BYOTT: Marvel Assassins

When I learned about this format I immediately thought of this deck I had been play-testing for Modern age, a Marvel Knights/League of Assassins build. It came about as a way to get the best out of Merlyn Direct Hitman. I teamed up with Mk as they added good search and Neighborhood watch gave the potential to help with Merlyn’s loyalty if I missed The Mad Dog. It had a good match up against ARR and any Radioactive Man centric deck and about a 50/50 with straight MKko. Here is the modern build I was trying:

1 Drops

4 Black Widow Femme Fatale

2 Drops

3 Blade Vampire Slayer

4 Punisher Suicide Run

3 Drops

1 Blade Independent Contractor

4 The Mad Dog Rabid Killer

4 Drops

3 Merlyn Direct Hitman

1 Wolverine Covert Predator

5 Drops

1 Cassandra Cain Daughter Of Shiva

1 Punisher Captain America

2 Vengeance Spirit Of Vengeance

6 Drops

1 David Cain World Class Assassin

2 Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance

7 Drops

1 Nyssa Raatko Maiden Of Death

1 Punisher Angel Of Death

Plot Twists

4 Quick Kill

4 Nasty Suprise

4 Wild Ride

4 Neighborhood Watch

Locations

4 Flying Fortress

4 Mountain Stronghold

3 Metropolis Reborn

2 Lazarus Pit Death’s Door

1 Plague Zone

1 Evil Layer

So from this build we can remove the Team-ups and the generic cards which frees up 12 card slots. I can also now look at some of the weaker elements of the curve and see if the Golden age options can strengthen them. Nyssa Raatko Daughter Of the Demons Head from DLS and Bane Ubu jump to mind but they would require me to add more locations. So first I will look at the non-character card options this format brings to the deck.

Location wise there are only four options for Marvel Knights. Hells Kitchen, Punishers Armoury, Quentin Carnival and Dark Alley.  As there will be no equipment in the deck Quentin Carnival is straight out. As too is Punishers Armoury, I don’t like spending 3 endurance to do 1 more. Dark alley does not look like it will be of any use as most of the hidden characters so far are low drops. That leaves Hells Kitchen, this maybe of use with Quick kill and Punisher Suicide Run. In the running for the Plot twist side will be Crime and Punishment and Judge, Jury and Executioner.

Now with League we get, Pit of Madness, the original Lazarus Pit, Seiobo’s Garden and Ubu Encampment added. I would say we could add one Pit of Madness, one Seiobo’s and a couple of Lazarus Pits. Ubu’s Encampment does not seem necessary seeing that the deck already has 8 good search cards. Going with the Locations, it would make sense to add The Demon’s Head into the deck, and in this format without generic blue, Tower of Babel looks strong.

So where does this leave the changed decklist,

4 Quick Kill, 3 Tower of Babel, 4 Wild Ride, 4 The Demon’s Head

4 Flying Fotress, 4 Mountain Stronghold, 2 Lazarus Pit, 1 Seiobo’s Garden, 3 Lazarus Pit Death’s Door, 1 Pit Of Madness, 1Plague Zone

So we have 31 non-character cards 16 of which are Locations. Now for the characters, I want to get replacements for 2 drop Blade, 5 drop Cassandra Cain, 6 drop David Cain and 7 Drop Nyssa Raatko.

Bane Ubu looks like the obviuos five drop to add, his Ko effect will fit the theme and Lazarus Pit Death’s Door’s effect will hopefully help it go off. The only other 5 drops in contention for a spot in this format would be Talia Daughter of Madness (getting a free 2 drop Punisher would be nice), and Ra’s Al Ghul Demon’s Head Rising (again removing affiliations in this format is strong). For 6, we have Nyssa Raatko, but I am not sure her effect will go off enough to warrent her a place. Other options are Natasha Romanoff and Spiderman from MMK. For 7 the only new options worth considering would be Ra’s Al Ghul Undying and Dr Strange Stephen Strange. In the 2 drop postion, Iron Fist<>Dardevil and Talia Beloved Betrayer Running. Other characters I considered adding are Mikado and Mosho and Lady Punisher.

So this is what I settled on.

1 Drops

3 Black Widow Femme Fatale

2 Mikado and Mosha Angels Of Destruction

2 Drops

2 Talia Beloved Betrayer

4 Punisher Suicide Run

3 Drops

1 Blade Independent Contractor

4 The Mad Dog Rabid Killer

4 Drops

3 Merlyn Direct Hitman

1 Wolverine Covert Predator

5 Drops

2 Bane Ubu

2 Vengeance Spirit Of Vengeance

6 Drops

1Natasha Romanoff<>Black Widow KGB Killer

2 Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance

7 Drops

2 Punisher Angel Of Death

Plot Twists

4 Quick Kill

3 Tower Of Babel

4 Wild Ride

4 The Demon’s Head

Locations

4Flying Fortress

2 Lazarus Pit

4 Mountain Stronghold

1 Seiobo’s Garden

3 Lazarus Pit Death’s Door

1 Pit Of Madness

1 Plague Zone

I don’t think this deck will care much about initiative if you get odds, Meryln will work at his best, and if you go evens, Ghost rider’s ability may be enough for you to finish out the match. Hopefully I and some of you will be able to give this deck a try soon.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

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