Crisis Doom

The first Vs. deck I ever built was Common Enemy. I didn't win with it very much, partly because of the so-so build, and partly because of the so-so player playing it. But that deck bore much fruit down the road, because many of the cards I accumulated for that deck found their way into my favorite control deck of all time, Crisis Doom. I have futzed and fiddled with the build a lot over time, but this is the current one:

Characters - 27 

[1 - 4]
4x Boris, Personal Servant of Dr. Doom (Doom)
[2 - 6]
4x San, The Alienated One (Inhumans)
2x Captain Boomerang, George Harkness (Injustice Gang)
[3 - 4]
4x Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival (Doom)
[4 - 4]
2x Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius (Doom)
1x Rictor, Julio Rictor (X-Force, X-Men)
1x Jester, Jonathan Powers (Crime Lords)
[5 - 4]
1x Black Manta, Underwater Marauder (Secret Society)
1x Kristoff Von Doom, Pretender to the Throne (Doom)
1x Mr. Sinister, Visionary Geneticist
1x Lex Luthor, Metropolis Mogul (Injustice Gang, Revenge Squad)
[6 - 2]
1x Dr. Doom, Sorcerous Savant (Doom)
1x Human Torch, Herald
[7 - 2]
1x Koriand'r <> Starfire, X'Hal's Fury (Teen Titans)
1x Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas (JLA)
[8 - 1]
1x Dr. Doom, Latverian Monarch (Doom) 

Plot Twists - 29 

[1 - 2]
1x Unmasked
1x Political Pressure
[2 - 4]
4x Crisis on Infinite Earths
[3 - 10]
4x Enemy of My Enemy
2x Faces of Doom
2x Mobilize
1x Death of the Dream
1x Time Thief
[4 - 11]
3x Reign of Terror
4x Mystical Paralysis
4x Savage Beatdown
[5 - 2]
2x Omnipotence

Locations - 5 

[1 - 3]
3x Doomstadt, Castle Doom
[2 - 1]
1x Latveria
[3 - 1]
1x Stryker's Island

The only 1 drop is Boris. I actually get his effect more often than you would think, because of Doomstadt, and the effects of the 2 drops. I use it to get Reign, Crisis, a tutor, or whatever tech card I need most for the current match-up.

When I first built this deck, it was a stall deck that ran Puppet Master as the 2 drop of choice. Over time, I have settled on the two I am playing now. San is here primarily to fetch Doomstadt, but Latveria and Stryker's Island are both good targets if you already have Doomstadt. Captain Boomerang is terrific against any deck that plays a troublesome 1 or 2 drop, like Quicksilver or Atom Smasher. 

The only 3 drop is Richard's Rival, and he is truly the key to the deck. Mulligan for him, or a way to get him. He can search for Crisis, Enemy, Faces of Doom, or whatever other plot twist you need most but don't yet have. Just be careful about searching for Reign with him, because the card goes on top of your deck, not in your hand, so if your opponent makes you replace a resource, it will get dumped into your row. Only a Doomstadt (which has terraform) can salvage it.

For the longest time, I played four copies of the Diabolic Genius as my only 4 drop, but recently I have been experimenting with a pair of toolbox characters here. Doom will be the choice most of the time, and if you get him you can flip down Crisis or some other plot twist with his effect. Turning down Crisis allows his plot twist negation effect to come into play where it otherwise wouldn't. If you are defending on 4, it's really sweet to use Mystical in your row with your 3 drop, flip it back down, and use it again with your 4. That was my go-to move on 4 back when I played this as a stall deck. Now I play it as a control deck, aiming to thwart my opponent's plans at every turn, which is why I have plugged in the other two 4 drops. Jester is good against any deck that relies heavily on equipment cards. For example, he's great for stealing Nth Metals from Good Guys decks, or Advanced Hardware from Voltage. Whether he's better than Doom here depends on whether you've got Reign or not. Rictor is great against decks that need specific cards in their rows in order to function, such as Lost City or New Brotherhood. Keep in mind that any plot twist you play while he is in combat, either defending or attacking, will trigger the effect. When he's on the field, I always try to save my tutors until he is in combat.

