Bleach Deck Corner: Slow Rush

Well, This deck actually ain’t a rush deck as the name implies. It just came to that monicker because one of our players playing the deck archetype during a common-uncommon format claimed the deck was a rush deck. Hecklers (like me, haha) called it a Slow Rush deck, pointing to the irony that if the deck will ever rush the opponent, it will really be a slow one at that. The deck is what most ccg players would call a reanimator deck, something that would try to abuse graveyard recurssion with the engine of Ayame and Shun’o, Orihime’s little friends (no, this ain’t a story about Pokemons).

    

The twin engine of Slow Rush

I always wanted to play the deck archetype for the long time since i’ve been playing Magic (Reanimate Dead and all), so i decided to build the deck during the week and try it out during the weekend’s Hobby League. Here’s the deck with discussion afterwards for your consumption.

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VS DC Universe Previews: Boomerang

First appearing in Flash# 117 (1960), Captain Boomerang was one of the original Flash Rogues. He was camp. Whod’ever think of making a costume with boomerangs as a pattern? He probably made it from his mother’s curtains.

Later on in his career, Captain Boomerang would be forced into the Suicide Squad. One of the longer running members, he showed enough combat prowess and undercover skills to be a boon to the squad. He remained with the squad until it disbanded.

The end of the original Captain Boomerang came in the Identity Crisis miniseries. Owen Mercer found himself obsolete and wanted to put himself back on the map. He was contracted to kill Jack Drake, Tim Drake’s father. He was eventually shotdown in the showdown which ended up in a double takedown. (Hey, he was camp okay)

There’s been two version so far of Captain Boomerang in VS, both appearing during the JLA expansion and a decent two drop at that.

Click HERE for MORE DCU Preview: Boomerang >>>

Bleach: Rise of the Vasto Lordes

RISE of the VASTO LORDES

Our Bleach Squad III Regionals was last weekend. The format was common-uncommons only. No rares were allowed in the deck. So gone were the staples of certain decks (e.g. Reality Check). Some basic deck designs needed an overhaul as they wouldn’t remain competitive in the said format. Throughout the week, i was debating to myself what deck i would play as there would probably be a lot of hollow hate still around (e.g. maindecked Restrained). But at the morning before the tourney, I decided that I’ll stick to what I do best and play the Hollow Rush.   I was out to set a new rise of power for the Vasto Lordes against the Shinigamis.

Click HERE for MORE of the Squad Regionals >>>

 

VS: A DCL Draft

Around 2 weeks ago, Spooky informed our VS community that NG (a local gaming shop) found out that there was still a box of DCL we could draft for Php450 (That would be around $10) per person. Now that was cheap. We would get our prizes by pooling in our rares, keep the common and uncommons.

6 Peeps showed up, here’s the tourney report from Spooky

 Martin Wins DCL Draft Tourney!!!!

Winner: Martin (Gotenks)

Others:
Joem (Ukyo_Rulz)
Mario (Carebuggers)
Eric (Pawikan)
VInce (Major Glory)
Andrew (Spooky2799)

Comments: Awesome Tourney!!!!!! Martin drafted JLA/Teen Titans with 2 teen titans go! in his deck and beast boy engine in hand he demolished his opponents. Overall it was a fun and exciting afternoon of drafting a deck and drafting prizes as everyone looked like they came away winners as the cards that were prizes were very very good. Here’s hoping we do this again for Marvel Universe and Marvel Evolution!!!

I ended up 3rd place, losing to Joem’s IG/LoA build. I drafted IG concealed (as i usually do, crap) but i probably should have been more aggressive and thrown caution to the wind by not team attacking and going for the jugular. And Black Manta feels like a bad 3-drop when your 2 drop doesn’t have a pump to back her up. Lesson learned. Anyways, till the reprint comes out, off to a Bleach vacation.

*nope, no CLICK for MORE today.

Bleach: Bounts’ Guardians

It will probably take a month before Bounts, Bleach’s latest expansion, arrives at our shores. But a lot of anticipation is already surrounding it’s release. Guardians are the cornerstones of deck building as most decks theme are assisted by their Guardian’s ability. This is a quick brief look into the new guardians that Bounts will bring to both the limited and constructed scene, how much impact they’ll make. Here’s my rating system:

 = Trash Kon

 = Konstructed worthy

 = Konnerific

Guardians: 

Tatsuki Arisawa

Students given the aggressive trait yet easily dying off leaves you without any continous source of damage. I think it would’ve been better if the students were given +1 to all stats rather than take one away since they’re just good to use once. What that aggressive helps are students with deplete in their activated abilities that don’t need to attack to deal damage. For sealed or draft, if your peeps are student, you don’t want them easily dying off.    

