The Great Vs. Resolution #6 – Future Foes

First, I’m going to kick off this post with a big old “Hello!” Thanks to the latest article by Rian Fike of VsSystem.com, I theoretically should be getting hits from some people who check out the main Vs. System hub. So, hello to them and a big thanks to Mr. Fike.Today I’m finally getting back into the swing of things with The Great Vs. Resolution. For the new viewers, this is the main feature of Planet Kalee. Basically, this past New Year’s, I swore I’d use MWS to build and play a mono-affiliated deck for every single affiliation in the game and I’d do it by the end of the year. This blog series is about the decks I build for that mission as well as my thoughts on them.

The rules of the Great Vs. Resolution are simple:

All characters must share a printed affiliation, at least 50% of non-character cards must be team or character-stamped, remaining cards must be from the same universe as the affiliation for the deck, deck must be in as recent of a format as possible.

With the introduction out of the way, time to get to the meat. The Future Foes.

I’ve recently started reading the Legion of Superheroes trade paperback collections my library has been getting in. As far as I can tell, they’re from the “threeboot” continuity. So far, I’ve only been able to get my hands on the first two and, I must say, I’m disappointed. After playing Vs., I expected to see people like Time Trapper, Cosmic King, and the rest of the Legion of Super-Villains but instead it’s more of a political intrigue story with a villain who’s name I currently can’t remember. So, that was a bit of a bummer; playing with the Future Foes Vs. cards and then not having them show up in the comics I read. However, I digress.

Future Foes are an interesting affiliation. They have two themes: “bullying” one opposing character by forcing it to recover after each attack and effects that opponent’s can stop by discarding cards which then leads to other effects that activate when an opponent is low on cards. Both themes are interesting but the former is only really good when combined with Internal Injuries, a Marvel card. Due to the rules of the Resolution, that card isn’t available for me to play. So, I went with the discard theme.

Foes in the future, foes in the present

Future Foes

Silver Age (Also, BYOS)

Characters:
4x Ra’s al Ghul <> Leland McCauley – U.P. President

4x Tarik the Mute – Legion of Super Villains
4x Saturn Queen – Legion of Super Villains

4x Time Trapper – Temporal Manipulator
3x Cosmic King – Legion of Super Villains

3x Lightning Lord – Legion of Super Villains
3x Glorith – Seductive Sorceress

4x Ra’s al Ghul – Engine of Change

2x Ol-Vir – Legion of Super Villains
1x Mordru – The Merciless

2x Shrinking Violet <> Emerald Empress – Emerald VI

Plot Twists:
4x Mobilize
4x Chain Lightning
4x Altered History
3x Tempus Fugit
3x For Khundia!
3x Fatal Five Hundred
2x The Sun-Eater

Locations:
3x Khundian Warship

The concept of this deck is delightfully simple. Get the opponent to discard so they lose hand advantage, useful cards, and the opportunity to discard the next time you play an effect. Preferred initiatives are odd so you can drop Time Trapper before your opponent has the all-important third resource that allows most search cards to be played. Mulligan condition is simply a 1-3 drop.

Turn 1, if you have Ra’s, play him. If not, pass.

Turn 2 is your first big choice. You’ve got Tarek or Saturn Queen. Tarek will help beatdown later in the game while Queenie gets the discard train running. Both are decent enough cards. Play whichever you happen to have. If you’ve got both, I’d go with Tarek just because he can get big later on.

This guy is your preferred play on 3… most of the time. If you got odds and your opponent needs to search for his three, he’s quite good since it turns Mobilize or Enemy into a double discard penalty. Plus he’s got some nice stats. However, after turn three or on even initiatives, the guy is a gamble. All an opponent has to do is think ahead, stun Trapper, and then search for their next drop. Not a good thing. Personally, I think that Trapper could be wicked in a team-up with Hellfire just because you can put him hidden and then toss him visible in response to a search card. However, that’s not what this deck is about. If you have a feeling Trapper won’t be useful, play Cosmic King. He’s basically a free discard from the opponent each time he goes into combat with his cosmic counter. Not a bad effect.

