Quintessentially Quirky - The Helmets Take Manhatten

Heres Garys tournament report from the UK Nationals along with his deck analysis of his BYOS Legend deck:

Quintessentially Quirky - The Helmets take Manhattan

 

(Well, London… and less take and more visit and get some photos….)

 

 

One of my earlier QQ articles was about looking at a deck I took to a tournament and then analysing the performance and how the deck should have been changed. So essentially a tournament report and deck analysis in one… it was such an interesting process to go through that I thought I would do another.

 

How does it qualify for Quintessentially Quirky? Well, by now you should have realised that I really don’t do standard decks. So anything I take to a tournament will have some aspect that is not standard for that team. Therefore, they all qualify as slightly quirky decks.

 

Now last Saturday was the unofficial UK nationals, and I wanted to take something interesting, unique (hopefully) and fun to play. As it was Bring Your Own Set format, there were some tough decisions to be made… and I hate making tough decisions. So my final 5 options were:

 

MVL Legends: Fantastic Four.

Based around Four Freedoms Plaza rather than the traditional aggro build currently seeing favour, this deck looked to get all 4 family members in play and use a myriad of defensive tricks to keep them there. Had a lot of success with this at the Silver age Elite Series’ last year, going a total of 9-1 across two tournaments. Winning one and posting second in the other. However, I lost Against All Odds and the Heralds Human Torch, and Invisible Woman is likely to have a huge target on her head. Most importantly, other people might be playing the deck and that is a huge no-no.

 

DC Legends: JLA/League of Assassins.

An interesting deck to use Aquaman and Batman to support the Ra’s Al Ghul and his Tower of Babel in bringing down the opponent. Using power-ups to swing combat, Batman to control resources and Bat-computer to fix draw and location replacement. However, it just lacked some power and a little consistency. But with a decent draw it caused opponents a lot of trouble. Tower of Babel would be potentially huge in BYOS where team affiliations will be rife.

 

DC Legions: Darkseid

With the potential for resource row dependence with Checkmate and other teams, the idea of running Darkseid had some appeal. Plus I have used them in tournaments before (My Golden Age deck being especially interesting). However, their dependence on other sets for key resource hate (namely anti-team-up) and minimal offence made them less attractive.

 

DC Green Lantern: Emerald Enemy/Anti-matter Resource KO Beats

A favourite deck of mine from times past, mainly because it took no brains to play. Simply make big anti-matter characters to smash face, bringing them visible for defence if necessary. Then drop Major Force and start KOing your own resources to finish the opponent. A bit too unreliable for proper tournament play, even if there was no way anybody else would be playing it.

 

And lastly the deck I actually took: Juggs and Magneto take Manhattan.

 

Not only is this Marvel Legend BYOS legal, it is also Legends Legal for both Juggernaught and Magneto.

 

Characters:

1 Drops.

4x Scarlet Witch

Emergency drop for enabling mobilize for a 3 drop but mainly there for the -2 Def or pay for Underground Resistance

 

2 Drops:

3x Quicksilver

My main 2 drop simply due to not owning enough copies of Nocturne, but he does have decent stats and a useful ability.

2x Nocturne

If only I owned more copies. Easily the best 2 drop for this deck, a psuedo-KO effect that helps start the field advantage.

 

3 Drops:

4x Juggernaught

He has huge stats but an annoying drawback. Recruiting a Juggernaught is important for my late game, and with his hat, the 11 ATK is very respectable. The downside does limit his attacks, but as you actually want to reach the late game, save his attack for your initiative. So if the opponent declines to attack on his initiative and you have evens, I would wait.

1x Random

He makes up the three drop places… and has a very strong effect. There is some argument that if you consistently hit Juggernaught on turn 5 that he should be your primary 3 drop. That is personal taste, and I prefer the big hitter myself.

 

4 Drops:

3x Magneto

I only have 3, but that seems to work as a number. His effect is great, and the plot twists and characters he enables are also excellent. You have to accept that his effect is situational… but between Nocturne KOing herself and Metallic Assault, you can often be in a position on turn 5 off-initiative being able to stun their 4 drop.

