tomorrow and probably won’t be able to update this thing until Sunday. Never fear, ye fans of VS, crazy music and comics, I shall return triumphant and hopefully better than ever (which seems like a hollow phrase considering this thing’s only been around for two weeks). Now, on to the article.
Ever since the first VS System set ever made, this game has been a fan of Alternate Win Conditions. Xavier’s Dream set the stage for many different and various AWC’s over the years and sets. I thought I would take a closer look at some of the AWC’s that are available to us in the Silver and Modern Ages. So let’s take a look at the set on its way out of Silver, The X-men.
Ape, Metamorph: “Discard an Energy card à Target opponent with 0 or less endurance loses the game”
This is a pretty self explanatory effect that can be quite useful under the correct circumstances. Ape is a 7 drop from the Morlocks, but it should be noted that he has no loyalty or team-stamping to his effect, which means he could be splashed into pretty much any deck. There is the added restriction of needing a card featuring the Energy trait to make him go, but that shouldn’t be too hard to do. He’s a 16/14, which means that you’re better off playing him on initiative, as a character like this is going to have a pretty big bullseye on his forehead. Still, with the right cards, especially as late as turn seven, it shouldn’t be too tough to get your opponent below 0, and Ape allows you to immediately end things without any kind of shenanigans prior to the recovery phase. It’s also a good deal if you’re both in the negatives and you have less endurance than your opponent. It’s an effect that’s been seen in other places as well, and it’s hard to deny the power of ending the game prior to the recovery phase. Mysterium, Joseph Lightner is another Alternate Win from this set, but for reasons that will become clear later, he’s not exactly the nine drop AWC of choice.
Now, in the Infinite Crisis set, we have multiple iterations of the AWC. But let’s get to the big one.
Captain Marvel, Champion of Magic: “Pay 25 Endurance à You win the game
He is of course an 8 drop with loyalty to the Shadowpact that has some beautiful Alex Ross art on his card. It’s an enjoyable mechanic for the team, due to the Shadowpact having nearly every character and Magic Plot Twist effect involving paying endurance for effects. Plus, even more characters get extra effects from having less than 25 endurance (which of course means Captain Marvel’s effect couldn’t be used). Still, many Shadowpact based stall decks have surfaced, one of the more famous being the ultra counter based Shadow Knights (the Shadowpact/Gotham Knights deck that runs Bat Got Your Tongue? and The Conclave). If you can make it to 8 with enough endurance, you’ve got the added bonus of being able to use his effect the second he hits play. A very good card, and a very strong AWC
Now, the Crisis set has other AWC’s, but not in the way that one would expect. Being the set that established Checkmate, they also established the Alternate Loss Condition via the dreaded King Kill. Sure, the King effects are for the most part extremely powerful effects (Sorry Harry Stein, King in Check), and there are many ways to protect them, but the danger is still there. Now, let’s move on to the Heralds of Galactus set, for a character that’s not officially an Alternate Win Condition, but is pretty damned close.
Galactus, Devourer of Worlds: “When Galactus enters play, you may gain endurance equal to target opponent's endurance total. If you do, that player's endurance total becomes 0”
Sure, it’s not an Alternate Win. It doesn’t specifically state on the card that you’re winning or your opponent is losing because of the card, and Galactus decks still win the game on endurance. However, it is impossible to deny the power of Galactus. There is a reason why every Silver Age long term stall deck plays at least one copy of this nine drop monster. He’s affiliated, which means he’s searchable, and in nearly every case he’s a better choice than any other nine drops currently legal in Silver Age (or, arguably, Golden Age). Mysterium is good, but can be played around. Onslaught and Imperiex can do quite a lot, but are both unaffiliated and cannot guarantee victory to the extent of a Galactus. Agamemno is a joke. So is Superman. Kyle Rayner Ion is cute, but he’s not an auto win. Sure, Galactus isn’t an auto-win either, but he’s going to be gaining you a ton of endurance in addition to putting your opponent at 0, and on top of all that, he still gets to throw his weight around as a 25/25 during the combat phase. This is why Galactus has become the gold standard finisher of stall decks all around the world. To continue, let’s move on to the Legion of Superheroes set.
Terror Incognita: “To play, remove three cosmic counters from Legionnaires characters you control. Target player loses 5 endurance. Then, if that player has 0 or less endurance, he loses the game.”
