Deck Spotlight of the Week #3: Perhaps I Was Addicted to the Darkseid

[Onslaught]

For a reminder of the goal of this series, refer here. Let's start off this entry by looking at all the 23 point characters:

• Apocalypse
• Cable
• Darkseid
• Malebolgia
• Onslaught
• Team X
• Thor
• Warlock

You can chuck Warlock since he has no specials. Let's go ahead and toss Apoc, for mostly the same reason (oh snap). The remaining 7 stat chars that cost 23 are all pretty interesting. Cable has a lot of useful stuff, and everyone has probably messed with him by this point. While he's still not super top-tier, he's not niche enough for this series. Team X is in one of the most powerful decks in the game (and one of my favorite to use), so we'll pass on them. Thor has some moderately appealing offense, but his optimal use would need to maximize Gift of the Gods and Viking Pyre. I've never been a fan of combo decks due to their lack of interaction with the opponent.

So, now we're left with Onslaught, Malebolgia, and Darkseid. Onslaught had a long period from IQ to JLA to be in the spotlight, so I'm not clamoring to figure out a way to put him to good use. Malebolgia is already established as a premier reserve character for his OPD and stat backing. I guess that leaves us with Darkseid. Well, maybe his specials are better than I'm remembering...

* DARKSEID  (V) <JL> {R}                     E: 6   F: 3   S: 8   I: 6   (23)
    * DESAAD (JC) <JL> {U}
       Acts as a level 5 Intellect attack. Darkseid may play 1 additional
           Special card.
    * GRANNY GOODNESS (AK) <JL> {U}
       Play during battle. For remainder of battle, all Fighting bonuses from
           Teamwork cards are doubled.
    * KALIBAK (EB) <JL> {U}
       Play this card in front of Darkseid. Darkseid may not be attacked until
           this Special is attacked. Darkseid may not defend this card.
    * LORD OF APOKOLIPS (DU) <JL> {VR} [OPD]
       Darkseid may make 4 attacks, 3 attacks at +1 each, 2 attacks at +2
           each, or 1 attack at +3. Bonus not applied to damage, or Venture
           Total.
    * OMEGA EFFECT (BM) <JL> {VR} [OPD]
       Acts as a level 7 Intellect attack. If successful, Target character may
           not attack for remainder of battle

Yikes. I've always loved the "Doombots" style specials, so at least we hae that to build off of. I'm not gonna complain about a level 7 attack either, even if the secondary effect will never happen. To be honest, if the 5 intellect JC was a 5 multi instead, his power level would be just right. Think about it for a minute. See? He seems pretty appealing with that change...which is encouraging, because it means he's pretty much useful even in his current form.

I made a post about a Ray deck last week that was designed from the top down. We had a well defined theme from the beginning, and chipped away at the rest of the remaining card pool until we were left with only complimentary pieces. For this deck, it will be more of a bottom up approach. None of Darkseid's specials suggest that he lends himself to a certain style of deck.

Let's compare him to his peers:
Onslaught: two attractive specials (one is OPD), can play six teamworks of three different colors
Malebolgia: one attractive special (only if used in reserve, and it's OPD), can play 6 teamworks of three different colors
Darkseid: two playable specials (both OPD), can play 5 teamworks of three different colors

The upside of costing 23 points is that you are always going to be your own mini-offensive powerhouse regardless of how many usable specials you have (unless you are Apocalypse, in which case you cost 23 yet can only play three teamworks of two different colors). When you have a triple stat character like this, you have to decide how to maximize the points you are spending on all those big stats. Do you want to use your 23 pointer to a) back up other single/dual stat characters, or b) use them as loners and count all the off color teamworks as pseudo-special cards?

If you choose a), you want to get the most bang for your buck by going crazy with your single stat characters. Normally I wouldn't be thrilled to run a frontline of max 7e char, max 8s char, max 6i char, but when you have someone who ties together all three then you're in good shape. The natural spot for Darkseid in this role would be to play him in reserve, similar to Malebolgia with his OPD or Onslaught with just a Raw Power.

If you choose b), you will inflate Darkseid's usefulness by pairing him with characters that all share a high primary stat. That way, the 6e and 6i teamworks can be counted in his "unusable once KO'ed" column, bringing him to a respectable total of 4 unique cards when you factor in his OPDs.

I prefer method a), because tying together stats just seems more fun to me. So we want characters with max stats in energy, intellect, or strength. Spoiler alert: all of these stats happen to show up on dual stat characters that have low point costs to offset Darkseid's 23! This deck really makes itself once the pieces fall into place, but I'll go through the progression step by step anyway.

