Trinity (aka Money.dec)

If you had to pick one Vs. set to be woefully underprinted, there are some good choices. MSM and DSM spring immediately to mind, with DLS hot on their heels. But no, UDE printed plenty of those sets. Instead, DC Legends is the one that they really shortchanged, as they printed only enough cards to fill all of their advanced orders from dealers and nothing more. Sadly, that means that arguably the best DC set is filled with expensive and hard-to-find cards, and that's not a recent development. Even when it was the current set that was the case. And so it was that the Gotham/JLA Trinity deck became known as Money.dec. How much money, you ask? I just priced the rares on the list below on coolstuff, and came up with a grand total of $1,100. Ouch! Custom proxies anyone?

Characters - 32 

[1 - 4]
4x Alfred Pennyworth, Faithful Friend (Gotham)
[2 - 7]
4x Huntress, Vicious Vigilante (Gotham)
3x Roy Harper <> Red Arrow, Coming of Age (JLA)
[3 - 6]
4x Batman, Founding Member (JLA, Gotham)
2x Barbara Gordon <> Oracle, Hacker Extraordinaire (Gotham)
[4 - 5]
4x Wonder Woman, Ambassador of Peace (JLA)
1x Aquaman, Founding Member (JLA)
[5 - 4]
4x Superman, Metropolis Marvel (JLA)
[6 - 3]
2x Batman, Cape and Cowl (Gotham)
1x Aquaman, Lord of Atlantis (JLA)
[7 - 2]
1x Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas (JLA)
1x Wonder Woman, Founding Member (JLA)
[8 - 1]
1x Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian (JLA)

Plot Twists - 28 

[1 - 6]
4x Mightiest Heroes
2x Bat-Signal
[3 - 14]
4x At Their Finest
4x The Hook-Up, Team-Up
2x Bat Got Your Tongue
2x At Your Service
2x Brains and Brawn
[4 - 5]
4x Savage Beatdown
1x From the Darkness
[5 - 3]
3x Indestructible

There are lots of ways to build this deck, and back in the day I tried many of them. For mostly financial reasons, the World's Finest (Gotham/Team Superman) build with no Wonder Woman got more run back in the day than the Gotham/JLA Trinity version, but if you have the cards (or the proxies), Trinity is definitely the way to go. Of course, if you have the cards, you probably have your own pet build already, but pretend for now that you don't...

Alfred does not work quite as well in the Trinity version as in the World's Finest build, which generally played Maggie Sawyer on 2. That deck could sometimes play Alfred once on 1 and again on 3 with a 2 drop, netting you two plot twists. Here you get his effect only if you play Alfred on 1 and Huntress on 2, or underdrop him on 2 and activate him on 3. The effect is so good, though, that I think he is worth playing. If you are trying to find room for other plot twists, however, it is reasonable to play fewer copies or drop him entirely.

Huntress is the preferred play on 2 if you have Alfred or Bat-Signal. Otherwise Roy Harper is probably better, just because of his stats. The main problem with this deck is that you can take a lot of damage on turns 1-3, and he helps with that, as does playing Huntress visible. I will sometimes play her visible on 2 and then sub in a hidden copy on a later turn for more attacking power.

On turn 3 you want Batman if at all possible, for several reasons. First of all, you want his effect and his ability to attack, and secondly you want to be able to use the plot twists that require him to be on the field. Ideally you want to recruit him on 3 and sub Barbara in on 6, then recruit the 6 drop Batman. You miss all the card advantage she creates for you that way, but it's just hard to win if you play her on 3, because you usually don't want to attack with her.

Turn 4 should always be Wonder Woman if you have a choice. Aquaman is a good card, but Diana is better. This deck generally wins by messing with your opponent, negating his effects and foiling his attacks. Wonder Woman can be a key player in that strategy, whereas Aquaman cannot. I have also played Batman, Twilight Vigilante as the alternate 4 in that slot. I don't have him here because he is fairly worthless if you played Batman on 3, but he is better if you didn't.

On 5 you simply must recruit Superman, because you will almost certainly lose if you miss him. He has great synergy with Batman thanks to Brains and Brawn and At Their Finest, and a strong effect. But what makes him so good in this deck is Indestructible. I generally take evens if I can, hoping to play Superman and Indestructible on 5, and recover him with Brains and Brawn in the event he gets stunned. The idea is to have your entire field (3-5) going into a turn 6 initiative, sub in Barbara, recruit Batman, play At Their Finest, and then swing for game with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Barbara. But as long as you have Indestructible, you should be OK on odd initiatives as well.