1x Mystique

Would I swap this for Magneto if I had a 4^th copy? Not sure. Sometimes you need a spare Juggernaught to put the hat on, and 13 attack is not too be sneezed at. Plus if you miss Magneto she can still pretend to be him, and enable the plot twists. She is a versatile addition to the line up.

 

5 Drops:

3x Juggernaught

The plan for this guy is that he hits hard and can disrupt resource rows. The replacement is rarely an issue as the plan is to use metallic assault to remove 3 drop Juggs from the field and help clear the opponent’s side too. The solid 10 ATK is also a useful addition.

1x Mammomax

For the odd occasion when I don’t want to replace the 3 drop Juggs or need to save some endurance, this guy is very solid. The defence is low, but chances are Magneto will be dealing with lower drops anyway.

 

6 Drops:

3x Sentinel Mk VII

This card has solid stats, flight and range, which on its own would be enough for consideration. His ability when Magneto is in play is simply ridiculous when you have initiative and annoying for your opponent when you don’t.

 

7 Drops:

2x Juggernaught

He is a big, bad, resource destroying monster that can even wear a nice hat that makes him utterly ridiculous on the offensive. His ability essentially reads “I WIN” against any deck looking to stall to the late game. He is also more than capable of bringing the beats when you need to beat your opponent down.

1x Magneto

Sometimes Brute force isn’t required, and simply maintaining a field presence advantage is the route to victory. In which case, the reprinted 7 drop Magneto is still one of the best cards available.

 

8 Drops:

1x Xorn.

This card has one of the most under-estimated effects in the game. Pulling your opponent in to the front row opens up the opportunity to bring the beats. But even more amusing is the ability to push your opponent to the support row on his initiative. Unless they have range, which is not as common as you might think, they cannot attack. Savage Hulk really doesn’t want to see this guy hit the table, neither does Wolverine.

 

Equipment

3x Juggernaught’s Helmet

When you read this card, the initial reaction is “OMG”. +5 ATK is huge, and being un-targetable is mean. Sure it can only be equipped to a Juggernaught, but that is usually not an issue with this deck.

 

Location:

3x Underground Resistance

This is another card I wish I had 4 copies of. It allows you to filter through the deck and improve the quality of your cards. Once it is in play, it can often find that one key card you would have missed without it.

 

Plot Twists:

2x Unstoppable

A late addition to the deck, but it definitely proved its worth. Two stuns for one attack is fantastic. It makes a mockery of one of the most powerful defensive tricks in the BYOS metagame (Sarge Steel and Talia). It breaks formations and punishes your opponent for being defensive.

 

4x Iron Extraction

A KO effect with no cost other than you must have used a specific character to stun the target is a decent effect. One of the best support cards for Magneto.

 

4x Metallic Assault

A very different effect to Iron Extraction, but this is one that could win more games. Simple boards make for simple games, and minimise play errors. But forcing a checkmate player to KO Ahmed is just funny.

 

4x Pecking Order

+2/+2 on attack or defence is very useful. The fact it is restricted to your highest cost character is a potential issue, but if your opponent is playing around Insignificant Threat then he will find it difficult with out attack pumps.

 

4x Insignificant Threat

This prevents your opponent using the usual cross-curve attack process to leverage board advantage. It also really punishes any deck that team attacks. If you resolve one of these the game is likely to be getting away from your opponent.

 

4x Eviscerate

Sometimes you just need to stun an opposing character, and +3ATK is often enough. It has a downside, but can be used on offence or defence, so the versatility is very useful.

 

4x Mobilize

There has to be some character search in here, and for a single team deck this is the default selection. Combined with the Underground Resistance, this provides a surprising level of consistency.

 

So the aim of the deck is to build a field advantage through out of combat stuns and KO effects, leading to a late game where Juggernaught and Xorn reduce the opponent’s options to nothing.

 

Evens is your preferred initiative as a combination of 2 KO effects (whatever they might be) should guarantee you a big field advantage on turn 5. Along with enough stun effects to control their attacks. Sentinel and Magneto will continue the pressure on turn 6.

