# Deck Strategies

By Sandy Goh.

Some thoughts I had on deck types. This is the first draft and much is incomplete; I am hoping for comments and/or feedback to finish the thing.

## Throughput Deck

Throughput factor is simply the number of cards the deck plays. Some large decks are throughput decks and nothing more. Starting from a small power base they build up a large power structure and an increased hand size and then attempt to win by playing more cards than everyone else. These decks build up to a peak of about 7-8 power and 8-9 cards per turn (or sometimes more) and thus "overpower" other decks which are flipping out characters, etc. at slower speeds. For example, if your deck is conventional and runs off 4 power and someone drops a Neutron Bomb, you and your friends with "standard" decks will be able to play a couple of characters each, giving you about as many between you as the really big deck. They also have another advantage in that they can afford to pack cards you normally wouldn't have the space for (like Shattering Jade, etc) and aren't so vulnerable to a bad initial draw since there is lots to replace what they have to discard. The disadvantage of the throughput deck is that it has to be big and it needs too long to set itself up again after a setback. These decks actually _want_ to play Who's the Big Man Now, just so they can play more sites and therefore more cards. Most (but not all) weenie decks are throughput; the better ones have some force multipling element like Arcanowave Reinforcer or Entropy Is Your Friend.

## Exponential Growth Deck

Secondly there is the exponential growth factor. This refers to a deck's ability to grow in "win potential" at an alarming rate. A throughput deck, for example, has a definate peak. The exponential deck uses force multiplier cards (like Lord Shi or Might of the Elephant) and is able to recycle cards in batches using events like Wind on the Mountain or Slo-Mo Vengeance. Such a deck might still peak at the 4+ card output of a throughput deck but since each card boosts other cards it already has, or recycles multiple cards, such decks grow in potential at an alarming rate. Again, these are slow decks but they have more comeback ability than a throughput deck and they have more "win potential" in a long game. Most force multiplier cards are useful in an exponential growth deck.

## Turtle Deck

Nothing much to say. It just sits on 4 sites, stops everyone else winning and then tries to go for it when the time is right. I don't think they work too well these days with Flashpoint since very aggressive decks can simply keep hitting sites until one of them wins, before the turtle deck has had a chance to really get going. Architects and Hand can do decent turtle decks as can the Ascended. I don't see much point in making a turtle deck that is not an exponential growth deck.

## Combo Deck

Nothing really needs to be said.

## Surprise Win Deck

Wins using some bizarre combo that no one is really aware of. Imagine a pure Dragon deck that suddenly unleashes killing rains using magic resource on the Golden Gunman or Marisol; at this point everyone starts accusing everyone else of failing to smoke the Scrappy Kid... (well, it would catch out a few folk over here). The other form of surprise win deck is a combo deck with a billion combos in, and possibly a bunch of Rigourous Disciplines, Ghost Assassins and Ice Courtiers and a bunch of small characters with "interesting" abilities. Xiaoyang Yun is an excellent surprise win card, which is a pity since she's better at that than she is at turtle-breaking.

## Speed Deck

Hmm, this is how most Ascended play. I don't think it is a good idea since you cannot out-race 3 or 4 other players (unless you get lucky and draw 3 exponential growth decks), and the other players will almost certainly pick on you if you try to play speed Ascended in multiplayer. You can generally only win by out-powering everyone else so this requires you to keep a large power structure and a bunch of characters in play, which makes you look more dangerous than you actually are, which is bad for your winning potential. (You actually can't win if you look like you are ahead, unless you are so far ahead for it not to matter, since everyone will try to stop you).

It might be possible to break the conventional requirement for a large power structure with Bull Markets and I am still working on this. Certainly the Architects can pull it off with Dangerous Experiments but it's harder to do these days with Hackers and whatnot. The way to beat it up is to hit it hard early on and stop it building up the power structure it requires. This is kind of difficult to do against a Dangerous Experiment deck, so you want to rebury that one instead.

## Force Multiplier

Basically what the Thunder speed decks do and what Might of the Elephant does, though I would say that the Monarchs are better at it than the Ascended. Yes, the Monarchs are fast but not that fast - their main strength has to be the multipling effect of cards like Thunder King or Lord Shi, and the nasty tricks they can get up to with Thunder Squires (attack twice, sacrifice, return and attack, etc). I'm not sure how to deal with a force multiplier deck, apart from hit it early on and don't let the thing get the power it needs, or just Neutron Bomb the thing.

One type of force multiplier that I have trouble with is a deck that plays Storm of the Just and a bunch of small characters. This can be real hard to stop later on in the game since Storm of the Just gives a fighting bonus, and the deck can be cunningly constructed and played in a manner that makes it look very poor, making some people discount it as a potential winning force. The ideal "Storm of the Just" deck plays a couple of sites and a few foundation, loses sites since it can't defend them and then flattens everyone with Storm of the Just-boosted weenies at some opportune moment.

The difference between a force multiplier and exponential growth deck is that the force multiplier tends to build quicker, but to a lower level, generally about the level of a throughput deck without the need to be 200+ cards and have a 3 column site structure.

## Power Efficiency Deck

This describes most "quick win" Dragon decks. They are not "fast" in the true sense of the word - certainly slower than the Architects when they start kicking out CHARs on turn 2, or the Ascended, but they are very efficient on power. The deck does lots of damage for a low power investment (e.g. Final Brawl, followed by Everyday Hero with 2 guns). The way to deal with it is not to let it burn for power. If the thing burns for power and starts playing around with Ex-Commandos and shotguns, it is going to take multiple sites in a single turn and burn the last one for even more power... The trouble with these decks is that in a game with little defense, they are actually in contention for the win when on 2 feng shui sites.

## Miscellaneous Notes

There are a few other deck types out there: I have noticed the things but I've not worked out what to classify them as yet. I think a lot revolves around the deck's power structure: I have noticed single, dual and multi-column structures (in my experience most multi-column decks don't really distinguish between 3 or 4 or more columns). The single column ones are quite resilient to damage and they can generate power like crazy if they play Pocket Demon and suchlike. I don't rate the parasitic deck as a deck type, rather a type of power generation.

- Strategy

Last modified: June 18, 1997.
Send server comments to durrell@innocence.com.