Hulk: Cool, now the 6i and 8s are backed up for the low cost of 18 points. Only two good specials, but now you can start being in a mindset that your deck might be leaner on the specials. Usually this indicates to me that it is a "hardier" deck. It makes sense - why would you be playing characters that only had a few special cards unless you were interested in their stats? So, you'll have some strong/hopefully redundant stats and only a few special cards, meaning you can let people die and have a very small amount of unusable discards. Jumping off points to consider from this mentality: high potential to make use of the KO event, high potential to make use of "no special cards" type events, emphasis on offense since you can afford to readily trade hits, etc.

Moving on, I want to take the teamworks of this deck to the next level by throwing in more off stats. Professor X starts giving you a solid base of being an "intellect deck" (all chars at least a 6), while also bringing two new teamworks that you otherwise wouldn't have been able to use. Darkseid backs up one of them, but the 8E, 7E, and 7I will all be unique to Xavier. Ironically enough, Professor X is sorta playing the role of the "b)" choice mentioned earlier, he just happens to be ridiculous and does it for only 18 points instead of 23. To go with his three unique teamworks, you also have the 8m, the target hero can't attack, and Telepathic Coordination (which is absolutely devastating in a deck with this many teamworks).

Even though Prof X and Hulk only cost 18, we still only have room for 17 in the final slot. Wow Darkseid, go on a diet please!!! This deck has a pretty solid feel to it so far, so instead of getting gimmicky or going for some more pure offense I'd like to round out the solidness by putting in a negater. As it stands, our teamworks look like this:

8e: 1 user, 7e: 1 user, 6e: 2 users, 8s/7s/6s: 2 users, 7i: 1 user, 6i: 3 users

So when choosing between Scarlet Witch and Mojo, you get to decide whether you want a 2nd user of the 7e, or a third user of the 6e and fourth user of the 6i. I'm gonna go ahead and go with Mojo, like I said it just feels like a "solid" deck and I think having more stat redundancy will go along with that better.

Now normally when I am crafting a deck, I start thinking about the battlesite (or any hero usage) and mission set way earlier in the process. I'd rather have cohesiveness between 1 or 2 initial characters and interaction with tricks from the battlesite/an event instead of just going "ok, now given the deck I have, what can I add on and hope it works??" I guess it is permissible in this case since this deck was built in an older way with a kind of emphasis on stability. Based on that, some options:

-Strong defensive battlesite with Infinity Gauntlet
You don't have a fighting stat in sight, so "No Fighting Power Cards" will go nicely with the "No Any Heroes" event. Since you have somewhat plain specials and an emphasis on just winning with teamworks, I don't really mind using a default mission set like Infinity Gauntlet here. Maximum Carnage is also an option, bumping the anti-fighting up a notch while hurting your own high OPD count. To continue the default nature of this increasingly straightforward (yet stable!) deck, I could see using The Outback.

-Offensive or tricky battlesite
On the other hand, what do you care about defense for? You have stats backed up like crazy! If your opponent chooses to go after Prof X (six unique cards) or Mojo (five or six unique cards), it just means you'll be poised to win the long game as your two 8 strength chars attempt to drag the game into the powerpack. If they go after Hulk, he only has two unique cards in the entire deck, so you can attempt to trade characters and it should turn out in your favor. Perhaps Krakoa?

-Any Heroes
In fact, you could even take the "why do I need extra defense?" route to the extreme and just opt for any heroes. Normally, decks with tons of defense (like X-Man/Spawn) are better suited to using Any Heroes since they can stay alive for a long time even without a battlesite. The benefit of such strong stat backing from this deck lets you use Any Heroes pretty effectively, and they help fit the theme. If you are immune to DoW and you only lose a few cards whenever a character dies, you should have consistently high points to venture each hand.

In closing, I think this is a neat little deck. It's got juicy teamworks, an old school feel (running only two or three special cards for a character), and maintains a solid base while still fitting in a negate and some strong effects. Telepathic Coordination will be murderous, and Darkseid chaining attacks in the powerpack off Lord of Apokolips can be game winning.

[gameplan.exe]

That's a pretty solid looking deck; good job.

I wonder, though, with it being a leaner deck, how would your actual deck breakdown look? Specifically, how would you build your Power Pack for a relatively diverse deck like this?

[rucker73]

Just wondering why Holocaust wasn't considered for the fourth spot along with SW and Mojo.  He backs up the 7 E TW and the 6 S.

Just wondering where the love is.   

[Ravencroft]

i actually ran this deck except i used Morlocks instead of Prof X. The 6e and 8s were key, along with the remove and Leech, made it incredibly thin deck. It was a beast.
I used Outerspace as a Battlesite and would definitely not again.

[Hot Rod]

Dude, your graphics are awesome sauce.

While a valiant attempt indeed, I think Darkseid is unfortunately beyond saving with the current card pool.