 

Odd initiative is less straightforward. You are looking to stun the board on turn 3 so that on 4 you can stun their 3 drop with Magneto and cause issues for their 4 drop. Again, any combination of KO effects should be enough to swing the game.

 

So how did the tournament go…?

 

Game 1: Secret Society.

Things were going ok until turn 5 when he had 2 Path of Destruction in the KO pile and then was able to fly over in to Magneto with Black Manta. 2 more Path of Destructions and then one brought pack from the KO pile gave him +22 ATK. I used a couple of cards to minimize the damage but ultimately the pain came hard. Mind you, on my initiative he had to under drop and as a result I was able to stun his board with Sentinel MK VII and Magneto. I then used 2 Metallic Assaults to clear the field. So on turn 7, he had an END advantage, but no 6 or 7 drop in the KO Pile and no cards in hand. I had my 7 drop. So I recruited Juggernaught. He pinched a Sentinel MKVII from my KO pile and recruited it. After resource KO he still had enough attack pumps to get the stun, which won the game. He hadn’t seen any 6 or 7 drops and I hadn’t seen the Insignificant Threat that would have won me the game. (I had my 8 drop in hand, and he was back to turn 6).

So 0-1

 

Game 2: Ashley – Marvel Knights KO

This was interesting. I hit nothing on turn 1 so Black Panther brought the pain. Turn 2 I still had nothing and he hit Punisher. Turn 3 I get a Nocturne and he sees Echo. So I gamble on getting the breakthrough with an Eviscerate. He has the +2 Def to avoid both the stun and the breakthrough. Punisher KOs my 2 drop. Magneto comes down for me, but no other character to use his effect. He drops Punisher and a couple of equipments. So I send Magneto in to Punisher and then use Iron Extraction so both hit the KO pile. Turn 5 and I re-recruit Magneto. He gets Moon knight I think. I stun Black Panther with Magneto as Echo swings in to get the stun. I don’t have the Iron Extraction to get the KO. He Quick Kills Magneto. Turn 6 has a solo sentinel for me and he drops wolverine 4 drop. Unfortunately he still has Echo visible. So I get some breakthrough but take a beating. Turn 7 we both drop some low stuff and the combat is a bust. Turn 8 and I get Juggs (not Xorn unfortunately) and he drops Savage Hulk at +18/+18. I don’t have enough to stun Hulk and he still has Echo. So I pound him through Shan Chi and Echo to -40. He gets me to -43 thanks to the Hulk. Great game, just not able to deal with Echo!!!

Now 0-2 and feeling a bit sad, but the deck is doing what it is supposed to. But I need some way to get to the late game with END, so decide that Burn Rubber would have been extremely useful.

 

Game 3: League of Assassins/JLA (The Flash)

We are down at the bottom table, and playing for pride. We both hit a 2/3/4 drop but it is my initiative and I have a helmet on Juggernaught to stop Merlyn stunning him. Using Unstoppable, Juggs stuns Ubu and Merlyn (who reinforces rather than stun the concealed Nocturne). Mags stunned the remaining 2 drop. Nocturne then does some damage and steals Merlyn. Combination of Iron Extraction and Metallic Assault clears his entire board. His attacks on turn 5 with Wally West gets him KO’d as he goes after Magneto and I use Eviscerate to get the stun. Add another Iron Extraction and he has no 5 drop in play. My initiative and I have my 3/4/5/6 in play to his 6 drop. That is game.

1-2 and the deck did exactly what I hoped it would.

 

Game 4: Jo – Marvel Knights with F4

2 drops exchange and he draws cards thanks to Luke Cage. Random on turn 3 to his thing allows me to stun his board. Turn 4 sees Magneto for me and Punisher with 1 equip for him. (I am relieved). We exchange some stuns. Turn 5 we both under drop. I get Nocturne and Juggernaught… not a bad combination. He drops Dead girl for field presence. My initiative, I am unable to stun his board and let Nocturne through, so settle for having Random and Juggs stunned. He gets Dead girl stunned by Magneto, I then Metallic Assault twice, sacrificing the vulnerable Nocturne and Random and do not recover Juggs. On turn 6 he drops Human Torch and I drop Sentinel. Now he forgets to bring back Dead Girl but we don’t realise until turn 7. I stun Punisher with Magneto and then Human Torch stuns Sentinel. Turn 7 sees Juggernaught come down against Thing. Sentinel and Magneto stun Thing and then Sentinel’s effect takes care of the Punisher. Juggernaught then runs over the Torch.

