Hobby League: There can be only … two…

I gotta say, these winter storm warnings and the like are starting to get up my nose. For the second time in… well, not that long a period, I have a deck I want to test at Hobby League against a handful of players, a variety of decks…

… and only one other person shows up.

Now, two of our regulars had forewarned us that they wouldn’t be in attendance, but the others? Ooooh, I’m gonna give ‘em such a metaphorical wedgie when I catch up wi’ ‘em…

But you don’t come here to read my gripes, you come here for casual decky goodness. So…

STRANGER THAN FICTION

After chatting a little with the esteemed Kamiza himself, I was reminded of the niftiness that was the Spiderfenders Moon Knight deck. Sure, it was a one-trick pony, but what a heck of a trick it was.

Thus the idea was bandied about, what about switching Moon Knight out for the Dr Strange stuff, pushing the stall a little harder, and tossing in a solid ender. I’ve never really played much in terms of Spider Stall but I recognise a few of the pieces; this is what I went with in the end:

• 4x Wong: Mystical Manservant
• 4x Night Thrasher: Dwayne Michael Taylor
• 3x Tania Belinskya @ Red Guardian: Cold Warrior
• 3x Hellcat: Patsy Walker
• 1x Hawkeye: Loud Mouth
• 1x Kyle Richmond @ Nighthawk: Heart of the Team
• 1x Mattie Franklin: Reserve Webhead
• 2x Spider-Man: The Sensational Spider-Man
• 1x Spider-Man: Spider-Hulk
• 1x Richard Rider @ Nova: Xandarian Nova Corps
• 2x Samantha Parrington @ Valkyrie: Chooser of the Slain
• 4x Dr Strange: Founding Father
• 1x Daredevil: New Kingpin
• 1x Sub-Mariner: Neptune’s Fist
• 2x Spider-Man: Stark’s Protege
• 1x Dr Strange: Sorcerer Supreme
• 1x Mysterium: Joseph Lightner
• 4x Empire State University
• 2x Stark’s Tower: Team-up
• 3x Eye of Agamotto
• 4x Enemy of my Enemy
• 4x The B Team
• 2x Secret Defenders
• 4x Astral Projection
• 4x Gift Wrapped

Okay, we all already know I’m no great shakes as a deckbuilder, so sue me. Here’s my reasonings:

Wong at one is a searcher; if I don’t draw him, he’s discardable to fuel B Team. At two, Thrash gets me a team-up BEFORE turn 3 - most of the team-up tutors are a turn behind Dwayne, so he’s an auto-include in any deck teaming up with Spider-Friends. Tania fits in as the backup at two if only because she’s so freakin’ useful, especially once you’ve hidden her and your opponent has no choice but to swing into whoever she’s given the +4 ATK to.

At three, I can’t run a Defenders deck without Hellcat. It’s just not in me. Hawkeye’s a tech card, Nighthawk’s a last chance team-up search, and Mattie’s there just in case I need a Spider-Friend on three for the team-up, that I can dig out with an EomE if need be.

Four, a couple of Spideys for the stall, an alternate Spidey for biffiness, Sam Parrington because she’s all that and a bag of chips, and a single Nova because I’ve been rereading some of the Annihilation stuff and I’m addicted to him. Oh Richard Rider, why can’t I quit you? Roll on Marvel Universe, roll on United Front…

Five’s Founding Father of course. We’re trying to make the Dr Strange legend deck, remember? Though a little birdie tells me that this may be a tad easier after Marvel Universe is released… what a tease…

Six has Daredevil for stalling further if I have initiative, or Sub-Mariner for beating/brickwalling if I don’t. Seven has the stall-tastic Stark’s Protege, eight rounds out our Dr Strange Legend portion, and we (in theory) finish on turn 9 with the Other-Earth version of Dr Strange, Mysterium.

For support we have card draw (ESU), tutors (B Team, EOME), Team-ups (the tower and Secret Defenders), the balance of our Legend cards (the eye and Astral Projection), and Gift Wrapped for a little more stally goodness.

Yup, no pump whatsoever, but with pumping backup abilites on Tania and Patsy, and then the extra +1 nudge from Secret Defenders, I thought it was worth trundling out and seeing how it floated.

 Of course, the very first game we played, Spud pulled out a silver-legal version of Injustice Gang Hand Flood. Here I am playing a deck that relies on a lot of draw to get all the stall elements, and he’s filling my hand further while not letting me use any of it. Frustrating. About the only entertaining part of this game for me was Night Thrasher whacking Lex Luthor upside the head with his skateboard. I got pwned.

Second test drive fared better with Spud playing X-Statix. Barring a play error (not flipping Star of the Show in time), the Strange deck pretty much followed an almost strictly Defenders backup build, but that was fine since my esteemed opponent only had one character up at a time anyway. Each turn I pumped the heck out of whoever I had up with Tania and Patsy, and I even managed to get a use or two out of Nova, who so politely got rid of Zeitgeist’s counter for me. Spud scooped in the end in the face of an enormous Sub-Mariner and 8-drop Strange.

One last test drive, and this time Spud pulled out Future Foes. Normally this wouldn’t irk me too much - My deck has plenty of draw in it, so in theory I’d have plenty to discard to stump his effects, and it would come down to my beating him around the head again.

Of course, this was not meant to be, as I missed my 1, had to underdrop on 3, 4 and 5, and then when I finally drew a tutor on turn 7, it was B Team and I didn’t have a backup Defender in hand, so I could go and hunt out Spidey.

I don’t care how good your deck is, sometimes you just draw like crud and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’d moan more about it, but in the end I think I’ll be shelving the Dr Strange legend concept until Marvel Universe… (*he said, looking askance at Mr Zonos..*)

Well, this has been a rather “meh” hobby league report, so let me spice it up by paying homage to Lost Hemisphere’s spokesalien with a singularly spiffy keen piece of art drawn by the surprisingly talented Captain Spud…

Seriously, how damn excellent is that in pretty much every sense of the word??? It’s my desktop, now I’m wondering what it’s going to take to get onto a playmat…

One last reminder, this is the last post before I start putting together this week’s Thursday Thirteen. If you want to win that shiny Parallax, this is pretty much your last chance to get an entry in for the Composite Superheroine contest I posted last week. You’ve got until about 10pm EST Wednesday night to prove to me that you have the visually analytical chops to win the prize!