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Totally Ridiculous
Posted On 05/19/2008 17:36:07 by wiiman - Read 2821 time(s)

A few days back I was playing a game over MWS as I usually do, when I witnessed something so painful my faith in the game was hurled out of control.


I was wielding my quite unusual World’s Finest deck against what seemed to be an X-Men Assemble deck. No, that’s not the part that threw me off, I actually don’t hate X-Men Assemble as a card like many others do. It was when we reached a later turn that sometime unusual happened.


After the match finished, discussion with my opponent ensued. I had discovered that he was playing this deck, the X-Men Assemble build that had won 4th place at the Chicago Mega-Weekend.

 

 

No, that’s not the part that threw me off either, I’ve come to play against many net decks and sometime like an X-Men Assemble deck is janky enough that it doesn’t bother me.


Anyway, on a late turn in the game my opponent recruited Havok, Age of Apocalypse. This, struck me as extremely unusual. He’s playing an X-Men Assemble deck, with Havok, Age of Apocalypse.

 

 

Hey, that’s a pretty good effect. Wait. Wait a second. That doesn’t have synergy with that deck. Or does it? After a few short moments of consideration. I realized that this was not right. This version of Havok does not work with X-Men Assemble. Rather, this one does.

 

 

In such a deck that revolves around X-Men Assemble, Havok, Unstable Son has a much greater synergy than Havok, Age of Apocalypse. A comparison:

  • One is on the X-Men team, while the other is on Horsemen of Apocalypse, so only one of them gains +1/+1 counters as he recovers.
  • One of them stuns himself, allowing him to be recovered and gain the +1/+1 counters easier.
  • The other one prevents himself from stunning, making it impossible to gain the +1/+1 counters from X-Men Assemble on your initiative.

Okay, you’ve figured it out by now right? My opponent that game had mistaken the one version of Havok, Age of Apocalypse, for the other one, Unstable Son. Nothing unusual, mistakes happen all the time, but wait. Check out the original decklist.

 

 

 

Havok, Age of Apocalypse was in the original decklist. (You can view it here on vssystem.com)

So, my point is the fact that my opponent was so hasty in his net decking, that he had lacked the thought of considering if the characters that he put it even looked right! In this case, he had put in a character that prevented his stun rather than inducing his own stun. By the way, during my match against his, I won by running my 7-drop Superman into his Havok, Age of Apocalypse. It was pretty cool, he was off-team, so he couldn’t even reinforce it.


So, leaving this entry, I have two points to make. First off, if you are going to copy somebody else completely, be sure that the version of each character makes sense, and that it all actually synergizes together. If you don’t understand why a card is in the deck you copy, they there’s a good chance that you won’t know how to use it during a game. All in all, just net deck properly.


Oh yeah, my second point. Have you seen the deck lists put up on vssystem.com? They are written out absolutely terribly. Did UDE get some magic player put it up or something? Apparently the people who put up those lists don’t know that “The Hellfire Club” is a location, or “Cable, Enchanted Son” doesn’t exist. Take a lot at it if you have the time, it's pretty simple to notice where the errors in the decklists are. Pretty much any card that isn't lit in blue has something wrong with it. Check out Krypto's version, or how they spelt Crime Syndicate of Amerika.


 

End Blog

wiiman

Tags: Advantage Armed Assemble Awe Awes Awesome Banlist Beast Big Bitterblossom

Related to: Vs System



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Viewing 1 - 9 out of 9 Comments

From: wiiman
05/23/2008 17:17:33

Yeah I hear ya man, netdecking all the way. But I'm sad to say, this player was no newbie. Check out the top 8 at Mega-Weekend if ya know what I mean. ;)

From: HomerJ
05/22/2008 09:14:48

Oh man is there egg on my face.  I assumed that the MAA Havok was X-men affiliated.  While I would stand behind my arguement if he were . . . he's not.  Wiiman, your assessment is correct.   Although I will say this:  For a beginning player, or a player who isn't skilled in deckbuilding, grabbing a netdeck is always the way to go.  In this case, I'm hoping the player draws Havok a couple times and says "Why is THIS guy in the deck?" You know, kind of like a skill tester.

Apologies for the earlier post.

 

(Oh, and I read EVERYTHING, so don't be to surprised to see a comment one in awhile.  It's just there are so many good articles and blogs and posts, that I can't find the time to comment on all of them.  Keep up the great work Wiiman!) 

