In examining the Bring Your Own Set format, I found a metagame that excited me more than Modern and Silver Age have in a long while. There is a clear best deck—Checkmate / Villains United—but it does not do anything so unfair as to make it the only playable deck in the format. Additionally, the second and third tiers of playable decks provide a huge number of different strategies, meaning that there is room for a deckbuilder to innovate and choose metagame gambits: do I beat the best deck, do I beat every other deck, or can I find an option that does both?
In thinking more about the format, I decided that it would be productive to go through how I would set up my testing, both to come to some conclusions about the format and to provide my testing methodology for high-level events. Even though the BYOS event is not the central draw of the Mega-Weekends, it is still fertile ground for winning prizes because you can get a leg up on the competition.
The first step of my preparation for an event is always to take stock of what options there are for the format—both as a way of identifying decks we can play and to figure out what other people are going to gravitate toward. Thus, a set-by-set list of every deck I think exists in the format:
Marvel Origins (MOR): Common Enemy, Force, Brotherhood, Wild Sentinels
DC Origins (DOR): The Brave and the Bold
Web of Spider-Man (MSM): none
Superman, Man of Steel (DSM): none
Marvel Knights (MMK): Marvel Knights / Underworld concealed
Green Lantern Corps (DGL): Qward, AGL, Mono Green Lantern
The Avengers (MAV): Avengers reservist, Faces of Evil, Squadron
Justice League of America (DJL): Infestation, Good Guys
The X-Men (MXM): Hellfire Club
Infinite Crisis (DCR): Checkmate / Villains United, Checkmate / Rock, Shadowpact
Heralds of Galactus (MHG): Kree, Heralds / Inhumans, Skrulls, Moloids
Legion of Super Heroes (DLS): Darkseid, Legionnaires / Titans
Marvel Team-Up (MTU): Spider-Friends / Underworld, Marvel Defenders, Marvel Defenders / Underworld, Spider-Friends / Marvel Defenders
World’s Finest (DWF): Batman / Superman, Insanity
Marvel Legends (MVL): Punisher, X-Men swarm, Fantastic Four
DC Legends (DCL): Secret Society, Injustice Gang concealed
Is this all we can face? No, of course not, but these are the decks that seem within the realm of relatively obvious and possible. If someone wants to try breaking down our door with Manhunter / Emerald Enemies, he or she is welcome to try.
The second step of evaluating the format is to take all those possibilities and arrange them within some scale of playability. This both identifies what is most likely to appear (under the premise that people are more likely to play good decks than bad ones) and what presents the greatest threat to a deck you cobble together from scratch.
Tier 1: Checkmate / Villains
Tier 2: Kree, Checkmate / Rock, Infestation
Tier 3: Common Enemy, The Brave and the Bold, Hellfire Club, Darkseid, all MTU decks, Injustice Gang concealed
Tier 4: MK / UW concealed, Qward, AGL, Mono GL, Faces of Evil, Squadron, Good Guys, Moloids, Skrulls, Legionnaires / Titans, Batman / Superman, Insanity
Unknown: Brotherhood, Force, Punisher, X-Men swarm, Fantastic Four, Secret Society
To explain the tier system for this format:
Tier 1 is Checkmate / Villains, the clear best deck in the format and the test for all other decks. If you cannot beat Checkmate / Villains more than half the time, your deck is probably not worth playing; a 100 percent win percentage against everything else will not be enough to Top 8. Even with everyone planning to beat the deck, it still wins enough of the time to make it a good choice.
Tier 2 consists of the decks that either beat outright or have a positive win percentage against Checkmate / Villains while still having good matchups against the rest of the field. As beloved as Common Enemy might be to many players, it cannot beat a Cloak of Nabu on Ahmed Samsarra, particularly with Huntress, Reluctant Queen countering Mystical Paralysis as well. Three off-curve decks, however, are able to say they actually want to get paired against Checkmate / Villains, and because they don’t fold to everything else, they comprise the second tier of playable decks.
