The 2023 VS Online Championship Invitational!

 

 The invitational for 2023 has been split into two separate deck-building challenges!  As a result each round of matches will alternate between the formats!

CONGRATULATIONS to Jim  Bishop for pulling out the victory crowning himself the
VS 2023 League CHAMPION!

Wild 8 DECKLISTS

This format was dictated by each player's selection of a top set to use. In addition all banned cards were clear to play without restrictions. The 8 final sets are:

MAV
MEV
MOR
MTU
MXM
DCR
DGL
DJL

Alexander Hancock - Bosom Buddies
Andre Castillo - Multiple Man Turbo Syndicate
Norman Halimsetiawan - GLEE
Jim Bishop - TNB Reservist
Cesar Rodil - The New Syndicate
Ankit Kavi - No Skill Exiles
Aaron Mead - Florinfinite
Wesley Nichol - Combex

Ordered Monk DECKLISTS

A simpler format, all submissions can't include cards from MEV, nor can they use common cards. All applicable banlists apply.

Alexander Hancock - Sniper Shot
Andre Castillo - Multiple Man Syndicate Rush 2.0
Norman Halimsetiawan - Counterpunch Control
Jim Bishop - Secret Society Utility
Cesar Rodil - TNA
Ankit Kavi - Trinity
Aaron Mead - TNA
Wesley Nichol - Money.dec

Wesley Nichol - Money.dec (Ordered Monks)

MONEY DOT DEC

CHARACTERS
4x Tim Drake - Robin, Titan in Command
3x Ragman, Patchmonger

2x Batman, Problem Solver
4x Batman, Founding Member

4x Wonder Woman, Ambassador of Peace
2x The Captain, Can't Remember His Real Name

4x Superman, Metropolis Marvel

3x Batman, Cape and Cowl

1x Barbara Gordon - Oracle, Inside Information
1x Superman, Founding Member

1x Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian

PLOT TWISTS
4x Bat-Signal
3x Carrying the Torch
3x Indestructible
3x From the Darkness
4x Savage Beatdown
4x At Their Finest
4x Marvel Team-Up
3x Brains and Brawn

3x Only Human 

LOCATIONS
2x The Watchtower 

EQUIPMENT
2x Lasso of Truth 

Wes is just a nifty nifty fella. However he often builds lists that I'm sure he submits just to make me crazy. Once again electing to submit a list I find myself VEHEMENTLY disagreeing with on search options.
You are killin me here, Wes. God dammit you could have had everything. In what universe do you choose bat-signal in a list that's KNOWN for it's crazy use of Wonder Woman? you cant fetch any possible 4 drop in a JLA money.dek list without a team-up? I mean dude is Batman even worth it?

You do this EVERY SINGLE TIME. We talked about this. You said you'd do better. Clearly you aren't putting as much into this relationship as I am. Why even run a team-up to "enable" a sub-par searcher? You could have just slotted 4 JLA fetchers, skipped the teamup and had *GASP* a CONSISTENT LIST. OMG whats the worst thing that would have happened there? It'd Get you WINS. Missing the boat on Bring it on and supplementary searchin an aggro format?
This weekend binge drinking while deckbuilding has to stahp.

God dammit you could have had it all, Wes.
Fuck.

Wesley Nichol - COMBEX (Wild 8)

COMBEX 

CHARACTERS
4x Blink, Earth-295

4x Black Thorn, Elizabeth Thorne
4x Puppet Master, Philip Masters
1x Gambit, Le Diable Blanc
2x Caliban, Pestilence

4x Ahmed Samsarra, White King

4x Siryn, Sonic Scream
1x Jean Grey, Jean Grey-Summers

1x Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff

4x Huntress, Reluctant Queen
1x Strong Guy, Guido Carosella

PLOT TWISTS
4x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Straight to the Grave
1x Divided We Stand, Team-Up
1x Here Comes Tomorrow, Team-Up
4x Null Time Zone 

