The Great Vs. Resolution #11: Team Superman

We ring in the tenth Vs. Resolution with a cheer as the Big Blue Boy Scout comes swooping into the game. Superman is THE superhero icon. You can go anywhere that is half-civilized with a Superman logo on your shirt and people will know exactly what it means.

Now, I must admit that I’ve never been a huge Superman fan, both character-wise and Vs.-wise. Personally, I find Supes to be way too perfect for my tastes. He has practically no flaws and is invulnerable to pretty much anything outside of Kryptonite. He has a massive array of superpowers that are powerful to the point where if a character had just one of the powers, they’d still be a decent hero (Cyclops and eye beams, Iceman with frost powers, Super-strength with anyone that has super-strength, Flight and heightened senses with Hawkman, etc.). To me, Superman is just a huge Mary Sue or Gary Stu character. Perfect in every way and always there to save the day.

In Vs., I never liked the look of his “protection” theme. I wasn’t around for the original Superman Cosmic theme but that looked pretty junky as well. While I’m not an aggro player, I also don’t like to play defensively. Give me comboes and a way to win, not just a way to mess with an opponent.

However, with the DCL/DXC releases of Cadmus Labs, Indestructible, and Flying High, Superman and his friends became a bit of an eyebrow raiser for myself. After building the following deck, my Vs. opinion on Superman has pulled a complete 180. Supes has some serious game.

I draw and I draw and I draw…

The next Vs. Resolution post should be up tomorrow. Right now I’m just finishing tweaking the deck. In the mean time, here’s a look at my “SA Pet Deck of the Moment”.

Batman Meets Another Chessboard

Gotham Knights/Hellfire Club

Silver Age

Characters:
4x Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend
2x Hellfire Club Initiate-Army

4x Sage-Tessa

4x Barbara Gordon <> Oracle – Hacker Extraordinaire
2x Tarot-Hellion

3x Batman – Twilight Vigilante
3x Madelyne Pryor-Black Rook

2x Shinobi Shaw-White King
1x Cassandra Cain – Death’s Daughter
1x Kate Kane <> Batwoman – Katherine the Younger

2x Batman – Cape and Cowl
1x Donald Pierce-White Bishop

1x Sebastian Shaw-Black King

Plot Twists:
4x Bat Got Your Tongue?
4x Army of One
4x The Hook-Up – Team-Up
4x Power And Wealth
4x Enemy Of My Enemy
4x Join The Club!

Locations:
2x Batcomputer, Criminal Database
2x District X
1x The Hellfire Club
1x Shaw Industries

The Great Vs. Resolution #10: Anti-Matter

That’s right! Two Vs. Resolution posts in one week. Crazy, ain’t it? I really need to get plugging away at this thing if I want to get done in a year so expect more double and possibly even triple updates each week.

Like the Emerald Enemies, I don’t know a whole lot about the Anti-Matter characters. I know that its a sort of “negative” universe of the standard DC comics universe. I know it is the realm of the anti-Justice League as well as the Qwardian Conglomerate. I know that the Guardians of the Universe banished Sinestro into its world. Other than that, I got nothing.

I do know a bit about the Vs. cards, though. Anti-Matter comes in a variety of flavors. You’ve got Waffles and its defense lowering tricks. You’ve got the Anti-Green Lanterns and Xallarap with their huge stats for each drop which comes at the cost of KOing them each turn. You’ve also got the Crime Syndicate that’s tucked away in there but no one really plays with them (because they suck by any stretch of the imagination).

However, there are also three characters and a whole array of plot twists that have a massive amount of synergy if you can get a decent draw. Those are the cards that this deck is based around: the Anti-Matter speedster goons known as Slipstream and Johnny Quick, as well as the supporting General Fabrikant.

The Great Vs. Resolution #9: Outsiders

I’m back!!

I’m about two days late from my intended return but, as my Smash Brothers obsession has taught me, “Heroes always arrive late.” So, with that said, let’s get this show on the road.

As much of a Bat-Fan as I am, I absolutely cannot remember having heard of the Outsiders before getting into Vs. It’s horrible of me, I know. I guess it’s just because they aren’t in the Batman movies or old animated series which are my primary sources of Bat-goodness. If not for Vs. System and the World’s Finest expansion, I never would have known Batman had founded his own superhero team.

Now, most Outsiders deck are team attack decks. The reasoning is a big fat “Duh!” You have Batman and the Outsiders, Kimiyo Hoshi <> Dr. Light, Get It Done, Wylde, and all those other team-attacking goodies. However, there is another side to the Outsiders that could be considered part of the team attack theme but is also something bigger. That side is swinging up-curve.

Halo, Grace Choi, Black Lightning, Thunder, Metamorpho. All these characters have something in common: They have stats that are roughly average for their drops and get a +2 attack bonus when in combat with a character with a higher cost. This means that your 2-drop can easily stun a 3-drop, your 3-drop can stun a 4-drop, and so on. You can swing up curve with all your characters and then hit to the face with your biggest drop. It’s beautiful, it’s easy, and, for all its simplicity, it is quite the decent deck.

Just a notice on the status of this site.

If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t responded to any comments or posted anything new lately. This is because I am currently gorging myself on the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Regular content, comment responses, and my usual random ramblings should resume either tomorrow or the day after, starting with the next Vs. Resolution.

Also, a big thanks to Rian Fike/stubarnes for the mention on “Rallying Cry!” Always good to see one’s name dropped on a major gaming hub 🙂 . I’ll be sure to do my best to put out content worthy of continued mention.

