Saturday Sixteen – Personal Favourites
I’ve decided to jump on the band wagon for doing a regular Thursday Thirteen List. However as we’ve already rolled into the weekend this week, thought I’d up the ante and do a Saturday Sixteen.
I’m going to try and keep them Versus related if possible and I’ve gone for something pretty mundane to start with. Favourite 16 cards in the game of versus. I’ve listed them in no particular order apart from the number 1 slot, who is most definitely #1 in my book.
1) Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose:
Along with the printing of Mobilize and EomE, this version of Ivy has done more to make Arkham playable than any other card. Need a team up, she can get you a Metropolis. Key location, she’s your girl. Combine her with the previously unplayable Matter for the Hatter-Ivy combo and you can steal dudes, not give them back and tutor a location. If you then manage to attack up the curve with the stolen character follow it up with a Kidnapping, then its all gravy from there
2) Dr.Doom, Diabolic Genius
The most (in)famous Doom character card in the game. Abuse PT play on the comes into play effect, plus shut down your opponents options, forcing him to just use resource row PT’s. Combine this with decent stats, normally augmented with one version or another of Doomstadt and you’ve got a steel faced monster!
3) Gorilla Grodd, Grodd Awful
A new addition to the list. Always one of my favourite comic book characters this dude has above curve stats and a great ability. Combne him with his legend support (Monkey See, Coup D’Etat, Going Ape) Grodd Control is definitely tier 1 now that FF Plaza has been errated (spelling?). How can you not love a Psionic ape who makes monkeys of your opponents characters.
4) Deadshot, Floyd Lawton
Definitely a tech card at the moment, however I’m liking him more for his time in the Suicide Squad comics and the brilliant 6 part Deadshot mini-series (the only decent piece of Christos N.Gage writing to date). Floyd is wrong on so many levels, immoral, self-centered, egotistical but he’s not really bad. He’d make the list however just for his ability to get the win against Ahmed.
5) Kidnapping
The best Finishing Move variant in the game. Ko that dude, give your opponent a dead draw… oh yeah and draw a card at the same time. Ouch. When you’ve dropped these on two consecutive turns your opponent is left with terrible feelings of deja vu.
6) Sabretooth, Feral Rage
This was the first card of which I owned a playset of foils. 11/7 body in a 4 drop with the only downside being a discard. TNB was a blast to play, especially with the release of Death in the family and this regenerating bad boy was their chief enforcer. Capable of attacking 2 steps up the curve he was always met by a pained expression from an opponent
7) Oliver Queen<>Green Arrow, Bullseye
Any one that knows me knows that Ollie is my hero, apart from the debacle that was Kevin Smiths’ run on the title he is, and always will be my favourite comic book character. This card is solid, if not game breaking. However I am at the moment trying to purchase the artwork for this card from Zachary Baldus. Have agreed a price, just need to find a way to pay as he can’t take a credit/debit card and I wont use Paypal after previous disagreements with them.
Hellboy, Anung Un Rama
He’s big, he’s red and it’s Mike Mignola art. Add to that the fact that he won me the Maidstone Elite Series. Gotta love the card and the comics.
9) Justice League of Arkham
OK. I know it’s banned. I had just found a broken deck with Doom abusing this card when it went on the banned list, which was a crying shame as it went unbeaten in testing. Still brings back fond memories though, just from the decks dominanace in testing.
10) Psylocke, Armored Empath
A toss up on this one with the other Psylocke version, second skin. She’s my favourite female in comicdom so had to make the list somewhere. None of the cards are that inspiring so this version just pipped it on the art.
11) Total Anarchy
I’m not fond of off-curve decks. This is my favourite answer to them. Along with Grodd Awful, one of the 3 linch-pin cards in my Grodd Control deck.
12) Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth
If Ollie is on the list, then his Hard-Travelling companion has to make it as well. Although a vanilla card, good stats 5/4 with Flight and Range combined with tidy Willpower make Hal a bit of a beatstick in a GL Curve deck.
13) Rigged Elections
I love alternate win conditions and it was a toss up between Secret Six Victorious and this card. In the end I plumped for the one that had met with the most success. 25 exhausts FTW!
14) No Man Escapes the Manhunters
So many players sit on hidden characters like they’re untouchable. This card laughs at that philosophy. It doesn’t just allow you to attack them, it doesn’t just pump your attack or lower there defence, it does that and shunts them normally allowing for an upcurve attack. The Manhunters may have been a mistake on the part of the Oan’s but at least it brought us this card.
15) Mephisto, Soulstealer
In my first ever event I was 2-0 playing Sentinels before coming up against a Brotherhood/MK/Underworld deck that abused Lost City and Mephisto. This was the game that made me fall in love with the game despite being on the end of a serious ass-whipping. This guy can be seriously broken, god help any SS players that come up against him, plus its way cool artwork.
16) Marrow, Gene Nation
I’ve been fortunate enough to draft this baby a couple of times and in a weenie Morlock deck, going off-curve with evasion till turn 5 or 6 she can get huge real quick. Combine that with the Morlock support PT’s and you have a bruiser capable of squaring off with just about anyone.
OK so thats the list. Nothing too controversial I think.
