Call In The Reinforcements

Ok, I was just looking at Barry Allen <> The Flash, Crimson Tornado and a thought hit me about how useful it would be to give him reinforcement for the entire turn, and how it was unfortunate that Keystone City didn’t do that. I then jumped to Batmobile, Burn Rubber as a card that could accomplish that with Batman, Founding Member on turn 5. Suddenly a deck started forming before my eyes. Batman on 3, Barry on 4 and Superman, Metropolis Marvel on 5, using Brains and Brawn in addition to Barry’s activated ability to have my visible characters stick around. Martian Manhunter, Founding Member on 6 provided extra reinforcement for the group. The early drops can be filled by Aztec; Dinah Laurel Lance <> Black Canary, New Wings; Ray Palmer <> The Atom, World’s Smallest Hero and Roy Harper <> Red Arrow, Coming of Age. Turn 7 would be Hal Jordan, Fearless, with a back-up of Superman, Founding Member that can be helped out by a copy of Cadmus Labs that can be fetched with New Era. Or, a better card would be the DCX A Clash of Worlds, since that would also allow Martian Manhunter, Last Martian on turn 8 without losing the 6 drop. Wonder Woman, Ambassador of Peace would be a useful alternate on 4, and to round out the mag seven, Aquaman, Lord of Atlantis would fit on 6, although Batman, Cape and Cowl is also a nice addition.

For support cards, the New Era theme that I’m fond of would work for this deck. Keystone City still has a chance of helping out in this deck to provide additional reinforcement. Batcomputer, Criminal Database is useful from the early turns, and the concealed Batman should be in play all game hopefully. The Watchtower is a natural, especially with both the Batcomputer and Mightiest Heroes. I’ve already mentioned a possible one off with Cadmus Labs. United Planets HQ is a good posibility for teaming up with one of the subteams to allow, for example, Batmobile, Burn Rubber, to reinforce one of the JLA members. I’m not sure if there is a team other than Gotham Knights worth teaming up with, outside of including Deterent Force in the deck. 31st Century Metropolis may be a better idea, allowing me to splash Superman, Bulletproof if I expect it to go that long. Then again, if the stall in the deck works well enough, I could always go with Silver Surfer, Last Zenn-Lavian into a 9-drop with an alternate win condition [or Darkseid, Dark God with Endgame]. No matter what, I need to team up to use the Batmobile, so I’ll have to include something there, and it might as well be a location to synergize it with New Era.

 Plot Twist wise, Batman is the most reliable legend, making From the Darkness and At Your Service definite plays. I also want Superman to work like a second Barry Allen, so both Indestructible and Brains and Brawn have a place. Bring It On! is also just an amazing card for this deck, Atomize less so as the theme past 3 is to keep the characters in play indefinitely. Mightiest Heroes and New Era were already mentioned as search for the deck. Crisis Averted is one card I would heavily consider, perhaps forgoing the early return to hand drops for instead more of a concealed presence. The Atom would be the main 1-drop at that point, and Gypsy, Illusionary Operative would actually be the 2-drop of choice. Again, if the team-up is with Gotham Knights, that can mean that Alfred Pennyworth and Harvey Bullock, Gotham Central could make their way into the deck along with Bat Got Your Tongue? and Bat Signal. Now, the deck could easily duck into World’s Finest territory, and I’d rather keep it JLA centric, so I’ll try not to go too far into the Gotham Knights pool.

Characters (29)

4 Barbara Gordon Oracle, Data Broker

1 Roy Harper Red Arrow

4 Batman, Founding Member

2 Hal Jordan, Founding Member

4 Barry Allen The Flash, Crimson Tornado

2 Aquaman, Fouding Member

4 Superman, Metropolis Marvel

3 Martian Manhunter, Founding Member

2 Aquaman, Lord of Atlantis

2 Hal Jordan, Fearless

1 Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian

Plot Twists (27)

4 Mightiest Heroes

2 Heroes of Two Worlds

2 Brains and Brawn

2 From the Darkness

2 At Your Service

3 Mobilize

4 Bring It On!

4 The Hook-Up

4 Crisis Averted

Locations (3)

3 Batcomputer, Criminal Database

Equipment (1)

1 Batmobile, Burn Rubber

The Hook-Up was used to not only synergize with the various cards that put something on top of the deck, but also to make a bit of extra use out of the various characters in the deck. The characters are there to make sure that Heroes of Two Worlds works for each turn of 4 and up. At Your Service would rarely net Batman on 3, but with Barbara Gordon it is possible to get the Hook-Up off on turn 3 to enable a search for him, or have a copy of her available to do so. For the most part, it will allow for searching for the location, equipment or plot twists that the deck is looking for later on. Barbara is in the deck to increase the Gotham and JLA presence early, but also to exhaust to Crisis Averted mostly, although she can occaisionally trigger her ally ability.

