Awesome Mix

About the time I was finishing my Watchmen deck, one of the members of the Vs. System Custom Designs group on Facebook, James Ashbury, started posting some card ideas for a Guardians deck in which some of the card names were songs from the movie soundtrack, with the musical artist's name as the version. He had no effects for these cards, wasn't really sure where he wanted to go from there, and asked the rest of us for ideas. James' Cherry Bomb card is shown below.

After giving it some thought, I said, "You could also do them as one-of equipment cards, like the Fate Artifacts, where a character can be equipped with as many as you want, and then have a Mix Tape location that moves them around like the Tower." No one on Facebook seemed that
at keen on the idea, including him, but I was really enamored with it and gave it a lot of additional thought as I was wrapping up Watchmen.

I had just finished my Ten Rings deck not that long before, where a 4 drop Punisher could theoretically be equipped with 3 Fate Artifacts and 10 copies of Ten Rings, and I started thinking it would be cool to do another deck kind of like that one, but one where each equipment card was different. I quickly ditched the idea of allowing one character to have all the equipment cards at once, but I liked the idea of having multiple ones on a single character, each with a separate effect. Then I thought it would be nice to give additional bonuses for having a character who was fully equipped. And that was how I conceived of my Awesome Mix deck.

All of the equipment cards and some of the locations have names that are songs on the soundtrack. Some of them sort of make sense as card names, others not so much, but the deck is intended to be a little wacky, like the Guardians themselves. A single character can have three of them equipped at one time (four in the case of the 7 drop Star-Lord). Equipment can be moved using Awesome Mix, Vol. 1, which is like Dr. Fate's Tower. And there's a Vol. 2 location that is sort of a cross between Fate's Tower and New Baxter Building. Both allow you to search for the equipment card you need most that turn.

The plot twists are all song names too, from the same era as the ones on the soundtrack, and these are called Bonus Tracks. (There's also a Bonus Track location and a couple of equipment.) Basically I wanted all non-character cards to be song names, so I had to improvise a bit, since there are only 12 songs on the soundtrack. I tried to pick songs that I thought could work in a movie sequel or deleted scene. There are also some character cards with the Awesome Mix version, to further the theme. The characters all have normal character names, but their versions are all riffs on lines from the movie.

That's a basic overview of the deck. Here's the list I play with now. Note that the plot twists are intended to be mixed and matched however you wish. I play one copy each of as many as I can, for variety and whimsy, but if you were trying to create a really competitive deck you would probably play multiples of more of them and cut others entirely.

Characters - 29

[0 - 2]
2x Baby Groot, I Am Groot? * Awesome Mix
[1 - 4]
4x Star-Lord, Who? * Awesome Mix
[2 - 7]
4x Groot, I Am Groot
3x Gamora, Not a Dancer
[3 - 6]
4x Rocket Raccoon, Oh, Yeah!
2x Drax the Destroyer, Fast Reflexes
[4 - 4]
4x Star-Lord, Legendary Outlaw * Awesome Mix
[5 - 3]
2x Gamora, No Pelvic Sorcery!
1x Groot, I Am Groot!
[6 - 2]
1x Drax the Destroyer, Nothing Goes Over His Head
1x Rocket Raccoon, Ain't No Thing Like Me, 'cept Me!
[7 - 1]
1x Star-Lord, Finally! * Awesome Mix 

Plot Twists - 8

[1 - 1]
1x Take a Walk on the Wild Side, Bonus Track
0x Rocket Man, Bonus Track
[2 - 2]
2x Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Bonus Track
[3 - 4]
2x Blitzkrieg Bop, Bonus Track
1x Stayin' Alive, Bonus Track
1x Thriller, Bonus Track
0x Ain't That Peculiar, Bonus Track
[4 - 1]
1x Let's Get It On, Bonus Track

Locations -  13

[2 - 10]
4x Hooked On a Feeling, Non-Unique * Awesome Mix
2x Awesome Mix, Vol. 1, Awesome Mix
2x Awesome Mix, Vol. 2, Awesome Mix
2x I Want You Back, Awesome Mix
[3 - 3]
2x Go All The Way, Awesome Mix
1x Higher Ground, Bonus Track 

