09.15.04 
Hey all, and welcome again to the VS Deck Garage. I hope y’all had fun at your local Web of Spider-Man preview tournaments – I know I did. We wound up doing four rounds of Swiss pairings, no cut, to determine winners. I managed 3-1, with my only loss going to an *insanely* good deck that was packing great characters at every drop, as well as Spider Senses times two. This placed me 3rd in a field of 16. Here’s what I wound up playing – sorry I don’t have the entire pool; I completely forgot to write it down.

1 Rocket Racer, Robert Farrel
1 Beetle, Abner Jenkins
1 Black Cat, Master Thief
1 Jessica Drew * Spider-Woman, Venom Blast
1 Hornet, Eddie McDonough
1 Dagger, Tandy Bowen
1 Madame Web, Cassandra Webb
1 Black Cat, Felicia Hardy
1 Cloak, Tyrone Johnson
1 Puma, Thomas Fireheart
1 Punisher, Vigilante
1 Firestar, Hot Stuff
1 Human Torch, Friendly Rival
1 Scorpion, MacDonald Gargan
1 Spider-Man, Alien Symbiote
1 Iceman, Cool Customer
1 Kaine, Imperfect Clone
1 Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly
2 Ezekiel, Spirit of the Spider

1 Crowd Control
1 Crushing Blow
2 Hired Goons
1 No Fear
1 Supernova

1 ESU Science Lab
1 Midtown High School

1 Jetpack
1 Sonic Gun

I would have liked a few more plot twists, but as you can see, I had to use a few sub-par cards as is (see: Hired Goons). Anyways, just thought y’all might enjoy that…

On with the Deck Garage!

This week, I received a list from a nameless contributor (unless you count e-mail, in which case, ToonMokuba), who wanted to abuse the power of exhausting opponent’s characters and guys like Charaxus in a unique Arkham Inmates build. Here’s the e-mail I received:

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Hello Paul, I recently made an Arkham Inmates control deck and I really need help. I have access to any card that you suggest. Feel free to take out or add anything that you may feel warrants a spot in this deck, nothing is granted immunity from your decisions:

Characters(31)
4 Harley Quinn
4 Puppetmaster
4 Charaxes
3 The Penguin
3 Riddler
2 Matt Hagan-Clayface
2 Killer Croc
2 Mad Hatter
2 Query and Echo
1 Thunder
1 Lightning
1 Mr.Freeze
1 Bane-The man who broke the bat.
1 Poison Ivy

Plot Twist/Locations(29)
4 Acrobatic Dodge
4 Fast Getaway
3 Reconstruction Program
2 Kidnapping
2 Paralyzing Kiss
2 Home Surgery
2 Fear and Confusion
1 Prison Break
1 Entangle
3 No Man's Land
1 Arkham Asylum

Total:60

And there you have it, a bonified work in progress. I am going to leave this deck in your hands because I know you'll do it justice. The main theme of this deck is to exhaust my opponents characters. If all goes well and I get the right cards. My opponent will only have 1 character on the field at a time on turn 3 onwards thanks to the Puppetmaster + Charaxes combo. Make whatever changes you need to so that I might have a chance of making top 8 with this deck at my next PCQ. Thank you in advance, ToonMokuba5

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Toon looks like he is off to a great start, but I think we can make a few improvements.

First and foremost, major props to Toon for including a full set of Harley Quinn. Arkham Inmates tend to be on the small side, so HQ is almost a requirement – her ability to reinforce is invaluable. Query and Echo, however, aren’t really needed.

-2 Query and Echo, Double Trouble

Puppet Master is obviously a centerpiece to this deck, so I’ll leave that alone as well. I’m not a huge fan of Mad Hatter, just because he has a limited effect and he’s just to small. However, I would like to see a few more 2-Drops. Since the theme to our deck is KOing as many characters as possible (to clear room for your dudes), why don’t we throw in three Two-Face, Harvey Dent?

-2 Mad Hatter, Jarvis Tetch
+3 Two-Face, Harvey Dent

Looking at 3-Drops, we obviously want to keep Charaxus, Drury Walker (a centerpiece of the deck), but I’d like to get rid of The Riddler. No need for that guy to be roaming around the deck, especially if we already have seven 3-Drops. Ditto with Lightning.

