Drafting MUN

So if you guys have been living under a rock over the past few months, you wouldn't know that there was a Battle of the Border event in Toronto this weekend. We'll talk about that in another post and in the forums and over at lost hemisphere. Right now though, we're gonna take a look at a draft, card for card in each pick, and play a little drafting game.

How would you have drafted these?
(forewarning: this is post-live time - there will be times where nothing is happening. I tried to commentate a bit though)

Here's the youtube playlist of the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=865C64D7863F2DB0

or







and here are the rest of the picks in pack 3 since my camera ran out of space:
then
....
....
...
....
....
(the above one would've been the last card but someone forgot about a pile early on so...)
yay 3rd pack last pick kang!

I did a decent job showing alternative possibilities in the videos except for a couple parts, which I wish I had thought to do for the pictures. I'll have to remember for next time.

I lost my first game since I attacked the guy who didn't have flight when I had a modok protecting my beetle, then I beat gday and rather than playing a third game we just played silver since I knew I wouldn't be able to otherwise. This deck was easily a 3-0 deck, I felt. Human error. It just goes to show ya, you can draft and draft and draft and if you lose focus in-game, then that can be just as disastrous as making a bad pick in a draft. See you on the forums guys!
- Alex "OSM" Lloyd

DC Final Crisis exclusive preview! Inciting Incident!

Welcome back card floppers. Hard to believe it's November already, huh? Seems like only yesterday that we were reading up on DSM-2, and here we are in preview season again! DC certainly deserves it after the Marvel-filled 2008.

If you haven't read Spud's team preview article yet, you should do that.

With that done, let's do a review;

• Legion likes having Cosmic Counters
• Legion generally plays off-curve weenies
  
• Legion's power lies in it's members, both on and off the field.

That seems to be the general idea with the team in this set, and I think they got it spot-on; any rush deck worth anything is gonna have an emphasis on their lowbies and be able to rack damage or generate enough board advantage that their smaller frames aren't a big deal in a game.
So, what better way to make up for a small frame than to be indestructible?


Woah, look at that! Reinforcement, Indestructibility and a double Nasty Surprise all in one package! Sure, it's tough to pull off, but even getting one or two of the criteria down makes it worth while. Prior to DFC, the lowest cost Saturn Girl was 5, Live Wire 5 and Cosmic Boy 6. It's safe to say this is gonna be a bomb support card when it gets into the later turns, that's for sure. While a Legion deck might now be able to pull off a 'no plots' theme, don't leave this card out! Especially if these tri-legends get lower-cost versions; we already know Live Wire gets a 3.

Watch out Darkseid, the Legion's got some muscle.

DSM-2 Preview: New Genesis

Welcome back guys to VS Unleashed! Unfortunately, it seems through a communication accident that I failed to deliver yet another card to you guys. So, let's fix this.


Well, that's one powerful recovery effect! A free Muir Island for New Gods characters cost 3 or less. If that wasn't nice enough, if you've got everyone's favorite Highfather around, you get some endurance and a cosmic counter if they're cosmic. I believe we've found Mark Moonrider's favorite place in the universe.

Definitely a new twist on the original.


Let's compare them. The old one can recover any New Gods character you control, which can be especially convenient turns 5+. This one also gives a cosmic counter back even if you don't control Izaya or Takion <> Highfather. Especially useful if your opponent manages to stun the guy you use to accelerate resources. This one also has flavor text.

My Verdict: Both have their merits. If you're going for a NG/F4 burn deck, you'll want the DSM-2 version. NG/HoG stall, maybe you want the old one. If you're playing in a crazy format that doesn't allow your cards to have flavor text, you 1) can't play the old version and 2) need to beat over the head of the person who came up with that horrible format.

Alex "OSM" Lloyd doesn't resort to violence often, but when it comes to playing card games, you'll give him his flavor. You'll give him his flavor, and you'll like it!

DSM-2 Exclusive Preview: Orion & Dog of War

WOW, it's been a long time since I've written a piece here on good 'ole VS UNLEASHED! And what better way to reboot the blog than with a feature on some DSM-2 goodness?