As I said, turn 6 should normally be Batman, subbing in Barbara if you still have your 3 drop. But if you don't have her, you can also play Aquaman and get back a character card and a used plot twist--maybe a Savage or At Their Finest, for example. I rarely play anything other than Batman, but I can imagine cases where Aquaman is the stronger play.

Since I rarely play Aquaman on 6, and sometimes have my 4 drop on 7, I usually play Aquaman on 7. Depending on how you form and how big your field is, he can get back one-three used cards for you. That effect can win you the game if you are on odds and he is getting back some used attack pumps for you. But if there's nothing but characters and tutors in your pile, and you don't have your 4 drop, Wonder Woman is the stronger play. Some people play the 7 drop Superman here, but I almost always have my 5 drop on turn 7 because of Indestructible and Brains and Brawn.

Given that all decks are effectively Golden Age now, I should probably ditch the 8 drop for another plot twist, possibly a fourth copy of Indestructible. It would also be nice to find room for a couple copies of Lasso of Truth, for that matter. Anyway, Martian Manhunter was a decent 8 drop when this was a Modern Age deck in a metagame that wasn't especially fast. He's really only helpful if you are on odds and failed to win on 7. Take your damage on your opponent's swing, then recover and ready your 7 drop and swing back with your 7 and 8. In practice, though, the game is normally decided before 8 or you are playing against a deck with a better end game that is going to beat you anyway.

This deck has terrific tutoring, thanks to Alfred and a trio of plot twists. Mightiest Heroes can normally get you all your drops from turn 3 on. If you don't have Barbara or The Hook-Up, though, you need to play it before you draw. Bat-Signal can do the same thing once you are teamed up. The exhaust is normally not a problem. The other tutor is At Your Service. It can only get you your 3 and 6 drops, but it can also get you At Their Finest, Brains and Brawn, and From the Darkness. Given a choice, save it for finding plot twists rather than characters.

In some ways the most important plot twist in the deck is The Hook-Up. You want to be teamed up if at all possible, but beyond that you want the card cycling that you get from it. Once it is on the field, you will see three new cards a turn rather than two, four if you have two copies of it out, and five if you have Barbara. That gives you a huge advantage over most other decks, and it's one of the main reasons the deck is as good as it is.

Negation is another strength of the deck, thanks to Batman and Wonder Woman and another trio of plot twists. From the Darkness is objectively a better card than Bat Got Your Tongue, but you have to have a ready Batman to play it. That's the main reason why I play more copies of BGYT. The other is that I can search for From the Darkness with At Your Service. The other "negation" card here is Indestructible, which essentially negates one key attack by your opponent. Aside from The Hook-Up, it's the best plot twist in the deck. I would play four copies, but it is generally only good on a single turn (5 or 6), making the second copy you draw a dead card. On the other hand, you always want one on that turn. Three copies is the sweet spot for me, but I understand the argument for four.

The remaining plot twists are Brains and Brawn and the two attack pumps, Savage Beatdown and At Their Finest. Brains and Brawn is a terrific card, both because it can be used with either Batman or Superman, and because it can be tutored with At Your Service. Imagine a turn 5 in which your opponent swings at your front row Superman with his 5 drop, only to be blocked with Indestructible. Now he swings in with his four drop and a pump. You reinforce and take 5. He thinks he is going to go into your 4 drop with his 3, but you recover Superman with Brains and Brawn, and now he has no play, or he has to go into Superman for a third time. If he can't, you swing back with Batman and a Savage to stun their 5, then head into 6 with huge board advantage. On 6 you play At Their Finest, turning your 5 into a 6, and your 6 into a 7, magnifying the effect.

This is not a great Golden Age deck, to be perfectly honest. When I play this deck now, against my son, I play it only against tier 2 and tier 3 type decks, because it simply won't hold up either against top tier aggro decks like Brotherhood Reservist or Migga City, or against really good control decks like Spidey Stall, Crisis Doom or X-Mental. But if you have the cards or don't mind playing with proxies (maybe even custom proxies, like the ones shown here), it is a really fun deck to play, with the added benefit of having three huge DC legends you can trot out onto the field. Winning with the Trinity characters is somehow always more satisfying than winning with, say, Ahmed Samsarra or Roy Harper.