Last Saturday was the first Unleash the Avenger tournament. It seems SOE has decided to make this a monthly event, since another one is scheduled in August. I was excited to participate in this event – it is the first major tournament since the Maelstrom release events, and I’d wondered where the meta was going with a whole new set of cards with which to play. Would the Onions destiny control decks still be among the top? Would the ever popular and always dangerous Rebel Battlecruiser (RBC) decks continue to push Clave over the top? Would someone (anyone!) figure out have to make Kej competitive?

The short answer the questions above is that we seem to be in the midst of a substantial shift in the metagame. Strong veteran plays like Banslay and Lore did not place among the top five, despite using previous meta favorite RBC decks. Among the top five finishers, only one was using an Omior deck. And perhaps most surprising of all, Squeegie, the tournament’s winner, won using a life-splash Kej deck!

Rounding out the top five were XchokeholdX, who was using a strong Thrass Thrall Chamber-based deck; Zorro (that’s me!) using a high-ent Thrass deck; AlienProbe using a high-ent Android deck; and todzo using an Omior destiny control deck.

While this is only one tournament, and you can certainly never count out the older meta favorites, we may be seeing that the playing community is devising new and interesting strategies to counteract those dominant decks.

It is within this context of learning and growth that I’d decided to share my deck from the tourney, and discuss its origins and evolution. I must admit that I am somewhat hesitant to do so. Obviously publishing what I believe to be my best deck may strike some players as absurd – why should I give away secrets I’ve worked hard on uncovering, especially to potential future opponents?

Here's Why

1. The top vets are mostly familiar with this deck archetype. The fact that they know the specific cards in my deck would put them at an advantage, obviously, if we ever met. But any veteran player who sees me placing lots of flags early and rushing up to 6E will immediately know my intentions are to get out Secret Police as soon as possible, and will have an idea of which cards I’m likely to have in my hands.
2. New players will benefit most from understanding how strong decks are built. Very powerful decks are almost never based on playing power card after power card, but rather on using cards that mutually reinforce each other in strong and sometimes surprising ways. In other words, I hope new players will begin to understand the nature of a focused deck.
3. Lots of players helped me build this deck. This deck didn’t spread forth whole from my mind. Numerous players, who I’ve tried to credit in this article, helped me develop this deck by their suggestions and example.
4. By revealing what I believe to be the best deck I’ve built, I’m forcing myself to explore new paths in the future. I don’t know what kind of deck I will be using in future major tournaments, but I know it won’t be this deck. And this metaphorical leap now provides a strong incentive to me to be creative in a new direction. I’m challenging myself to come up with something as strong and very different.

Origins

During the month of July, Leto ran a pro ladder for SC players. The way this ladder worked is that two maps were selected each week. All the ladder games had to take place on those two maps, with the player in the higher ladder position given the right to choose which map to use. Since I was at the top the ladder, this made my job considerably easier because I could prepare mostly for one map instead of two.

One of the maps for the second week of the pro ladder was Natural Flow. This is a map in which high tech cards can come out early and often, with a total of 8 artifact planets, almost any card is playable before the first vote. Sooty, Wuppin and I were discussing strategies and approaches to this map. We came up with several interesting ideas, including using the Harbinger (The World Bleeder) for a fast card-based victory. After these discussions, I decided on using a Ferrier deck based on the awesome Archon Overseer. Since there clearly would be a lot of conquering going on, they could easily gain enormous influence, and my production could be saved for controlling the board. In addition, having early access to powerful Ferrier cards like the Imperial Battlecruiser and Battle Psion seemed like a smart play. My biggest concern was destiny decks. In particular, the cards that scared me most were Shared Knowledge, Catacomb Warden, and even the possibility that someone would use Sooty’s idea of using the Harbinger (The World Bleeder) for a card-based victory.

