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Today I will be writing about a deck that I think works EXTREMELY well, specifically in the Bring Your Own Team format. For those of you who are unaware Bring Your Own Team is a Golden Age format where you build a deck of atleast 60 cards and every card in the deck must reference the team you have chosen to build or not reference a team at all.
Now that we have that out of the way I will introduce my deck which I like to call Hulk Stall. Very simple and to the point but it is what it does and it does it well. Every deck I have come across has had hard time dealing with the amount of defensive tricks this deck can pump out. Avengers Reservist, MKKO, Thunderbolts, Brotherhood, Checkmate, etc…just can’t deal with it. I have almost all the answers for any deck that comes along that I can think of that I will see in this format. Of course there will be the surprise decks and I could lose to them but for the most part I believe the deck will be able to handle itself without much problem. Here is the build that I will be using:
Locations:
4x Imperial Dreadnaught
2x The Great Arena
Characters:
4x Elloe Kaifi, Slave Of The Empire
4x Rick Jones, Monster's Best Friend
4x Hiroim, The Shamed
4x Hulk, Green Scar
4x Hulk, Gladiator
4x Hulk, The Green King
1x Hulk, Sakaar'son
1x Hulk, Worldbreaker
Plot Twist:
4x Bloodsport
4x Hulk Red
4x Acrobatic Dodge
4x Against All Odds
4x Warbound To The End
4x Pathetic Attempt
2x Omnipotence
2x Righteous Anger
Let us go ahead and break the deck down and explain why certain cards are in the deck:
Locations:
4x Imperial Dreadnaught – The reason there are four of this card is because it is a key addition to the deck. I have had times where I actually drew two Elloe Kaifi and one Imperial Dreadnaught by turn two. I stun her and remove her from the game with Imperial Dreadnaught at the end of combat. Turn two I recruit the other Elloe I had in hand and repeat the same process I did on one if my opponent has no characters that were able to stun her. Now for the rest of the game my opponents will have to deal with the fact that my Hulks are +2/+2. Imperial Dreadnaught also gives me the ability to gain endurance each turn if I hit Hiroim on turn 3.
2x The Great Arena – There isn’t much to say about this card other than it is great for a Hulk stall deck. While it is a great
card though I found it not to be a necessity to hit which is why I run only two as I feel the rest of the deck spaces were needed for more important cards.
Characters:
4x Elloe Kaifi, Slave Of The Empire – She is a beast in this deck. She makes it even harder for my opponents to try and stun my Hulks. Four of her is a necessity to the deck and I would rather hit two of her by turn two than her on one and Rick Jones on two.
4x Rick Jones, Monster's Best Friend – There are only 18 cards in the entire deck that do not mention Hulk. That means the odds are that when I use Rick Jones I will hit a card that can go to my hand. Extra cards are never a bad thing.
4x Hiroim, The Shamed – He grants Invulnerability to my Hulks. I can’t even begin to think of how many ways this is great for this deck. For the few times Hulk might actually get stunned by one of my opponent’s characters, Hiroim will save me 4, 5, 6, or even 7 endurance. Not only that when you mix Hiroim with Imperial Dreadnaught I can possibly GAIN endurance each turn.
4x Hulk, Green Scar – First off I want to say that this guy is WAAAYYYYY overpriced but you know what his effect is killer in a Hulk stall deck. He wipes out all those pesky two and below drops that are trying to swarm the board. He also sets up for a nasty interaction with the next drop.
4x Hulk, Gladiator – This guy’s boost is where the deck just takes control. Yes a Pathetic Attempt against his boost sucks but you have really not lost anything because you were going to have to get rid of the 4-Drop anyway. Not only is his boost nice his stats are above curve also. Not to mention one Elloe and you have got yourself an 11/11, dare I say it, “Heavy Hitter”.
4x Hulk, The Green King – If 5-Drop Hulk is where the deck just takes control this guy is where it simply says to the opponent pack up your belongings and move to the next match please. With his boost he is a 18/18 6-Drop. With a single Elloe we have a 19/19 6-Drop. You mix Bloodsport in with anyone gutsy enough to team attack him and you are going to wipe the board clean with this guy. I will say it here and now. I have never lost a game with this deck where this guy’s boost resolved and him get the counters.
1x Hulk, Sakaar'son – He is in the deck for only one reason. He is here just in case I come across any other stall decks. He mops the floor with other stall decks. Especially if I hit Righteous Anger and Imperial Dreadnaught on turn seven. That sets the opponent back to five resources clearing the way for an easy win via my eight drop.
1x Hulk, Worldbreaker – This man is a game ender if there ever has been one. The fact that you can use his effect outside of the combat phase makes him so deadly it is ridiculous.
Plot Twist:
4x Bloodsport – This is the Reset for any Hulk deck whenever there is a single attack being made on Hulk and the cards gets even deadlier when your opponent team attacks. This card is definitely a four of in any Hulk build.