Tier 3 consists of the decks that remain good against most of the field, and those decks that are good by their own rights but suffer too greatly against Checkmate / Villains. These are not bad decks, but the way Checkmate / Villains operates makes them unable to win for one reason or another (Cloak of Nabu is the most common offender here).
Tier 4 is the grouping given to decks that aren’t particularly competitive choices for winning the tournament, but that have some sort of draw in what they do beyond mere nostalgia factor. They are also likely to be somewhat less tedious than the search-search-search committed by Ahmed. Additionally, in this category lay decks that can be ported to single set from their original Golden / Silver / Modern Age origins but lose essential pieces like Enemy of My Enemy, Flying Kick, or other “staple” cards, and are thus rendered suboptimal but playable.
And finally, outside the tier system are decks that have not been put to the test often enough (or contain too much variation) to be quantifiable within a system of “loses to this, beats this,” et cetera. These decks fall into one of two categories. Decks in the first group are from very recent sets and have a lot of potential—particularly in that their strategies pose a threat to Checkmate / Villains—but have not been refined to an optimal build. The other group is made up of the Brotherhood strategies that walk the tightrope of no character search but extremely high card quality (in the Lost City-Avalon Space Station combination; the ATK pump of The New Brotherhood, Savage Beatdown, and Savage Land; and the potent anti-Checkmate / Villains weapons of Ka-Boom!, Avalanche, Dominic Petros, and Global Domination). No mix of these powerful cards has yet been found that can be called optimal, and so we wait for someone to show us. The “unknown” category is a recognition of the potential for cards and teams not yet proven in tournaments, and it is what the bulk of testing is normally devoted to.
You may notice Wild Sentinels appear in the set-by-set description, but not the tiered description. This is because I would never play the deck if I only drew Longshot, Rebel Freedom Fighter in my opening hand half the time, and would probably play it if I drew him closer to 100 percent of the time—save for the Flame Traps running around. I don’t consider it viable as a metagame call, and I don’t think anyone chooses to play it based on what the rest of the environment contains. If you’re playing it, it’s not a call you made on extensive testing, and since you probably made your choice back when Origins was released, it seems unlikely you'll be swayed. No offense to any fans of it!
Comparing this evaluation of the format to how my team prepared for Modern Age before Pro Circuit Indianapolis, there are a lot of similarities. We pretty easily figured out that Kree was one of the best decks, and—drawing upon the results of the City Championships—we posited that Spider-Heralds, Skrulls, and Darkseid would be popular too. I also felt that Syndicate was worth testing, but mainly because Michael Barnes beat my Chess Press deck with it when we played in the DCR-MTU Modern event at $10K Columbus 200 Playing the aforementioned decks against each other, it became apparent that Kree was in a class of its own, and from then on Kree became the defining deck of our testing—the deck we toiled to improve while desperately seeking out answers to it. The main weaknesses of the deck—resource disruption, concealed characters, and excessive ATK pumps—helped us stumble upon the Inhumans curve deck, though clearly those weaknesses can be seen as the impetus for some of the Unravel Reality decks as well.
Now, for the direct examination of Checkmate / Villains:
Characters
4 Connie Webb
4 Talia, Beloved Betrayer
4 Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant
1 Sarge Steel
4 Ahmed Samsarra
4 Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1
1 Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army
1 Fatality, Flawless Victory
1 Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army
1 Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard
1 Maxwell Lord, Black King
2 Huntress, Reluctant Queen
1 Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double
1 Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype
1 Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin
Plot Twists
4 Knightmare Scenario
4 Target Acquired
Locations
4 Checkmate Safe House
4 Brother Eye
4 Brother I Satellite
2 The Science Spire
2 Dr. Fate’s Tower
Equipment
1 Amulet of Nabu
1 Helm of Nabu
1 Cloak of Nabu
2 Knight Armor
Even with all my discussion of “identifying weaknesses” and the like, this deck is the Sword of Damocles hanging over every interesting deck I try to make for the format. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of other deckbuilders had the same feeling. The list I provided could be replaced by Mathieu Brochu’s Top 8 list from $10K Indy 2007 or John Hammond’s first place list from the same event; the differences are mainly in the number of 2-drops I run, which is a holdover from the Checkmate / Villains deck I played at PC: Indianapolis 2006 because of its four copies of No Mercy. You can put Mr. Mxyzptlk, Troublesome Trickster or Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle in instead. Regardless of the individual numbers, the deck does largely the same thing from build to build, and it always seems to have what’s necessary to beat the opponent.