So I decided to be prudent and include 4 Forbidden Technology cards in my deck and a couple of copies of University. That way I could block a destiny powerhouse planet, or even if someone tried to use the Research Academy / Harbinger (The World Bleeder) combo. And my first game on this map, against Chincat, seemed to validate this strategy.

Incursions

My second game on this map, against ExtraJoss, did not quite work out the way I intended. Joss was playing a Kej Catacomb Warden/Logical Claim deck with an entropy splash and handily defeated me shortly after the first vote. Did you spot my mistake? Forbidden Technology, the card I was planning to protect me from the Catacomb Warden, didn’t protect me at all. I learned the hard way that it is the Catacomb Warden that generates the destiny, not the planet, as I watched Joss go up by 10 destiny points per turn. There was nothing I could do at that point – I’d been completely outplayed before we started the game because Joss’ plan was better than my solution.

Obviously, a loss like that meant the whole Ferrier deck I’d built was fatally flawed. It simply could not reliably stop a very logical and natural Kej combo. Ferrier ships are too slow to get to the far arties in time, and in any case, Joss could very easily have made me pay on my side of the board, or sent enough ships to stop me before I threatened the Warden.

So I had two options at that point: (1) Create my own Catacomb Warden deck and admit this was the deck to beat; or (2) try a completely new approach that took into account Joss’ deck.

My initial thought was simply to make a Catacomb Warden deck, but then I saw an extremely long and drawn out battle between ExtraJoss and Armand, both using Catacomb Wardens. I don’t remember exactly how long the game lasted, but I think it was upwards of 24 turns. While the Wardens offset each other, it was tough to see how one would create a decisive threat or breakthrough. So I abandoned the idea of making a Catacomb Warden deck.

Looking at the various cards, it looked like Collision was a viable solution to the Catacomb Warden. Both Armand and Joss protected their Wardens with Astral Escorts, so I knew it would be foolish to think cards like space debris or wildcat strike would be sufficient. In addition, Collision is the same tech as Iconoclasts, further reinforcing this as a nice solution to destiny problems in general. And since I know I wanted my deck to go up to 3E fast, I realized I was half way to Secret Police, an absolutely awesome card for a map with lots of back and forth conquering.

My first version of the post-Joss deck included 4 Collisions and was essentially a rush up to Secret Police. Lots of cards suggested themselves immediately. Shriekers – the Remote Informant of Entropy, as Jivesamba calls them – were a great fit. In addition I added Hornet Leader (because of its scramble ability), Surprise Ally (because of its surprise value and synergy with Hornet Leaders), and Ansible Threader. All of these cards supported and reinforced each other.

This deck was fast – very fast. In fact, I achieved winning positions in most games before the first vote. And Secret Police would hit the virtual table on turn 5 or 6 of most games, making my position that much more dominant. So I thought I had the winning deck.

Then I played Leto.

Rebellions

Leto and I had sparred in a few tournaments prior to this ladder match game, and in each of those, I’d used a Thrass Thrall Chamber deck. Therefore, I imagine, Leto predicted I would be vulnerable to a Clave RBC deck with Fat Cats. At first, things were going well for me. I achieved a blockade on his barren in front of the Star Chamber.

Then came the RBCs. Two of them on consecutive turns. I knew I was in trouble if I didn’t do something soon. Leto just had too much muscle, and more coming out of his hand every turn, so I attacked his RBCs before he managed to consolidate his fleet together for a game-winning push to the Star Chamber, and possibly beyond to my HW. The attack was risky, but I was lucky and successfully destroyed both RBCs. The price, however, was high. My own fleet was in near ruins, and it would take a while to organize my forces again. That’s when the third RBC hit the table.

