Politics is about getting your enemy to stab themselves in the back

I love IG and GK. As The League of Extraordinary Wood Rats seems to be picking up momentum I’m forced to ask: What Meta can be used against Squirrel Girl. As her and nick seem to be pointing to a rush scenario utilizing Army+SHIELD, I’m interested if the decks will garner enough infamy and momentum to be considered a threat. And here’s where a fresh meta is fun, the only time I think Meta is fun.

I’m going to drop 1 small idea, a tiny fragment of a thought, and let the players decide if Squirrel Rush is strong enough for the following risk:

Turn 3 Owl Man, Turn 4 Hulk, Green Scar. The Kill turn for LoEWR is turn 4, and they should have at least 8 people on the field. Combine that with Criminal Mastermind, and Secret Files and you have an interesting scenario. You’re doing what they want. You’re fetching them Novice assassins with Secret Files, getting them the card draw they need to maintain a strong board presence. You’re MAKING their deck run the way it’s intended. Then when Hulk, Green Scar gets stunned Squirrel Girl’s ability triggers and the whole field goes back to their owner’s hand.

Using concealed characters and gumption, you let them swing into a single  visible defender every turn to soak up damage(if they have to send two assassins into a character on turn 3, that means they won’t be swinging for 16 they’ll be swinging for 4). Power Siphon keeps your defender alive and your endurance in the positive.  Taking even init, Hulk can swing into their assassin, blindside them, and HULK SMASH their face in. Throw an ATE! on him, and his DEF becomes 0, causing stunback. When he stuns the counter blows up and all of the sudden your opponent’s already bulging handsize gets an addition of 10+ cards. Owl Man comes in with a few All Too Easy! dropped on him, and finishes the game against their frail, undefended face.

Even without a finishing move on 4 you’ve made your stuff more powerful, and theirs less effective. It seems Warbound+Injustice Gang could be a nasty, nasty counter to the oncoming army rush scenario.

The Healing Power of Laughter

My wife… she loves the Joker. Aside from the fact his significance to the literary history of comics, he’s just a fun villain. Well… maybe not ‘fun’ like playing a game of football fun, but I don’t think fun is inappropriate. Anyway, the way things go he’s got some powerful effects. Let’s look at what The Joker has going for him:

Modern Versions:

Crazy for you, 6 Drop, Arkham Inmates, 12/12 Whenever The Joker is discarded, you may remove him from the game. If you do, shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw a card for each card you shuffled in.

Not that useful outside an Insanity deck… but super powerful in that madness. Still, he won’t make the cut.

Out of His Mind, 3 Drop, Arkham Inmates, 5/4 Whenever The Joker is discarded, you may remove him from the game. If you do, shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw a card for each card you shuffled in.

Interesting enough, but I don’t have the play experience to make the judgement. Still, holding him out for a power-up replaces a dead hand with a few extra pumps.

The Man Who Laughs, 1 Drop, 2/1 Arkham Inmates Whenever The Joker stuns a character, you may discard a card at random. If you do, target opponent loses 3 endurance.

I’ve posted a strategy thread on this guy. I think he could make for interesting rush Tek. Still, not for the deck we’re building.

Headline Stealer, 4 Drop, 8/7, Arkham Inmates*Injustice Gang, Each opponent can’t play plot twists from his hand with cost less than the number of cards in his hand.

The greatest of Jokers. He kills opponents dead. A staple in IG decks, and Joker Legend decks. An auto include.

Killer Smile, 6 Drop, 12/12, Arkham Inmates/Injustice Gang Whenever The Joker causes breakthrough, you may stun target character with cost less than the number of cards in its controller’s hand.

Wow. A powerful Game ender. He gets worse once you work in the fact that their handsize is going to be huge by Injustice Gang. So then, how to make the Joker realize true power? Well, the Joker’s Wild Pack.

Wildpack’s big draws are: Bounty Hunt, Capture Net, and Powell. Bounty Hunt fills your hand. Capture Net removes their character from the board and fills their hand. Powell goes straight to the KO’d Pile to find Criminal Mastermind, Bounty Hunt, and your Team-Up. Add to that a sniper situation with Hovercraft, and you have yourself a nasty set-up. Run Wild Pack rush through turn 3. On turn 4 you rock out Joker with Lex Luthor, Metropolis Mogul to complete their shutdown. Turn 6 brings in Killer Smile, and The Joke’s On You!.

IG has, hands down, the best pumps in the environment right now. Power Siphon and All Too Easy! make things nasty, and quick. Throw Laughing Gas on Killer Smile and we find ourself in a terrible predicament. We’re burning for our handsize, losing our biggest character because Killer Smile punked the 3 drop that’s survived this far, in addition to any break through and stun damage. As with every concept it needs work, but I think Joker’s Wild could be vicious in the wrong hands.