Ways to combat it:
Recursive or sustainable resource hate. You aren’t going to be able to beat the deck with your four copies of Have a Blast! because it expends multiple cards each time you replace a location that the CM / VU player doesn’t necessary rely on. Something like Avalanche, Dominic Petros or Dark Matter Drain can be very good for keeping the wall of Safe Houses at bay because either can keep up with Ahmed, who invalidates a Have a Blast! every turn. Still, even with all the resource hate in the world, it’s of the utmost importance to be able to follow through toward some productive end; all the replacement in the world won’t reduce the 11 ATK of Bizarro.
King kill. There isn’t a way to both play Deadshot, Floyd Lawton and get rid of Cloak of Nabu directly, but it is entirely possible to use some kind of hidden hate to attack Ahmed and turn off the Cloak’s text by stunning him. This is simply too much work for the sets that contain Deadshot, particularly if the Cloak comes on turn 4 or 5. Level 12 Intelligence plus Rose Wilson ◊ The Ravager, Daughter of Deathstroke can force a Science Spire activation returning Ahmed, but by then he’s searched for three locations—and the 7 ATK / 8 DEF Rose doesn’t hold up well against a 9 ATK / 10 DEF or larger. This route is a very specialized, unlikely one, but something to keep in mind.
Anti-curve measures. Checkmate / Villains is a very efficient curve deck that packs reusable pumps for offense and defense, but it’s still just a curve deck and hence susceptible to all the same things Curve Sentinels was victimized by back in the day—except more so, given that it completely lacks the off-curve hate that was available to the purple robots. Thus, decks such as Faces of Evil are extremely effective against CM / VU, as would be a deck able to get the curve-killing Punisher, Guns Blazing operational. KO their drops, swarm them, and the Checkmate deck is largely helpless.
The best way to usurp the Checkmate crown, in my opinion, is that last one: the swarm strategy. Here’s a deck from my PC: Indy 2006 preparation, updated to fit the format, that had an almost un-losable matchup against Checkmate but was often derailed by the inimitable short curve of Good Guys:
The Cobert Report
Characters
13 Infernal Minions
3 Sue Dibny
4 Catherine Cobert
4 Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Royal Genetrix
1 Maxwell Lord, Financier
4 Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose
1 Booster Gold
1 Bluejay
2 Shadow-Thief, Carl Sands
2 Mantis, Power Parasite
1 Tattooed Man, Living Ink
Plot Twists
4 Secret Files
4 Infestation
4 Justice League Task Force
1 World War III
Locations
4 Hard-Light Storage Tank
1 The Castle
1 Royal Egg-Matrix
1 Slaughter Swamp
1 UN Building
3 Kooey Kooey Kooey
This deck was what we used when we wanted to absolutely embarrass Checkmate in testing. It’ll use its points on Minions and other assorted weenies in the first few turns, setting up for a gonzo turn on 4, 5, or 6 where it can drop four or five characters; use Cobert and Task Forces to stun everything; and then swing directly, often with a fatal Infestation. The deck plays almost identically to Faces, absent the Yellowjacket-Beetle, Armorsmith engine; instead, Storage Tanks and Poison Ivy fill the gap. The deck has difficulty with off-curve hate, having never had to face a Hawkeye, Clinton Barton before. It was abandoned because Good Guys would always have a 1-2-3-4-5 curve— the 1-drop being particularly brutal—and because the lack of flight in the Infestation deck meant Booster Gold was at his best. With Good Guys out of the picture, the deck has much better odds. Still, there clearly are problems out there, like Common Enemy’s Reign of Terrors (maybe BWA HA HA HA HA!?), Flame Traps, and Political Pressures.
