For a couple of weeks we have been getting a glimpse into the future set of Vs. System, MUN. We have been showed a few Captain America, Hulk, Thunderbolts and S.H.I.E.L.D. cards. While most ofthem were good I must admit that only the Illuminati mechanism demanded my full attention. Lets be honest most Affiliations come with preset strategies, but the Illuminati don’t even have a team, they just have each other.

The first thing we have to do in order to get some sanity in the chaos of affiliations that the Illuminati have is find the most common affiliation between them. This is going to be hardsince we haven’t been showed all the character cards that are available for us to use in order to fully exploit the Illuminati. But for arguments sake I decided to check again on my steps and here’s what I found form the link: http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/vs/en/news/article.aspx?aid=4178.

Black Bolt™

Protector of the Space Gem

Cost: 3

MUN-229

Dr. Strange™

Protector of the Soul Gem

Cost: 4

MUN-230

Iron Man™

Protector of the Reality Gem

Cost: 5

MUN-231

Mr. Fantastic™

Protector of the Power Gem

Cost: 2

MUN-232

Professor X™

Protector of the Mind Gem

Cost: 3

MUN-233

Sub-Mariner™

Protector of the Time Gem

Cost: 3

MUN-234

Ok first they are all numbered in sequence, and you know what that means, yep same affiliation, by looking at the Iron Man preview we can all rest assured they are Infinity Watch characters. What does that mean? Well for Silver Age these guys just got two Tutors in the form of Gathering the Watch form MHG and the new Secret Government form MUN, and that is without counting Heroes of Two Worlds, or Mobilize. Now you might think that Mobilize might not be a good idea but with all these characters sharing an affiliation it is possible to use it, still to keep it simple and cost effective we can cut it down to 8 tutors none of them rare. Gathering the Watch requires you to reveal an Infinity Gem card and that is fine. Ego Gem, Mind Gem, and Reality Gem can all find a home in an Illuminati/ Infinity Watch deck, especially if you play Pip The Troll.

Now everyone has been begging to get a readying mechanism due to the fact that that most of the abilities or costs require you to exhaust Illuminati characters. No preview has yet been offered of such a card leaving you with the thought of using Dr. Strange, Ally of the Four as a Cosmic Radiation for the team. A very good idea mind you, the only thing I don’t like about it is the fact that you have to wait until the sixth turn to fully abuse the “team’s” so far previewed abilities. Now considering the fact that I can pretty much Team-up the Infinity Watch with any team out there and keep my Illuminati theme going on, why not Team-up with JSA and kill the opposition 2 turns earlier than expected using The Rock of Eternity?

Here are a couple of fellows that can help from JSA:

Westley Dodds The Sandman, Golden Age Gunman

Jack Knight Starman, Knight Past

Thunderbolt,Yz

Jakeem Williams, JJ Thunder

Kate Spencer Manhunter, Fearless Renegade

The best bet here is Westly Dodds,his ability to stall a bit fits in very nicely with what Iron Man can do, Thunderbolt might be very impressive in the deck since he can get you any card that you might need, by discarding either Jakeem Williams or extra cards gained by the Ego Gem.

I know that I’m ambitious in trying to break the Illuminati theme before it’s even out so there might be a couple of problems with my strategy. Underdropping might not be a bad idea since there are three 3 cost characters in the Infinity Watch / Illuminati roster, and with Iron Man in the mix it can work very well. Excessive use of Iron Man’s ability will deplete all of your opponents Pathetic Attempts, thus allowing you to play cards like The Infinity Gauntlet, and wreck havoc. 

1^st turn Jakeem

2^nd turn Mr. Fantastic, Ego Gem or Mind Gem start drawing like crazy, team-up

3^rd turn any of the 3^rdturn Illuminati, hopefully Black Bolt will be concealed thus helping you maintain characters around.

4^th turn Dr. Strange

5^th turn Iron Man, and start stalling with his ability and The Rock of Eternity, 4 characters every turn now if you have maintained your field.

6^th turn Prof. X and Submariner, and wreck havoc

In paper it sounds good, too good I might say. No testing has been done on this so it might be just an idea that sounds to good but performs really badly. Anyway I want to hear your ideas, to know if you see something that I might be missing. So thanks in advance to those of you willing to help.

Related to: Vs System

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