In this game, I was outplayed, outmuscled, and ultimately, outmaneuvered by Leto in a way that left a real impression on me. He had taken the best shot I could give and shrugged it off. But unlike my previous Ferrier deck, this loss wasn’t one in which I gave up on the whole concept, rather I realized that despite my early lead, I needed more power to keep up the pressure, and certainly something with which to deal with huge capital ships like RBC or (even worse) Bulwark (Homerock Stanchion). My fleet was fast and nimble and could sting like bees (hornets?) but a strong rhino could run me over if I didn’t kill them in time.

The solution was, of course, entropic bursts, among other things.

In the final analysis, the deck was so fast that I realized it was ideal even on smaller maps. I didn’t need to worry so much about destiny control decks. Between the early pressure I could develop and the Iconoclasts, it was developing the theme of “Speed Kills� to a new level.

And so, on the day of the tournament, here is the deck I used

Speed Kills

Race - Thrass

Draw deck (44 cards)

• 5C101 Mark of Entropy x2
• 5C32 Gamma Ray Burst x4
• 4C71 Mauling Crew x4
• 4C72 Medal of Triumph x2
• 4C73 Mounted Pulse Gun x4
• 2C139 Surprise Ally x4
• 5C135 Frenzied Changeling x4
• 5C33 Iconoclasts x2
• 6C137 Hornet Leader x4
• 6U133 Ansible Threader x2
• 6R39 Shrieker x4
• 1R190 Ensnare x2
• 5R37 Secret Police x4
• 1R48 Entropic Burst x2

Tech Curve

1E
Mark of Entropy x2
Gamma Ray Burst x4
Mauling Crew x4
Medal of Triumph x2

2E
Mounted Pulse Gun x4

2E1M
Surprise Ally x4
Frenzied Changeling x4

3E1M
Iconoclasts x2
Hornet Leader x4

4E1M
Ansible Threader x2

5E1M
Shrieker x4

6E1M
Secret Police x4
Entropic Burst x2

6E2M
Ensnare x2

How to Play The Deck

This deck should be played very aggressively during the first six turns. Concentrate on getting up to 6E (for Secret Police) and placing flags on as many planets as possible. You have a total of 16 scouts, 8 of which have scramble and 4 of which have surprise deployment (4 Frenzied Changeling, 4 Surprise Ally, 4 Hornet Leader & 4 Shrieker), so you’ll very likely have a strong and dangerous fleet well before your opponent. Use this advantage to take key planets and, if possible, block the Chamber. Don’t be overly concerned about the first vote. By putting enough pressure on your opponent, they’re very unlikely to be focusing on the vote either.

Save your Entropic Bursts for when you really need them. I would say you should never consider using them on a mere cruiser. A single Bulwark can ruin your day, and you’ll be pretty upset if you’ve used one or both on cruisers and one of those baddies hits the battle.

Ansible Threaders are amazing heroes. The fact that they have scramble makes them even more dangerous. In many cases, you’re better off using the Threader rather than a Shrieker if you have a large enough fleet and expect a battle on the turn you play it.

The secret to best using both Shriekers and Ensnare is timing. If your opponent doesn’t expect them, they can be enormously devastating since they tip the balance of battle so far in your favor. It isn’t as big a deal with Shriekers since you have 4 of them and they’re useful until they’re destroyed, but Ensnares are harder to time.

The Gamma Ray Bursts are very useful once the secret police come out. Since they return to you hand if played on a planet with a flag, you can continually punish enemy ships trying to fly over your planets. Never use them on a non-friendly flagged planet unless it is to destroy a weakened enemy ship.

The day before the tournament, it was Wuppin who provided the final and most important piece of advice on how to play this deck. He said it is fast, very, very fast. But the most important thing to do is to be patient with the early advantages once it has been achieved. After turn 7 or 8, if your opponent has recovered, they are likely playing stronger cards than you are, but if Secret Police is out already, and you’re blockading the Star Chamber, there’s no reason to go crazy. The beauty of Secret Police is that is places your opponent at a major disadvantage when trying to take your planets (since they will lose any person – including heroes!). And if you’re ahead on the board, this disadvantage is magnified.