Here's another “swarm” strategy, though it only really does its thing on turn 6:
Characters
4 Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend
4 San
4 Dr. Minerva
4 Lieutenant Kona Lor
3 Captain Att-Lass
2 Colonel Yon-Rogg
2 Commander Dylon Cir
1 Mar-Vell ◊ Captain Marvel, Soldier of the Empire
2 Admiral Galen Kor
1 Ultimus
1 Shatterax
1 Korath the Pursuer
Plot Twists
4 Live Kree . . . or Die!
4 Remnant Fleet
4 The Infamous Seven
4 The Lunatic Legion
Locations
4 Hala
4 Stargate
1 Negative Zone, Shadow Dimension
1 Penal Colony
1 Soul World
Equipment
4 Universal Weapon
This deck should be one most people are largely familiar with, though Universal Weapon and The Infamous Seven might be odd inclusions. This is what Matthew Tatar ran to a 7-3 finish on Day 1 of PC: Indy 2007, and it is probably the most compatible deck for BYOS to come out of that tournament (other than possibly Alex Bycov’s Darkseid deck for which I have never seen the decklist).
Does Kree have trouble with Political Pressure? Yes, absolutely. Are people going to be able to play Political Pressure, considering that the card does nothing against the best deck in the format; the deck most likely to play it (Common Enemy) is disadvantaged against the best deck in the format; and even in the matchup where it’ll be at its best, there will be only four Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom to get it, making it unlikely that the Common Enemy player can play it without underdropping or getting lucky? Seems dubious.
As an aside, I find that deckbuilding and deck choice are often influenced by the relative willingness of the player to take chances. A player who is risk-adverse will normally play more characters than necessary, will be shaken from playing decks that can be hated out, and will as a result tend toward middle-of-the-road records. Taking risks and having them pay off is a necessary part of winning large events; see Anthony Calabrese (the King kill was always 100 percent preventable by his opponents, and yet he managed one in the Top 8 of the event), Kyle Dembinski (said he would not have won if he had faced any real hate whatsoever), and me (relied on the same curve to get me through every match, and the exact minimum amount of characters required to hit it). Risks have payoffs.
I do admit that it is hard to bring oneself to play a deck with an automatic loss in a 10-round, 200+ person Constructed tournament, but rather than just run in fear, you have to properly understand the risks. Playing Checkmate always brings the chance of missing Ahmed, but if it only happens one round out of ten, I think the risk is acceptable. Just the same, if you are only going to face Political Pressure once during the day, I see no problem in running headlong into that risk if it brings favorable matchups elsewhere that can’t otherwise be achieved.
BYOS: Infinite Crisis
Characters
4 Connie Webb
4 Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific
4 Atom Smasher
4 Surveillance Pawn
4 Ahmed Samsarra
1 Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker
3 Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific
1 Adrian Chase ◊ Vigilante
1 Carter Hall ◊ Hawkman
1 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight
1 Huntress, Reluctant Queen
3 The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero
Plot Twists
4 Target Acquired
Locations
4 Brother I Satellite
4 Checkmate Safe House
1 Brother Eye
1 Secret Checkmate HQ
1 Dr. Fate’s Tower
1 Checkmate Armory
2 The Rock of Eternity
2 JSA Headquarters
Equipment
4 T-Spheres
4 Laser Watch
1 Cloak of Nabu
This is an amalgamation of Amir Bandeali’s and Matthew McDonald’s decklists from the Top 8 of $10K Indy, swapping out the Threat Neutralizeds from Matt’s deck for Amir’s Target Acquireds. I’d like to find room for another Huntress, Reluctant Queen, and possibly another Surveillance Pawn and Rock, but those numbers would likely be improved with months of playing (the Inhumans deck cut Attilan and a 7-drop only weeks before the tournament). I think this is one of the best decks in the format (even though Amir ran into trouble in the finals) because it has an off-curve strategy that is not particularly vulnerable to Political Pressure, and it can hang with Checkmate / Villains when its Rock is not disrupted or brickwalls are not executed with Fatality. The deck is also exceptional against Kree, and T-Spheres can help get it over the hump against things like Darkseid as well.