Equipment - 11

[0 - 11]
1x Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Come And Get Your Love, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Fooled Around And Fell In Love, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Footloose, Unique * Bonus Track * Awesome Mix
1x I'm Not In Love, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Moonage Daydream, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x O-O-H Child, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Spirit In The Sky, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Cherry Bomb, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x Escape <> The Piña Colada Song, Unique * Awesome Mix
1x War, Unique * Awesome Mix

Baby Groot is a card you might look at and say, "Whoa! Way TOO good!" I hear ya. I have spent more time futzing with that card than I care to think about. A character you can recruit for free, and bring back from the pile for free, on every turn?! Seems crazy. But. He serves an important function in the deck, and it simply doesn't work very well if I dial back his power level too much. I have two basic 1 drop variations on him with alternate recruit costs: one where you have to discard, another where you have to exhaust someone else. If you build the deck, feel free to substitute one of the alternative versions of him. The deck still works, but not nearly as well. Remember, there's only two copies of him, and some games you don't have him until turn 5. In my opinion the deck as a whole is not overpowered, no matter which version of him you use, but others may disagree.

The 1 drop Star-Lord is nice to have, especially if he sticks around to turn 3 and you don't have Baby Groot, but not essential. He is basically a Guardians version of Ape X.

The 2 drop you almost always want is Groot. A good mulligan condition for the deck would be Groot or a way to get him, or the 3 drop Rocket or a way to get him plus a lower drop. The real goal is to get Rocket, but you can't use his effect without someone to sacrifice. Besides getting Rocket, Groot's Sarge Steel-style effect is very useful, as I'll discuss later. Gamora is very nice to have if you have Rocket and Baby Groot, but if you don't, Groot is better.

You'll notice that each of the characters has a theme that makes sense if you've seen the movie. Groot protects others, and he's Rocket's best buddy. Gamora is an assassin. Drax is all about vengeance. Rocket sends others off to fetch things for him ("I need his leg!"). Star-Lord's theme is a bit nebulous, but he gains his power and usefulness from the Awesome Mix equipment cards named after songs on his mom's mix tape. Baby Groot keeps coming back after being discarded or KO'd. (I had to make him a separate character from Groot so they could co-exist. In early versions of the deck, I used Cosmo, but Cosmo isn't really a factor in the movie, whereas the baby Groot dances to one of the songs.)

To be honest, the 3 drop Drax is in here just for flavor. You always want Rocket, and will lose if you don't have him. In a more competitive version of the deck, I would drop Drax for two more copies of Blitzkrieg Bop. Rocket gets you the locations that the deck needs in order to function, and as with Ahmed, once you have him (and Baby Groot) you can get anyone else you need by searching for Hooked On a Feeling. He's modeled on Poison Ivy, obviously, but he is as critical to the deck as Ahmed is in a Checkmate deck.

The only 4 drop is Star-Lord. He has the MUN Iron Man effect, but only when he has three Awesome Mix equipment attached. When this deck is working right, on turn 4 you have Star-Lord with three equipment (normally giving him +3/+3 or +4/+4), Groot, Rocket and Baby Groot. If you are on evens, attack with Groot and Rocket as needed. If they stun, they will recover and gain a counter thanks to Star-Lord. Attack with Star-Lord last unless he can't be stunned while attacking. If you are on odds, Groot goes in front of Star-Lord, so he should always survive the turn. Rocket may require help, and there's both a plot twist and an equipment card that can assist with that.

On turn 5, you always want Gamora. Groot is much like the 3 drop Drax, a flavorful addition. I've only ever recruited him on turn 7 or 8, never on 5. Looking at Gamora's effect, you might assume that you would always want to move equipment from Star-Lord to her, but that's not so. If you are defending on 5, it is often better to leave them on Star-Lord, to help you preserve your field. If your opponent doesn't have flight, put her in front of Star-Lord so she auto-recovers, then maybe move the equipment to her on 6. Her effect is great if you are odds, though. Give her the equipment and let her take out the opposing 5 drop.