Let's take a stroll down memory lane:



So, we had an 8-drop that stalls and negates and a plot twist that likes giving your team a small boost while fighting army decks and the related. I'm not sure how many of you were around back when DSM first came out, but let me tell you. This was one of the first sets that I got sealed/draft experience with, so this set holds a special place in me for it. Foolishly thinking that playing an 8-drop in a sealed deck was a good idea, always playing good guys without even noticing that they were remarkably weaker than the other teams in the set. But you know what? Sometimes it takes a mistake to learn how to do something right, and oh boy do these DSM-2 cards look just right.




Wow. That's a new take on Orion, that's for sure! Reminds me of The Sentry, Mighty Avenger from MUN. Downside, he's got cosmic. That's reasonable though, given the theme and oh yeah who the guy is. Another is that it's limited to your attack step. I'm ok with that, especially with his cosmic power basically giving himself a Pathetic Attempt that he can use over and over on himself. No Skreee!, no Spider-Man shenanigans, no Fastball Special. Team this guy up with Spider-Friends, use My Hero and stock up on recovery effects and cosmic counter effects and your opponent will be ripping their hair out! While you can wall off your opponent with any big character, using one that can't be targeted sure helps. Especially if he comes with his own legend support.

Dog of War 2.0. +2/+2 for any cosmic New God or It's Clobberin' Time! for Orion. Very nice. Giving a dude their cosmic counter back for the boost and that's just gravy. It's very cheap; there aren't too many generic ways of giving cosmic counters back. Terragenisis, The Power Cosmic Unleashed, Extended Family and We Are Legion are some common ways to do it. Dog of War fits in just fine.

So, yeah. Dog of War, welcome back to the Vs System.

Alex "OSM" Lloyd is an avid fan of the game and has contributed to the Vs System community for many years, writing articles for various fan set previews, decks, events, previews for the final UDE Vs expansion and more. He also likes Mango A-Go-Go fruit smoothies, but unlike TBS he don't earn $0.01 towards buying them whenever an Insanity deck is played in a constructed event.

Aright, fine. This blog is on life support.

Once I finish the Heroes vs set, that will be the last post on this blog. If the new Marvel tcg is good, then the blog will return in December.

/update.

Apology, Summary and Upcoming Coolness

Hey guys, it's been awhile. I've still seen you guys over at .ORG, vsrealms and [rarely] tcgplayer, but not so much here.

I've broken my promise, to you, that I would update this blog at least 4 times a month; I am sorry. I'm not going to make any excuses, because I don't really have any. Maybe what Ken [Kariggi] said about blogs is true; [something along the lines of] if you're going to say anything that has any weight in the community, you might as well say it in the forums, and I have. That isn't the reason for it, however. Maybe with last fall's failure of the website also effecting the syndicate subforum over at vsrealms, my motivation may have been declining. I certainly feel drained, as many of you may be.

Before I go on to talk about the direction I want to take this blog, I'm going to summarize my vs activity and thoughts for the past month; think of this as spark notes for the blog for this month.

1. The re-design of the Heroes set I've been working on
2. Interesting threads at .ORG and vsrealms
3. my birthday card game festivities
4. UDE's latest announcement


1) I know I keep going on and on about Heroes, but to be honest, that's not going to change. Especially with the fall of VS. I want to release a set that is good, well-received, thematic, fun, beautiful. That takes time. I'm currently looking for artwork as others are reviewing the set, including guglio, shadowtrooper, lupercal, Seph1roth5 and if you're interested, check here.

2) I'd like to give a shoutout to scottkthompson and HeroComplex for their [respective] threads on the 100 ideas and the great debate between bans and errata. Those are the ones that stick out to me; there are plenty of others as well. You guys have kept the boards interesting.

3) It started out with no plans, it was raining, and I worked a late shift the night before at a pharmacy. With stress about getting everything situated about studying in Canada [University of Manitoba] in the fall, I wasn't left with much time to think about the day. Woke up around 1, chilled for a little bit. Did you know that Sonic the Hegehog's official birthday is the 23rd? I didn't know we shared that date all these years. So, I play a little brawl with my sis. Call fellow VS player, neighbor, friend Ryan to play. He stops by, mentions going to the LGS to buy a box of magic, I tag along and we pick up a couple others and play sealed while cracking the packs. On VS playmats. We played into the late hours of the night in his poolside screenhouse.

