ThunderGang
Yeah, I’ve been hitting the Vs. pretty hard lately. Four decks have already been built in total, one of which has been scrapped: Avengers, Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts/Squadron Supreme team-up (scrapped), Thunderbolts/Kang Council team-up. All four of these decks are wicked fun to just play with. My brothers have been using the Avengers almost entirely, just because its a relatively easy deck to run. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the various villainous groups, playing the “wicked” to their “benevolent”.
Now, as you can see, the Thunderbolts have been involved in two team-ups. This is mostly because I want to use the Bolts but don’t have enough cards for a mono-deck which leaves me with the option of teaming up. However, this all hasn’t been in vain. I’ve noticed something about the Bolts. They like allowing an opponent to draw cards in order to give themselves effects. Now, I don’t know about you but I seem to remember a certain philanthropist that just hit the Golden Age pile that also likes to give opponents some drawing ability…
ThunderGang
Injustice Gang/Thunderbolts
Golden Age
Characters:
4x Beetle <> Mach 1 – Reluctant Hero
4x IQ-Ira Quimby
4x Lex Luthor-Nefarious Philanthropist
3x Venom, “Mac” Gargan
4x Dallas Riordan <> Vantage-Ionic Inheritor
2x The Joker-Headline Stealer
3x Circe, Evil Enchantress
2x Scarecrow-Psycho Psychologist (with Boost)
1x Lex Luthor – Sinister Scientist
Plot Twists:
4x Secret Files
4x Win-Lose Deal
4x Criminal Mastermind
4x Gang-Up, Team-Up
4x Power Siphon
2x Project Liberator
2x A Second Chance
2x Enemy Of My Enemy
Locations:
3x Injustice Gang Satellite
3x Mech Bay
This deck runs purely on the fact that your opponent doesn’t want to draw cards. The Thunderbolts are only around for the first 4 turns but if you can get the team-up, these guys can be pretty slick. They give you a bunch of good effects that let your opponent choose whether or not to draw a card as the “downside” to the effect. Your opponent isn’t going to want to draw since IG is on the board. So, in the end, you basically have a bunch of above-average effects at little cost to you.
Even initiatives is preferred. Mulligan condition is Luthor or a way to hit Luthor. From there, your curve is Beetle, IQ, Lex, Dallas, Abra, Scarecrow with Boost, Lex. Basically, you just want to burn the crap out of your opponent.
Generally, you want to use Win-Lose Deal after you recruit IQ on turn 2. This’ll make your opponent decide whether to burn for 4 or let you have the free draws. That’s a good thing. Turn 3 Lex hits the board. He has protection from KO effects via Project Liberator and also added protection from A Second Chance if you haven’t played plots this turn. Oh, and Power Siphon rocks as well. Finally, Mech Bay gives you a constant +2 attack at little cost. Slick card.
Dallas on turn four is great. 10/7 at the cost of one endurance point. Very, very nice. Turn 5 is Circe to burn, six is Scarecrow with boost for a massive burn with Circe, and if your opponent lasts ’till seven, there’s nothing better than Lex, Circe and Crow triple burning the opponent.
I have yet to test run this deck and I doubt its a great one but it looks janky enough for me. I just love the idea of a 12/7 Riordan that the opponent didn’t draw for either her effect or Mech Bay due to fear of burn. Yeah, that’ll be fun whenever I finally pull it off.
On another “delivery” note, I might actually get my Marvel Knights package from Baldman today depending on if DHL decides to drive the half-hour to get here from where the package is at or if they decide to wait until the estimated date of arrival. If I get the box today, you’ll be sure to hear about it on here 
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February 4, 2008 at 3:26 pm
That Lex is so wicked in that deck. Very fond memories.
February 4, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Good stuff, the Bolts/Gang pairing always had good synergy with the right selection. I don’t see any All Too Easy’s though, and keep in mind that Liberator prevents all players (yourself included) from targetting your characters.
BTW, have you thought about the Faces of Evil pairing for your “real” decks yet?
February 4, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Actually, when I was taking apart my Thunderbolts/Squadron Supreme deck I came within INCHES of taking apart my Masters of Evil deck as well so I could build FoE. I’ve got three Faces, three Beetle, and a decent chunk of the low characters. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it for three reasons:
1. Team-Up swarm deck, not something I’m used to
2. Only a “decent” chunk of the low-drops, not confident enough that I have a great selection.
3. I want to keep my Masters of Evil deck around until after I get my next box so I can update it for my “deck progression” article.
However, I will definitely end up building FoE here eventually. It’s just a matter of time.
February 4, 2008 at 11:38 pm
MAV was the first set I bought by the box, and I remember the giddy joy of opening three boxes all at once and marvelling at the niftiness within. Squadron remains a favourite janky team since both of their themes are so radically against the normal game theories – one wants no cards, the other can’t cause any breakthrough. Ah, the joys. One of these days I’ll build a Mysterium deck that actually workes.
February 5, 2008 at 4:39 am
Yeah, the MAV set has a lot of great potential…the individual team strategies are all nifty, and pairing up works well too. Like, the Squadron no-breakthrough theme actually pairs well with Avengers team-attacks; you won’t do any breakthrough (regardless of if you team attack or go mano-a-mano on an unreinforced opponent), but you can clear entire fields of opponents with strong attacks and loads of extra burn damage. And of course, the breakthrough only gets prevented if your opponent has characters on the field, so by mid-to-late game your opponent could be in a very bleak position. Alternately, Squadron no-hand can pair with Avengers Reservists since the team-up creates Reservists, and the Reservist strategy encourages playing effects from hand (eventually emptying it).
I never did much with T-Bolts or MoE (either individually or teamed up)…my two friends each favored those teams and so I concentrated on the other MAV affiliations. But they’re all so very, very good. I’m definitely interested in hearing about T-Bolts and/or MoE builds.