Constructed Rating:  

Limited Rating:

Click HERE for More of Bount Guardians >>>

Poutpourri: X-Celebrate and Malaysian Idols

Last weekend proved quite enjoyable to belong with the gaming community of XP. Our friends from Malaysia (Hong, Yung and Ai Lin) arrived for a 4 day stay at Manila and were given the tour of the nightlife by the other members of the community (I was only able to join them for the last day at XP). We also had a draft pod of VS with MUN again last Saturday, care of Dennis Ching’s box. And sadly i couldn’t be at two tournaments at the same time with a 10 player HL for Bleach which was held just a few minutes after the draft started.

Herribolls & Red Viper

David J & Lionboy

Well, after all the games were done, some little celebrations were in order as two of the peeps had their birthdays that weekend (that’d be Hong and yours truly). Pizza (thanks Palm card, haha) and a Black Forest cake (yummy) was happily shared among the people present. It’s nice to see the peeps with smiles on their faces and just enjoying each other’s company, that alone is a nice birthday gift for me.

 

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VS: Marvel Universe’s Top 10

And i’m back to finish the my take on Marvel Universe’s Top 10 cards. I also added the current market value of the card, so as to prepare ya for how much you’ll probably be spending to get the card (that is, if anyone is willing to sell it).But before we get on with our countdown, let’s run a list of some cards that are honorable mention but didn’t make my list because of team stampings and narrow applications, but with star potential in the right decks.

Honorable Mentions (or cards that didn’t make my Top 20)

    

Hulk Smash is the biggest pump with just a treshold at 3. When this one comes romping down your door, it’s time to think how you can save that precious endurance of yours. Red Skull’s Cosmic Cube on the other hand is a search card, but the exhaust might just be too much of a set up when you could be attacking with him. The only time you’d probably exhaust him when it’s your initiative if he was a 3 drop, because you’d probably want to deal damage with the 5drop version. But search is always good, whatever team Red Skull (or his impostor) ends up in.

And now back to our top 10:

Click HERE for the Top 10 cards of Marvel Universe >>>

VS: Marvel Universe’s Top 20

Marvel Universe is the newest VS set that came out from UDE. With the background of Civil War, this set finally refeatures the premiere team of Marvel, the Avengers led by Captain America. It’s a face vs. face showdown as Iron Man leads the pro-registration S.H.I.E.L.D./Avengers. Mix into the rumble the Thunderbolts, government’s sanctioned killers, and Crimelords/Hydra to benefit from all the chaos.

Also featured are two great storylines in the mix, the Annihilation Saga and World War Hulk. They bring in the Annhilus’s Negative Zone, the United Front/Kree, and the Hulk-led Warbound. And behind it, the Illuminati’s hand can be felt influencing the major events around. It also features some small teams like the Nextwave and Alpha Flight (whose space i feel should’ve been used to develop the other teams, but that’s another rant). 

It’s the set which was “created” by the fans (which the fans don’t have enough of) with UDE’s R&D team giving them the decision thru a series of web polls as to how the MU’s direction would take. Now I’m taking my shot at calling my top 20 cards of Marvel Universe. It’s a large and relatively new set, so there’s a lot to still get excited about. So here we go

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Number 20: Messiah Complex

Messiah Complex is a generic card that allows players to return characters previously discarded or dumped into it to the players hand for a drop more likely in the later parts of the game. What’s also nice about it is the boost ability. You can exhaust two characters (something you could do when off-initiative) and gain some much needed life in the endurance race. Great card which everyone was given access to. Though it’s flavor would’ve served Marvel Evolutions better.

 

 

Click HERE for MORE of Marvel Universe’s Top 20 >>>

VS: Our 1st Marvel Universe Draft

Last Saturday, we were able to draft Marvel Universe. I nearly was late for the action as i was catching the mark out moment the IWC peeps have been talking about in Monday Night RAW. As Jerry Lawler said, “CM Punk WINS!, CM Punk WINS! CM Punk WINS!”, one of the better written scripts in wrestling as of late. Well Monday Night Raw started an hour later than usual, so i got to Xtended Play (our local VS hub) around 830pm.

Well, one our players, Andrew “spooky” Francisco was gracious enough to have not mixed his cards from a box he ordered over the internet (it cost around $100 to be shipped to us). And Dennis “Lost” Ching was nice enough to give me his seat in the pod. Everyone was set and people’s dreams of drafting Avengers, SHIELD, Warbound and Crimelords was swelling up. Woo-hoo.

The Return of Marvel’s Premiere Team in VS

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Bleach: Bankai’s Top 10

Bankai’s Top 10

And we’re back to finish the top 10 cards of Bankai. What of your favorites were left out and what card rules them all? Here’s my list.

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Number 10: Sosuke - Revealed 

Sosuke’s the main man when it comes to hosing down the good guy decks. -2 to all stats is nothing to scoff at when you’re playing a Family deck or a Chad deck where every point of damage counts. He’s one hard to get common decent enough to boost himself with 2 FOR, so multiples don’t hurt.

Click HERE for the rest of BANKAI’s Top 10>>>