The Marvel Team-up expansion promoted and rewarded a player for building a deck with more than one affiliation -- it included solid team-up cards (like Stark Tower and Secret Defenders), ensured that your team-up would get online through search effects (The Dwarf, Soul Broker and Night Thrasher, Dwayne Micheal Talyor), gave you access to nifty plot twists (Strange Love and Demonic Association), and allowed you to play powerful dual-loyalty characters (Moon Knight, Fist of Khonshu and Demogoblin, Disembodied Demon). With all of these bonuses, teaming-up was a good idea.
Then again, you could still play mono-team with MTU, too. The Spider-Friends were fully capable of stalling to the late game by themselves, the Sinister Syndicate could tear you apart by turn five with no outside help, and the Marvel Defenders were quite able clear your board with only one attacking character. And the Underworld could...uh...
Hmm...what could mono-Underworld do again?
Oh, right -- they could stay face-down. Not exactly the most game-winning of battle tactics, I’ll admit.
Maybe it’s because the other teams are flashier and more recognizable, or perhaps it’s because the Underworld affiliation was already featured previously in the Marvel Knights set and were largely overlooked, or it might have something to do with mono-Underworld unfortunately being labelled “janky and uncompetitive,” but for some reason I can’t ever recall facing off against a mono-Underworld deck. I’ve seen the popular Hellfire/UW, Society/UW, Doom/UW, Spidey/UW, Jean/UW, Defenders/UW, Hellboy/UW...but never mono-UW. Weird.
Well, hopefully I can convince you that mono-UW can do something constructive with the following decklist and breakdown.
I suppose I’d better throw in a disclaimer at this point in order to put out any potential flames, so here it is:
t_man’s Dumb Deck Disclaimer
None of my decks are high-level tourney-calibre builds. You won’t find abusive combos, how to tech against the latest Mega-Weekend winning deck, or how to break the latest readying character (they’re pretty much all the same, by the way) in any of my decklists. Enjoyment, creativity, and playability is at the top of my list when I build ’em, so I hope you have fun when reading about them.
The other thing is that I only build my decks with the cards that I actually own. I have quite a few, of course…just very few actual playsets of the rares. So you won’t be seeing the uninspiring “4x Savage Beatdown, 4x Big Leagues, 4x Blinding Rage, 4x Against All Odds, 4x Mobilize, 4x Team-stamped Tutor, 4x Call in a Favor” that some decks call their plot twist line-up.
Finally, while a lot of my decks probably look like it, they aren’t complete junkpiles. Trust me, I chuck them out and start working on another idea if the deck never wins. So, you can rest assured that the builds I show you have the patented t_man seal of approval (which means absolutely zilch, I know).
With all of that said, I’m always open for suggestions, ideas, and criticisms, of course!
Enough yappin’ already… here’s the deck:
Demons Designing Death (DeDeDe) Modern Age (Legal when DC Legends is current set)
Characters:
4x Black Rose, Roxanne Simpson 3x Shathra, Sharon Keller
4x Queen Lilith, Den Mother 2x Umar, Sorceress Sublime
4x Modred the Mystic, Servant of Chthon 2x Chhton, Demon of the Darkhold 2x Morlun, Totem Hunter
4x Illyana Rasputin Magik, Queen of Limbo
2x Mephisto, Mephistopheles 2x Madelyne Pryor, Goblyn Queen
1x Shuma-Gorath, He Who Sleeps but Shall Awake 1x Dormammu, Dread Dormammu
1x Noble Kale, Lord of Hell
Plot Twists:
3x Death’s Embrace 2x Mobilize 4x In Limbo 4x Netherworld Gift 3x Transformation 3x Dark Designs 2x Dark Bargain 1x Undead Legions
Locations:
4x The Dark Dimension 2x Surtur’s Anvil
“What the Devil Does this Deck Do?”
In a nutshell, the deck intends to win by either taking the game to the late turns through the use of some crafty endurance gain and ending it with Noble Kale, or else overwhelming its opponent with sheer board advantage. To accomplish this, the deck utilizes a healthy mix of the Underworld’s themes: KO’d pile manipulation, card draw and filter, the hidden area, recovery, and controlling stunned characters.
The build doesn’t really have a preferred initiative -- you can either go with evens and aim to clear the opposing board with Madeylne Pryor on turn six, or else you can take odds and smash some face with a free 6-drop through Netherworld Gift and Shuma-Gorath on turn seven. It’s up to you, really. If you can’t decide, then take whatever initiative choice that you think your opponent wants!
As for the mulligan condition, I’m generally seeking a 2-drop in my opening hand. Although, if my first four cards are something tempting like In Limbo, In Limbo, Death’s Embrace, and Umar, I’ll consider keeping ’em if I’m feeling lucky. On to the turn-by-turn...
