Friday, May 30, 2008

Thursday Thirteen - Week One

So, my first Thursday Thirteen starts with 45 cards. I guess 32 won't be making the cut. Unless I cheat, which I think I'm going to do. Today I'm sharing my very favorite 1 drops in the game. Some of them just go together or are so similar though that I have to give them a single entry. Now there aren't the BEST one-drops or the most used one-drops or anything like that. These are just straight up my favorites.

I have three cheats, I'll admit. That is, three pairs of characters that just go together in my mind so much that It's impossible to separate them. First though, an honorable mention. This was a tough list for me. Like I said I picked out 45 cards before I started cutting it down. This card would have made the final list most likely except for one problem...





The chimp was banned. I never got to really play with the fun stuff he did, but he was so cool. Far too powerful, without a doubt. Kent Farm Faces decks were insane. Chimp Rigged was far too easy. I don't think there was much he couldn't make better. I had ideas like... Play 4x Bat Signal with Chimps to search for any character in my deck... In every deck. Imagine getting two of the little bugger in play with Changling, Poison Ivy or Clash of Worlds?
















#13: Tommy is screaming to be broke. Constantly on the edge of being so, really. Free characters are cool. I've always liked Evasion and Evasion 1-Drops can always find an interesting use. Plus you'll probably notice that a lot of my favorite one-drops have 2/1 stats.















#12: Hope comes from the Man of Steel set. Yet she made it into a Top 8 of a PC that _wasn't_ modern age. I always thought she'd break something one day. Justice League of Arkham became a game ender with her in the Ivy League deck that terrorized PC San Francisco and the next few 10k's.















#11: What can you say about a 4/4 one-drop? Uh, "Awesome!" That's what. Sure, AGLs die at the end of your turn, but only if they aren't stunned. And between Blinding Rage and Chomin that became a standard procedure on turn 2 going into the similar gigantic Xallarap. And then when Felix Faust spammed 3 of them out? You got a swarm of nastiness very befitting of the art.













#10: Before there was Rat's Laugh. Before there was even Evasion. There was Stone Age. My friend Paul build a deck with Longshot, Ratcatcher, Last Laugh, Thuggee and Random Punks that aimed to build a big board, Flame Trap itself and Last Laugh you to death. Sadly the one thing that made it semi-playable was Gone But Not Forgotten and we quickly realized it didn't trigger before you lost the game. Killing the Cindarella come backs that it was becoming infamous for.












#9: Speaking of Rebel Freedom Fighters, this guy's name couldn't be less fitting. He was one of the first rares I ever pulled and Wild Vomit was always a favorite to play, though I never had my own build. The best part, to me, was always that point in the game where you start calling Wild Sentinel/Cover Fire and revealing 2 of each because you've cycled through the deck. Also the magic behind the Michael Jacob Force deck that I've always wanted to have a build of, but never quite have had the cards to put together. Plus, if it wasn't for Longshot, would the Realms have fallen so completely for StuBarnes?











#8: "Play hard, but play fair." I love that flavor text. Mr. Terrific helps your little guys stand up to the big bullies across the field. With his Legacy Michael Holt each of your upcurve attackers/downcurve defenders gets a full on Lost City power up. That turns most characters up a full resource point in general. The deck that really made me love Terry was Hidden Faces. One thing I will say though... While nobody has to get hurt... They usually do.












#7: I've always been kinda fascinated by Shadowpact. I think Mary is best utilized for her ability to let you get her (BIG) Brother into play on 8 without having played a single Shadowpact character before hand. Something that was very useful towards the end of Glock's life cycle. And the art is absolutely cool. The flavor text makes me think of a bit more... "mature" version of Mary, but that doesn't take any of the power away from the image captured on the card.














#6: For a while the nastiest thing in the world was a turn 2 Poison Ivy: Deadly Rose fully Fated up and I'll be honest. I absolutely loved doing it. Ivy has always a favorite character of mine and so seeing her rock house was great. Ted also found his way into many of my equipment decks and of course World's Greatest Heroes or "Good Guys." I never loved that name, but I never knew why it was so reviled by some people. lol














#5: If his team hadn't sucked so bad, he woulda been one of the most powerful one drops in the game. He basically doubles the value of every attack pump to the face. Put a Goblin Glider on him turn 2 and it gets absolutely disgusting.















#4: My first cheat. These two servants fulfill such a similar purpose it's hard to choose one over the other. I guess I would go with Boris if forced because Doom was so much more playable than Bats for so long. But I have some great memories of turns 1-3 filled with old man fist fights.













#3: Here's a character that has a great effect and enabled an even better plot twist. With her hubby Reed around and A Child Named Valeria, your board became either an untouchable horde of attackers or a reinforcement effect away from an impenetrable fortress locking your Endurance total completely away from your opponent. Plus Alex Garner art is always awesome to look at.











#2: The Riddler is like Prankster only made uber-playable. And I tried to play Prankster anyway. With Poison Ivy: Intoxicating you can get out a few of the little guy in green and really hurt your opponent. I'd love to get Edward and Oswald together though.













#1: My favorite play ever is rowing Golden Archer, dropping Ape X, searching up some Dual Sidearms and equipping them. Surprise Attack. Row Albert Gaines, drop Joystick, equip her with an Atlantean Trident and smash for a counter. It's even better if you can play out those last two cards in hand. I'll take my chances missing a three drop when my Joystick is going to be a 9/6.



So, there's my first foray into Thursday Thirteen. Next week I think I'll do my favorite two drops! See you then.

-Mike

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so in love with this post that I want to marry it.

Awesome work.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the world of T13s