Turn 5 has always been a toolbox with this deck, using four different characters, with the hope of deploying the best one for the current match-up. Black Manta (or Garth, if you prefer) is probably my most frequent choice so long as Crisis is on the field, and you need it to get around the loyalty requirement. Retrieving a spent copy of Mystical Paralysis or Savage or a tutor can be game-changing. Kristoff is used mainly when I don't have Crisis and I need to play a Doom character. His effect is terrific in conjunction with Doom 4's. Mr. Sinister sees play against a lot of decks, because he negates so many key effects during combat. But against decks that have a lot of activated effects, Lex is even better, because he turns them off the entire time that he is upright. Ahmed hates Lex.

For turn 6 I have always played one Dr. Doom character, and there are two to choose from. You need Crisis on the field in order to recruit either, but it turns off the effect of the MOR Doom, so the MHG version is an easy choice. (Note: Actually, someone reminded me that there are four. The Ultimates one is worthless. There is also one in MUN that is good, although I think I still prefer the MHG guy.) His effect is great on turns where you are attacking, and you know you are going to lose a character. Might as well go ahead and KO the smallest guy, after he stuns, to flip a Mystical or a Savage or an Enemy back down. You can also sacrifice San to his effect if he's still around. I've tried a variety of other 6 drops in the second slot over time--Dreadnought Tank, Holcaust - Nemesis, Supermanhunter, Grodd. Currently I am using the Human Torch that negates a ton of targeting effects. Another great choice here would be Mimic - Earth 12, from MEV, and I imagine I will be giving him a try here soon. I have a feeling he might help more than Torch in the match-ups I tend to lose. In fact, where did I put that card?

There's a 7 drop Dr. Doom, but his effect is nil with Crisis on the field, so don't bother. My go-to play on 7 is Aquaman, who can generally get back 2 or 3 cards from your KO pile for you, depending on how many characters you have and how you form. Just a terrific effect. Garth++. I used to play the MTU Spider-man as my other 7, but I am experimenting with Starfire right now. She's great against stall decks. Just be careful, when picking your toolbox characters, not to choose all characters with loyalty at a given drop. You will regret it when your opponent has Have a Blast-ed your Crisis, and you have to underdrop because your only 7 drops have loyalty requirements you can't meet.

The game finisher is the Latverian Monarch. Don't even think about playing the MOR guy. Crisis neuters him, too. This deck works best on evens, with Doom 8 cleaning house. Choose your initial attacks carefully, then KO a guy who stunned so you can  ready everyone else and attack again. You can be way, way behind with this deck heading into turn 8 and still win if you can pull off a double-attack barrage. He is the ultimate finisher, and there is no reason to consider playing any other 8 drop here. Even if you only get to swing twice with just him, that's pretty awesome, especially if you've got Doomstadt giving him 22 ATK.

Of all the decks I've ever built, I think this one plays the biggest variety of plot twists and locations, 12 of the former, and 3 of the latter. Nevertheless, the backbone of the deck are the ones played in 3's and 4's, starting with the Doom-specific plot twists. Mystical Paralysis is generally the more useful, since you can play it on any turn from 4 on. Like most Doom decks, this one wins by buggering your opponent's initiatives, and Mystical does just that by exhausting their biggest guy. But Reign of Terror has the more broken effect, and there is no sweeter play in Vs. than a double dose of Reign against a rush deck. You can play 4 copies if you want, to increase your chances of getting it, but it is typically a dead card before and after turn 4, so I generally play only 3. In fact, a strong case could be made for playing only 1 or 2, since you usually get it with Boris or Doom 3 rather than drawing into it.

The tutors are generally self-explanatory. Enemy is easier to use in this deck than any other, since you almost never need to search for a character with the team affiliation of the card you most want to discard. You can even use it to get unaffiliated characters, so long as Crisis is on the field. Mobilize, on the other hand, is generally usable only when Crisis is on the field, which is why I play just two copies of it. Faces of Doom is normally used to get the 4, 6, or 8 drop Dooms, although you can get the 3 with it if you have Doomstadt.