LOCATIONS
3x Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
3x Panoptichron
1x Slaughter Swamp
1x Avalon Space Station
4x Brother I Satellite
4x Checkmate Safe House, Team-Up 

Phoning it in, Wes abandoned all hope of an exiles-level competitive Hellfire club or Underworld list and nabbed an infinite contender. The good? Huntress to tech against warp shards. The bad? Needing a duplicate Black thorn shifted. In a typical combex this would be achieved with the a finer world after an early teamup with blink and checkmate. But Wes elected to do it the hard way. Meaning, turn 5 at the soonest. Assuming puppet master can allow it to live that long. Should be interesting to see how things shake up.

Alexander Hancock - Sniper Shot (Ordered Monks)

 Sniper Shot

CHARACTERS
4x Dagger, Child of Light
4x Black Widow, Femme Fatale
4x Punisher, Judge

2x Punisher, Secret Avenger
4x Professor Emil Hamilton - Ruin, Power Suit

3x The Captain, Can't Remember His Real Name
1x James Barnes - Winter Soldier, Out in the Cold

1x Spider-Man, Secret Avenger

1x Human Torch, Herald
1x Holocaust, Nemesis
1x Human Torch, Fiery Friend

1x Punisher, Angel of Death

1x Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch

1x Galactus, Devourer of Worlds

1x The Beyonder, Inhuman

PLOT TWISTS
3x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Wild Ride
4x A Clash of Worlds
1x Superhuman Registration Act, Team-Up
2x Omnipotence
1x Underground Movement, Team-Up
1x Teamwork
3x Uncertain Legacy
4x Sniper Shot
1x Crisis on Infinite Earths, Team-Up
4x Carrying the Torch
2x Gah Lak Tus!, Ultimates
1x State of the Union 

Do you like MURDER? 
Do you want to eat curve decks for breakfast?
Do you want to laugh as your opponent stops curving ENTIRELY just to pray they can keep something on their board?
Well is this the deck for you!
a standard turn 4 is just a WILDLY inappropriate amount of punishers to hit that threshold of 3+. This enables 1 ko per turn for the rest of the game and every 3rd turn, 2 KOs that turn.
Once the KO train is set up Gah Lak Tus! starts forcing you to shred your resources while your opponent tosses one of their many 1 drops. This is a great list.

Alexander Hancock - Bosom Buddies (Wild 8)

 Bosom Buddies

CHARACTERS
4x Moonstar, Danielle Moonstar
4x Blink, Earth-295

4x Cable, Soldier X
4x Caliban, Pestilence

4x Deadpool, Earth-5021
4x Vision, Earth-10101

4x Cable, Dayspring

PLOT TWISTS
4x Black Box 
4x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Flying Kick
4x Bosom Buddies
4x Windstorm
4x Techno-Organic Virus
4x We Can Rebuild Him
4x Cutting Loose 

Bro, uh.... mistakes were made. This list has no team-ups.
Making this a Deadpool/Cable Bosom Buddies team attack deck THAT CAN'T TEAM ATTACK.
It just doesn't work as intended. However the sheer mass of those pumps could hypothetically carry it into a win. So go uh, with God my friend.

Andre Castillo - Multiple Man Syndicate Rush 2.0 (Ordered Monks)

Multiple Man Syndicate Rush 2.0

CHARACTERS
4x Lizard, Voracious Predator
2x Mendel Stromm, Robot Master
2x Tinkerer, Phineas Mason
1x Basilisk, Basil Elks
1x Tombstone, Lonnie Lincoln
1x Speed Demon, Whizzer
20x Multiple Man - Jamie Madrox, Army

1x Answer, Aaron Nicholson

4x Carnage, Psychopath

PLOT TWISTS
4x Charge!
4x Spider Hunt
4x Legacy of Evil

LOCATIONS
4x Ravencroft Institute
4x Doc Ock's Lab
4x Birthing Chamber

The only thing better than bringing a list once, is bringing it twice. but as you'll see Andre Inceptioned the hell out of that statement, bringing this list THREE times. All in on the Multiple Man Syndicate Train, it'll be interesting to see if he falls into any tougher pairings or if he can ride "gofast.dek" into the sunset.