I’d like to conclude that this is not an all-inclusive look at the format because I have not entirely accounted for every deck to come out of Marvel Legends or DC Legends. Certainly those sets have important strategies to be mined, and knowing the designers of the game, there are plenty of ways the Legends cards are corrective to the problem of Checkmate. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a personal recommendation for a BYOS tournament and can accept a few unturned stones when it comes to the Legends sets, I would play Kree or Checkmate / Rock. Kree has a better match against Checkmate / Villains, while Checkmate / Rock is very strong against Kree and still even with Checkmate / Villains. In any case, there’s a lot of room in the format for an individual choice to make a huge difference, and it should be interesting to see how future BYOS events turn out—particularly if the unknown, untested decks start to shatter the norms of the format.
BYOS: Marvel Legends
Characters
1 Black Widow, Femme Fatale
4 Punisher, Suicide Run
4 Daredevil, Fearless Survivor
1 Morbius, Biochemical Bloodsucker
4 Cloak, Shadowmaster
4 Punisher, Guns Blazing
1 Wolverine, Covert Predator
1 Captain America, Loyal Patriot
1 Moon Knight, Knight of Khonshu
1 Hulk, Savage Hulk
1 Spider-Man, Outlaw
1 Punisher, Angel of Death
Plot Twists
4 Reload
4 Savage Beatdown
4 Mobilize
4 Wild Ride
4 Bring the Pain
4 Quick Kill
Equipment
4 Katana
4 Desert Eagle
4 M60s
This is a rough draft that I’d try to hone, playing it against Checkmate / Villains first, then Kree, Checkmate / Rock, et cetera. If it does well, tune it; look for other teams to add and other cards to try. If it does poorly, find out why. Did it have an inferior strategy? Is it running too few characters, plot twists, or equipment? Should Punisher, Guns Blazing be less of the focus of the deck, making room for more plot twists if you’re playing Wolverine on turn 4 each game? And finally—how can Checkmate / Villains be made better against this? Would No Mercy change the matchup? More Knight Armors? Is there a strategy out of the deck that can change the matchup, like how Maxwell Lord, Black King can turn games around against Checkmate / Rock? Only when you are prepared for every opponent you sit across from has testing succeeded. If we hadn’t found the Inhumans deck, I would have settled for playing our next best deck, Kree—but I would have known the ins and outs of the deck, and how exactly to scrape together wins against decks like Unravel Reality or Inhumans / Syndicate that I wouldn’t normally want to face.
Have fun at the Mega-Weekend.
Tommy Ashton
Addendum: Just to open up the options for people, I’m including one decklist from each set. This also helps lighten the load of research for anyone else focusing his or her attention on BYOS. I have a fair amount to say about Common Enemy, but not much to add when it comes to MKKO and other decks that are less near and dear to my heart. Additionally, not all these decks are created equal, and clearly if you’re choosing the Green Lantern set minus Dr. Light, Master of Holograms as your card pool, don’t expect to set the tournament scene ablaze.
Marvel Origins
If you judge a set by how much BYOS fodder it provides, Marvel Origins is probably the best, most balanced set in the entire game. None of the decks that come from the very first Vs. System set warp the format, but they all have enough to compete both in terms of power level and relevance to the metagame. Reign of Terror might be a little stronger than the benchmark R&D would typically like to see set, but with the immovable Cloak of Nabu present in the king of the format, on the King of the format, one of the best cards in Golden Age is largely neutered.