2-2 and a comeback is on the cards. My tie-breakers suck, but things are getting hopeful.

 

Round 5: Tyler – X-Men short curve/wolverine

I first met Tyler at Gencon 07 where he was demonstrating the Star Wars Pocket Gamer game, and is a most excellent person to play against. Well, the game began with a Multiple Man and Forge bringing the beats against my empty field. Turn 3 saw Wolverine for him and Juggernaught for me. Not willing to take the risk, he team attacked Juggernaught with Wolverine and Multiple Man, and Forge decided to go get some cards. Turn 4 saw Magneto come down for me against just Gambit for Tyler. Juggernaught was Unstoppable when attacking Multiple Man and stunned the Forge hiding behind as well. Magneto then flew over and beat up on Gambit. Turn 5 saw Forge and Beast come down for Tyler and I dropped Mammomax. I stunned Gambit with Magneto at the start of combat, and Tyler decided that rather than risk combat, he should Fast Ball Special Mammomax. But with no other stuns feasible, that was combat over for the turn. Turn 6 and I dropped Sentinel against the 5 drop Wolverine. Now an attack in to Wolverine with the Sentinel stunned him and Gambit. Magneto then stunned Beast. Looking at a clear field, I declared the team attack for the game. At which point Wolverine’s healing factor kicked in and I had to send Juggernaught in to attack with orders to eviscerate him. Again I got the stun, and then Mammomax looked for the victory. Once more the Wolverine regenerated, so I declared the attack to get the stun. So Tyler has still stunned my board. Turn 7 saw no recruit for Tyler and Juggernaught for the game. He didn’t have the power to get through the WMD and scooped. But the game was most enjoyable.

3-2 and things are continuing to improve.

 

Round 6: Another Heroes of the City Marvel Knights/F4 deck.

This was more interesting because it hit turn 9, and because I didn’t get a Juggernaught 7 drop in to play the Silver Surfer was almost able to steal the game. Especially when supported by the 7 drop Punisher. We had both missed key drops, and I had been able to KO Invisible Woman before she could bounce too many attacks. (I was loving Magneto’s ability by this point). It could have gone either way, but in the end I managed to win out. Juggernaught eventually showed up sporting his hat which allowed me to declare an attack in to Punisher with out fear of being KO’d.

4-2 and I am trying not to be too hopeful.

 

Round 7: Josh – Avengers Reservist.

This was a very close game that came down to the wire and was decided through a formation error more than anything else. Josh started strong with a Turn 2 Natasha and a Turn 3 Quicksilver to my turn 3 Juggernaught. The team attack came in and Quicksilver was stunned along with Juggs. Turn 4 saw Magneto arrive for me, and Black Knight with resource payment and Beast for Josh. Juggernaught was unstoppable as he hammered in to the Black Knight and Magneto stunned Beast. Turn 5 arrived and She-Hulk cam out for Josh and I had Juggernaught which KO’d by lower drop. Using Magneto’s ability I stunned the Black Knight, and then Juggernaught stunned back She-Hulk. Through a combination of Iron Extractions and Metallic Assaults I was able to get the board cleared so that Juggernaught stood alone. Turn 6 saw Sentinel against Wonder man. Juggernaught declared in to Wonder man for the stun as his helmet granted him enough strength to bring the opponent down. Sentinel then attack to the face. Round 7 came, and I dropped Magneto to Hercules. Now this is where I made a huge error. I needed to stun Hercules back, the END was close, but I really needed to avoid the double attack. So with 3 characters in play and a few attack pumps to use, my formation should completely not have been Juggernaught in front of Sentinel with Magneto off to the side. If I had hidden Juggernaught behind Sentinel then it would have prevented Hercules attacking in to Juggs, as I needed both eviscerates to have the chance of the stun, and he only needed one Call Down the Lightening to avoid it. Not saying I would have won. Josh is an excellent player, but it would have been much closer.