Andre Castillo - Multiple Man Turbo Syndicate (Wild 8)

 Multiple Man Turbo Syndicate

CHARACTERS
4x Lizard, Voracious Predator
4x Slyde, Jalome Beacher
1x Basilisk, Basil Elks
1x Vulture, Aerial Stalker
1x Razorfist, Sociopathic Mercenary
1x Fusion, Markley
20x Multiple Man - Jamie Madrox, Army

4x Carnage, Psychopath

PLOT TWISTS
4x Charge!
4x Trial by Fire
4x Spider Hunt
4x Legacy of Evil

LOCATIONS
4x Ravencroft Institute
4x Birthing Chamber

Andre submitted this exact list (almost) in an earlier event. It goes real fast. like REALLY. But apparently he had like... stuff to do and opted to submit it again. fair play considering of all the contenders, i half expected Andre to cave and just run spider-exiles.

Norman Halimsetiawan - Counterpunch Control (Ordered Monks)

 Counterpunch Control

CHARACTERS
1x Roy Harper - Speedy, Mercurial Marksman
1x Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster

2x Shadowcat, Ultimates
1x Nocturne, Talia Wagner
1x Yelena Belova - Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. - HYDRA

2x Bullseye, #1 with a Bullet
2x Spider-Girl, Daughter of Spider-Man
1x Blade, Independant Contractor
1x Ilsa Haupstein, Great Heart

1x Master Man, Max Lohmer - Raid
1x Grigori Rasputin, True Father
1x Abyss, Age of Apocalypse
1x Silver Sable, World's Deadliest Mercenary
1x Sinestro, Yellow Lantern

2x Cyclops, Ultimates
1x Firestar, Hot Stuff
1x Red Shift, Rift Walker
1x Mr. Sinister, Visionary Geneticist

1x Natasha Romanoff - Black Widow, KGB Killer
1x Holocaust, Nemesis

1x Spider-Man, Stark's Protégé

1x The Sentry, Mighty Avenger

PLOT TWISTS
4x Superhuman Registration Act, Team-Up
1x Total Anarchy
2x Teamwork
4x Savage Beatdown
2x Big Leagues
4x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Mobilize
3x Straight to the Grave
1x Omnipotence
1x Death of the Dream
1x Only Human

LOCATIONS
1x Sewer System
2x Avalon Space Station
2x Soul World
1x Stryker's Island

EQUIPMENT
1x Reality Gem, Infinity Gem 

 

This list just does not care.
it enters with no real plan other than set up SHRA. The rest, in his typical Norman Style, is to fetch and play whatever answer card will make you lose faith in your your god the quickest. want to swing? he has stall. COmbo effects? he has effect negation. Repeatable clutch character removals, a wall of def in master man total anarchy and early game 1 drop hate? Swarm board wipes? This list is gonna get rid of your stuff. and then ANSWER your attempt to do other stuff.
The downside? An utterly one-sided leaning into its teamup. Kill the teamup and put this list on the back foot.

Norman Halimsetiewan - GLEE (Wild 8)

 GLEE

CHARACTERS
1x Salaak, Green Lantern of Slyggia
1x Sonar, Dastardly Discord
4x Vision, Earth 10101
1x Arisia, Green Lantern of Graxos IV
1x G'Nort, Green Lantern of G'Newt
1x Black Hand, Dark-Hearted Villain
2x Caliban, Pestilence
1x Major Disaster, Paul Booker
4x Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern
1x Olapet, Green Lantern of Southern Goldstar
4x Dr. Light, Master of Holograms
3x Malvolio, Lord of the Green Flame
1x Oliver Queen - Green Arrow, Emerald Archer
1x Rot Lop Fan, F-Sharp Bell of the Obsidian Deeps
2x Katma Tui, Green Lantern of Korugar
1x Gorilla Grodd, Simian Mastermind
1x Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar
1x Guy Gardner, Egomaniac
1x Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas
1x Mogo, The Living Planet
1x Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur

PLOT TWISTS
1x Hard Travelling Heroes
1x Rain of Acorns, Construct
1x Breaking Ground, Construct
2x Lantern's In Love, Construct
3x Null Time Zone
4x The Ring Has Chosen
3x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Cover Fire
3x We Can Rebuild Him

LOCATIONS
1x Birthing Chamber
1x Avalon Space Station

EQUIPMENT
1x Catcher's Mitt, Construct
1x Chopping Block, Construct 

 

Going fanboy, Norman dropped an ancient list from aeons lost. massive utility and consistency rolled into one ball of green and yellow willpower. The hardest part about playing this list will be remembering what options are available at any given time. (It's almost ALL of them) This can force a player to lose entirely on the merits of decklist memory and is the kind of list that no matter the loss, the pilot can only blame themselves, as the outplay existed SOMEWHERE in the list.

Jim Bishop - Secret Society Utility (Ordered Monks)

Secret Society Utility

CHARACTERS
3 [DCL] Chemo, Toxic Waste
3 [DCL] The Riddler, Riddle Me This
1 [DCL] Cheetah, Barbara Minerva

2 [DCL] Deadshot, Floyd Lawton
2 [DCL] Peter Merkel <> Ragdoll, Malleable Miscreant
2 [DCL] Charaxes, Moth Monster

4 [DCL] Poison Ivy, Intoxicating

1 [DCL] Sinestro, Yellow Lantern
3 [DJL] Lex Luthor, Criminal Genius

1 [DCL] Solomon Grundy, Died on a Saturday
3 [DCL] Black Manta, Underwater Marauder
1 [MVL] Mr. Sinister, Visionary Geneticist

2 [DCL] Mr. Freeze, Cold Blooded
1 [MCG] Human Torch, Herald

1 [DCL] Doomsday, Engine of Destruction

PLOT TWISTS
1 [DCL] Master Plan
1 [MAV] Null Time Zone
4 [DLS] Mobilize
2 [MCG] Omnipotence
4 [DCL] Unnatural Selection
4 [DCL] Straight to the Grave
1 [MUN] Death of the Dream
2 [MTU] Against All Odds
2 [MTU] Big Leagues

LOCATIONS
2 [DWF] Striker's Island
2 [DCL] Birthing Chamber
3 [MOR] Avalon Space Station
2 [DCL] Hidden Hq 

Ah yes Secret Society Utility. While i am simply left to question the exclusion of some otherwise considered staples, it is a solid take on utility in a format full of questions. It should absolutely crush combo lists like combex or anything else relying on its support row, but may falter into rush, considering most of the list is either hidden or understatted. I fear the lack of king shark as a tanky turn 3 backup option and lack of sinister will have the notable heavy lists just roll over it. If it can survicve turn 5 and later its KO control should help steal the game. This one will be very matchup dependant.

Jim Bishop - TNB Reservist (Wild 8)

 TNB Reservist

CHARACTERS
4 [MXM] Rem-Ram-Acolyte
4 [MXM] Kleinstock Brothers-Acolyte
4 [MEV] Tempo - Heather Tucker
4 [MEV] Mystique - Raven

4 [MEV] Unuscione - Carmella Unuscione
4 [MXM] Amelia Voght-Acolyte
1 [MXM] Chrome-Acolyte

3 [MXM] Joanna Cargill-Acolyte
3 [MXM] Senyaka-Acolyte

3 [MXM] Spoor-Acolyte
2 [MXM] Anne-Marie Cortez-Acolyte

2 [MXM] Scanner-Acolyte

PLOT TWISTS
4 [MOR] The New Brotherhood
4 [MXM] Planet X
4 [MAV] Call Down the Lightning
4 [DJL] Air Strike
2 [DGL] No Man escapes the Manhunters
4 [MXM] Boot to the Head 

While still missing the next brotherhood, TNB reservists never stopped being viable. This otherwise standard TNNB build will show consistency and go fast. Fast enough for exiles will entirely depend on hitting that TNB early.