There are plenty of Common Enemy decklists to peruse from past events, as the deck had a fair amount of time in the sun at the beginning of the game (and a couple times since as well). Being that I’ve existed long under the tutelage of one Matthew Tatar, I find myself influenced in the direction of many of his card choices. One of the biggest departures? Doom’s Throne Room, the card that sets my Common Enemy build apart from all others. Doom’s Throne Room is not an inclusion in standard builds of the deck, but it ought to be; the extra few cards seen help maximize the ability of the deck to have Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius on turn 4 (a nonnegotiable requirement) and, beyond that, increase the chances of having his Reign of Terror accompaniment. Later in the game, the additional ATK pump or Mystical Paralysis—usually only at the expense of an excess She-Thing—can end up being the deciding factor in who maintains board advantage. Common Enemy rarely, if ever, wins its games through absolute blowouts, and instead needs to utilize every resource possible in ensuring strong on-initiative turns and Paralysis-filled off-initiative turns.
Other points of interest: Spider-Man, New Fantastic Four, who dominates the mirror by putting your Thing, Heavy Hitter a step above the opponent’s. The lack of Power Compressor plus Tech Upgrade, because Compressor comes far too late to affect Checkmate. The lack of any alternate 4-drop—it’s not worth having a 6 ATK / 8 DEF or 8 ATK / 6 DEF sans powers to get with Signal Flare, because the chances you can win without Doom are too low.
The deck:
Characters
4 Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom
4 She-Thing
4 She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters
3 Spider-Man, New Fantastic Four
4 Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius
1 Thing, Heavy Hitter
1 Robot Destroyer
1 Hulk, New Fantastic Four
1 Dr. Doom, Victor Von Doom
1 Thing, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing
1 Sub-Mariner, Ally of Doom
1 Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria
2 Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur
Plot Twists
4 Reign of Terror
4 Mystical Paralysis
1 Faces of Doom
1 Political Pressure
1 Flame Trap
3 It’s Clobberin’ Time!
2 Savage Beatdown
2 Acrobatic Dodge
4 Common Enemy
4 Signal Flare
Locations
4 Doomstadt
2 Doom’s Throne Room
DC Origins
Characters
4 Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend
4 Mirage, Miriam Delgado
1 Commissioner Gordon, James Gordon
1 Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, Agent of Order
1 Hank Hall ◊ Hawk, Agent of Chaos
4 Beast Boy, Garfield Logan
1 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Sharpshooter
1 Red Star, Leonid Kovar
1 Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing, High-Flying Acrobat
4 Terra, Tara Markov
1 Batman, Caped Crusader
4 Garth ◊ Tempest, Atlantean Sorcerer
1 Koriand’r ◊ Starfire, Alien Princess
1 Raven, Daughter of Trigon
Plot Twists
2 World’s Finest
4 The Brave and the Bold
3 Dynamic Duo
4 Teen Titans Go!
4 Bat-Signal
4 Fizzle
1 Heroic Sacrifice
Locations
4 USS Argus
4 Optitron
Equipment
1 Utility Belt
Marvel Knights
Characters
4 Orb, Drake Shannon
1 Dagger, Child of Light
4 Mikado and Mosha
4 Iron Fist, Danny Rand
4 Elektra, Elektra Natchios
3 Skinner
4 Luke Cage, Street Enforcer
1 Yelena Belova ◊ Black Widow, Enemy Agent
4 Daredevil, Matt Murdock
1 Mephisto, Soulstealer
1 Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, KGB Killer
1 Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Plot Twists
4 Wild Ride
4 Quick Kill
4 Crime and Punishment
4 Bring the Pain
4 Evil Awakens
4 Hell’s Fury
2 Midnight Sons
Locations
2 Punisher’s Armory
This deck, adapted from Kristian Kockott’s Amsterdam Top 8 decklist, is in many ways the typical mix of concealed characters and ATK pumps, though it is historically significant that this is the first set to contain concealed characters. Luke Cage, Street Enforcer makes a King kill possible or, more mundanely, can force an opponent to make the choice between Ahmed and Bizarro. Spider-Man is an addition made to combat Kree. Also for this set, keep in mind that Adam Prosak’s (Top 8) and Jacob Rabinowitz’s (10-2 Day 1) PC: Amsterdam decks are entirely legal for single-set play.