Turn 6 is normally Drax. You can recruit Rocket if you need to fetch a location and you lost the 3 drop prematurely. He's just a better version of the 3 drop. Drax is a game changer in a lot of match-ups. This deck auto-lost to stall until I gave Drax evasion. Now it's 50-50. Assuming that you are ahead going into turn 6, and they are exhausting all your guys each turn, you can usually win by double evading a fully equipped Drax. That's the old Electric Eve trick: evade him once during combat, to do 6 in burn in exchange for 6 to yourself. When he auto-recovers at the start of recovery, evade him again to do another 6, then use your one recovery per turn on him. Doing that on 6 and 7 will win most matches against stall.

The usual play on 7 is Star-Lord, although it will sometimes make more sense to underdrop Rocket. It depends whether you still have the 4 drop, and what equipment is still in your deck. His effect is not overly powerful, but if you put the right equipment on him he can get +6/+6, and a 21/21 7 drop is nothing to sneeze at.

As I've indicated, the location cards are critical to the deck's success. Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 is the most important, and is often the first one to search for with Rocket. It's essential that you be able to move the equipment around, because normally you want to max out the equipment on your biggest guy. If you are on turn 3 and no one is equipped yet, though, get Vol. 2 instead. Search for the equipment card you want most, equip it to Rocket, then activate and draw. If you get or already have a character card you don't need, discard it to draw again. Because of all the discard effects and the fact that you have to commit so many cards to the field, it is important to create card advantage whenever you can.

Next in line is usually Go All The Way or I Want You Back. If you need to get your discarded 5 drop back, grab I Want You Back. If not, get Go All The Way, which is a lot like Brother Eye. On init use it to boost someone's ATK, usually by 3-6. Off init, use it to get back Baby Groot or a Star-Lord. One trick I really like to use on an off init is to activate Go All The Way in chain to the draw to get back Baby Groot, then discard Baby Groot for Blitzkrieg Bop. Draw for the turn, then get Baby Groot back again at the start of your recruit. The secondary effect for I Want You Back, which lets you put an Awesome Mix card from your pile on top of your deck, is one I don't think I've ever used. But against certain decks it could be really helpful. Suppose you have one Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 in your row and one in your pile. They Have a Blast! the one in your row. In response, activate I Want You Back, discarding a spare Star-Lord, to put they other one on top of your deck. Evil scheme foiled!

The other location you would search for most frequently would be Hooked On a Feeling, which is like Brother I Satellite. The combination of it, Rocket, and Baby Groot makes the deck very consistent in terms of hitting its preferred curve. And since it costs 2, you can use it to get Groot, who can get you Rocket. The other location, Higher Ground, is a recent addition to the deck. I've never actually searched for it, I don't think, but it is nice to have against aggro decks. You can give your biggest guy +3 DEF when defending, usually, and if someone gets stunned who you can't recover, you can bounce him to your hand to create card advantage.

The plot twists are mostly pumps. I originally designed them to get most of their boost from being equipped, but what I found was that the equipped guys didn't usually need help. So then I changed them all so that you always got something out of them, but you got more for a fully equipped guy. Let's Get It On (think Savage Beatdown) is a +4 for anyone, but +5 for a character with three equipment. Thriller (think It's Clobberin' Time) is +3 for anyone, but +3/+3 for the fully equipped. Rocket Man (think Flying Kick) is +3 for anyone, or +3 and flight for the turn. Take a Walk On The Wild Side (think Mega-Blast) is +3, or +4 and range for the turn. The two for-the-turn pumps are leftovers from a time when I had one equipment card that let a fully equipped character attack twice per turn. Way too powerful on Gamora, especially. Now the only real benefit is that you can play them during the build and then replace them with Rocket.

Blitzkrieg Bop ("Hey! Ho! Let's Go!"--kinda goes with the Alex Ross art) is the other tutor for the deck. It does enough drawing and cycling and tutoring that you don't need four copies, but I think two are essential, and three would be better. I recently cut one for Higher Ground, and I'm undecided about the move. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough is another equipment tutor. You normally want to exhaust Baby Groot for the cost if you can.