Cesar Rodil - TNA (Ordered Monks)

 TNA

CHARACTERS
4x Barnacle, Acolyte
4x Kleinstock Brothers, Acolyte
4x Rick Jones, A Hero's Best Friend

4x Amelia Voght, Acolyte
4x Dr. Strange, Secret Avenger
4x Hawkeye - Ronin, Secret Avenger
4x Iron Fist - Daredevil, Imposter - Secret Avenger
4x Natasha Romanoff - Black Widow, Super Spy
4x Spider-Man, New New Avenger

4x Black Panther, T'Challa

2x Sabretooth, Savage Killer
2x Wolverine, Secret Avenger

PLOT TWISTS
4x Avengers Reassembled
4x Boot to the Head
4x The New Brotherhood
4x The Next Brotherhood 

TNNB converted for avengers inclusion thanks to Spider-Man New New Avenger as a non-interactive teamup. Geared purely for speed it aims to push hard and fast. The deck's predictable weakness is in its ability to keep a Brotherhood character in play. With only 14 in the entire deck, it can accidentally encounter scenarios where its pumps have no viability. Otherwise it can threaten harder than the creepy uncle at a pool party. Turn 4 is absolutely viable.

Cesar Rodil - The New Syndicate (Wild 8)

The New Syndicate

CHARACTERS
1x Basilisk, Basil Elks
3x Kleinstock Brothers, Acolyte
3x Lizard, Voracious Predator
2x Mystique, Raven
4x Rem-Ram, Acolyte
2x Slyde, Jalome Beacher
2x Tempo, Heather Tucker

1x Vulture, Aerial Stalker
3x Amelia Voght, Acolyte
1x Chrome, Acolyte
1x Swarm, Fritz von Meyer
1x Trapster, Peter Petruski
1x Unuscione, Carmella Unuscione

1x Senyaka, Acolyte

4x Spoor, Acolyte
2x Carnage, Psychopath

2x Sabretooth, Savage Killer
1x Scanner, Acolyte

PLOT TWISTS
2x Air Strike
3x Boot to the Head
4x Call Down the Lightning
4x Legacy of Evil
3x Planet X, Team-Up
3x Spider Hunt
3x The Contract, Team-Up
4x The New Brotherhood 

Exiles is coming! only 2 options remain, either go FASTER or build exiles BETTER. Cesar chose the former, and wisely so. This list will take your money, your wallet, your car your wife, and your identity before you finish entering your pin code at an automated bank machine. It punishes combo lists it may face with its classic suite of lockdown characters, while anime punching through the back of your chest.
This list is bonkers.

Ankit Kavi - Trinity (Ordered Monks)

 TRINITY

CHARACTERS
4x Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend

4x Tim Drake - Robin, Titan in Command
4x Ragman, Patchmonger

4x Batman, Founding Member
4x Batman, Problem Solver

4x Wonder Woman, Ambassador of Peace

4x Superman, Metropolis Marvel

1x Aquaman, Lord of Atlantis
1x Batman, Cape and Cowl

1x Koriand'r - Starfire, X'Hal's Fury
1x Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas

1x Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian

PLOT TWISTS
4x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Mightiest Heroes
2x At Your Service
4x Savage Beatdown
4x From the Darkness
4x Bat Got Your Tongue?
3x Fizzle
2x A Clash of Worlds

When looking at a no common format Trinity is always a mainstay contender. for good reason. It carries numerous answers in a list that never saw much play IRL due to its absurd price point. The cape and cowl at 6 may be the most rage inducing tech card for certain lists. But it's low character count may struggle into aggressive lists aiming to end by 4-5

