Help Needed on Discard Deck

[Shadowtrooper]

Now I'm trying to make discard deck and I think Golden is the way to go. So far X-Men seem like the best option thanks in part to Rachel Summers <> Marvel Girl, Deathmarked being dual affiliated. I was thinking of going with her on 5 and on 4 Rogue, Power Absorption so that she can copy her ability. On 3 I was thinking of using Professor X, Protector of the Mind Gem. With him I have access to Realm of the Mind for draw and discard. His ability while not a real discard will help me with the task at hand if I had another Illuminati on the deck and since I don't want him to be a useless character if I don't draw into Realm of the Mind I was thinking of using Mr. Fantastic, Protector of the Power Gem to get Xavier's ability off. That would either make work towards an Illuminati/X-men build or F4/X-men build and with the exception of Iron Man and Black Bolt I got all members in the team with the F4 X-Men build so I am leaning towards that.

No matter what route I take I can play Dr. Strange, Ally of the Four on the 6th turn so I can manage some extra discard effects. That would also give me a chance to play a Sub-Mariner and perhaps Atlantis.

Havok proud son on the 7th seems like the best idea even though he isn't Illuminati or X-Men.

Thanks to Justice League of Arkham being banned I think all discards will happen during the combat phase. I don't intend for my opponents to miss playing resources but I do want to limit their options and perhaps for them to miss some drops.

Seeing as I don't want to miss my 2nd drop I think a Black Bolt can fit in the list quite nicely as my alternate 2 drop.

I was thinking that perhaps I could use Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to get Pof X ready for double duty. Once for his payment power and the second for Realm of the Mind.

So far this is what I got:

Characters:

4x Mr. Fantastic, Protector of the Power Gem
3x Black Bolt, Illuminati
4x Professor X, Protector of the Mind Gem
4x Rogue, Power Absorption
3x Rachel Summers <> Marvel Girl, Deathmarked
1x Sub-Mariner, Uncertain Ally
3x Dr. Strange, Ally of the Four
2x Havok, Proud Son

Plot Twist:

4x Government Sponsored
4x Enemy of my Enemy
4x Realm of the Mind

Locations:
4x Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
2x Atlantis

As you can see I am missing a few cards as I only have 46 cards in the deck. The thing is I really don't know if I should pursue the Illuminati Route. With Rachel and Havok having Energize and Dr. Strange getting everyone ready I think Clandestine Operations is a good addition to the deck should I fail to disrupt their hands. I know the Gauntlet will let me discard their entire hands but I want to mess it up by other means and having all 6 members of the Illuminati is not as easy a task as one would imagine.

Anyway LMK what you guys think would be the appropriate way to finish up the deck.

[Unstable_Molecule]

If you're teaming up with FF, 4x Cosmic Radiation is a must - with only one of them you can probably use Rachel's ability three times on turn 5 (with one on turn 6, combined with Dr. Strange, you can use her ability four times, provided someone attacks her).

Caliban, Pestilence seems to fit your theme well, although he may make it hard for you to last until turn seven for your Havok endgame.

Cyclops, Astonishing X-Man has an amazing synergy with Havok, so he may be a better six-drop. (Use Havok's ability, force a discard, attack with Cyclops, Cyclops' ability readies Havok, use Havok's ability to stun the defender, no defender so Cyclops readies, Cyclops attacks, Cyclops' ability readies Havok, use Havok's ability to stun the defender, etc. until all their visible characters are stunned).

My build of this deck goes something like this:

Two-drops: Forge (for the wall), Caliban
Three drops: Wolverine, Logan (big body), Iceman, Jack Frost (amazing stall)
Four drops: Beast, Devolving Brute (huge defense), Rogue (for copying Rachel)
Five drops: Rachel, Professor X, Charles Xavier
Six drops: Cyclops
Seven drops: Havok

Sprinkle in some Children of the Atom and X-Men Assemble! and you should easily survive to turn seven.

[Shadowtrooper]

If you're teaming up with FF, 4x Cosmic Radiation is a must - with only one of them you can probably use Rachel's ability three times on turn 5 (with one on turn 6, combined with Dr. Strange, you can use her ability four times, provided someone attacks her).

I really like the Cosmic Radiation suggestion. I can get 4 discards easy with Rogue and Rachel on turn 5 with just one card. Guess I need to team-up in order for them to work but that can be done easily with Heroes United and/or The Greater Threat.

Caliban, Pestilence seems to fit your theme well, although he may make it hard for you to last until turn seven for your Havok endgame.

Cyclops, Astonishing X-Man has an amazing synergy with Havok, so he may be a better six-drop. (Use Havok's ability, force a discard, attack with Cyclops, Cyclops' ability readies Havok, use Havok's ability to stun the defender, no defender so Cyclops readies, Cyclops attacks, Cyclops' ability readies Havok, use Havok's ability to stun the defender, etc. until all their visible characters are stunned).