Stayin' Alive should probably be played in multiples. The deck only works well when it is preserving its field on most turns. A more competitive version of the deck would probably play 2-3 copies. Ain't That Peculiar (Invasion Plans) is a recent addition to the deck, when I was experimenting with the 1 cost version of Baby Groot that requires a discard and needed to compensate. Probably should not go in the version with the 0 drop.

Now for the really cool stuff, the Awesome Mix equipment cards. I love these things. They are fun and flavorful, and I love being able to pick cards from a toolbox to counter various threats. Most of them are geared toward making the main guy of the moment more powerful, though. The two building blocks are Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Fooled Around And Fell In Love. The former gives him +1 ATK for each equipment, and the latter +1 DEF. Combine these with something that gives him +1/+1, and you get +4/+4, just like you would get with the Fate Artifacts. (On the 7 drop, who can have an additional +1/+1, it would be +6/+6.)

O-O-H Child is another one inspired by the Artifacts. Use it to draw and cycle through your deck. Same for Footloose. +1/+1 and your guy can't be targeted by your opponent's effects, so a Cloak. The Kevin Bacon thing is mainly for flavor, although it would let you recruit two copies of Drax, for example.

The one I search for most often is probably Spirit In The Sky, On your biggest guy, having +3/+3 or +4/+4 and not getting stunned back when attacking gives you a huge advantage, especially when that guy is Star-Lord, who protects the guys around him. Moonage Daydream is important to have against decks with key hidden characters. The deck normally struggles against all-hidden decks like Skrulls/Inhumans, which can attack on every turn, but this card levels the playing field a bit.

Come And Get Your Love is the last of the cards that boost your guys. It's a +1/+1 when attacking, and a +3/+1 when defending, for that Nasty Surprise effect. Makes it hard to avoid stunbacks. Cherry Bomb is like Reality Gem. Use it to take out Omnipotence, New Brotherhood, or whatever else is giving you problems in your opponent's row. Just don't equip it to Baby Groot.

War and I'm Not In Love go together. War is like a Death Warrant. Exhaust Baby Groot to equip it to an opponent's biggest guy, and when that guy stuns, he'll get KO'ed. And you'll get it back so you can rinse and repeat. I'm Not In Love is important for neutralizing opposing characters with troublesome effects, like Ahmed or Mr. Sinister. It's based on Electron Scrambler, which is a cool card that I never saw anyone actually play.

Finally, there's Escape. I originally designed it to work like Extremis Upgrade, but I found that effect to be a little too good. So I changed it so that you get to keep the guy who got stunned, but they don't recover until the recovery phase. I normally use this on Rocket or Gamora, so I can keep both them and Star-Lord around. A common play on 4 against aggro, for example, is Groot in front of a fully equipped Star-Lord, with Rocket next to him equipped with Escape. Star-Lord will preserve Groot, since Groot always stuns first, and if they attack Rocket last, Escape protects him. Similar logic would apply if you wanted Gamora next to Star-Lord on 5.

Besides being a whole lot of fun, this is a very competitive deck. It does really well against a variety of very good decks, including New Brotherhood, because it has answers for most threats. It struggles mightily against anything with equipment and resource row hate--Jester is a pain in the butt, for example. It also struggles against good defensive decks that aren't stalling, like Family of Four. It really needs to finish you by the end of turn 7, because if it can't, it runs out of gas. Drax's burn effect helps against pure stall, but not against aggro-control decks that want to attack on 8. It did actually beat Crisis Doom the one time I tested against it, but only because it missed Reign of Terror on 4 and never got Mr. Sinister or Death of a Dream. Decks that can KO characters easily are like kryptonite. If you lose Rocket on 3 or a fully equipped Star-Lord on 4, you simply aren't going to recover. My Nasty Surprise deck eats this one for lunch, for example,

Again, if you are building this deck, I would encourage you to experiment a bit with Baby Groot. I don't find the 0 drop version overpowered within the context of the deck, myself. I think of him simply as a combo piece that it is important to get. But in order to really appreciate that you need to see the alternative, so it's worth proxying up the other versions. The regular cards are here, and the MPC-ready ones are here, so help yourself if you are so inclined. If nothing else, I think you'll enjoy looking at the art for this one. The Skottie Young ones are hilariously cool, especially Go All The Way and Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough.