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“New Frontiers, Teams of Man of Steel – Part Two”
Last time I showed what a brash fool I was and submitted two deck lists, one for Team Superman and one for Revenge Squad, based solely on the full spoiler which I’d only obtained a day before.
Well, I haven’t gotten any smarter and I sure as hell didn’t think any longer about the next two deck lists.
Just a reminder, there has been no testing involved and there has only been the most brief of considerations of the metagame when it came to card selections. I’m not trying to tell you all that these are the best decks to ever be designed, or even that they are the best decks that can be made with these teams. I’m merely trying to get you thinking, and hopefully excited, about these new cards.
I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it … I’m about to lose control and I KNOW I like it.
Here they are.
New Gods
Characters – 36
4 x Serifan
2 x Vykin
4 x Big Bear
3 x Mark Moonrider
4 x Izaya – Highfather
2 x Lonar
4 x Metron
2 x Forager
4 x Takion – Highfather
2 x Orion, True Son of Darkseid
1 x Big Barda
1 x Orion, Dog of War
3 x Onslaught
Non-Characters – 24
2 x Mother Box
4 x The Source
4 x The Exchange
4 x Acrobatic Dodge
4 x Pleasant Distraction
3 x Men of Steel
3 x Home Surgery
Analysis
The New Gods are potentially very awesome. With some of the most innovative effects currently in the game, it’s a bit hard to tell if they are the real deal or just flashy window dressing. The next question is will they be better teamed-up or on their own. There are plenty of support cards to team them up with Darkseid’s Elite, but for now I thought I run out a mono-team build for consideration. The New Gods have strong control elements and an interesting late game plan. Apocalypse has long been the bane of decks that look to utilise a late game strategy. The New Gods, however, will be looking to mix things up a bit by accelerating the game at the end stages. I’ll get to the specifics a bit later.
Two Drops
Once again, there’s no room for weenies here. The game isn’t won of turn one and if this deck is to realise its plan of reaching and then dominating turn nine, then we’ll need to skip right to turn two (and hope no one out there is swinging with a Doc Ock’s Lab-fuelled, Dual Sidearms-toting Vulture). So we’ll be opening up with Serifan and Vykin. Serifan is the better option because hopefully you’ll be able to protect his cosmic counter for at least a turn or two and cut down the amount of early endurance loss you take. Vykin, however, can single-handedly stomp weenie decks, especially in combination with Izaya on turn four.
Three Drops
Big Bear is as big as Wolverine, Logan with his cosmic turned on. There aren’t going to be too many guys on turn three that will take that cosmic counter off him either. Mark Moonrider isn’t nearly as interesting an option, but seems to be the next best. It’s vital that you make at least one drop within the first three turns, so we can’t run the risk of running too few guys. He’ll at least be able to burn for a bit … shame there’s no New Gods Cosmic Radiation (team up, anyone).
Four Drops
Turn four is all about Izaya. He’s blessed with a big backside (8 DEF) to help get him through unscathed to the recovery phase and since his is not an activated ability, he’ll be free to attack from a protected position if possible as well. Lonar is strictly back up here, although, this character does allow an interesting control element by being able to sabotage your opponent’s draw to a certain degree.
Five Drops
Turn five sees the arrival of the first “Flying Fizzle”. What Metron lacks in ATK, at least he has in DEF. It’s probably not big enough to survive an out and out Onslaught, but the plan is to keep him around as long as possible with a cosmic counter intact. Forager is a much more defensively geared guy and can be play against decks from which you’re not expecting any big, game-winning twists.
Six/Seven Drops
Takion is where New Gods get funky. He’s more likely to be your seven-drop as that’s the turn you’ll be planning to use his ability to skip right over Apocalypse’s turn and straight into an Onslaught. More likely, you’ll want to lay Orion (6) or Big Barda on turn six. Big Barda will be better on defence, with just the outside threat of using her power being a good deterrent to frivolous attacking. Orion has more muscle and comes with the fun ability of being able to turn off all of your opponent’s cosmic abilities.
Eight Drop
Orion is here strictly as a back up plan and a target for The Exchange if things go pear-shaped.
Nine Drop
The deck might actually need four Onslaught just to ensure that one is drawn. That last sentence probably speaks volumes regarding what kind of luck I usually expect when drawing.
Equipment
Two Mother Boxes are included mainly for Serifan and Metron. There is a chance you won’t even use it, though, which might mean it’s just a bad card choice.
Location
One card that isn’t a bad choice is The Source. This is an immediate four-of in any New Gods deck in my opinion. Play it. I also considered New Genesis, but without some serious card drawing, this deck is already maxed out with cards that require discards.
