Bizarro Week: Mon ~ Arsenal of… Bizarro!? Pt. 1

Good evening ladies, gentlemen and gender-neutral lifeforms. Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few months (of if you don’t play VS ) you’ll be aware of the upcoming VS System Mega-Weekend in SoCal (if I recall correctly). The main event will be Silver Age, and there’s already one certain deck making waves across the format and judging by the hype it’s receiving on internet message boards it will be there in force… I’m talking about Bizarro.dec. With the advent of the newest version of Bizarro World’s text, Bizarro 4-drop from DCR has become a Legend-stamping dream, allowing him to go into a Berserker Rage while equipped with Juggernaut’s Helmet, all from his vantage point situated atop Doomstadt, Castle Doom.

And the card that enables all of these shenanigans? Why it’s none other than a $1 rare from DSM, the aforementioned Bizarro World, recently errated to be legal in all formats regardless of the legality of the set it was printed in. So Bizarro World is legal not only in Silver Age and Golden Age, but also Modern Age…. and MTU booster draft if you somehow manage to open one (although if someone does, especially at the mega-weekend, I’d ask a Judge to have a few words with them to one side).

In the honour of this crazy new build, I’ve decided to devote this week of Vicarious Living articles to the Clone of Steel: the mighty Bizarro. In this first article I intend to have an in-depth look at all of the Legend-stamped support cards Bizarro has access too, and whether each would be worth running in your version deck. As well as covering the obvious candidates from Marvel and DC Legends, I will also be dipping into the Silver Age back catalogue for some gems even I had forgotten about before I started research for this article. So, without further ado lets start the analysis with the oldest set in golden age, MXM:

 MXM

A bit of an anticlimax to be honest. MXM doesn’t contribute any legend stamped cards to a Bizarro build, but does serve to provide the automatic inclusion Enemy of My Enemy for some curve fixing. Interestingly enough, it seems that Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon would act as interesting tech against Bizarro, shutting down the locations it needs to function and switching off the often high-threshold legend-stamped plot twists. However, I intend to talk about ways to Tech against Bizarro later in the week, so we’ll leave her for now and move onto…

DCR

The MXS starter set doesn’t yield anything of interest, so there’s no point wasting the bold text on the title. Infinite Crisis on the other hand provides a single Legendary plot twist, in the form of Fate Has Spoken… However the existance of Berserker Rage, a popular card in the “Bizarro Wolverine” version of the deck, makes the addition of this card redundant. Possibly splashable as a fifth Berserker Rage… if you think that it’s really necessary in addition to four copies and the monstrously efficient search suite that the build contains.

MHG

Next in chronological order is the Heralds of Galactus expansion, which provides us with some more Legend-stamped cards in the form of the support Dr. Doom received in this set from his namesake affiliation. Lancer, Samantha Dunbar is an interesting 2-drop that will allow Bizarro to stun multiple characters on a single attack, but Black Thorn on turn two is a much better play for the version of the deck running Four Freedoms Plaza, so I don’t think Lancer will be featuring in many decks come the mega-weekend. I think Moloids falls into the same camp. It does less than Bizarro than it does for straight Dr. Doom, as Bizarro lacks the Doom-flavoured combo pieces to make a recurring 1-drop really shine.

Astral Suppression is a possibility for a more controlling Bizarro build, however the cost of an exhaust is pretty high. The KO effect is redundant unless you have recruited multiple Bizarros, as it is likely that said Bizarro will be the character causing the stun anyway making Iron Extraction a better choice for taking out opposing characters. The discard element is interesting though, and could defintely help in the mirror, but I don’t think it’s really worth many slots in the deck when there’s so many better choices available.

Doomstadt, Castle Doom however is a great piece of support for Bizarro, providing a constant +3 ATK pump taking his ATK up to a monstrous 14 before any of your other pumps kick in. Plus, it’s a location so it can be searched out by Ahmed and dumped straight into row to act as a timely pump to get you out of a tricky potential brickwall-including-stunback situation.