Green Lantern
Characters
4 Arisia
4 G’Nort
4 Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern
4 Olapet
4 Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth
4 Abin Sur
2 Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps
1 Sinestro, Green Lantern of Korugar
1 Hal Jordan, Reborn
Plot Twists
3 Lanterns in Love
4 Guardians Reborn
4 Breaking Ground
4 No Man Escapes the Manhunters
4 The Ring Has Chosen
4 Battle of Wills
Locations
4 Willworld
Equipment
4 Light Armor
1 Chopping Block
Avengers
Characters
4 Beast, Furry Blue Scientist
4 Rick Jones
4 Dane Whitman ◊ Black Knight
4 Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, Super Spy
4 Quicksilver, Mutant Avenger
4 Black Panther, T’challa
4 Hawkeye, Clinton Barton
4 Carol Danvers ◊ Warbird, Galactic Adventurer
4 She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell
2 Amenhotep
4 Wonder Man
3 Hercules
Plot Twists
4 Call Down the Lightning
4 Heroes in Reserve
3 Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
Locations
4 Avengers Mansion
Justice League
Characters
4 Sue Dibny
4 Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle
4 Booster Gold
1 Maxwell Lord, Financier
4 Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman
4 Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer
3 Fire, Beatriz DaCosta
4 Hero’s Welcome
4 BWA HA HA HA HA!
4 Trial by Fire
2 Justice League Task Force
Locations
4 Kooey Kooey Kooey
2 JLI Embassy
Equipment
4 Nth Metal
1 High-Tech Flare Gun
The X-Men
Characters
4 Courtney Ross
4 Sage, Tessa
3 Tarot
4 Mastermind, Dark Dreamer
4 Madelyne Pryor, Black Rook
3 Empath, Hellion
4 Shinobi Shaw, White King
1 Donald Pierce, White Bishop
1 Magneto, Black Lord
2 Sebastian Shaw, White King
Plot Twists
4 Army of One
4 Join the Club!
4 Power and Wealth
1 Power Play
4 Deadly Game
1 Momentary Distraction
4 Mental Domination
Locations
1 Sewer System
4 Shaw Industries
3 The Hellfire Club
(adapted from Niles Rowland’s Top 8 PC Atlanta deck; Niles played Hellfire Club at the BYOS $10K, but the list was never published)
Infinite Crisis
Isn’t Checkmate / Everything enough?
Heralds of Galactus
Characters
4 Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend
4 Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth
4 Warskrull
4 Captain America, Skrull Impostor
4 Wolverine, Skrunucklehead
4 Ethan Edwards
3 Ronan the Accuser, Starforce
4 Paibok
1 Karnak
Plot Twists
4 Interstellar Offensive
4 Act of Defiance
4 Extended Family
4 Sworn Enemies
4 The Royal Guard
4 It’s Slobberin’ Time!
Locations
4 The Great Refuge
Legion of Super Heroes
Characters
4 Jazmin Cullen ◊ Kid Quantum
4 Apparition
4 Ferro Lad
1 Element Lad
4 Vic Stone ◊ Cyborg, Titans Tomorrow East
3 Rose Wilson ◊ The Ravager, Titans Tomorrow East
1 Shrinking Violet ◊ Leviathan, Salu Digby
3 Saturn Girl
1 Connor Kent ◊ Superboy, Inspiration to the Legion
1 Rose Wilson ◊ The Ravager, Daughter of Deathstroke
1 Beast Boy ◊ Animal Man, Titans Tomorrow West
1 Brainiac 5.1
1 Cosmic Boy
1 Colossal Boy ◊ Leviathan
Plot Twists
4 New Recruits
4 Mobilize
4 Let’s Go, Legionnaires!
4 Past, Present, and Future
2 Youth of Tomorrow
4 Legion of Super-Pets
4 Foiled Assassination
Locations
4 Science Police Central
(from testing for PC: Indy)