Statement of Principles

This is just a sort of mission statement for the blog. I want to keep up the concept that I got into for VsSystem.com, which was a look into my head as far as deck building is concerned. I’m a tangential type person, with lots of connections firing off in my head. I’m not sure about other people, but my brain is probably suprisingly similar to Wikipedia … with tons of interconnections that spiral outwards like the Wide Wide Worlds of Web.

I’m also going to try to bring a bit of what I get some good feedback on about on the forums … some W.K. word killing. When the mood strikes, I will try to go to the blog and do a bit of, not exactly ranting, but pontification at length about the subject at hand. Since the blog is a bit more free form than an article, I can have the ability to do that kind of thing, and perhaps take it out of the forum threads, where it may be skipped as too lengthy or might derail things a bit too much. It might be a bit of egotism on my part, but a lot of the time I put a lot of stuff into one of those things, and while the whole “rep” thing is cool and all, it’s hard to really get feedback on it, especially since that would essentially derail the thread to talk about one post in particular.

Testing for now

The cat is out of the bag with Carlos letting people know about the VsSystem.com thing. The blog is a bit sketchy, but hey, why not? I have some ideas for decks for the Mega Weekend(s). I’m going to start working on them. It’s like a mini-spin doctorings of thoughts pouring out of my head. Less polished, and probably shorter, than the stuff for the Mothership, but hey, it’s a new medium for WaKo to explore and become addicted to (or get bored with).

Zoom zoom zoom

Ok, was thinking of deck ideas, and the basic JSA identity theme, combined with the Flash identity Legend, and the Hawk people identity/ally theme.

For a curve, there is definitely one for the Hawks, with 1-drop Hawkgirl and 2-drop Hawkman with the vengence abilities. The Ally Hawks are very important for the deck as well, filling the 3 and 4 drop slots. For the flash, there is Bart Allen at 3, Barry at 4, two options for Wally at 5, along with another version of Bart, and at 6 there are versions of Bart, Barry and Jay Garrick. That leaves 7-drop open, but with the ally theme, The Phantom Stranger is always a solid choice.

Plot twist wise, Terminal Velocity is a must have. In addition to Full Throttle, Need for Speed also works well with Terminal Velocity to re-ready the Flash. Heroic Rescue can be used with Keystone City to provide lots of reinforcment which can allow for Tag Team to be a reliable card in the deck. A Moment of Crisis is a natural of course. Double Play provides more identity based re-readying, which can be very interesting when combined with Bart Allen and his ability to join in on team attacks. Living Legacy provides a solid search card. Mightiest Heroes is a great tutor as well, especially with cards like JSA HQ, The Watchtower, Magnificent Seven and even A Moment of Crisis that can get that card into your hand. Justice United provides not only a team up for the main teams, but it’s secondary effect is very relevant for this deck. Reform the League can be useful, but may not be necessary with Hawks in play. New Era can help to make best use of the locations for the deck, which in addition to the ones already mentioned would also include Soul World and Watchtower. Battle Training and Stalwart Defense provided even greater benefit for characters that will attack multiple times in the turn. Taking up the Mantle provides a means for another character to gain the Flash identity, most likely Katar Hol <> Hawkman, Eternal Hero. With some rereadying effects not allowing a character to deal breakthrough, Brothers in Arm could come in handy.

Characters (28)

3 Prince Khufu <> Hawkman, Eternal Warrior

3 Barbara Gordon <> Oracle, Data Broker

4 Bart Allen <> Kid Flash, Generation Fourth

2 Kendra Saunders <> Hawkgirl, Eternal Heroine

4 Katar Hol <> Hawkman, Eternal Hero

1 Barry Allen <> The Flash, Crimson Tornado

2 Wally West <> The Flash, Keystone Cop

1 Wally West <> The Flash, The Fastest Man Alive

1 Bart Allen <> The Flash, Impulsive Speedster

3 Barry Allen <> The Flash, Founding Member

1 Jay Garrick <> The Flash, Golden Age Speedster

2 The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero

1 Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian

Locations (8)

3 The Watchtower

1 Hall of Justice

1 Keystone City

2 Soul World

1 31st Century Metropolis

Plot Twists (24)

4 Mightiest Heroes

4 Justice United

4 Terminal Velocity

3 Full Throttle

3 New Era

2 Taking Up the Mantle

2 A Moment of Crisis

2 Heroes of Two Worlds