Well, I have to say a chance at getting an offer for an invite to the Marvel Tournament, even to someone just starting (aren’t we all?), means a lot to me, and I decided to get off my lazy butt and contribute. I’ve done some minor submissions to other Pojo sites before, usually received well, so I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring on this great opportunity. Excuses aside, I’ll bet most of you clicked on this to hear what I had to say.

First off, I just started this game too, and that is important to remember. Many of my ideas are just based on common play observances against no more than a tiny group of people, and are very likely flawed. I will do my best to ensure what I say is at least what I believe, whether it is actually right…or not. I’ve been an avid reader and gamer for six years, and like to think I can at least accurately theorize over game strategy, as long as I think it through. I have also read all of Scott Gerhardt’s excellent materials, and wanted to take a moment to thank him and direct you to his side of the site; I learned to play almost exclusively from his first three articles. I’m going to try to pound out one of these per day. No telling if that will even work, or if I can even manage it, but here I go.

This article will be about X-Men, as a deck and a team. I have always been a fan, since childhood, and was no less psyched at the chance to pantomime these epic battles in card form for fun and profit than I was for Heroclix. That said, I started with a box as my working playground, and went from there. Here is the deck I am currently playing; I will be first evaluating it, card by card, and then will evaluate its play.

4 Forge, Cheyenne Mystic

4 Bishop, Lucas Bishop

4 Nightcrawler

4 Wolverine, Logan

2 Havok

4 Storm, Ororo Munroe

1 Spiral, Ricochet Rita

2 Cyclops, Scott Summers

2 Rogue, Powerhouse

1 Colossus, Peter Rasputin

3 Wolverine, Berserker Rage

4 Dual Sidearms

4 Advanced Hardware

4 One Two Punch

4 Flying Kick

3 Savage Beatdown

3 Nasty Surprise

3 Finishing Move

3 Danger Room

2 Muir Island

This deck is a quick beater using Plot Twists to push through and hold its own when necessary. I run a tad high on my heroes, but that’s just to ensure that I have my curve functioning as soon as possible. Forge is my one-drop, and he’s excellent. After maybe getting in for some early damage, he then goes for my Hardware and Sidearms, usually himself getting a Hardware to start whacking away with while hiding in support. Nightcrawler and Bishop are both amazing fighters. Nightcrawler, on the offensive, is great because there is no worry of receiving your own stunning damage, and Bishop becomes PH-fat while sitting in support and gunning down their front row like a mini-Wolverine. The three slot Wolvie is just too insanely good, and beats hard, with the cursory nod to Havok. I rarely play Havok because of how situational he is, and because he just doesn’t work as well. I almost wish I had Psylocke at times, but a 3/4 is not even comparable to Wolverine, the companion in that slot. Storm is a decent fighter, and her ability can become very important if your opponent has the initiative and you’re relying on your Bishops and Crawlers. Cyclops is the big Nightcrawler + Bishop combination, blasting chunks out of their front row. I love Rogue, and am considering losing the Colossus for a third. She just, with a Savage Beatdown, will pound anyone into his or her death. Colossus is there as a sometimes-useful ground-pounder, with his Beatdown built in. Wolverine can be explained in two words: Berserker. Death. He comes down; the game usually ends that turn.

My equipment are ironically defined the same way that of Magic is, cheap, and big on the first plus (attack). Dual Sidearms is a must, and Advanced Hardware lets those little guys get big early and then move onto bigger and better things, like chipping away at the opponent’s endurance. None of the others, except maybe Borrowed Blade, have caught my notice.

My Plot Twists are the heart, soul, meat, and potatoes of the deck. I have the standard fare of Flying Kick, One-Two Punch, and Savage Beatdown, which are all, as far as I can see, staples. The versatility of Punch, and the sheer bigness of the other two make an attack force tough to beat. Nasty Surprise is in there to…well, surprise the opponent. In a nasty way. Usually this is used on turn 3 for that Wolverine that’s going to be decimating or on turn 7 for that…other…Wolverine. Finishing Move is a good card, but very situational. Its great when some really awesome guy just came down, and you were able to stun him, but it only really shines on turn 6, sometimes 4 or 8. This is when I’ve gotten the initiative to bring in a big hitter like Rogue or Wolverine, and sometimes even Storm counts. It’s really all about timing.

Last but not least, locations, locations, locations. Danger Room is an obvious staple, but I’ve found four will usually gum up the works with dead draws; three works best. Muir Island is just excellent, saving X-men all which-ways, because that’s what the X-men do. Get saved. Er…

But if you’ve seen the cards, you knew all that. I’ll get more to the point, which is something we are all tooling with and figuring out: how to play the deck, in my opinion, properly.

The biggest key is initiative. This word is usually the guiding factor in my games of Marvel, and the difference between a win and a loss. And this deck, despite its speed, does not really want to go first on turns 1, 3, etc. Why? It’s really quite simple. The important turns of the game, excepting turn 7 and maybe 5, are all even. Nightcrawler and Bishop are 2. Storm, a great 4-drop, and Rogue, an impossibly big 6-drop, all need to come out of the gates swinging. If I did not draw a 4-drop, the most common flaw in the curve, then turn 4 is all about Wolverine, Hardware, and vicious attacking. My strength also lies in proactive Plot Twists; I only run one that I will use in self-defense exclusively, and try to use all of the others for purely offensive purposes. Turn seven is the time when I wish I had initiative for that big Wolverine, but unfortunately I have to simply hope I’ve got a Nasty Surprise in the wings to ensure he makes it through. I have potent drops in 3 and in 7, but 5 is usually the stalemated board, and Cyclops, while nice, is not usually game-breaking. Rogue and Storm, however, both are very big factors, and usually put the game in an unwinnable position for my opponent very quickly. Allowing Storm to sit out and save a support line full of range and flight from the ravages of fliers is amazing, and Rogue’s destructive talents are certainly a boon in this game.

I’ve already mentioned the relevancy of initiative for most of my plot twists or other characters; either that or I decided it’s really obvious.

I’ve also exhausted what wit I had after some long work and short sleeping, so I’m cutting this one off at about 1,200. I’ll be working on the next one tomorrow, and it will be about Sentinels, the Marvel universe’s newest Cuisinart.

Stay tuned, and vote for me (if I get nominated…you know)!

- MagicWeasel

Glenn Jones
magicweasel@comcast.net