Turn 1
Well, this turn doesn’t require too much consideration, since you have no one to play here!
I used to run Pilgrim, Lilin, since he would become useful during the later turns (ship him visible to reinforce somebody, then move him back hidden to get reinforced and trigger Mephisto again), but I eventually swapped him out for the more universal Transformation. Pilgrim’s good in this build...I just rarely hit him on the first turn enough to justify his inclusion (even with using The Dark Dimension). Poor guy.
Turn 2
Black Rose is the primary drop for turn 2. She helps smooth out your curve, make your discard choices more flexible, and achieve additional power-ups to make combat a little easier. She’s not a great attacker, though, which is why Shathra serves as a handy back-up drop. Like every other character you play in this deck, she should rarely (if ever) hit the KO’d pile -- I think that’s happened once out of all the games I’ve played due to some freak accidents -- so her drawback is practically non-existent.
If you have a choice of who to recruit here, try to base your decision on any clues about what kind of deck your opponent is playing. Shathra is better against the quick decks (flying over and smacking Electro, Shock Jock in a SinSyn matchup is very helpful), while Black Rose is more suited to the games that go longer.
Turn 3
Again, if you have a choice here of who to recruit, you have to make a bit of a judgment call. If you sense that your opponent might be recruiting either Deadshot, Floyd Lawton, or Blackheart, Black King anytime in the future, then do not recruit Umar, as those two characters have the ability to kill Umar off while she’s face-up -- neither In Limbo or Modred will save her from hitting the KO’d pile. Also, if you don’t have In Limbo or Dark Bargain available to you by the third turn and it looks like your opponent is capable of pulling off a Finishing Move, then don’t risk having Umar die. Remember -- if she hits the KO’d pile, so does every card in your hand, too!
So…because I’m scared of opposing Finishing Move effects while I lack an In Limbo in my row (and the fact that I only have two Umars), we have Queen Lilith for the primary drop on turn three. Yeah, Meatmarket, Lilin, is a better at soaking up damage, but I just can’t resist Queen Lilith’s filter ability -- she helps me get to the cards I need quickly while filling the yard with characters, so she gets the nod over Meatmarket.
Turn 4
Here’s where we have some options. Modred the Mystic may not look like much, but he’s easily the centrepiece of the deck -- as long as he’s face-up, none of your characters are getting KO’d. Combine this with In Limbo(s), Mephisto, and maybe Morlun means that you’re getting a boatload of endurance gain! Even if Modred is your freebie recovery during wrap-up, he’s face-up and his text is active before you throw all of your face-down characters to the KO’d pile, so all of your stunned characters stick around. Plus, he’s a good attacker with flight and range. And…he’s a mystic. Bonus!
Chthon is useful because of his recovery power, which is nice to combine with Netherworld Gift -- more characters on the board is always good -- or else he can be used to stave off direct attacks. He also combos well with Transformation, which allows him to use his effect more than once per game, if need be.
The last of the 4-drops is Morlun. Unless you’re up against a swarm deck (where he really shines), you don’t really want to drop him on turn four. Since he needs to last through the combat phase non-stunned to trigger his power, he’s not the best of choices in the early game. However, bringing him in later with Netherworld Gift and eventually recovering him can lead to some big endurance gains.
By now, I’m sure you’re probably wondering...
“A mono-Underworld deck and no Blackheart, Black King? Are you dense?”
To be honest, I’ve kept jumping back and forth between Morlun and Blackheart in the past. Hear me out -- Blackheart’s great and all when he works (if he works...thanks, Pathetic Attempt), but it’s actually sometimes difficult to get three character cards in the KO’d pile that you don’t want to use for other effects later. Plus, this deck generally prefers to make safe down-curve attacks whenever possible, which means using Blackheart becomes kind of counter-productive. Add that with the fact that Morlun has really been impressing me lately, and that’s enough for me to say no to Blackheart, at least for now.
Turn 5
The lone 5-drop is Illyana. Like her version suggests, she’s another key player to the deck’s overall strategy. Her power is fantastic in this build, and has a variety of uses. Firstly, she discards a card for you, which is helpful for bringing in a specific character from your hand in to play with Netherworld Gift. Secondly, and more importantly, she keeps Modred alive…who in turns keeps all of your characters from ever hitting the KO’d pile…which in turn adds up endurance gain from In Limbo and Mephisto! Finally, when used in tandem with Netherworld Gift, her power is more beneficial to you than to the opponent, as you’re likely recovering a larger character (which again allows safe down-curve attacks in the future).
Plus, since the deck isn’t likely to cause a lot of stunbacks while defending, she let’s you keep your board together when your opponent tries to run you over with down-curve attacks -- your opponent is trying to create board advantage, but you get to recover two characters anyway!