4) WOW, huh? No matter what your position on the turn of events is, this is definitely a hot topic. I'm gonna save most of my thoughts for later this week, but I can tell you this: I desire an environment where I can participate in an active community. I'd like to play for something again. I'd like for it to be with my friends, those online and those offline. If that means I play Magic, so be it. Pokemon, I highly doubt it [gameplay is ... interesting]. Epic HELL NO [trying to sell a box I won in a sealed event]. If it means the new Marvel tcg, then I can only hope for the best.

Now, to end this entry on a good note. To make up for the lack of activity here this month, expect a video to be put up later this week.

OSM out!

Final day of story telling - Day 5

The last story we've got is from Skrullfan;

Skrullfan

1) how you met your playgroup and what you have done since then

To learn about our playgroup, as conceited as this sounds, you will have to learn about me… (yeah, sorry about that…)

I was actually the first person in our city to start playing Vs. I stumbled on it online one day (no idea how) and thought “Wow, that makes no sense to me at all.” And then I completely forgot about it. About 3 months later at a large Expo in Auckland, I saw them doing some demo’s and so I sat in and learned with the F4 starter deck. For learning how to play, they gave me my own Batman starter. And I was hooked.

I tried getting some of my friends to play, they humored me for a bit, but it wasn’t really them. Then I discovered the new store in town specializing in TCG’s and collectibles. One weekend I went in, and they were holding a Yugioh tournament. I asked for some extra help on the game, they weren’t able to help me out at that point, but told me to come back one Friday and they would be able to teach me.

So I turned up on a Friday, and no-one knew how to play. So I kept turning up every Friday cos there was another person there who seemed quite interested in the game. Fridays was also the Hobby League night for Yugioh, and they were getting around 30 ppl a week turning up for it. We would find a corner that wasn’t being used and play a few games from the basic rules I understood, and kept pulling out the rulebook to try and get a better understanding of the game.

Towards the end of a Friday night, 3 guys from the Yugioh group came over (the judge and a couple of friends) to learn more about this game, as some guys they knew in Auckland had told them to start playing. So I showed them what I knew, and with their background in TCG’s already, they picked the game up really fast and we ran with it.

Since then, we’ve been our own little group (I decided to call us C.H.E.A.T’s – Cambridge and Hamiltons Experts and Try-hard’s). Even though I had been buying since MAV, the first event we went to was the MHG pre release. The group has changed a bit over the last few years, but it’s still me and those 3 guys from Yugioh that play the game no matter what. There’s 5 or 6 of us that meet each week to play and deck test for the next fan run tournament, and I’m not the greatest player, but I have a lot of fun.

With the last few set’s being pretty thin on the ground and no hobby league support since DCR, we try to get one or 2 playsets of rares, and then depending on our deck, we share cards around. We have a friendly rivalry going on with Auckland, and more often than not we come out the victor, but it’s always a challenge and a lot of fun.

Most of the events get listed here.

2) Write about the people you've talked to online, experiences with that and how it has affected you VS experience.

I’ve spoken with a few different people over the years, each of which has really helped me understand the game a little bit more in a different way.

First was Shane Wiggans. I started out asking him what was meant by a Toolbox deck. Even after he explained it to me, I was still confused. So to keep a little bit of dignity, I did what I thought was best, and said “Oh, ok.” I found and re-read his email the other day, and I finally understood it. Yay for me!

I also spent time talking with him about what he thought would be the next big team and his opinions on the Skrulls. He thought they had potential. That’s what I wanted to hear, and I started to focus on them quite a bit. That was probably one of my biggest learning curves as far as deck dynamics and themes go. Yep, I net-decked a lot and I still do, and I really did learn so much with that deck.

The next person I spoke with was Rian Fike. Once UDE cut their international support for Vs, I remember there was a large amount of anger and backlash going on. As a result, I sent him an email, simply trying to share my experiences with the game. I sent him the following email (posted here along with his reply), and it wound up being used as part of an article he wrote for UDE.