4x Hulk Red – In this build where I will very rarely have more than one character out on the field this card is a must. Plus four defense is pretty hard core, especially when mixed with the following defense cards.
4x Acrobatic Dodge – It has been a staple in many stall decks since the beginning of Vs and it is a staple in this deck as it can easily turn an attack in my favor.
4x Against All Odds – If Acrobatic Dodge made it into the deck why not the new and improved Acrobatic Dodge. This bad boy can be used on defense OR offense which just makes it deadly.
4x Warbound To The End – There really isn’t much explanation to be given about this card. When a team has their own tutor I would be a fool not to use it.
4x Pathetic Attempt – This card is in here for two reasons. One reason it is in the deck is to protect my stunned characters. The second reason it is in my deck is to protect my resources that I do not want going anywhere.
2x Omnipotence – This card is mainly in here to call out Pathetic Attempt. That way if the time comes that I need to blow up some resources via Hulk, Sakaar'son they can’t PA the targeting.
2x Righteous Anger – This card is in here mainly for the non-target effect of the card. Since I am not that concerned with attacking until later I will use this card earlier in the game to stop an effect from KO’ing or removing a Hulk I control from the game. Don’t get me wrong as double attacking is never bad if the opportunity presents itself.
In closing I have to say that the deck is pretty straight forward but if you have any questions about what to do in certain situations or why certain cards did not make it into the build, by all means feel free to PM or email me and I will answer any questions you might have. I appreciate you taking the time to read over my article and I hope I have given you a new idea of what to take to your BYOT.
Kj
To start this preview off let us reminisce of what I would like to call the middle ages of Vs. How many people can think back and remember what you felt when you saw the deck AGL after the DJL set became legal? I know I got sick to my stomach then ran out and built it as fast as I could. I had to see this sadistic 1-Drop killing machines in action at my finger tips. It was a thing of beauty and unfairness to be a victim of the deck whenever it had a "God" draw. Back in the day when Turn 4 kills were extremely rare, Turn 5 maybe but not Turn 4, this deck provided that ability with a fair amount of ease. I remember my close online friend Guglio wouldn't even play me on MWS if I used the deck as that is how much he disliked it. Fast-forward to present day while I present you with The Pact, Army: 
To point out the obvious these bad boys are 4/4 1-Drops that don't KO at the start of the recovery phase like the old Anti-Green Lantern, Army guys. This in turn makes them a rather nasty threat as you could have as many as 3 of them on your side of the field by the start of combat on Turn 2. Do the math and that is 12 endurance worth of smack down before any pumps on one turn. If you have 3 out that means you obviously recruited one on Turn 1 and if your opponent missed you have already hit them for at least 4. If they have a bad draw and also miss their 2-Drop or they are playing a concealed deck, then BEFORE any pumps you are causing 16 endurance loss to your opponent in two turns. As you can imagine with a little deck tweaking you could cause some serious damage within 3-4 turns.
The only thing AGL had going for them though that made the Turn 4 kill possible was the recursion effect via Felix Faust, Infernal Dealmaker that brought them back from the KO Pile. While this effect made the kill possible it was inconsistent to say the least as you had no way to search for Felix Faust because he was unaffiliated. So what if the mad scientist behind this set gave us the ability to recur our oversized 1-Drops removed from the game back into play. Well I have the privilege of presenting you with such a card.
I give you Karu-Sil, Savage:
To start off her preview I want to notify everyone that there will be a correction of her text shown in the FAQ and she will read:
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Quote:
At the start of the combat phase, you may put a character card you own with a cost of 1 or less from the removed from game zone into your front row. If you do, at the start of the recovery phase this turn, remove that character from the game.
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Not only does she recur any character with a cost of one or less back into play from your removed from game zone, she does it every turn. So now The Pact has a team affiliated character that can pull them back into play if they do happen to get stunned on Turns 1 or 2, which more than likely at least one would be stunned by Turn 3 making her effect useful. Yes, she does not put three of The Pact back into play BUT she does start the recurring one turn earlier than Faust which means by the time you would have had the opportunity to use Faust in the old AGL build Karu-Sil would have CONSISTANTLY pulled two The Pact back into play. This is only one shy of what Faust could pull off which in my book for the consistency Karu and The Pact offer I will take it. Then you also have to think that AGL could have been victim to someone targeting one of the AGL you were going to put into play from your KO pile with an effect removing them from the KO Pile some way. No card at this time of writing allows you to target a removed from game card you own to put it into another zone. This means once again you can consistently use her effects Turn 3 and up without fearing something messing it up. Lastly being a 5/3 Concealed-Optional does not hurt at all either.
In closing I have to say that I can't wait to see what other cards the DCU development team has come up with, as Karu-Sil and The Pact will be causing some serious beat down.
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