Deck Doctor: Lessons from the Champ

For a good long while now, I've been wrestling with just exactly HOW I should break into another season of Vs system related blog mayhem.

But first, I thought it might be a prudent tribute to do a unique Deck Doctor, as this week marks the passing of VS System's, well... ONLY Vs system World Champion.

Brian Eugenio passed away June 15th, 2020 at the age of 34.

Almost unexpectedly, I find myself more stricken with the sense of loss than i'd otherwise have anticipated. As I only met him on several occasions as we clashed cardboard in events and via the old forums. I'll never know if he enjoyed the spotlight that often focused on him as he found success competitively throwing down his cardboard better than others did, but it is not disputable that he was a VS System PARAGON. A universe unto itself. And the world feels smaller without him in it.

So I find myself searching for VS wisdom from the guy that often joked "I never win with good decks."

Clearly.

You just can't prep against Eugenio, guys.

So in my online wanderings, I found a single hit on the way-back machine of an article Brian wrote for Majestic's old blog. I realize that his title may be a bit on the nose, but even now, I am legitimately jealous with how his mind processes VS theory-crafting. You will be missed Brian.

I'll just let his article speak for itself.

May 27, 2008
The Funeral

by Brian Eugenio

My mentality for deck building is always fun, but effective. A cool concept or combo are always fun, but losing the game takes all that away. This time around I played a deck with an old concept that I wanted to make for a long time, but never got the win condition to work. With the release of DCL, I finally found a character to finish games.

The Funeral: 

Characters

• 4 Technarx,, Cyborg General
• 4 Klaw, Sonic Construct
• 4 Dr. Doom, Richards's Rival
• 4 Deadshot, Dead Aim
• 8 Moloids, Army
• 1 Titania, Temper Tantrum
• 1 Divinity, Vampiric General
• 1 Mr. Fantastic, Doom's Adversary
• 2 Solomon Grundy, Died on a Saturday
• 1 Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster
• 1 Mole Man, Moloid Master

  Plot Twists
  

• 4 The Enemy Within
• 4 For the Glory of Doom!, Team-Up
• 4 Unthinkable
• 3 Mask of Doom
• 4 Straight to the Grave
• 3 Doom Needs Only Doom
• 2 Pathetic Attempt
• 4 Enemy of My Enemy
• 1 Transmutation

The way the deck works is that it uses multiple copies of [Enemy Within] and chaining it so that it can bring [Solomon Grundy] back in play to use his effect again and again. Since [Enemy Within]'s trigger just stipulate that if any 3 or more Doom characters gets KO'd in a turn you get to bring one of those back into play. Now when there are multiples in play then you can chain your triggers. Let's say [Technarx] is in the KO'd pile and you have 2 [Enemy Within] in play. Since all effects are yours, you can put any effect on whatever order you want. You can put the 1st and 2nd [Enemy Within] first on your triggers then [Technarx] 3rd. The deck just aims to blur the lines on chaining effects because this deck does a lot of chaining on resolution of effects. Since the first few turns it seems like a [Doomed Earth] deck, it's a nice surprise for the opponent that it becomes a burn deck. Even if the burn aspect of the deck doesn't go as planned the deck, the deck can rely on its strong board presence and [Divinity].

The cards:

Technarx
This card is amazing in this deck. Since he can create a KO effect from the KO pile that means his effect is an advantage. While you can discard him for [Enemy of My Enemy] or use [Straight to the Grave] to get him to the KO pile, setting him in the resource row and replacing him with [Dr. Doom’s] ability makes him even better.

Klaw
I've always liked this guy even though he rarely sees tournament play. His KO ability means he makes the cut and he does give you a turn 1 5 ATK into your opponent. His dual affiliation makes it you can flip the Doom team-up without Secret Society on the board but that shouldn't come up too often.

Dr. Doom, Richards's Rival
THE MAN. He basically makes the deck work. When you play him he gets [Enemy Within] and then the madness begins. Since the deck aims to trigger [Enemy Within] on turn three, Dr. Doom will get these effects off a lot. After he initially fetches [Enemy Within] he can grab your team-up or an [Enemy of My Enemy] to search for [Solomon Grundy].

Deadshot, Dead Aim
This guy is KO fodder and an easy way to team-up. Turn 5 is probably the time you start running out of cards. He makes it so you can still KO 3 characters. An exhaust on your 3 drop, then KO him or your 4-drop, then KO or Grundy and KO him is already 3 KOs.

Moloids
These guys are just too amazing. Dr. Doom eats them early for card advantage and [Enemy Within]'s requirement. Board advantage will help in the rush match-ups and these guys do that and do it well.

Titania
I put her in because I wanted a 4-drop that has KO ability. She's huge when you use her ability and there’s always an opportunity to use it.

Divinity
When the combo isn't working out, he can salvage the game by putting your opponent in the losing side. He devours fate artifacts and any important drop that they may have.

Mr. Fantastic, Doom's Adversary
Where there is [Moloids] there’s Mr. Fantastic. His effect is too big of an advantage if you pull it off. There is nothing like a come into play and generating a +2 board advantage.

Solomon Grundy
You may not remember what he does so I'll give you a reminder. KO Solomon Grundy -> Target opponent loses 5 endurance, and you gain 5 endurance. That may look awful but not so much when you can do it 3-4 times a turn and keep him going into next turn. Yes folks I made a deck around Solomon Grundy. His endurance difference effect just puts your opponent in such a disadvantage that it’s tough to get out.

Mr. Mxyzptlk
This guy is in almost all my decks. Card advantage by using discard effects is just insane and he's Secret Society, so that’s a plus.

Mole Man
I can't find room for 4 but he is in there. A turn 4 under drop with him gets you another [Moloids] and his replace effect may come in handy.

The Enemy Within
This never got the press it deserved. This card is one of those cards that need to be used and abused. So many things I tried to do with this card. Doom fetching [Time Thief] over and over is one of the decks I tried and failed over the months that this card came out. I know I didn't find all the cards that work with this card but I am sure after you read this article you'll sit and try and find more ways to use this card.

For the Glory of Doom, Team-Up
It KO's and crosses over, what else do you need from one card?

Unthinkable
This card made the cut because it’s a great combat card AND it KO's. I know the KO is supposed to be a penalty for attacking or defending (+4 ATK or +2 DEF), but in this deck all the effects on the card are all positives.

Doom Only Needs Doom
This is the same as [Unthinkable], and if an opponent tries to go pump wild on one of your characters you can always KO the defending character to negate all his pumps.

Mask of Doom
Dr. Doom must enter play on turn 3, no question. It is another form of search and KO for the team. The requirement to KO a character isn't team-stamped to the Doom affiliation so that’s a plus. This is a great card for the deck all around.

Straight to the Grave
This is a powerful of a search for the deck. It gets you Technarx, Mxy, or Moloids. Plus it’s an extra search for a non-character to thin out the deck by 1 is always a welcome bonus effect.

Pathetic Attempt
This was a late inclusion to the deck. I was worried about [Have a Blast] on turn five on the team-up so I included it. It can be searched out by Dr. Doom and he makes it so you don't have to run 4 copies.

Enemy of My Enemy
This is self-explanatory.

Transmutation, Magic
This card is to stop [Threat Neutralized] or [Omnipotence]. Maybe it can be increased to 3 by cutting [Pathetic Attempt], but I’m still not sure.

Chaining Madness:
Since trigger effects like [Enemy Within] goes on the chain as your effect as I said earlier you can chain it anyway you want. Let's say you've played [Unthinkable] and Dr. Doom’s effect on turn three. [Technarx] is in the KO pile as well. When [Enemy Within] triggers, so does [Technarx] and [Unthinkable]. You can chain [Enemy Within] first, then [Technarx], then [Unthinkable]. First in last out rule says [Unthinkable] will trigger first. That'll be the second KO of the turn, the first being Dr. Doom's effect. [Technarx] will trigger and give you the 3rd KO. When [Enemy Within] triggers, it will recognize the 3 KO'd characters and trigger its effect.

Multiple Enemy Within
Now when there are 2-4 [Enemy Within] in play, that’s when the deck shines. chaining all the [Enemy Within] at the start of recovery phase:
Enemy Within #1
Enemy Within #2
Enemy Within #3
Enemy Within #4
So when the first Enemy triggers and puts Dr. Doom in play. Dr. Doom will trigger and you search for another [Enemy Within] or get Grundy into play. Now since VS lets you chain off resolution of effects. You can KO Doom to his own effect or KO Solomon before the 2nd [Enemy Within] trigger. The 2nd [Enemy Within] will see all the KO's in the turn even though most of them are out play at this time. So, you can bring in Dr. Doom or Solomon. After which rinse and repeat for every [Enemy Within].

Turn Rundown
Early turns is just [Moloids] and [Klaw]. Try to do some damage but it shouldn't be too much. Turn 3 is where the deck gets going. Play Dr. Doom and search for the [Enemy Within]. Use the various effects in the deck to KO 3 characters (i.e. Dr. Doom’s effect, [Doom Only Needs Doom], [Unthinkable], etc.). When Doom comes back into play, search for the 2nd [Enemy Within]. Turn 4 is almost the same as turn 3 but this time you have 2 [Enemy Within] so you can search twice with [Dr. Doom], fetching a 3rd [Enemy Within] and the 4th or the team-up going into turn 5. Turn 5 is basically attack/defend as normal, but now you have the combo going gaining 15-20 endurance a turn while burning your opponent. This should put you in a huge advantage.

Modern Age Match-Ups: 

Checkmate/Villians United
Everyone’s favorite team-up with Checkmate. The main problem with this match-up is [Threat Neutralized]. Some players don't play it, some players do, and if it does show up then [Enemy Within] becomes utterly useless. [Transmutation] becomes the only answer in that situation. Other than that I think if the deck sets-up Solomon, then it can put the endurance so far apart that CM/VU cannot catch up.

Kree/Villians United
Erik Cabanero's mad creation has always been in my mix of best decks that are unfair. This match-up comes down to the Kree player playing Lt. Kona Lor over and over and destroying the row. If that's the case then bring back Moloids and Deadshot to clear some field. Keeping up board with Kree is always a lost cause but you just have to try and fight your way out.

Inhumans/Sinister Syndicate
Quicksilver and friends are always the fastest deck out there in Silver Age. My only hope is that the opponent doesn't kill on turn 3. The Funeral can put out as many characters as this deck can so clear the board and get to Grundy. He will save the day with the endurance gain part of his effect and set the endurance too far for syndicate to catch up.

Deadshot/Fate Artifacts
Deadshot decks can curve up in different ways, but it always involve the fate artifacts. Divinity eats fates, and if a certain king fetches [The Alley], the safest bet is to get to [Solomon Grundy] and burn them. Deadshot decks can play Mike Brenden style with [Chemo] and [Poison Ivy] ruining the day. If thats the case then just plow through with the combat pumps and try and win that way.

This is my first article for Patrick's site. Enjoy it and hopefully I can break more cards in the future for you guys to play casually, to make your friends cry, or win in local or big tournaments. I always encourage players to tweak the decks I write about and/or change it to their liking. What I feel comfortable with may not be the way you'd like it. Well that’s it for me this time around.

Until next time,
Brian Eugenio