Marvel Team-Up
Characters
4 Aunt May, Golden Oldie
4 Tania Belinskya ◊ Red Guardian
4 Beast, New Defender
4 Hellcat
1 Hawkeye, Loud Mouth
4 Spider-Man, The Sensational Spider-Man
2 Samantha Parrington ◊ Valkyrie
3 Moon Knight, Fist of Khonshu
1 Hulk, Grumpy Green Goliath
2 Sub-Mariner, Neptune’s Fist
1 Spider-Man, Stark’s Protg
Plot Twists
4 Gift Wrapped
4 Against All Odds
4 Defenders Defend!
4 Secret Defenders
4 The “B” Team
Locations
4 Empire State University
4 Sanctum Sanctorum
2 Stark Tower
World’s Finest
Characters
1 Harley Quinn, Mr. J’s Girl
1 Lady Blackhawk
1 Mad Hatter, Mad as a Hatter
1 Calendar Man
1 Huntress, Vicious Vigilante
1 KGBeast
1 Kryptonite Man
1 Natasha Irons ◊ Starlight
1 Tally Man
1 Terra-Man
1 The Penguin, Crime’s Early Bird
1 Barbara Gordon ◊ Oracle, Hacker Elite
1 Batman, Problem Solver
1 Great White
1 Mr. Zsasz, Scar Tissue
1 Professor Emil Hamilton ◊ Ruin, Power Suit
1 The Joker, Out of His Mind
1 Ultraman, Despot of Kandor
1 Batman, Twilight Vigilante
1 Batzarro
1 Livewire, Leslie Willis
1 Metallo, Kryptonite Heart
1 Poison Ivy, Venomous Vixen
1 Kate Kane ◊ Batwoman, Katherine the Younger
1 Matt Hagen ◊ Clayface, Mud Pack
1 Mr. Freeze, Cold Shoulder
1 Preus, Citizen’s Patrol
1 Scarecrow, Fear and Loathing
1 Sondra Fuller ◊ Clayface
1 The Joker, Crazy for You
1 Two-Face, Heads or Tails
1 Basil Karlo ◊ Ultimate Clayface
Plot Twists
1 Bat-Signal
1 Batter Up!
1 Battle for Metropolis
1 Batzarro Beatdown
1 Beside Myself
1 Bizarro Brawl
1 Burn Baby Burn
1 Certifiable
1 Crackshot
1 Dimensional Deal
1 Executive Privilege
1 Hostile Takeover
1 Hush Baby
1 Jack-in-the-Box
1 Knowledge Is Power
1 Money Talks
1 Obey or Die!
1 Pick a Card
1 SKREEEEEEE!
1 Standoff
1 The Hook-Up
1 Truth and Justice
1 Usual Suspects
1 World’s Worstest
Locations
1 Arkham Asylum, Team-Up
1 Blackgate Prison, Maximum Security
1 Graveyard of Solitude
1 Stryker’s Island
Marvel Legends: X-Babies, by Rian Fike
Characters
12 Multiple Man, Army ◊ Madrox
4 Domino
4 Cable, Nathan Summers
4 Wolverine, Logan
1 Jubilee, Mallrat
1 Shadowcat, Phase Shifter
1 Blink, Exile
1 Nightcrawler, Man of the Cloth
1 Bishop, Time Cop
Plot Twists
4 Bodyslide
4 Mobilize
4 Fastball Special
3 Battle Tactics
3 Healing Factor
3 Berserker Rage
3 Sneak Attack
3 Adamantium Claws
2 Overwhelming Force
Locations
2 Xavier’s Institute of Higher Learning
DC Legends
Characters
4 Catwoman, Cat o’ Nine Tails
4 Penguin, Gentleman of Crime
4 Superwoman, Earth 3
4 Johnny Quick, Earth 3
4 Black Manta, Deepwater Denizen
3 Owlman, Earth 3
4 Jemm (is simply outrageous)
1 Ultraman, Earth 3
4 White Martian, Earth 3
1 Abra Kadabra, Magical Rogue
Plot Twists
4 Crime Syndicate of Amerika
4 Blinding Rage
4 All Too Easy
4 Combat Reflexes
3 Overwhelming Odds
4 Secret Files
4 Path of Destruction