Expendable Ally is another very interesting card Doom brings to the table. It acts in a similar manner to the multiple copies of Pathetic Attempt most decks in the format will be running, but provides a Savage Beatdown on Bizarro if it goes off. Some many argue that the lack of Pathetic Attempt would leave Ahmed exposed if all of the copies were replaced in such as a way, but a Dr. Fates Tower + Cloak of Nabu will keep a concealed Ahmed quite happy; allowing your negation suite to service Bizarro in a much more favourable way. Also, after turn 4 you can simply search out answers on demand using Four Freedoms Plaza, so feel free to run a negation suite containing your preferred mix of From the Darkness, Pathetic Attempt and Expendable Ally. A single copy of Huntress also serves as a good way to protect Ahmed when he is stunned; although B.P.R.D Signal Device does a much better job in my opinion.

Super Genius is lackluster at best in a Bizarro deck when both Genosha, and to a lesser extent Splintering Consciousness are available in the format. Time Thief however could have some very interesting applications. Searchable on demand with Four Freedoms, Time Thief can rip key components from your opponent’s deck, leading to some immense disruption. For example, in the mirror match you could remove any remaining Bizarro Worlds from your opponent’s deck before searching out multiple copies of 3… 2… 1… to decimate their resource row and cripple their primary strategy. It also helps against some of the other decks in the format, as stall decks often run only single copies of key higher drops and it helps to remove Silver-Bullet tech that may harm your progress in a tournament.

EHB

Hellboy yields a single non-B.P.R.D-stamped Legendary plot twist, namely Break Off the Horns, which again simply comes off as a poor substitute for Berserker Rage. However, it does have an advantage over Berserker Rage, in that it lets you ready once an opponent attacks into Bizarro. Why would you want to do that? I hear you cry. Simple. There are plenty of legend stamped effects such as Indestructible, You Dare? or Mystical Paralysis that can cripple any attempted retaliation, but have the drawback of requiring a ready character. Because Ahmed and Black Thorn are both hidden characters, you shouldn’t have any problem meeting Break Off the Horns’ stipulation, so it may warrant considerations as a fifth readying card, as a single utility copy alongside a set of Berserker Rage.

The Hellboy Essential Collection also includes Abe Sapien, icthyo sapien, but enough discussion of his game-breaking effect is going on all over the net already, so it’s a waste of words to repeat what you blatantly already know. Most builds run at least three copies, looking to hit him as a primary five drop (with Basil Karlo <> Clayface from DCL as a potential backup).

DLS

The last set we shall be looking at this evening is Legion of Superheroes. Legion contained a refeature of the Darkseid’s Elite team-affiliation and their stone-faced namesake Darkseid himself. Despite this, many of the legend-stamped cards simply make Darkseid non-unique and provide no real bonus for Darkseids (or Bizarros) outside of Darkseid’s Elite (case in point: All Hail Darkseid! and 31st Century Apokolips).

The two plot twists it does provide are Shock and Awe, which to be fair is pretty underwhelming considering the other effects you can receive from exhausting your character (Mystical Paralysis, Gift Wrapped, Indestructible, You Dare? etc.). However, it can be used in the Mirror Match to ship an opposing Bizarro to the hidden area, provided they don’t have a way to negate the targetting of said opposing character…. which is highly likely. So Shock and Awe is fairly limited, and not a great choice… What’s the second?

No Match for Darkseid is another defensive plot twist, but requires you to stun your Bizarro/Darkseid to stun all attackers with cost less than or equal to Bizarro’s cost. That wouldn’t be a big problem, if You Dare? didn’t exist. You Dare? only requires an exhaust, and is also Epic meaning it can’t be negated. I think there is a clear-cut better choice for “stunning team attackers”, and unfortunately for DLS it sure isn’t No Match for Darkseid.

Outro

Well, that concludes our look at ways to support Bizarro for tonight. Join me tomorrow, when I examine what tricks MTU, DWF, MVL and DCL provide our favourite ashen faced clone with!

Till then, stay safe and remember to pick up a playset of Bizarro World if you haven’t already

~ TXC

…. To be Continued

~ by txc08 on January 28, 2008.