From: Shadowtrooper
05/21/2008 22:47:40

I agree with wiiman and t_man. The deck doesn't have as many copies of MAA as it can have but the ones that are there do serve the purpose. Bishop looks for X-MA, Jean Grey is an early protection for X-MA, Wolverine needs no explaining, and Blink is also for recovery. You also have Healing Factor and Children of the Atom. You don't need to be a genius to figure that out. The fact that he uses MAA cards doesn't mean squat. If he wanted a character that couldn't be stunned while attacking he might as well went with Johnny Quick, at least he's concealed thus making it harder for your opponent to hit, if SKREEEEEE!!! comes his way he can always use PA as he did run 4 copies, and with Xavier's Institute drawing them was no problem.

 

Wiiman I try to see good and bad things in everything out there. The good things are there for you to enjoy and the bad things make me appreciate the good ones even more.  I don't intend on liking or disliking things in particular but the reality is that you like some stuff and you dislike other stuff.  The first blog I got to read about crazy decks and combos was good, but then when you wrote about broken cards again I just thought you sold yourself short, because all you see in every forum you go to is PA beats this, Omnipotence does this to PA and although it is true I like to read about new stuff like what you did here. I have told you that I think your a pretty smart player and you have good ideas but the thing is even when I'm nice to you all I get is bad vibes. If you really want my honest opinion on your next entry let me know, and I will. But if all you want is dish out more trash then forget it. Really what's up with all this hate?

From: wiiman
05/21/2008 18:43:10

Hj I have no idea how you managed to discover this entry, anyway I very strongly believe that someone who managed to get a top 8 spot at the Mega-Weekend would not use a character that is a low, off-team drop that only asks to be attacked multiple times each turn. He even takes away from the possibilities that your X-Men would stun and be able to recover.
For Trooper, I'm sure if you somehow managed to like this one you could give me a hand and tell me everything you hate on my next entry.
Greivous, my favourite was actaully Cable 6-drop. They put him as "Enchanted Son" rather than the "Askani'Son" or whatever. Kinda makes it think that one guy was yelling the cards and version and some MTG player had to type it up.

From: t_man
05/21/2008 18:24:08
HomerJ!? Hey, man!

I'm siding with wii on this one. Mind you, I'm no pro, but what makes more sense:

The guy who wrote up the decklists typed in Havok's version incorrectly and then some guy just netdecked it word for word, or...

Mickey (the guy who played the deck in the first place) actually wanted to play an off-team 2-drop that has no apparent place in the deck, is never going to be bigger than 3/3 (barring the single possible power-up), can't get reinforcement, and is really hard to take off of your own field? Like wii said -- he won 'cause he smoked Havok.

Not sayin' that wii's definitely right, but it sure makes sense to me.


From: HomerJ
05/21/2008 17:07:44

What makes you think that Havok was a mistake?  A 3/3 two-drop that can't be stunned while you have the initiative is a pretty strong character.  So it doesn't play well with X-Men Assemble.  The deck appears to just be a curve X-men deck that benefits from recovery.  Look at the list.  Sure there are cards like Wolvie, Blink, and CotA.  But there are also Jeans, Professor X, and Emma.  I think the guy designed the deck to play as many of his MAA cards as possible, and ended up with a solid curve/recovery deck.

I think you assume too much.



From: Grievous
05/21/2008 13:08:43

Oh man, going through the decklists is just rich. Thanks for giving me something new to do while I'm bored Wii . Right now, I'm a fan of:

Criminal Masterminind (just plain bad spelling)

Dr. Strange, Ally of Four (Ally of which four?)

Sub-Mariner, Uncertainty (My favorite. Dunno why, just highly amusing)

 

From: Shadowtrooper
05/21/2008 10:49:07

I have to admit I never really like your writing, not that it was badly written but the topics you chose didn't appeal that much to me as you didn't deviate from the topic to much. I have made it clear in the past to wiiman for all thosereading and wondering. 

 Today I couldn't be happier and pleased with what you have written about. It's something different, new and entertaining.  Like you, I also don't have a problem with people net decking, but when they copy a deck card for card without actually knowing what the card does or what it is there for is just plain awful. Also some decks lists have a few metagame choices in the mix that contribute nothing to the actual matagame you are playing in, thus do nothing to help you. 

I decided to take a look at the top 8 decks with the link you provided and I laughed a little. My favorite one was Lex Luthor, Megolomaniac. I envisioned him covered in Mego building blocks, too funny.

 Anyway good job on the blog, I really really enjoyed it.  

From: t_man
05/21/2008 10:33:12
Heh...that is kinda funny.


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