My latest online interaction was with G’daybloke through Vsrealms. Late October last year was run the Unofficial NZ Vs Champs, and I didn’t know what to run. A few messages with G’daybloke and I returned to my little Skrull pet. That took me to a top4 finish when it decided to implode on me turn 3. I run 8 3drops in the deck, and I didn’t have a single one of them. Without it, I didn’t have the team-up available to get Mobilize or any other searchers online. And it narrowly went down to a Squadron Supreme no-hand build (by 10 points I think it was).

Each time, I have learned so much. Learning so many principles about decks and deck building, learning that the game doesn’t dictate my passion for and enjoyment of the game, and that the new decks aren’t always bigger, badder and stronger than some from long ago. These experiences that I’ve had – especially one so public as the article by Rian – has gone on to buoy not only myself, but also our group and also the Vs scene in both Hamilton and Auckland. And it’s this sense of community, that we can come together for questions, answers and advice or simply to voice our thoughts, that has enabled us to keep going and enjoy this fantastic game of ours.

3) If you lurked, why? Would your experiences have changed if you posted more often?

I lurked because I research. I look at what other people have discovered and see if I can apply it to my own situation. I’m not a good player. I’m useless at deckbuilding. I prefer allowing those that know what they’re doing being able to share informative comments that can benefit everyone. If I don’t know something, I ask.

4) Was there a tournament, whether it be a Pro Circuit, a PCQ, other marquee event or hobby league, that you tested for extensively? Who did you test with? Why did you choose what you ran? How did you do? In hindsight, would you have done anything differently?

There are a few different experiences that I have had with building and testing decks for different situations, but 2 stand out.

The first deck I really looked at and tested was for my first PCQ. We had MXM released, and myself and Jared both decided to run Morlock Evasion. Our decks differed slightly in some of the more techy points (he preferred to run Backs Against The Wall whereas I preferred to run Team Spirit), but otherwise they were the same.

In the testing leading up to it, we were trying to see what version would work better – a beat down version focused on Hump, or the Evasion version based upon Storm and Marrow. Closer to the time, I chose to run with Storm and the other Evasion beasties that went with it.

Decklist
• 4x Tommy
• 4x Electric Eve
• 3x Artie
• 2x Tarbaby
• 1x Postman
• 1x Leech
• 3x The Creeper (DJL)
• 1x Healer
• 4x Storm
• 2x Marrow
• 1x Callisto

• 4x Bums Rush
• 4x Shrapnel Blast
• 3x Team Spirit
• 4x Retribution
• 4x Morlock Justice
• 4x Bloodhound
• 4x The Alley
• 3x Birthing Chamber
• 2x The Hill
• 2x Sewer System

Other Options
• Mind Gem
• Last Stand
• Backs Against The Wall

On the day, I thought I was doing quite well. I won a few games lost another one, and in my last game, everyone started crowding around as their games finished, watching how we were doing. My opponent was playing a Doom deck (from what I recall, with a recurring Ultron). I was well and truly in control and looking at sealing a victory. I had Marrow face up and Electric Eve, with 4 or 5 other characters evaded and face down. He declared an attack into Electric Eve, I did a quick calculation and figured “Yep, I can take the hit and still win.” So I did. He went into Marrow with his last remaining character, we both went down. I was still ahead by 1 endurance. And then he dropped a Meltdown and gained 2 endurance. I found out later that my mistake of not evading Electric Eve and not forcing him into my Marrow cost me a Top 8 cut. I was gutted.

Lesson Learned: If you’re going to win, win by as much as you can cos you don’t know what’s going to happen.

The other occasion was at the Unofficial NZ champs last year. After some discussion with Gdaybloke, I decided to run my Skrull deck again with a few other toys from the latest set at the time – MUN. I was still tweaking it on the morning of the event, not sure on a couple of things, but deciding to throw in 2 Attilans at the last moment. I also discovered a handy dandy use for Exploiting The Flaw in conjunction with the new 5drop Elektra.