-3 The Riddler, Edward Nigma
-1 Thunder, Gan Williams

I noticed Toon only had two 4-Drops, so we need to remedy that. Looking over the 4-Drops available, I really think Poison Ivy fits the theme of this deck, so we’ll throw in three of her. Next, why don’t we throw in The Joker, Laughing Lunatic, as the only other option is Man-Bat, who doesn’t seem like he’d be terribly useful in a deck that has to struggle sometimes to stun dudes.

+2 Poison Ivy, Pamela Isley
+2 The Joker, Laughing Lunatic
-1 Lightning, Travis Williams

The 5-Drops are absolutely fine here, as this deck is centered around keeping Toon’s opponents’ men exhausted. A large Clayface is nothing to ignore.

At first, I wanted to make all of Toon’s 6-Drops into Bane, since he KOs characters, which is what this deck is all about. However, given more thought, I think Mr. Freeze is just a better call all around. He is more defensive than offensive, which is what Toon’s deck is really all about. We’ll cut Bane and add a Freeze.

-1 Bane, The Man Who Broke the Bat
+1 Mr. Freeze, Dr. Victor Fries

Last but not least, to help against those opposing, large characters, we’ll add in a pair of the Clown Prince of Crime. This brings the total character count to thirty-three, meaning Toon should have enough characters in hand to abuse the 7-Drop Joker.

+2 The Joker, Clown Prince of Crime

Turning our attention to Plot Twists, I’m not sure I’m diggin’ Fast Getaway. It’s a good card, but I’m not quite sure it fits with this deck, especially with the discard effects attached to Penguin, Joker, and No Man’s Land.

-4 Fast Getaway

Next, why don’t we throw in full complements of Kidnapping. It doesn’t KO a character, but it does cost Toon’s opponents a draw, and it lets Toon add a card to his hand. In my eyes, this makes it the perfect fit for this build.

+2 Kidnapping

Next, just to make it a little more consistent, I’m throwing in an additional copy of Paralyzing Kiss.

+1 Paralyzing Kiss

Since there are so many locations and Ongoing Plot Twists roaming around these days, we really need something to combat this, and what better card than Have a Blast?

+3 Have a Blast!

Next, you’ll notice that a *lot* of Arkham guys are small. Too small. With this in mind, I’m throwing in a full set of Savage Beatdown, three Flying Kick, and three Nasty Surprise. Yes, Nasty Surprise. Consider this: they attack, you stun their guy…normally, you aren’t doing much. However, in Toon’s case, he has Two-Face and Kidnapping at his disposal.

+3 Flying Kick
+3 Nasty Surprise
+4 Savage Beatdown

To make room for these additions, out go Reconstruction Program, Home Surgery, Prison Break, Fear and Confusion, and Entangle.

-1 Entangle
-2 Fear and Confusion
-2 Home Surgery
-1 Prison Break
-3 Reconstruction Program

Finally, I upped the count on Arkham Asylum by two, so Toon has a better chance of drawing it up when he needs it.

+2 Arkham Asylum

I think that is where we can stop construction on Toon’s deck. Here’s what the finished product looks like…

CHARACTERS (31):
4 Harley Quinn, Dr. Harley Quinzel
4 Puppet Master, Philip Masters
3 Two-Face, Harvey Dent
4 Charaxes, Drury Walker
3 The Penguin, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot
3 Poison Ivy, Pamela Isley
2 The Joker, Laughing Lunatic
2 Killer Croc, Waylon Jones
2 Matt Hagan * Clayface, Man of Clay
2 Mr.Freeze, Dr. Victor Fries
2 The Joker, Clown Prince of Crime

PLOT TWISTS (24):
4 Acrobatic Dodge
3 Flying Kick
3 Have a Blast!
4 Kidnapping
3 Nasty Surprise
3 Paralyzing Kiss
4 Savage Beatdown

LOCATIONS (6):
3 No Man's Land
3 Arkham Asylum
I hope that helps, Toon, and good luck in those PCQs!

That about wraps up this week’s VS Deck Garage. Remember, if you’d like to see your deck in the Garage, drop me an e-mail at Hagan0001@aol.com, and I’ll get back with you as soon as possible.

Until next week – happy gaming!