My build of this deck goes something like this:

Two-drops: Forge (for the wall), Caliban
Three drops: Wolverine, Logan (big body), Iceman, Jack Frost (amazing stall)
Four drops: Beast, Devolving Brute (huge defense), Rogue (for copying Rachel)
Five drops: Rachel, Professor X, Charles Xavier
Six drops: Cyclops
Seven drops: Havok

Sprinkle in some Children of the Atom and X-Men Assemble! and you should easily survive to turn seven.

The problem with the characters you are suggesting is that you leave no room for F4 characters. How am I going to team-up or use Cosmic Radiation? Cutting F4 from the build will not allow me to use Clandestine Operations which I have added to the deck and it helps like you wouldn't believe. It also makes 3 drop Prof X only useful if I get Realm of the Mind. So I'll stick with my character lineup

I do like Cyclops combo with Havok though I think I can achieve that with Press the Attack. I'll try both just to see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Number6]

Ages ago, I think around the time DGL came out, I experimented with some discard+deck-KO ideas (since killing cards from the deck is practically as good as forcing discards...in both cases, you're stopping your opponent from using his stuff before it's even in play). I don't know if they'll help your current plan, but here's the basic outline I can remember:

Lana Lang (Manhunter): primary cost-1
Prankster: secondary cost-1
Lacuna: secondary cost-2
Nightcrawler (MOR): primary cost-2
Madame Web: primary cost-3
Psylocke (MOR): secondary cost-3
Rogue (MOR): primary cost-4
Black Cat (MSM): secondary cost-4
Professor X (MOR): primary cost-5
Cyclops (MOR): secondary cost-5
Iceman (MSM): primary cost-6
Emma Frost (MSM): secondary cost-6
Doc Ock (MSM): primary cost-7
Spider-Man (MSM): primary cost-8
Professor X (MMK): secondary cost-8/primary cost-9

Overpowered
Fastball Special
Marvel Team-Up
Clone Saga
Museum Heist

With all the activated powers, a teamup with Spider-Friends (Clone Saga) and Madame Web meant that I was getting back a good bit of endurance despite her lame-o stats. Rogue would copy her ability or Lana Lang's ability; Prof X would come out on 5, cause an immediate discard, and then with Rogue's copy ability you could hit 2 discards. On a single opponent, that's almost their whole hand. Emma or Iceman could keep the squeeze on the hand, and Prof X on 8 or 9 can empty an opposing hand the second he's in play, shutting down any endgame plans they might have had. My other selections were geared toward stunning extra opposing characters or preventing my own guys from stunning (which is generally useful) to help Overpowered empty the deck. With the selection of cards in the deck getting more and more limited, and that selection being quickly discarded after being drawn, it was a pretty decent way to shut down an opposing player. Not great, but it did have some success.

At any rate, the Starjammers/X-Men route is definitely more effective than this; though their synergy seems good enough that I'd probably be more hesitant to mix in the extra F4'ers just for Cosmic Radiation and the Illuminati. However, I will mention that Museum Heist is a pretty good card to consider, you can maybe tempt your opponent to make an early discard, but even if not it's a bonus 2-card draw for you. Since you've got some hidden guys (and I'm guessing that won't really change), there's a good chance you can use it on defensive turns when your main visible guys have been beaten and there's nothing for your hidden guys to do.

I suppose I would probably favor the following character lineup (top down):

Prof X-8
Havok-7
Korvus or Emma-6
Rachel Summers-5 or Prof X-5
Rogue-4 or Ch'od
Corsair or Sage-3
Nightcrawler-2 (MEV) or Prof X-2
Archangel-1

Archangel gets you the X-Corp->Team-Up combo. Nightcrawler-2 can move Sage hidden, or Prof X-2 can use his Legend stuff and ready with Xavier's School (plus of course the free recovery he can do). Sage-3 can stop your opponent from playing his cards before you force him to discard them, or you can just gamble to start killing cards with Corsair. Ch'od keeps the hand from getting too big, but Rogue's your main girl because on turn 5 you'll be forcing discards left and right. They continue on turn 6 and 7, and you just shut down anything that's left on turn 8.

So, the obvious support cards are the X-Corp that searches teamups, a teamup, and Realm of the Mind. Possibly Xavier's School or Museum Heist (but this build doesn't have much hidden stuff or low-cost activations going for it). Engine of Change is useful row disruption for this theme, and if you find yourself struggling to stun more than one opposing character a turn, Greater Of Two Evils can be pretty nice. If you like combat control, you can play Pinned (if an attacker would ready, it remains exhausted unless its controller discards) in conjunction with Reset (remove a defender--yours--so your opponent's attacker should ready, but might not if he can't or won't discard). Finally, in a location-heavy meta, Concrete Jungle can be sweet.