Decklist
• 4x Lockjaw
• 3x Blackbolt, Enemy Within
• 4x Franklin Richards
• 2x Warskrull
• 4x Wolverine, Skrunucklehead
• 4x Captain America, Skrull Imposter
• 3x Elektra, Pawn of the Gorgon <> Hydra
• 2x Super Skrull, Kl’rt

• 4x Interstellar Offensive
• 4x Savage Beatdown
• 4x Mutopia
• 3x Extended Family
• 3x Act of Defiance
• 4x Mobilize
• 3x Exploiting the Flaw
• 3x Invasion Plans
• 2x Pathetic Attempt
• 2x Great Refuge
• 2x Attilan

Other Options
• Tarnax IV
• Titannus
• Call To Arms (because I don’t actually own any Savage Beatdowns)


I’d attack with Elektra on 5, gaining the KO on the character. Then I would attack their 4drop with Lockjaw. People always looked at me sideways when I would attack their 4drop with Lockjaw, and then they would wince when I dropped an Exploiting the Flaw to change their attacker to Elektra. Second character KO’d. If I was really lucky, I’d have a second copy available to use with Franklin on their 3 drop. So on turn 5, I would have KO’d their 5, 4 and 3 drop characters, leaving Wolverine, Captain America and usually an 8/8 Skrull Blackbolt to jump up and down on their 2 drop.

I was doing quite well. It hiccupped a little bit on round 3 where I narrowly lost to an agro Hulk deck, but otherwise I was cruising along quite happily. I qualified in 7th place. I went up against a jank filled Fantastic 4 which I had played earlier that day. My deck ran perfectly, and I wiped the board with him completely and totally. That put me into the Top 4, my highest placing ever. Yay me!

I went up against Leon, running a Squadron Supreme No Hand build. I was confident of doing well, if not winning comfortably. Unfortunately, this is the game where my deck died. Turn 3, I had Lockjaw and Franklin in play, I had Mobilise and Extended Family in the row, along with a Mutopia in the hand. However, I didn’t have a 3 drop to play which would have made everything run sweetly. I did have 2 Elektra’s. But that didn’t help. I think I had Blackbolt, so I could get a team up online, but that meant missing a major drop which hurt. I went with Wolverine on turn 4 to get the extra punch, but not having Captain America hurt too much. Turn 5 I pulled back a lot, turn 6 I dropped Super Skrull, but his Nuke cleared it out and he caused too much damage direct for me to cope. I lost by about 15 endurance. I was gutted.

A couple of other decks I’ve toyed with that I am happy I made myself is my little team attack deck, trying to abuse the synergy of 3 drop MAV Quicksilver and 3drop MUN Nightcrawler. It tries to use 2drop MAV Wasp and Legendary Battles along with Playroom to gain the win. Additional help comes from 1drop MUN Speed for the extra attack and MUN Cammi giving the pseudo team-up, along with the 4drop JLI Kimiyo Hoshi for the team attack punch. Unfortunately, as all of the characters are visible, Wasp is pretty vulnerable to KO effects (like MAV Natasha Romanoff and such). Side point: it totally hammers the nails out of a Galactus Raid deck.

My other pet deck is my counter burn deck. 2drop DCL Argent, 3drop DCL Beast Boy with his legend support cards, 4drop MUN Iron Man with Stark Armory and Extremis Upgrade, 5drop MAA Holocaust to rip all of those counters off and hurt the opposition quite badly, followed by 6drop Beast Boy. SERIOUSLY hurts Shadowpact Black Briar build. I’m looking at using the 2drop MEV Forge and I’ve recently received my Superman Robots, so I’m looking at working them into the build. My major problem is gaining consistency from it all.

So those are my major experiences from deckbuilding and testing and the results I have had with them, good, bad and unsuccessful.

OSM Responds - THE QUICKSILVER/NIGHTCRAWLER DECK IS AMAZING!!! *ahem*. Anyways, it sounds like even though the game gave you difficulty at first, you kept at it. There is definitely something to be said about that, like many of the vs experiences that have resulted from your determinism. Having access to the people in the community for help is another great thing as well; your experience with Shane Wiggans must've struck deep. I hope to hear more about your events and how your pet decks come along. You've won a foom mat and the matching foom art card!

Just a reminder - if you have participated in this event, please send me your addy so I can give you your stuff.