4-3 and the wheels look like they could fall off the tournament for me. Still, one game to play…

 

Round 8: David – Fantastic 4

Now I have played David a few times and they are usually good games. And we had been sat side by side for the last 3 rounds. So his stalking had finally paid off. I would like to report that this was a cut and thrust game with both players vying for control. However I missed drops on turns 2, 4, 5 & 6 and he didn’t. Which was a real shame as it was an anti-climatic end to what had been an excellent tournament.

4-4 final result.

 

I was disappointed not to make the top 8, as I have put in some good finishes in other tournaments. But the games were good, the atmosphere was excellent and the number of players and diverse decks was impressive.

 

I was also happy with how the deck I had put together had played out. Some observations though:

 

1) Not enough 2 drops. Not sure what to take out (I do have a lot of late drops) but I need more useful 2 drops. Maybe swap out the Scarlet Witch, but without the Underground Resistance they could be dead cards. Even just swapping in more Nocturnes could be the way forward.

 

2) Get the 4^th Underground Resistance. It is an awesome card and takes the pressure off of Mobilize to hit your late game curve. It also gets rid of dead characters and brings in useful plot twists.

 

3) Decide on smash or delay. Given the aggressive metagame, I think the biggest error in deck building was not providing someway of minimising the damage I took. Either defence tricks or reinforcement. Given the BYOS nature of the tournament, not making space for 3 or 4 Burning Rubber was a huge mistake. Either of my first two games could have been won with that card, and it would have made a huge difference in game 7 too. The deck wants to take combat decks to turns 7 and 8, so I REALLY should have been including some way to protect my END. Either that or add in some more attack pumps and smash face!

 

Other than that, the deck did what it was supposed to. Magneto is awesome at controlling the field. His plot twists stop your opponent building field presence, and on turn 5, stunning their 4 drop for free is always nice.

 

Unstoppable was a god card, it was always useful and always punished the opponent for conservative formations. Free stuns definitely help win games.

 

So what would my ideal build be…?

 

Characters: 28

1 Drops. 3

3x Scarlet Witch

Take her down by 1 to make room for the extra 2 drop

 

2 Drops: 6

2x Quicksilver

He is good but not my main 2 drop.

4x Nocturne

Need to find 2 more copies….

 

3 Drops: 6

4x Juggernaught

2x Random

Not going to change this. Maybe add one more Random.

 

4 Drops: 4

3x Magneto

1x Mystique

I will keep the Mystique and the number of Magnetos. It just seemed to work well.

 

5 Drops: 3

2x Juggernaught

Take 1 out to reduce card count and add a 3 drop for consistency.

1x Mammomax

Still a good back up.

 

6 Drops: 2

2x Sentinel Mk VII

This card is too good not to play

 

7 Drops: 3

2x Juggernaught

1x Magneto

It may seem like a lot, but this seems to work quite well.

 

8 Drops: 1

1x Xorn.

Great finisher.

 

Equipment: 2

2x Juggernaught’s Helmet

Only need to see one, and with more deck filter this should be enough.

 

Location: 4

4x Underground Resistance

I need a 4^th copy, it is simply too useful not to run 4 of it.

 

Plot Twists: 26

2x Unstoppable

Keeping them because they rock

 

4x Iron Extraction

Always a good card to pull out.

 

2x Metallic Assault

While it is a strong card, I think that it is not one I want multiples of.  

 

4x Pecking Order

It is a great card, and needs to be a 4 of.

 

3x Insignificant Threat

You probably only need one to resolve and you are going to gain field advantage.

 

4x Eviscerate

Aggressive cards are good

 

4x Mobilize

There is no way I want to reduce the consistency of the deck.

 

3x Burn Rubber

Free reinforcement and moving the character are both useful tricks. The fact that they help me reach the late game, where the deck wants to be is simply an added bonus.  

 

So that is how I would change the deck. It is still Legends legal for both characters, which is kind of pointless I know, but is important to me.

 

And yes, I do know that the last time I did an article like this I said that testing was critical and I wouldn’t take an untested deck to a tournament… Oops. But then, that is also quite Quirky!