Crisis is, of course, the most important plot twist in the deck, not only because it allows multiple copies of Doom to be played at the same time, but also because it allows such a wide variety of characters to be played together, including unaffiliated ones and ones with loyalty requirements. The deck will function without it, but it will be crippled badly, and your chances of winning go down considerably. The only protection you have for it is Omnipotence. Against decks that you know play Have a Blast! or something similar, like Death of the Dream, then that's the card you want to call when you flip Omnipotence.

The rest of the plot twists are one-of tech cards, some of which are good only in certain match-ups. Death of the Dream is not. It's good against a lot of decks, and I now play it over Have a Blast! because it can take out two birds with one stone, like Lost City and Avalon Space Station. It's generally only good on off-inits, but in games where San lingers around forever, you can also use it on your initiative. Unmasked is tech against decks that rely on power-ups, such as Good Guys or Brave and the Bold. Political Pressure is for decks that like to recruit lots of little guys, like Faces of Evil. And Time Thief is great against stall and other long curve decks. Oh, you were counting on winning with your one copy of Galactus? So sorry. Anyway, feel free to experiment with different tech cards.

The main location is Doomstadt. It enables Boris and Faces of Doom, and it gives all your Dr. Doom's +3 ATK. Early on, I used to play the MOR version that gives +3 DEF, but a friend of mine on Realms talked me into trying the MHG version, and I've never looked back. +3 DEF is just a speed bump for an aggro deck. The MHG version is great first of all because it has terraform, which lets you fix your row, but more importantly it gives multiple characters a continuous +3, which means you don't need to play as many attack pumps as you otherwise might. It also makes it easier to generate board advantage. With +3 ATK, your 3 drop can take down a 4, and your 4 can take down a 5, allowing you to swing up the curve more easily, so that your bigger guy can swing down and not get stunned back. It's much easier to create board advantage that way than by brickwalling attacks, because so many decks have boatloads of pumps at their disposal.

Latveria is one of the most recent additions to the deck. It allows you to Reign on 3 instead of 4, and to play Omnipotence on 4, so you can shut down Have a Blast! before you flip Crisis. This is usually San's next target now, if I already have Doomstadt. I added Stryker's Island to the deck back when I first added San, to give him an alternate target. It was a great addition. This deck will frequently have face up resources with four or five different costs by turn 5 or 6, so this is almost always a reusable +3 ATK pump, and frequently a +5. Since Doomstadt and Savage are the only other pumps, this one little card can be invaluable.

Because of the power and diversity of effects that this deck offers, it has decent to great match-ups against virtually everything that doesn't play Panoptichron. The two decks it struggles with are of course the two that my son always reaches for when he knows I'm going to play this one. IG Handfill just kills this deck, because it shuts down most plot twists in the middle turns, then burns you out before you can do enough damage of your own. Very hard to beat that deck if you can't Reign the draw-inducing Lex on 4. Be sure to play your own Lex on 5 to limit some of the burn effects. The real nemesis, though, is X-Mental. Just a horrible, horrible match-up, at least against our build. It plays a bunch of defensive pumps, and it can play the same one multiple times thanks to Emma Frost and Aquaman. (I'll post the list in a future blog entry.) With limited access to pumps, it's hard to break through that deck's defenses. When your guy stuns, he risks getting Mutant Massacre'd. Worst of all, your opponent can Have a Blast! your Crisis on every turn once Emma comes out, and he can search for it with his own 3 drop Doom. My son loves that match-up.

In general, though, this deck does very well against almost everything, because of Mystical, Reign, and all the toolbox cards. When I was writing about my S.H.I.E.L.D. deck, I said that it was like a box of chocolates, because it played differently depending on which cards you got. Well, that deck is the teeny tiny Whitman's Sampler that little kids buy on Valentine's Day for their adolescent crushes. This is the king-sized one you buy for Mom on Mother's Day to share with the entire family for the next two weeks. It never plays the same way two matches in a row, and it always seems to offer something tasty for the current one.