Ankit Kavi - No Skill Exiles* (Wild 8)

Supposedly Exiles OTK*

CHARACTERS
1x Aunt May, Golden Oldie
1x Spider-Man - The Spider, Earth-15
1x Mr. Sinister, Robert Windsor

4x Sage, Earth-616
4x Proteus, Earth-58163
2x Mystique - Mystiq, Earth-797
1x Mimic, Earth-12
4x Cable, Soldier X
1x Caliban, Pestilence

4x Mariko Yashida - Sunfire, Earth-2109
2x Shadowcat - Cat, Earth Unknown
4x Miguel O'Hara - Spider-Man, Earth-6375
4x Blink, Earth-295 * Clarice Ferguson
4x Albert, Earth-50211
2x Vision, Earth-10101

PLOT TWISTS
4x Beak Saves the Day
4x Warp Shards
4x A Finer World
4x Enemy of My Enemy 

LOCATIONS
4x Panoptichron
1x The Retaliator 

 

*I have taken wide liberties with this deck name and breakdown, it is not endorsed in any way shape or form by Ankit. In fact, he probably hates it.

It is fortunate for the rest of us that this list wasn't optimised for the legal sets, and instead just ran most of its default power-list cards, adding filler for lost content. The odd priority of may into the spiders is a decent midgame move, but ironically serves little-to-no help vs the mirror match, the infinite builds or anything that can go fast. The retaliator feels forced as those 4 cards warrant the lost uniqueness skirting abilities the list wants. And a single flaccid Cable remains to remind us how this list used to want bodyslides too.
This may have been Ankit's plan all along however, as 7 of us desperately teched and tested for the most absurd exiles legal list, while he laughed, cut pasted a few quick swaps and then played fortnight for a month.

Aaron Mead - TNA (Ordered Monks)

TNA

CHARACTERS
2x Rick Jones, A Hero's Best Friend
3x Barnacle, Acolyte
4x Kleinstock Brothers, Acolyte

3x Natasha Romanoff - Black Widow, Super Spy
4x Amelia Voght, Acolyte
4x Spider-Man, New New Avenger
2x Iron Fist - Daredevil, Imposter - Secret Avenger

4x Black Panther, T'Challa
3x Punisher, Secret Avenger

3x Unuscione, Acolyte
3x Doctor Druid, Anthony Druid

2x Sabretooth, Savage Killer
2x Spider-Man, Secret Avenger
1x Wolverine, Secret Avenger

PLOT TWISTS
3x Sovereign Superior
3x Avengers Reassembled
3x Playing with Fire
3x Die for Darkseid!
4x The New Brotherhood
4x The Next Brotherhood


This deck is so common sense, Cesar and I had zero interactions and have virtually identical lists. Yep. go hard and fast. Profit.

Aaron Mead - FLORINFINITE (Wild 8)

FLORINFINITE

CHARACTERS
4x Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl

4x Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose
4x Mimic, Earth-12
1x Caliban, Pestilence

4x Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue
4x Dr. Light, Master of Holograms

1x Siryn, Sonic Scream

PLOT TWISTS
4x Cosmic Radiation
4x Straight to the Grave
4x Enemy of My Enemy
1x Tech Upgrade

LOCATIONS
4x Checkmate Safe House, Team-Up
2x Slaughter Swamp
4x Antarctic Research Base
1x Avalon Space Station
1x Dr. Fate's Tower

EQUIPMENT
2x Advanced Hardware
4x Helm of Nabu, Fate Artifact
4x Amulet of Nabu, Fate Artifact
4x Cloak of Nabu, Fate Artifact


Like candy kid? step into the white van with no windows and read on.
This list can go infinite as early as turn 4, but more realistically on 5. and it does literally NOTHING else. If it faces off against an infinite like combex, just drop a siryn on 4 since it doesnt care WHO is activating which is nice. Then Pray Norman doesnt rip his 1-of major destruction on 2 to absolutely ruin your life. what could go wrong?