Quintessentially Quirky - When Worlds Collide
Quintessentially Quirky – When Worlds Collide
Back in November, the UK had a series of Silver Age Elite Series tournaments dotted around the country. Myself and fellow London based VS enthusiast Amit (aka Amitverse on various forums) decided that the opportunity to play in some official tournaments was too good to pass up and vowed to attend as many as possible. An endeavour aided by the fact that they were all scheduled for different days across a 3 week period. There were 5 to attend, and I really wanted to test a selection of the decks that I had been toying with over the previous months.So I started making up a list of the decks I wanted to use. At the first one, I went with a Villains United team up version of the Jugg/Mags deck I used at the recent UK Nationals. It bombed slightly and I finished with a 2-2 record and 4th place out of 5.
However, my love of Juggernaught had been re-affirmed. So when we were heading to Sheffield for the next tournament I knew I wanted to use the big guy again. As it was a Silver age Legend format, I also wanted to feature my favourite DC legend Darkseid. When I realised that they both wanted to break people’s resources I decided that it was something worth looking at. So I present to you the big two.
Darkseid/Juggernaught Legend Deck – When Worlds Collide!
Characters: 29
2 Drops: 7
4x Malice Vunderbar
The deck wants to reach the late game, and this girl has a good defence and a resource busting effect. What is not to love?
3x Dark Manhunter
Substitute in for an un-stunnable attacker. Flight, Range and a solid ability make this a decent card.
3 Drops: 7
4x Juggernaught
Ok, so the downside is a pain. But he has big stats and enables the later game plays. So that has to be a good thing.
3x Dark Firestorm
Another strong substitute card, that maintains hand size and can get the low drop out of the way to avoid replacement on turn 5.
4 Drops: 4
4x Darkseid – Apokoliptian Oppressor
More big defence and a great card draw ability.
5 Drops: 6
4x Juggernaught
He has solid stats and an ability that works excellently in conjunction with the resource control theme of Darkseid Elite. (4 copies to meet the Juggernaught Legend requirement)
1x Dark Superboy
I needed a Substitute Character to replace out Juggernaught and if I have just re-set their resource row, this guy is powerful on turn 6. On or Off initiative.
1x Darkseid – 8th Century
Another Substitute character and one that benefits from the other support cards in the deck. It also counts towards the Darkseid Legend count.
6 Drops: 2
1x Dark Kryptonian.
The deck has two potential game plans. Option 1 is for dealing with short curve combat decks. Jump to turn 8 and own them with a scary 8 drop. Option 2 is for late game stall decks, and for that see the 7 drop.
1x Darkseid – Omega
This guy has decent stats, a potentially useful effect and is called Darkseid. A triple whammy of good stuff.
7 Drops: 2
2x Juggernaught – Weapon of Mass Destruction
There are few cards better at stopping stall decks from winning the game than this one. Decks designed to hit turn 8 or 9 will often scoop when this effect goes off.
8 Drops: 1
1x Darkseid – Nemesis
A fearsome 8 drop that definitely ends the game if Juggernaught has started to whittle down their resources. He can simply remove any remaining 7 drops from the game, providing that you are able to bypass the uniqueness on Darkseid.
Equipment: 2
2x Juggernaught’s Helmet
See my article about the Juggernaught/Magneto deck. This card is awesome!
Locations: 6
3x Dark Matter Drain
Keeping those key locations and plot twists face down in the early game is extremely useful.
3x Ancient Throne
This card allows you to put multiple Darkseids in to play and re-use key plot twists.
Plot Twists: 23
4x Enemy of my Enemy
Useful for hitting that key character on most drops. This is the standard search card for any deck featuring multiple teams.
4x Created from Hate
One of the better team-stamped search cards in the game. This card allows you to hit those all important Darkseids
4x No Match for Darkseid
An awesome defensive card when the visible defender is named Darkseid. Especially if they are looking for a lot of breakthrough from the attack.
3x Insignificant Threat
This card can end games. In the tournament I actually played in, this card won me two games. If they don’t play around it, and as I only team-up at the last moment they rarely see it coming, then this is a nasty surprise.
4x Price of Treason
Defensive attack pumps that draw you cards are good. It is not as consistent as Nasty Surprise, but potentially just as useful.
4x Flying Kick
One of the great attack pumps in the game, and I don’t have much flight in the deck.
This was a resource hating deck that looked to stall out combat decks and simply stop stall decks getting to turns 8 & 9. It went 2-1 on the day. Beating a Punisher deck and another Darkseid deck, but losing to a short curve Brotherhood deck that managed to hit something like 3 Savage Beatdowns and several Flying Kicks on turn 5. (Didn’t have either Insignificant Threat or No Match for Darkseid that would have kept me in the game.)
If I was to update the deck for the new Silver Age, then I would only change a couple of things. (Assuming that I didn’t need to hit the Legend Status on Juggernaught)
-4 Juggernaught 3 drop
+1 Dark Firestorm
+2 Dark Thangarian
+1 Lashina
This is a more versatile spread of 3 drops that also allows me to alter my choice of search cards.
-4 Enemy of my Enemy
+4 Hero of the Two Worlds.
I really like this new search card, and it allows me to go find Darkseid or Juggernaught. It also reduces the chance of drawing multiples of low drop cards. The higher threshold is less of a concern, when you have 7 3 drops and 4 search cards that can dig for them.
-4 Flying Kick
+4 Lord of Apokolips
A versatile +2/+2 pump that can be used on offence or defence is a nice trick to have in your arsenal. It can only be used on Darkseid, but I think the focus should be on that character. As you want the game to drag out, a hyper offensive attack pump is probably less useful than one that can maintain field advantage on either turn.
-3 Ancient Throne
+3 Ancient Evil.
Being able to give Darkseid the Brotherhood affiliation makes the Insignificant Threats less of a dead card. Both cards allow you to get round uniqueness, and that will be hugely useful for this deck.
Ultimately I do not think it is a tier 1 deck. But it is capable of beating a lot of the key decks in the format. An early Dark Matter Drain or Lashina could well give you an out against Quicksilver. Your resource row control will make life difficult for Ahmed.
Most of all it is fun to use, and that is all that really matters to me.