Turn 4 is another one that can swing any way. Lightning Lord might as well read “When Lightning Lord comes into play, opponent discards a card.” Not once has anyone refused the discard. The guy is blank texted after his recruit but he’s still an average character with flight and range that plays to the Future Foes theme. If the opponent is already low on cards, this guy can dig the whole deeper. Glorith, on the other hand, has a reusable effect. +4 endurance is a decent amount, basically invulnerability if the opponent is attacking her, and the opponent will possibly discard to it. If not, yay, 4 endurance. If so, yay, discard. The downside is that, like Lightning Lord, the effect doesn’t stick around long. One hit by an opposing character and the sorceress loses her Cosmic and her effect. So, really, turn 4 is hit and miss with the Foes. I’d say if the opponent is already down to three or four cards at the start of the turn, go Lord to dig them further or possibly even get the +2/+2. If they have more, go Glorith to try and get some health or multiple discards. Oh, and use Ra’s this turn.

Ra’s reappears on turn 5 with an excellent effect. Opponent discards or a character loses its affiliations while defending. Ol’ Ghuly likes splitting people up and most players don’t so they’ll probably discard. If that’s not the case, then you get a free hit with no reinforcement and no team-stamped tricks. Definitely a useful 5-drop.

Future Foes indecision time returns on turn 6. Do you play Mon-El or Mordru? Well, it depends on your health. If you’re low on endurance, I’d go with Mon-El who can save you six endurance with each stun should the opponent choose to discard. If you have endurance to spare, drop Mordru so you can see the opponent’s hand. If they have good stuff, then you know you can use your discard effects to their full extent. I’ve found that 5 endurance is a decent number for Mordru’s effect, 4 isn’t bad either.

Finally, on turn 7, there’s the Legion’s own Shrinking Violet but this time in the guise of the Emerald Empress. She doesn’t have the Emerald Eye in this deck but possibly being a 19/17 with flight and range is nice.

The plot twists and location are your usual fare. Chain Lightning is nasty, Fatal Five Hundred is search with no discard, For Khundia! is hidden hate, Khundian Warship is a global -1 defense and flight which is much better than it sounds, and Altered History is borked late game if an opponent is low on expendable cards. I can also say that I’ve actually gotten Sun-Eater to work once. It’s not a great card but it’s a decent two-of.

My opinion of this deck is simply that it’s alright. It isn’t great but it’s not bad either. If you can hit your discard effects then the team can be pretty nasty, if not they simply aren’t. A lot hinges on getting Chain Lightning and Altered History since they’re by far the best discard bait. If you don’t draw them, the Future Foes are just really bland. They aren’t bad, just bland.
Future Foes (Silver) Ratings:

Deck Strength: 6 (Well, when it works, the deck drastically limits the opponent’s options while increasing your own. When it doesn’t work, it falls flat. Not bad, just meh.)

Deck Theme: 7 (I’m not sure how this deck fits in thematically with the Foes. Why do people from the future get to strip opponents of options? Theoretically, I guess since the Foes are mostly fighting with “modern” opponents in Vs., it could be said that they’re using their knowledge of the past to stay steps ahead but it still doesn’t feel quite right. The theme itself is decent, though, even if I don’t quite get why the Foes have it.)

Ease of Use: 7 (Meh. It’s not a hard deck to run although when you have multiple discard effects to play, you need to get them in the right order.)

Fun Factor: 7 (Again, meh. It’s pretty fun pulling opponent’s resources before they can play them but it just doesn’t have that thrill of negating an opponent’s plot twist after they play it or smacking down on a character.)

Overall: 7 (I find these guys to be average. They aren’t bad, they just aren’t good. Bland is the best word for them. They just don’t have a lot of “zing” like some of the other Vs. “recipes”/affiliations)

Vs. System Affiliation Leaderboard
1. Marvel Defenders/The Hulk (Modern)
2. Fantastic Four (Modern)
3. Teen Titans (Modern)
4. Future Foes (Silver)
5. Emerald Enemies (Golden)

And with that, this chapter in (future) history comes to a close. Finally, a set of parentheses with “Silver” in them sits up there on the leaderboard. About time. However, it will be lonely for awhile because, next time on The Great Vs. Resolution, its the Emerald Enemies that get a friend as the Squadron Supreme join the Resolution. The question is: will they sit at the bottom with the Enemies or will they rocket to the top and break Modern Age’s hold on the top three? Tune in next time to find out!