Finally, gdaybloke, I’ll be sure to get out a PM or something on scheduling a game on MWS within the next few days. I’m not a big fan of chat programs like AIM or MSN so I tend to avoid them.  However, I’m definitely interested in a game but have been busy with the Smash Bros. consumption.

That is all. Back to Smashing.

Magic Workstation: The Time Is Now

If you’ve been waiting to get on the MWS wagon, if you’ve been using OCTGN instead, if you’re just curious on what online Vs. is like, if you’ve ever wanted to play against people who live in entirely different parts of the world, now is the time to get into action.

Until recently, Vs. System has had to share servers with the Magic and WoW players. That arrangement is no more. Thanks to neil04, the man who is responsible for 99.9% of the Vs. MWS updates, we now have our own server to play on.  It’s url is:

darkseid.servegame.com

If you haven’t downloaded MWS yet,  you can get it right over here. The total file size for both downloads is something in the 120 MB range, so it might be a good idea to download it overnight if you’re still on dial-up. Otherwise, it shouldn’t take more than 30-60 minutes. You can also find all of the MWS set updates on neil04’s blog.

This is a great time to be an online Vs. System player, so download the program and join the growing community! You will NOT be disappointed.

Oh, plus there’s the fact that you can beat me in a game. Who doesn’t want to do that 🙂 ?

Custom Card Thursday #3: Special Edition

It’s special because it’s late!

Today I break from my standard Arkham Inmates pattern and enter a realm that I know my way around even better. This article will show my unabashed nerd-dom, prove that I have way too much time on my hands, and pretty much teach everyone on here just what happens when a geek gets free reign in a contest.

For those who haven’t heard, The Ring Has Chosen just got done accepting entries into a custom Vs. card contest. The theme was that you had to design a set of legend cards for a fictional character. Basic rules was that you had to make a set of 3 or 5 cards with guidelines being that if you made 3 it would be one character, one plot twist, and one equipment/location. If you made 5 cards, you were advised to make two characters, one plot twist, one equipment, and one location. It was also recommended that you use DC/Marvel teams and not have to invent an affiliation for your legend.

Yeah… about that. I broke those guidelines (thank God they were just guidelines and not actual rules). You’ll see how right after you jump past the break and read what is basically a copy/paste of what I sent to TRHC. Yay for cheating on posting original content by using the power of copypasta!

The Vs. Blog Explosion: The Challenge Is Made

You’ve probably heard by now. If not, you’re living under a rock. VsSystem.com is going to stop posting regular articles starting next week. Instead, it will be providing a biweekly strategy article which will be written by various writers. It will also contain “Rallying Cry!” which is going to be a sort of weekly gathering point for all the great fan-created Vs. content, compiled by Rian Fike/stubarnes.

So, yeah, that sorta sucks. I always enjoyed going onto VsSystem and getting my daily readings. BUT, there is a huge upside. Immediately after all this was announced, the amount of Vs. blogs started to rise to fill a gap that hadn’t even appeared yet. This alone was quite interesting to watch. The community saw a wound and instantly worked to fill the gap and make sure the loss was negligible.

However, another announcement caused a second, larger explosion in blogs. Each month, the people over at Upper Deck that work on Vs. are going to be giving out a prize to whoever they feel created the best content out of all the blogs, podcasts, and forum postings that month. This month’s prize: a complete set of Marvel Legends. This announcement instantly caused another blogging bonanza and the size of active Vs. blogs that I check on a semi-consistent basis tripled.

Adding to the Vs. blog explosion is the Vs. System Network. Founded by Steve “Kamiza” Garret, it is easily one of the best ideas to help people get all their Vs. content now that it’s spread across multiple blogs. It’s pretty much your basic “top sites” list but it is full of a bunch of Vs. goodness. If you want easy access to Vs. blogs, that’s the site to go to. Be sure to vote, as well.

The Great Vs. Resolution #8: Arkham Inmates

I am a Bat-fan. The tales of my Batman love are legends amongst my family. Back when I was a young’n, Batman basically potty trained me. That love still burns on as lately I’ve been going back and watching the old Batman: The Animated Series cartoons and the movie I’m most hyped for this year is The Dark Knight.

Batman is awesome. However, heroes are only as good as their enemies. Where would Spider-Man be without the Green Goblin, Venom, and Doctor Octopus? Could you imagine The Hulk without Abomination or The Leader? If Lex Luthor disappeared, why would Superman even need to stick around? Would The Flash be any where near as cool as he is without The Rogues? The fact is that without villains to fight, a hero is nothing but a guy in a costume. Villains define the heroes, just like shadows define the light.

In my opinion, Batman’s rogue gallery is the greatest in all of comic book-dom. Who else regularly fights against: a guy with a freeze gun who is fighting for his sick wife, a scarred ex-DA who is obsessed with duality, a lizardman, an acrobatic female whot takes after feline and often switches sides, a man who compulsively leaves behind riddles, a woman who is obsessed with plants, and a crazed clown? The Batman villains are easily among the coolest characters around and it is because of them that Batman seems so much neater in comparison with other heroes

Now, enough with my gushing about just how awesome Batman and his rogue gallery is. It’s time to enter the asylum, an asylum the inmates have taken over.

“Step into my lair,” said the Spider to the Bat

Some teams were just meant for each other and it is obvious when you see them: Secret Society and Underworld, Kree and Villains United, Checkmate and League of Assassins, JLI and Brotherhood. All these teams share common themes that stick together really, really well. These are obvious team-ups and they make for some really good decks.

However, sometimes the synergy isn’t there because the themes are the same but because the themes are similar and work towards a single end goal. In the instance this post is about, this theme is making it so your opponent can accomplish absolutely nothing. The stars of the show are two of the biggest names in comic books.