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Power Cards in Retrospect: Bastion, Leader of Operation: Zero Tolerance
Please note that Overload has been banned in the current
meta-game, it has been effective since the first of July. The section here is
merely to illustrate some ideas relevant to Bastion's use.
Bastion, Leader of Operation: Zero Tolerance definitely set a new standard in
character offensive and defensive capabilities. Bastion has been the bane of
many a player who’s been unfortunate enough to face the full strength of the
Curve Sentinel deck.
The Curve Sentinel deck has been a highly successful deck-type on both the 10K
and Pro Circuits due to its consistency and sheer power. Bastion, Leader of
Operation: Tolerance definitely forms the crux of the deck’s offensive and
defensive capabilities. Costing 6 resource points and weighing in at 12 ATK
and 12 DEF already puts him in a formidable position.
“Discard a Sentinel character card from your hand >>> Target character gets +1
ATK and +1 DEF this turn.”
Bastion’s abilities have far-reaching strategic and tactical implications for
both the controllers of the deck and their respective opponent. The card text
states “target character”, meaning the characters on both sides of the board.
This easily opens up the possibility of abusing Overload with Bastion to
offensively or defensively stun the opponent, whether it be within combat or
outside. This is a great example of the card’s versatility during in-game
situations.
A key weapon within the Curve Sentinel archetype lies within Reconstruction
Program, which allows you to return up to three Sentinel Army characters that
are in your KO’d pile to your hand. This allows for not only hand advantage,
but also for a possible +3 ATK and +3 DEF to distribute amongst your
characters should the opponent make a move.
As if Reconstruction Program isn’t enough, what lies beyond Bastion is an even
more formidable Magneto, Master of Magnetism. Costing seven resource points
and standing at 16 ATK and 16 DEF, Magneto is no laughing matter.
The key combination with Magneto is Genosha. Activating Genosha while Magneto
is on the field gives you a draw advantage of four cards, even better if
you’re able to get a couple more Genoshas into your resource row.
If you had four Genoshas on the field, then the combination gives you a
commanding position on the field. Sixteen possible Sentinel character cards
will definitely make your opponent think twice before attacking. +16 ATK and
+16 DEF is certainly more than enough deterrent, but at this stage that boost
should be sufficient to finish off the opponent. The exception to this is Big
Brotherhood, where the characters are bigger (hence Big Brotherhood).
Adding to the strength of Magneto and Genosha is Reconstruction Program. Not
only do you get the drawing power of Magneto & Genosha, but you also get
Reconstruction’s Recursion abilities. All of these combined will increase the
size of your hand and intimidate your opponent.
It may even cause a premature resignation in more inexperienced players who
may give up simply because of the sheer amount of options available to you.
When using this combo, always keep in mind that along with the card advantage,
it will also allow you to psych your opponent out.
The Curve Sentinel archetype takes advantage of the diverse amount of ways to
abuse Overload. You firstly have Savage Beatdown and Overload, secondly Nasty
Surprise and Overload, now this. Bastion’s ability allows you to Overload the
opponent’s characters using the ability either on its own or in conjunction
with the two previous examples provided.
Say for example, on the sixth turn (your opponent’s initiative), Sabretooth,
Victor Creed (13 ATK, 11 DEF) attacks Sentinel Mark V (7 ATK, 7 DEF). This
would definitely result in a stun. If that particular Mark V isn’t boosted
(which I’ll assume not because Nimrod would be the ideal 5-drop), then that
would result in certain stunning.
Since it is the sixth turn, Magneto would still be one turn away, not even
Bastion’s initial effect followed by a Reconstruction Program & effect chain
(theoretically +6 ATK + 6 DEF, best-case) would stop the attack from going
through.
Sure, it would result in a stunback, but the best way is to save your
character if you can. Savage Beatdown in this case wouldn’t do much, as
Sabretooth is simply too beefy to fall to Savage Beatdown.
Go for the extra mile and use Bastion's ability, in conjunction with a double
Savage Beatdown, to push Sabretooth over double his original attack and so,
Overload him.
This is definitely a risky move, as the opposition could easily play a card
like Acrobatic Dodge in order to lower their attack and so save Sabretooth
from being stunned by Overload, you must weigh up the risks using past
experience.
As with a lot of power-ups, Bastion’s ability could prove detrimental if you
become overzealous and overpower everything on the field by more than double
its capacity. Overload is definitely not an idle threat and if you allow the
opponent to get a step up on you because you wanted to bring down their
endurance points recklessly, you can lose your powered up character as well as
the initiative.
You should be especially cautious when going up against Big Brotherhood. Sure,
Bastion’s abilities are indeed powerful and versatile, you need to remember
the fact that Lost City & Avalon Space Station far outweigh it with regards to
sheer raw power.
If you also plan on using Bastion’s ability in conjunction with Savage
Beatdown/Nasty Surprise/Overload, then be aware that a lot of opponents may be
packing an Acrobatic Dodge. When they play this, not only does it raise
defense considerably, but it also reduces their attack. Hence, no Overload.
Another related weakness is the fact that both Overload and Nasty Surprise can
easily be negated by Not So Fast!, as well as Detective work, which has seen
use in many Gotham Knights and My Beloved decks.
It's basically on your shoulders to determine when the proper time is to use
Bastion's effect and like everything else, right timing is everything. Bastion
is indeed a powerful card, use dominate your opponent and decimate them.
Marc Conrad
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Editor: James Paraha. Monday 18th July 2005