Turn 6
The optimal recruit choice here depends on which player has the initiative and what kind of deck you’re up against. If the game looks like it’ll be going at least another turn and you’re on evens, then Madelyne is a good idea. There’s a pretty nifty mini-combo here that I stumbled upon, too: attack with Maddie safely such that she doesn’t get stunned, keep Modred face-up somehow (safe attacks or recover him with Dark Bargain), use Illyana’s power, then use your remaining characters to get in as many stuns as possible on the other side of the table. Fire off Maddie’s power, then smile when your opponent loses most of his field and your whole board (and maybe an extra character) gets recovered!
Mephisto is who you’re looking for if you’re defending on turn six, though. If things have been going as planned, then it’s likely that you have a couple of stunned characters to start with (maybe more if you used Netherworld Gift), so Mephisto should heal you around nine to twelve endurance just by sitting there…and then he can smash a lowbie when it’s your attack step!
Turn 7
The preferred play on turn seven is to Netherworld Gift in whichever 6-drop you didn’t recruit last turn, then slap down Shuma-Gorath and recover and ready an extra hidden 12 ATK. On-initiative, that should be enough to overwhelm the average opposing deck; off-init, your opponent’s field should be pretty limited because of Maddie last turn, so you should be last to turn eight. You’re not always going to have Netherworld Gift available to you, but still…there’s bound to be a stunned 3 or 4-drop you can revive with Shuma.
However, sometimes it’s better to recruit Dormammu if Shuma doesn’t look like he’ll be doing much. Yeah, Dormammu’s Pathetic Attempt-able, but we don’t have any other options for a 7-drop Underworld character. Besides, having my 3-drop take down a 7-drop while defending isn’t that horrible.
Turn 8
Well, hopefully you either made it this far or won the turn before. Not much to say here -- even if you’re off-initiative, your multiple sources of endurance gain should be enough to dampen the opponent’s attacks, keep you above zero, and let Noble Kale punch your opponent for 19 endurance loss for the win!
Some Notes on Strategy
Okay, I’m not going to lie…while the deck’s strategy may sound simple in theory, it’s pretty complicated to play out in practice. If you have a short attention span (well…you probably didn’t get this far in the article if you have a short attention span), or if you’re not into decks that require a lot of (probably unnecessary) thinking, then you’re most likely not going to enjoy playing this deck. I’ve been messing with this build since Marvel Team-up was released, and even I quite often end up slapping myself for saying “legal” too quickly or forgetting to take into account during my formation step that I was going to end up recovering that stunned guy sometime in the combat phase.
But, if you’re like me and sometimes enjoy taking a break from the “me smash you with big number” builds, then here’s some tips to help ease the path to victory with this crazy deck…
#1. Your resource row has a lot of possible candidates. Ten cards (In Limbo and the locations) need to be rowed to have a function. In Limbo is always at the top of the list -- if you draw into one, put it in your row as soon as possible so you can start increasing your longevity. The Dark Dimension has terraform, so if you need to use it to dig for a drop, you can always swap its place with something face-down. You also want to keep your hand size large in order to meet all the discard costs, so the twists that require discards and are the most likely to be played soon are what should be rowed next.
#2. While most of the characters in here are either visible or strictly concealed, keep in mind that the 7-drops, Illyana, and Queen Lilith are optional. I’ll always recruit my 7-drop visible and usually do the same to Lilith and Illyana, but always be aware that they can go hidden -- depending on the match-up, they’re sometimes better there. If somebody like Katana, Tatsu Yamashiro is on the other side of the field, then Lilith is probably better hidden -- it makes it harder for Katana to get a kill in, and makes it easier for Lilith’s power to trigger. Likewise, although you’ll likely be taking a lot of damage to the face, recruiting Illyana concealed makes it a lot easier to get a freebie character in with Netherworld Gift. Speaking of which…
#3. Don’t play Netherworld Gift for little or no reason -- putting a stunned character into play for a single point of endurance gain from In Limbo isn’t exactly worth the effort. Generally, I bring in a dead guy with it on either turn five (recovered by Illyana) or on turn seven (revived with Shuma-Gorath). In the rare situation where you head to the recovery phase with nobody stunned…definitely bring in a free character for your freebie recovery!
#4. Make the most out of the “start of the recovery” powers. This deck has the lots of stuff going on during the recovery phase. You generally want Illyana’s effect to resolve very last, such that In Limbo and Morlun’s effects resolve before it and add a couple more points of precious endurance to your total. Also, remember that you can play stuff in response to all of the crazy triggers going off, so throw in an extra guy with Netherworld Gift before In Limbo or Illyana’s effects resolve, and be careful with the timing when using Madelyne’s power during the recovery phase!
