is in place all the characters on your field have reinforcement, and this triggers a lot of the more powerful defensive tricks that Crime Lords can muster.

1x Saracen
This is the second half of the 2 person tag-team that Crime Lords initially used to punish attackers, and therefore it is definitely worth including him here.

1x Hitman
His ability stops the opponent’s field from getting out of hand if you haven’t been punishing them on your initiative or theirs. Not the easiest stun ability to activate normally, but in this deck it should be feasible.

2x Mr Fantastic, Stretch
The original equipment mastering version of Mr Fantastic, not only does he reduce the cost (very useful with Framistat) but he also allows you to move the equipment around.

2x Taskmaster
An interesting card that becomes more useful as you hit later turns. Being able to stun the largest character the opponent has is a powerful ability. Being able to bounce the attack of the largest character the opponent has is even better.

1x Human Torch, Flame On
He is in the deck for two reasons. 1) He is the only member of the family I don’t have so far and 2) He has a great ability for closing out a close game.

1x Bullseye, Master of Murder
If your opponent is attacking in to a field that is fully reinforced, then this guy will make life extremely unpleasant for them.

1x Invisible Woman, Shield of the Four
This girl has it all: Solid stats, flight, range and an awesome ability for a defensive deck.

1x Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd
This guy ends games. It is pretty much that simple.

Equipment: 9

3x Framistat

This was my favourite piece of equipment in the Avengers set. It might cost a resource point, but Stretch gets around that. It also provides reinforcement when Invisible Woman hasn’t come out to play and finally its alternate recruit cost is not an issue for a deck that like to defend not attack. (Kingpin is 5/6 with one if you choose the defense option). If you have hit the team up then it is also ATK boost as well.

1x Armed Escort
This is the trade mark equipment card for the Crime Lord team. It allows you to re-direct attacks. This is usually more than enough to stifle an opponent’s attack step.

3x Unstable Molecule Suit.
+2 Def is a strong play, and when there are more defensive tricks to play things become extremely difficult for the opponent.

1x Fantasticar v2.0
Making everybody that bit bigger and then giving them range is a powerful ability that works extremely well with Covering Fire.

1x Catcher’s Mitt
A reserve method for getting reinforcement, should the Invisible Woman plan fall down.

Plot Twists: 24
4x Enemy of my Enemy
I have an alternate character from the other team at every drop, so this should provide sufficient consistency.

2x Invisibility
Working from the shadows works for a crime family, so being able to hide low drop characters on later turns will prove useful.

4x Force Field Projection
The BEST attack negating plot twist in the game. It doesn’t target the opponent in anyway so is extremely hard to negate unless they are playing Gotham Knights.

4x Face the Master
Face the Master is a versatile card, providing either more Def or the very useful attack pump.

3x Covering Fire/Rough House
Take your pick. Covering Fire is potentially the bigger defensive trick, but Rough House is more reliable in this build I think.

3x Tech Upgrade
Equipment Search is extremely useful in a deck that uses a lot of gear to make life hard for the opponent.

4x Forbidden Loyalties, Team Up
Not only does the name conjure up some great images when talking about the Queen of Crime, but the +1/+1 counter is quite handy too.

So there you have it. It doesn’t really matter what initiative you have, although I would say evens is probably best. You have some strong defensive plays on odd turns and being able to attack up the curve with Kingpin and then down with Invisible Woman may be the strongest turn 4 play you have.

Mulligan is tough to call… but Rosco/Enemy of my Enemy are both probably critical to the deck.

Like all Jank decks, a good draw should be pretty strong but a bad draw disastrous. However, this is probably more forgiving than most as it does simple things well.

Defending on turn 5 with an Armed Escort and Mr Fantastic will present some horrible choices for the opponent. For the cost of a few END you will dictate who they attack. Between that and the threat of Force Field Projection, it will be very difficult for them to make an attack stick.

So I think it is time for all to acknowledge the true First Lady of Crime.