You’ve basically got the Ape, Metamorph effect tied to a plot twist with an added burn effect. For those Legion decks that are designed to manipulate cosmic counters (which is, you know, every Legion deck on Earth), this can turn out to be an excellent finisher. With a card like We Are Legion (which is the namesake of this here blog), cosmic counters can always be replaced, which means the three counter cost isn’t as completely debilitating as it could be. With the way the Legion is built, they can do well with nearly any other team that uses cosmic counters, so team-ups with the Heralds of Galactus or Inhuman or DLS Teen Titans can allow for the quickest possible way to burn down your opponent and finish him off with Terror Incognita. As I mentioned with Ape, any time you can end the game on endurance prior to the recovery phase is a good time indeed. It should be noted that the Legion set also gave us Alan Scott, White King, which is yet another Checkmate king that can lead to an Alternate Loss Condition.
Now, both Marvel Team-Up and World’s Finest took a break from the Alternate Win Condition, with neither set featuring anything that could really be considered Alternate Win. Granted, the Team-Up set did create the stall deck du jour of Spider-Heralds, combining the Spider-Friends exhaust effects with the Heralds of Galactus to stall to the big man, but he’s already been covered, so let’s move on to the Hellboy Essential Collection, where the Alternate Win Condition returned.
Project Ragna Rok: “Ongoing: At the start of the recovery phase, you win the game if there are four or more doomsday counters on Project Ragna Rok. Exhaust a Thule Society character you control -> KO target stunned B.P.R.D. character. If you do, put a doomsday counter on Project Ragna Rok. Use only once per turn.”
I have very fond memories of this card. As I’ve stated many times, I’m still relatively new to this game, and the way my buddy Brian decided to teach me the rules and mechanics of VS System was to bring the Hellboy Essential set to my house and play a bunch of games against me using a preconstructed deck. The second game we played, which was the first VS System game I ever won, was won thanks to the Alternate Win of Project Ranga Rok. It’s a deck that can be made thanks to a B.P.R.D. and Thule Society team-up (or the use of Cavendish Hall to team-up in a solo Thule Society deck) that relies on KO’ing your own characters for Ragna Rok counters, but it’s not one of the best. Still, it’s a fun card that can lead to some really cool deck ideas. And now, on to Marvel Legends.
Xorn’s Takeover: “Ongoing: At the start of the recovery phase, if all characters are stunned or there are no characters in play, you may discard a [Brotherhood Icon] character card. If you do, put a despair counter on Xorn's Takeover. Then, if there are three despair counters on Xorn's Takeover, you win the game.”
This is, put simply, Bizarro Xavier’s Dream. It works in the exact opposite way. Whereas Xavier’s Dream required no stunned characters in play, Xorn requires the opposite to get his mojo going. Now, Xavier’s Dream very rarely saw play, and nearly every time it did, it was usually some kind of crazy ass janky combo deck that was designed for casual silliness. And that card had a hell of a lot easier condition to fulfill than Xorn’s Takeover. It’s going to be damn near impossible to pull this thing off even in a casual vein, and the idea of making a Xorn’s Takeover deck viable in any kind of constructed environment is a virtual impossibility. Sure, if someone pulls it off, it could go down as the greatest rogue deck in history, but it doesn’t seem likely. With DC Legends, however, we’ve gotten the best AWC card since Galactus, and one that has already seen a deck built around him.
Darkseid, Dark God: “At the start of the recovery phase, if no other player controls a non-stunned character, you win the game.”
This 8 drop Secret Society character is an 18/20, which is pretty big for the current stats of 8 drops, and has a fantastic effect. The first thing that I’m sure a lot of people thought of while looking over the spoiler for DC Legends was seeing the blatant synergy between Darkseid and his 9 cost Plot Twist Endgame, that allows him to KO all characters on the board except him to set up the Alternate Win. But there are other ways to pull it off. A card like Koriand’r <> Starfire, X’Hal’s Fury that stuns your opponent’s entire board at the start of the recovery phase would be another way to trigger Darkseid, and with something like Born of Blood, you can just about guarantee she’d be face up at the end of turn 8. At the same time, with the various ways to accelerate resources, which includes Dark Kryptonian <> Dark Superboy, Mockery that’s in team, it isn’t difficult to turn on Endgame as early as turn 7 (thanks to a Samantha Parrington that could allow Kryptonian to swing twice on six and jump two resources). A modern age Secret Society deck that jumped the curve with Silver Surfer, Last Zenn-Lavian to Endgame on 8 made it to the top eight at Mega Weekend So-Cal. It’s a strong effect, and not tough to pull off, which puts Darkseid near the top of the VS System Alternate Win Conditions.
I think people love the Alternate Win Conditions because they’re a good way to shake things up. Combat decks can become staid after a while, and having the option to make a crazy deck around Project Ragna Rok or Darkseid, Dark God not only allows for challenges during the deck building stage, but challenges while playing the game as well. I hope that VS R&D will continue to create cards like this in the future, as they always lead to interesting discussion at the very least.
No comments:
Post a Comment