#5. Formation is huge in this build, especially when you’re defending in the later turns. You always want to minimize your damage taken, so form in such a way that you’re able to reinforce most attacks -- but also keep in mind that Chthon and Madelyne move visible with their powers, so take into account that they are able to block breakthrough windows (and might end up needing reinforcement themselves). Which brings us to…
#6. I’ve grown to love Transformation. What it lacks in raw power, it more than makes up for in versatility. It can be used to send Mephisto visible for the block after your opponent is finished attacking down-curve, to hide a character from getting smashed, to surprise your opponent by reforming and reinforcing, and, of course, as a small attack pump. I’ve also dodged Spider-Man, Stark’s Protégé’s web-balls a few times with it, too!
#7. Besides the measly +2 ATK from Transformation, the deck lacks any kind of stat modifier for combat. However, it does have power-ups! Given the relatively large draw and recursion power that this deck has, it’s not unfeasible to be sitting on a power-up in hand, Black Rose’s effect, Surtur’s Anvil, and The Dark Dimension…all of which can grant +4/+4 to an attacker or defender! The real beauty of this kind of incremental powering-up is that you can easily “1-over” the ATK of whoever you’re in combat with, which either results in exiting combat non-stunned or else forcing your opponent to use a pump. Outlasting the opposition is what this deck is all about!
Match-Ups:
Let’s get the bad news out of the way, first: this deck doesn’t fare too well against (most) quick decks. A 2-3-4 line-up of Black Rose, Queen Lilith, and Modred is hardly a threat to the likes of Hidden Injustice Gang or Revenge Squad Ongoing -- the Underworld get run over pretty quickly by the myriad of attack pumps being thrown down. In fact, the smashy decks probably enjoy the fact that most of the characters on the other side of their board have comparatively small stats and next to no combat-related powers.
I’ve had a lot more success against the fast Sinister Syndicate and Marvel Knights builds, though -- generally, the more endurance gain you can get your hands on, the better off you are. Recovering your visible characters with Chthon or Dark Bargain and blocking attacks by moving your hidden guys over at crucial times can tip the game in the Underworld’s favour. I’ve survived the infamous Kree turn six slaughter several times thanks to minimizing damage this way!
What the deck really excels against are the kinds of mid to long curve builds that aim for constant board advantage. KO effects are easily shrugged off between Modred and In Limbo (the Magneto Legend deck has a very hard time getting much accomplished against this build), and the Underworld’s endurance gain combined with their steady recovery allows them to hold parity until Madelyne, Shuma, or Kale tilt the scales!
Opposing stall and control builds are favourable match-ups, as well. I haven’t had any major troubles when facing off against the various World’s Finest builds yet (although Superman, Metropolis Marvel gets pretty big pretty quickly). The only effects that really hurt getting negated are the tutors, which you can work around as long as you don’t draw into them the turn you need to use them. Also, if you know you’re up against a World’s Finest build, try to get the even initiative -- Madelyne can reduce help their board, and Noble Kale can actually get a swing in before Kara Zor-El Supergirl, Claire Connors free-stuns him (although I haven’t seen too much of her around anymore since Pathetic Attempt became popular).
I played against a Silver Age Boris, Servant of Dr. Doom / Poison Ivy, Intoxicating / Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius / Black Manta, Underwater Marauder / Basil Karlo Clayface, Slimy Shapeshifter / Mystical Paralysis abuse build a few times recently with this deck here, and as is often the case with most games that plan to get to the late turns, Netherworld Gift sealed it in my favour. Stall decks have a hard time keeping up when the Underworld are reviving free 4 and 6-drops along with everyone else they’ve recruited!
As for what changes could be made to the card line-up…if I had the ’em, I’d throw in another Death’s Embrace (duh) and probably another copy of Undead Legions, but the deck runs smoothly enough for me as is. I’d like to find room for Pilgrim, too, since he’s great at preventing damage and being a low-costed face-down character. And call me crazy…but I’m thinking that RAT-TAT-TAT might not be a bad idea in here, either: you’ve got a big hand, characters all over the curve to chuck, and another means to fill your KO’d pile. If I ever find myself sorely lacking for an actual combat trick, I’ll give that a try. More endurance gain is never a bad idea, either -- both For Great Justice! and Med Kit are perfect fits for this build if you'd like to get to the late turns more often. Overall, I absolutely love this deck. It’s one of my all-time favourites: it’s unique, it’s fun, and it sometimes even wins! I can tell that it often catches players off-guard, since they’ve probably never seen the likes of Transformation, Illyana, or Mephisto actually played in a deck, which is an added bonus.
Like I said, the deck is nowhere near competitive-worthy, but that doesn’t stop me from piloting and enjoying it. I have a hard time ever seeing myself becoming bored of playing it, too…
Although the players who frequent MWS are probably getting bored of playing against it!
Thanks for reading, t_man
Related to:
Vs System
|
|
 |
[-] |
|
|
|
