The VS. System card game has done a great job in representing certain characters, bringing their teams and their lore to life. When trying to bring these elements together, it brings a certain indescribable something in to deck building. Whether you build to create a story as a friend of mine did for and I quote, “that terrible onslaught series”
or you build to just win, there is something magical that happens.
Card flavor has been seen countless times and can be seen even from the first set, Four Freedom’s Plaza come to mind, but it seems to dominate more and more in this game and I’m loving it.
This card is just like those.
Hulk angry, hulk smash, hulk don’t care ’bout you! This Man is angry. In a very quick and highly general summary, he was sent away, forced to fight because of an implant that controlled some of his actions. He met with a group of outcasts and they formed the group Warbound. Hulk mad and wants his revenge on the people who placed the chip on him. A very typical mindless smash fest of a movie, well shown in this card alone. Since he is such an explosive monster, it’s in your best interest to just jump out of the way. He’ll get angry, and rock your world. Hey, you can even see that in the picture!
Warbound in VS. will have a similar theme to the old X-Static team, but with Vengeance -esque abilities that pretty much kick people for the sake of kicking people where and when it hurts. Just let him do what he does best and let him do it alone. That sounds simple, right?
Well, I’m sure upon first glance most of the older players thought that the lone man standing theme is reminiscent of the old X-Static and Villains United build. This would probably fit in smoothly in the deck and for those who have never seen a one man against all type of deck before, so here is that original Golden time favorite.
The old VU/X-Static deck list:
- CHARACTERS
- 4 Alexander Luthor, Insidious Impostor
- 1 Blackheart, Son of Mephisto
- 1 Captain Boomerang, George Harkness
- 1 Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin
- 4 Dr. Light, Furious Flashpoint
- 4 Dr. Psycho, Mental Giant
- 1 Fatality, Flawless Victory
- 3 Henrietta Hunter, X-Celebrity
- 1 Mikado and Mosha, Angels of Destruction
- 1 Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard
- 3 Orphan, Guy Smith
- 4 The Calculator, Noah Kuttler
- 1 U-Go-Girl, Tragic Teleporter
- 2 Zeitgeist, Axel Cluney
- LOCATIONS
- 4 The Science Spire
- 3 X-Statix Cafe
- PLOT TWISTS
- 4 Baddest of the Bad
- 4 Blinding Rage
- 2 Coercion
- 4 Dead Weight
- 4 Spin Doctoring
Now in Silver Age, the VU are still legal, but they loose key support cards from the X-Static. Most notably Spin Doctoring, Dead Weight, and the X-Static Cafe. However, if you have been checking out the other previews, our Green Giant has some massive plot twist support.
Yesterday our beloved Green Giant was given a way to stun himself, recover, ready and do what he does best. Smash. The day before, a character, when stunned, could be removed from the game to allow him to attack twice. Can you imagine stunning this in the build phase to clear your opponent’s board, recover and ready him to break their world and end their game? A turn earlier than Darkseid’s Endgame too. Yes please! The plot twist will make him untargetable too.
I’m sure he can work really well for himself. I can imagine that four New and Improved and four Assorted Aliases could be essential parts of this deck, then again, who knows? That’s just presuming you only run Warbound or characters named the Hulk. UDE confirmed that he now will have a drop from turn three to turn eight.
In exploring the other teams that have the ability to keep it’s theme, maybe teaming up with the Villains United will give them an even more massive boost since they have worked for that loner strategy before. And continuing in the realms of Silver Age, the BPRD surprisingly might also fit the bill. (They rotate out of modern as soon as this set becomes legal). Spill The Beans should defiantly see play and cards like Pancakes and Inner Sanctum also might be a favorite if in such a team up.
Hellboy worked alone, his seven drop bounces your field back to hand and this Hulk likes to that as well. They would have a lot of fun fighting each other to the top. It might seem like an unexpected mix and might be a crazy pipe dream but at the very least, it will start the gears turning in your brain for that double legend deck. The fact that Hellboy readies too could make this very interesting and both men seem to like having counters.
Then again, before you start building that, remember it’s not the only team that could support them. We also have the readying effects of a Team that the Hulk was recently featured on: The Marvel Defenders. This team adds to the pool of angry hulks.
The Hulk has a five drop version: Hulk, Grumpy Green Goliath. His ability is: “Whenever Hulk becomes exhausted, put a +1/+1 counter on him” And at seven: Hulk, Strongest One There Is: “When Hulk enters play, exhaust all other characters you control. Discard a Marvel Defenders character card >>> Ready Hulk. Use only once per turn.”
This isn’t even showing some interesting support for the team such as One Man Rampage so that you can ready your hulk and Samantha Parrington <> Valkyrie to do the same.
The Crime Lords might just be back as the unexpected team up. The Hulk was a Crimelord and is seen in his Joe Fixit version. But even if not all The Hulk cards will fit in this theme, they all will be ready to get angry and smash. I am sure he will have a strong foothold with this new set and a generic card like Need For Speed might even make a deadly deck even deadlier to get you to this turn.
To quote a card, “When Hulk gets mad enough, Hulk will smash you!”
Just remember, if you see this card on your opponent’s field. Get ready to feel a world of hurt.
