The Both Guns Edition
Characters:2 [MMK] Micro-Chip-Linus Lieberman
4 [MMK] Dagger-Child of Light
4 [DWF] Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend
2 [MOR] Invisible Woman-The Invisible Girl
2 [MEQ] Black Panther, Vibranium Vogue
2 [MOR] Mr. Fantastic-Reed Richards
1 [DOR] Shimmer-Selinda Flinders
1 [DOR] Commissioner Gordon-James Gordon
1 [MUN] Blade, Independent Contractor
1 [DOR] Roy Harper . Arsenal-Sharpshooter
1 [DOR] Garth . Tempest-Atlantean Sorcerer
1 [DOR] Dr. Light-Arthur Light
Plot Twists:
4 [MMK] Midnight Sons
4 [MOR] Cosmic Radiation
4 [MOR] A Child Named Valeria
1 [MOR] Press the Attack
2 [DOR] Fizzle
4 [MMK] Wild Ride
4 [DOR] Bat-Signal
2 [MEV] Common Cause - Team-Up
2 [MXM] Enemy Of My Enemy
2 [MCG] Pathetic Attempt
1 [MOR] Team Tactics
1 [MUN] Death Of The Dream
Equipment:
2 [DOR] Utility Belt
1 [MMK] War Wagon
1 [DGL] Catcher's Mitt, Construct
1 [MEX] Ultimate Nullifier, One-Way Trip
1 [MHG] Reality Gem - Infinity Gem
1 [MUN] Power Dampeners
*Why it's good*
The original cool, with so many answers very few questions can bother it as it grinds out its engine of free stuns and murder. However, Lex warrants an answer. The inclusion of Blade allows acces to S.H.I.E.L.D. without actually needing to team-up. This enables the use of Power Dampeners allowing you to neutralize Lex while setting up that all-important kill turn.Reality gem allows for some reusable non-plot twist-based resource killing which is very useful into that potent USB stall I tested against last night as bad press is a bad day. Of course the boost on Death of the dream is no laughing matter and the sole reason it exists in this deck.
Meanwhile Nullifier is absolutely amazeballs into Hulk, being able to negate his friends effects as they remove themselves from play, but essentially becomes the first Alfred search you make if you want any hope of stopping Miek from going off. and ignoring that essential catcher's mitt. The fact it also happens to pretty much stop all the other hulk related tricks is just a bonus.
*What it's lacking*
Quickvoltage is such a bad matchup against the standard guns it didn't feel worth thinning out the builds strong options to put a band-aid on a gunshout wound. Sure it would only cost me 2 cards, but in application, it just wasn't viable without the removal of one of the guns.
The Fantastic Fun Edition
Characters:2 [MMK] Micro-Chip-Linus Lieberman
4 [MMK] Dagger-Child of Light
4 [DWF] Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend
2 [MOR] Invisible Woman-The Invisible Girl
1 [DOR] Shimmer-Selinda Flinders
1 [DOR] Commissioner Gordon-James Gordon
2 [MOR] Mr. Fantastic-Reed Richards
1 [MUN] Dr. Strange, Secret Avenger
2 [MVL] Namorita, Atlantean Warrior Princess
1 [MXM] Black Panther-King of Wakanda
1 [MOR] Mr. Fantastic-Stretch
1 [MVL] Dr. Strange, Ally of The Four
Plot Twists:
4 [MMK] Midnight Sons
4 [MOR] Cosmic Radiation
4 [MOR] A Child Named Valeria
2 [DOR] Fizzle
4 [MMK] Wild Ride
4 [DOR] Bat-Signal
2 [MEV] Common Cause - Team-Up
2 [MCG] Pathetic Attempt
2 [MOR] Tech Upgrade
1 [MVL] Only Human
Equipment:
1 [MMK] War Wagon
1 [DGL] Catcher's Mitt, Construct
1 [MEX] Ultimate Nullifier, One-Way Trip
3 [MVL] Future Technology }
1 [MEQ] War Machine Armor, Unique
1 [MTU] Eye of Agamotto, Unique
1 [MHG] Reality Gem - Infinity Gem
The older vets among you will recall Dean Sohnle's Fantastic Fun build. A mono fantastic 4 deck that was among the first to ever use A Child Named Valeria to good effect in competitive play. In short, it ran a large pile of 3 cost or less fan 4 characters and used child to protect them while they used advanced hardware and flametrap to attack and burn without remorse or any serious penalty for that matter. On turn 5 Stretch would come in and make sure every single character got in on the burn action for a turn 5ish win. (although it could be noted that the deck could win much sooner)
With midnight sons and the alfred engine we can guarantee an optimal kill turn, at the small expense of speed, but even with resource hate, the deck can function fine as this variant only needs 1 team-up between fan 4 and gotham knights to really function. As a sort-of win-more condition i snuck a war machine armor in the build as well since dr. strange's 2 cost iteration brings avengers into the fold allowing for an easy common cause team-up and a potentially stupid stretch-infused kill turn. Strange's 6 cost version is just another excuse to activate everything one more time and of course fits in nicely. You just need to be aware of warmachine Armor's substantial cost shoudl you go that route. Eye of agamotto is free with a quick wild ride for the 2 drop if we see a burn-centric opposing build as well. (ironically child's absoute WORST matchup) but in this lazier build it doesn't feel like it loses anything to include.
*Why it's good*
The set-up is FAST for a combo stall engine considering the meta. Black panther is just stupid good here and makes you feel like you are running so much more equipment than you are. an alfred and a dagger in your opening hand will allow a turn 3 child (asuming no resource hate) and that'll at least give you one more turn when facing down a quickfate with a god-hand. Namorita digs for additional cosmic radiations or child's when you really need them too.
*What it's lacking*
No Lex counterplay aside from a single only human and it lacks the inclusion of Caliban for the more hardcore draw engines.
The Keyser Soze Edition
Characters:4 [MMK] Dagger-Child of Light
2 [MMK] Micro-Chip-Linus Lieberman
4 [DWF] Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend
2 [MOR] Invisible Woman-The Invisible Girl
2 [MOR] Mr. Fantastic-Reed Richards
2 [MVL] Namorita, Atlantean Warrior Princess
1 [DOR] Commissioner Gordon-James Gordon
1 [MUN] Dr. Strange, Secret Avenger
1 [MEV] Caliban - Pestilence
1 [DCL] Poison Ivy, Intoxicating
1 [DCL] Black Manta, Underwater Marauder
1 [MVL] Dr. Strange, Ally of The Four
Plot Twists:
4 [MVL] Wild Ride
4 [MMK] Midnight Sons
4 [MOR] A Child Named Valeria
4 [MOR] Cosmic Radiation
4 [DWF] Bat-Signal
2 [MCG] Pathetic Attempt
2 [DOR] Fizzle
2 [MXM] Enemy Of My Enemy
2 [MOR] Tech Upgrade
2 [MVL] Only Human
2 [MEV] Common Cause - Team-Up
Equipment:
1 [MHG] Reality Gem - Infinity Gem
1 [MTU] Eye of Agamotto, Unique
1 [DGL] Catcher's Mitt, Construct
1 [MEX] Ultimate Nullifier, One-Way Trip
1 [MEQ] War Machine Armor, Unique
1 [MMK] War Wagon
*Why it's good*
At the cost of the original guns (the entire teen titans and fearsome 5 affiliations removed) this version packs in every answer needed for the guantlet. The loss of Teen Titans however, allowed for some fun theory-crafting with Secret Society with the inclusion of Black manta as a direct Garth replacement, and Poison Ivy, allowing access to turns with multiple Alfreds at my disposal. At this point, Reality gem is still a slightly more consistent option than Chemo, but he hasn't been completely written-off just yet. The kill turn entirely focuses around War-Machine armor ideally equipped to Dr. Strange on a turn 6 initiative, for a shocking amount activations. (the perfect game would allow for 7 activations having placed all for a whopping 42 un-negatable damage, and up to 7 stuns while also decking them out. realistically, it is more like 4-5, which doesn't suck.)
Since war machine armor is a combat finish, Only human actually works just fine into the Lex, a surprisingly easy answer
*What it's lacking*
Well, to restate the obvious, it is missing a gun... or two. And reliese exclusively on war-machine armor to close out the game. This leaves it lacking into unique builds like Wolverine Direct with no threat onto the 3 drop. Deadshot could be an option and will be tested at some point over the next 24 hours to see if I can consistently stack the KO pile for him.While this build does contain the largest roster of pure answers, It has arguably the weakest endgame. of the others due to the fact that it's one gun, is both:
- Initiative based.
- Limited to the Combat Phase.
Both Issues that both guns has never historically struggled with and adding a new slew of cards that may hurt it. (Mr. Sinister, for example)
Now these are all child lock variants, and i realize some of you likely don't care about that. After all, there is a tremendous amount of selection when it comes to toolbox options, hell most of GA contenders ARE a toolbox of some degree. In my next post I will post a toolbox that has absolutely nothing to do with the lock, if only to show that i really am considering everything. I just felt that as a bit of a child-lock connaisseur these would warrant a look for those that are curious.
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