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Vs. System
Megaman

Pojo's VS System TCG Featured Article

Title: Playing With the Scrawny Arkham Inmates
by Benji Kim - 2.4.05

Introduction:

To start this article off I’m going to state that I hate team-up decks now. Just a few moments before I was writing this I deleted a whole 3-page article where I had Arkham Inmates and Sinister Syndicate teamed up. Not much of a good idea, so don’t try that. Hey guys, this is Benji again, trying to write another article due to the fact that my last one was pretty bad and I had a lot of bad review on it. My friend EJ (you might know him, he wrote up an article few weeks before) tried to convince me into writing another article. I tried to reply and say that all the ideas are taken, and then probably he would have called me a sissy or a girly-girl so I had to take him on.

How and Why I Decided To Write This:

I’m bored of playing “Whatchamacallit” (<- (Funny word)) Tier 1 decks like Teen Titans, Death TNB, Curve Sentinels, or X-Stall. Only Teen Titans give me some enjoyment, all the rest are built to win and not to have fun. Then one day I walk into the local hobby store and I see my good friend, Dwight playing the Arkham Inmates. I stopped to watch and study, two or three games had to pass for me to figure out that the deck is fun. I wanted to make one right away but I was (like all teenager) broke. I was disappointed, like always that I had no money thus delaying to construction of the Arkham Inmates. Now, I still don’t have money but I’m going to build the Arkham write away. I figured that this would be just a fun deck and not a competitive one because as you can see, better players than me never have reached top 3 with their Arkham.

Who and What Are the Arkham Inmates? :

Again I come to a point where I’m supposed to describe a team’s role in the comics. However, I still don’t know any of the roles that the Arkham Inmates play in the comics. But have hope readers! I started watching The Batman in one of the Saturday cartoons (I know it’s stupid but it was for the sake of knowledge) and I learned some information on the Arkham Inmates. Basically, they are like the stupid people in Gotham City who terrorize the innocent yet clueless humans. (It’s true. All they do is scream.)

In the Vs System they are known to be some of the most inconsistent decks out there. Yes, a few steps next to the Sinister Syndication. However, Arkham is known to be one of the most enjoy-full decks out there. Not to mention that they have the best field control cards like Kidnapping, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze. Those are not all, there are much more cards that definitely have potential to be… well, good.

Onto the Deck! :

My friend Dwight always accuses me of so-called “Net decking” but wait until he sees this, fresh off of my mind.

I had very much thought with this deck. It was really hard to make, I think it took some creativity out of me. Anyways, here it is. 

I had so much troubles making this deck as I stated above. So many questions came up in my mind, “Should I use locations?” or “Firefly, is it worth it?” I wanted to fit in some Crushing Blows with some Have A Blasts! to match to current Metagame. This was just done on the top of my head and didn’t put so much thinking into it like putting in locations or more defensive plot twists.

If I just look at this, this looks pretty fine and might win some decks out there…

Why Did I Choose These Cards? :

Bane: Alternative 6-drop AND 7-drop, that’s pretty sick.
Charaxes: The best 3-drop in Arkham Inmates so far with amazing field control effect, Blockbuster just sucks.
Harley Quinn: Now I had the most problem deciding to use Ratcatcher or Harley Quinn, due to her 2 great effects, she barely won.
Killer Croc: He could take down most characters in the game that are below the 8-drop range, he is sick!
Mad Hatter: Alternative 2-drop and 3-drop, he’s ok I guess… I wanted to use Firefly more but the Cosmic Cops are getting used a lot.
Mr. Freeze: No explanation needed.
Poison Ivy: To tell you the truth I like the 4-drop Joker much better than Poison Ivy, but Poison Ivy is a better choice for all the rest players so I might as well play with her. (One time I had to triple team attack The Joker and ended up losing 21 endurance)
Puppet Master: Do I really need to explain why I use this?
Scarecrow: Probably my 8-drop against the titans, really works out well with Nasty Surprise. Scarecrow is just nasty.
The Joker, The Clown Prince of Crime: Having the right cards could just wipe out all your opponents characters.

Cracking the Vault: I didn’t like this card until I realized that it works for all cards like Plot Twists and Locations. (Yes, it’s true)
Fear and Confusion: See Mr. Freeze for descriptions.
Acrobatic Dodge: A staple for most decks, very nice card.
Kidnapping: The best field control card there is next to Sadistic Choice.
Nasty Surprise: Only in there because Poison Ivy and Scarecrow beg for it.
Overload: Who cannot love the Savage Beatdown and the Overload combo?
Prison Break: Much better than Weapon of choice, it gives me variety of new cards, not just one card.
Savage Beatdown: When in doubt, add four. It’s so simple.
Smiles Everyone: Good card: a Charaxes for the whole turn, very nice.

Cards That I Wanted To Put In but I Had No Space For (CTIWTPIBIHNSF, am I supposed to include the conjunctions in the acronyms?):

Crushing Blow: What Arkham deck runs none? Unfortunately: me.
Avalon Space Station: Just abuses the 7-drop Joker but I didn’t have any other discard effects so I really didn’t see the point.
Apocalypse: Hopefully, this is fast enough to kill by turn 7.
No Man’s Land: I really need to exhaust more guys.
Blackgate Prison: Easy draw boost, good against Titan’s Roy Harper <> Arsenal
Firefly: Mad Hatter had to go over this card…

The Match-ups:

How should I know? I haven’t even played with this deck yet; heck I don’t even have it. As I stated above, this is a fun deck not a competitive one.

Conclusion:

Thanks for reading my article, but remember before you write bad comments that I haven’t even bought the cards yet so I really didn’t have time to test it out. Well, I guess I should start saving up… even if it means no food at lunch.
-Benji Kim