Plot Twists
Similarly, The Exchange is a key card for its tutoring effect. The other four plot twists are all designed to keep your dudes face up for the end game.
Darkseid’s Elite/Doom
Characters – 32
4 x Boris
4 x Shaligo
2 x Kristoff Von Doom
4 x Purple Man
4 x Dr Doom, Diabolical Genius
3 x Glorious Godfrey
4 x Brimstone
2 x Darkseid, Uxas
1 x Dr Doom, Victor Von Doom
2 x Kalibak
2 x Darkseid, Lord of Apokalips
Non-Characters – 28
4 x Doomstadt
4 x Firepits of Apokalips
4 x The Exchange
4 x Acrobatic Dodge
3 x Mystical Paralysis
3 x Pleasant Distraction
2 x Faces of Doom
2 x World’s Finest
1 x Marvel Team-Up
1 x Royal Decree
Analysis
Finally we have Darkseid’s Elite. I simply don’t think that these guys are a viable option on there own. There are holes all over the curve where you’d rather sell your mum then play the DE characters on offer for some turns. That’s where that other despot, Dr Doom, comes in. He brings the power of his personal servant, Boris, with him, as well as some comboliciousness (if you haven’t noticed it, all will be revealed soon). Once again I think we’re looking at a late game strategy, hoping to stall our opponent’s resources while allowing us to get around to dropping the Lord of Apokolips.
One Drop
Boris is second only to Alfred Pennyworth as the best twist tutor in Vs. He’ll allow us to dig out an early team up (if we even want it) or to fetch one of the other very good twists that are floating around.
Two Drops
Shaligo is the guy you want to drop on turn two. He’s got good stats at 3/2, but most importantly, he combos very nicely with Firepits of Apokolips and Purple Man. He’ll allow you to pillage your opponent’s resource row and that’s definitely a good thing. Kristoff is here mainly to help Boris and Faces of Doom go off if you haven’t found a Doomstadt (or stolen one with the Firepits).
Three Drop
The Purple Man is the goods here for all the reasons listed above. Even if you can get him comboing with the other two cards, he’s power works to disrupt your opponent’s resource row is golden.
Four Drop
Just like on turn three, there’s only really one guy we want on turn four – Dr Doom, Diabolical Genius. He’s already widely recognised as one of the most powerful characters in Vs, so I shouldn’t have to sell this fact too strongly. In conjunction with Mystical Paralysis, he’ll give you tonnes of control options.
Five Drop
Here is the weakest point of the deck. I have included three copies of Glorious Godfrey, but it’s just as likely that you’ll want to play another Dr Doom or possible one or both of the Shaligo/Purple Man combo here.
Six Drops
I’ve bottle-necked a bit on turn six, with seven characters at that cost. That said, I’d be planning to actually recruit Brimstone on turn seven in most cases, because you won’t be able to use his Apocalypse-like power until then. Interestingly, Apocalypse is one guy who won’t get much of a go with Brimstone around. Your opponent should never get to eight resources (unless that pesky Takion is about). Darkseid (6)and Dr Doom (6) will be equally good on turn six instead.
Seven Drop
As previously mentioned, Brimstone is usually the play for turn seven, with Kalibak waiting for eight resources (so that you still have one to pay for Brimstone’s effect) to come down. Without any eight drops on the other side of the table, though, he should still be in pretty good shape against the opposition. He is the main reason you’ll want a team-up installed by turn eight.
Eight Drop
Darkseid (8) will mop things up from here, assuming it even lasts that long.
Locations
Doomstadt is required for the Doom portion of the deck, while Firepits are a very interesting proposition and demand to be tested out.
Plot Twists
If the strange mix of team-up cards made you raise your eyebrows, then consider the possible effect of The Source on team up decks. It’s a bit of a metagame call and the New Gods may never make a big enough splash to justify the paranoia, but there seemed no good reason not to err on the side of caution. The Exchange is there for its tutoring power, along with Faces of Doom. The remaining twists are all defensively geared cards aimed at seeing us through to realise the master plan. Nicking our opponent’s Dodges, Beatdowns and similar goodies will also help.
So, there it is – four new, although possibly bad, decks (straight out of the Man of Steel spoiler). I hope you enjoyed both parts. In the end, I figure everyone likes deck lists, even if it’s only to tear them apart.
Once again, I hope you all will take the time to drop into the forums and berate me. See you there.
*Bamf* 
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Editor: Keh-Gan Hau. Tuesday 7th December 2004.
