|
Rally Against Defeat: Bust out that GLC
by Ean Press
15th …14th …A few days ago, that was me, counting down the
days until the exclusive Green Lantern Corps Pre-release at Infinite Quests
in Norristown, PA. Hey Alex. No amount of Luck could anticipate what would
happen when this day, April 30th would come.
It all started at 7:30 in the morning when I went to the card shop to
pick up Tim (you all know who he is), Rick (Common Enemy), Brian (Doom…anything)
and Dan (League) from the card shop. We all had high hopes running into
this Pre-release, all ready to get our Green Lantern cards, when we realized
we need to get there first. The drive was an adventure and a half in itself.
You see I was driving, and, not ever being on a major interstate before,
I was a little shaky on the road. Put it this way, it takes about 45 minutes
to get there, and it took us an hour and a half. In all, I almost crashed
into a guardrail, reversed into a major intersection and got lost however
we all were alive and intact.
The only reason I bring this up is because, just like Alex (Uly) Brown,
I believe that luck plays a major role in Vs. System and anything else.
As we had bad luck during the excursion there, we all downgraded our expectation
for the upcoming sealed pack Green Lantern event. We walked into the baron
card shop, smaller than the regular card shop I go to, and prepped myself
with a few warm-up matches (without GLC cards at this moment.) We started
getting warmed up and more people started walking in.
After opening the packs, it was obvious to me what deck I wanted to build,
Green Lantern and Anti-matter. With concealed-optional, as most of the
Anti-Matter characters have, proved to be an invaluable mechanic on my
way up the curve in most games. Green Lantern cards were teamed-up with
them because of the sheer brutality they dish-out to unsuspecting foes.
The deck was pretty good, I mean with all the options I had and all, this
seemed like a pretty good deck. Turn 1 housed Arisia, a great one drop
and late game I would eventually be able to give +X attack to characters
where X is their willpower if they are attacking defenders with a higher
cost. Turn 2 was Gnaxos, only because of the fact that I had no other
2 drops, just 2 of them, don’t get me wrong, it’s an okay
card, but I could have had better. Turn 3 was vicious, with Slipstream,
plowing through their 2 drop, then readying and smashing their 1 drop,
great card.
As for plot twists and locations along thus far, mostly I just got No
evil shall escape my sight, for the team-up and excessive Thunderous Onslaught’s,
Yellow Impurities and Cosmic Conflict’s. I never saw my 4 drop until
my last match, but it was Frostbite, the card that freezes a stunned guy,
good, but wish I had more than one. Turn 5 was either Johnny Quick or
Katma Tui, both ideal 5 drops with the abilities to ready or to gain life.
Turn 6 was my favorite turn because of Sinestro, any of the 6 drops, really
it doesn’t matter they are both good, I personally liked the Green
Lantern affiliated one better though. Turn 7 brought Ultra-man, just protect
that Sinestro and see what happens, broken things with a capital B. You
see, for example in one of my matches I have Ultra-man protecting Sinestro,
Green lantern of Korugar and Ultra man is team attacked by 2 Manhunters.
I allow him to get stunned and I got to stun both his characters back
because of Sinestro’s effect to stun an attacker that stuns a defender
that you control.
The door prizes were given out 1 by 1 after every round, playmats, shirts
and deckboxes, and knowing my luck on that day, everyone else from our
shop got something except me. I, however did the best out of all of them,
coming in 9th place, to Tim’s 10th place and Rick’s 11th .
We left the shop in better hopes than we got there in, we all did good
and got our Green Lantern cards, perfect, or so we thought.
We entered my car and tried to start the car up. It wouldn’t start,
it seemed that fate would intervene and lock up the car. I couldn’t
move the key, steering wheel or gear-shift. We called a towing service
called AAA, to come and try to fix the car. It didn’t matter, with
a good kick by Tim and extremely difficult pulling we got out of another
mess.
When we got back, about an hour later, to the card shop, we decided to
think of a deck to make for the new set. I chose straight concealed Anti-matter,
Brian chose Green Lantern/Anti-matter, Rick chose straight Green Lantern
and Tim has yet to decide. Looking like a train wreck, I decided to play
Tim with the newly updated, New Gods, with a Sturmer instead of a Himon,
the only 1 drop, Soldiers of New Genesis instead of Vykin, a 2 drop. I
lost but I did gain some invaluable knowledge about the newest set Green
Lantern Corps and about playing in general.
I thought, before the match, that the team Green Lantern was going to
be a bust, a very bad and poorly designed team. I thought that luck had
no effect in winning. I also thought that Manhunters would be the next
tier 1 deck, but it turned out to be the bust, not Green Lantern. Well,
so much for thinking anyway.
Here is the deck I used at the draft:
X2- Arisia
X2- Gnaxos
X1- Scarab
X1- Hal Jordan (3 drop)
X3- Slipstream
X1- Frostbite
X1-Johnny Quick
X1- John Stewart
X1- Katma Tui
X1- Superwoman
X1- Sinestro (GL)
X1- Sinestro (Anti-matter)
X1- Ultra-man
X2- Ole
x3- Helping Hand
X1- In remembrance
X2- Uppercut
X1- Coast City
X3- Thunderous Onslaught
X1- Yellow Impurity
X2- Cosmic Conflict
|
Editor: Staff. Wednesday 4th May 2005.