Okay, this post turned out way longer than I intended; hope some of my ramblings have helped.

[VSU Dragon]

Shadow I have always loved playing discard decks. GA is not exactly the way to go b/c the opposing decks have to many options to stimi you. Instead I prefer to go with MA b/c they have fewer options.

The three different ideas that I have come up with are:

Starjammers curve: Just play a basic curve deck with their characters and depleate their hand.

Illuminati: Omni PA then use The Infiniti Gauntlet to make them discard their hand on turn 5. It is easy to pull off plus Illuminati dominate Exiles with ease thanks to Electra Situation plus Clanstine

Monster Mash: Just use Kid Omega and Caliban to keep them from drawing cards and use Blink, Proteus, Beak Saves the Day to uber out their shift counters. I have been able to shut down the entire draw vs teams as early as turn 4. They normally scoop at that point as you keep curving out and they can do nothing to stop you. I also use the Starjammers from 5-7 to help force them to discard as well as 1 drop prof x with his nice PT.

just a few suggestions for you to think about.

[vashstampede99]

.....that sounds nice dragon that discard deck...ya i scoop lol

[Shadowtrooper]

Illuminati: Omni PA then use The Infiniti Gauntlet to make them discard their hand on turn 5. It is easy to pull off plus Illuminati dominate Exiles with ease thanks to Electra Situation plus Clanstine

In my current build which I will post in a few I am using Illuminati as the main group and it is working great, usually eliminating their hands by turn 4. I run both Elektra and Clandestine but to be honest my friends don't play Exiles and they are more of a flavor and utility meta against them. I didn't want to use the Infinity Gauntlet cause they decks they play in Golden have no problem in bashing more than one character at a time in the hidden so I know I won't be able to get it off.

Monster Mash: Just use Kid Omega and Caliban to keep them from drawing cards and use Blink, Proteus, Beak Saves the Day to uber out their shift counters. I have been able to shut down the entire draw vs teams as early as turn 4. They normally scoop at that point as you keep curving out and they can do nothing to stop you. I also use the Starjammers from 5-7 to help force them to discard as well as 1 drop prof x with his nice PT.

I wanted so much to include Kid Omega in my current build and I am still trying in my Modern build (which is only on paper). I think using M'Kraan Crystal will help as I really don't want to use Exiles for the deck.

As for Starjammers, I don't really like them. I mean Rachel is awesome but the others are so so. Anyway here is my Golden Age build:


Help Needed on Discard Deck
Now I'm trying to make discard deck and I think Golden is the way to go. So far X-Men seem like the best option thanks in part to Rachel Summers <> Marvel Girl, Deathmarked being dual affiliated. I was thinking of going with her on 5 and on 4 Rogue, Power Absorption so that she can copy her ability. On 3 I was thinking of using Professor X, Protector of the Mind Gem. With him I have access to Realm of the Mind for draw and discard. His ability while not a real discard will help me with the task at hand if I had another Illuminati on the deck and since I don't want him to be a useless character if I don't draw into Realm of the Mind I was thinking of using Mr. Fantastic, Protector of the Power Gem to get Xavier's ability off. That would either make work towards an Illuminati/X-men build or F4/X-men build and with the exception of Iron Man and Black Bolt I got all members in the team with the F4 X-Men build so I am leaning towards that.

No matter what route I take I can play Dr. Strange, Ally of the Four on the 6th turn so I can manage some extra discard effects. That would also give me a chance to play a Sub-Mariner and perhaps Atlantis.

Havok proud son on the 7th seems like the best idea even though he isn't Illuminati or X-Men.

Thanks to Justice League of Arkham being banned I think all discards will happen during the combat phase. I don't intend for my opponents to miss playing resources but I do want to limit their options and perhaps for them to miss some drops.

Seeing as I don't want to miss my 2nd drop I think a Black Bolt can fit in the list quite nicely as my alternate 2 drop.

I was thinking that perhaps I could use Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to get Pof X ready for double duty. Once for his payment power and the second for Realm of the Mind.

So far this is what I got:

Characters (24):

4x Mr. Fantastic, Protector of the Power Gem
3x Black Bolt, Illuminati
4x Professor X, Protector of the Mind Gem
2x Sub-Mariner, Protector of the Time Gem
3x Rogue, Power Absorption
3x Rachel Summers <> Marvel Girl, Deathmarked
1x Sub-Mariner, Uncertain Ally
1x Dr. Strange, Ally of the Four
1x Mimic, Exile
1x Havok, Proud Son

Plot Twist (27):

3x Government Sponsored
4x Enemy of my Enemy
4x Realm of the Mind
3x Museum Heist
4x Heroes United
4x The Greater Threat
3x Clandestine Operations
2x The Elektra Situation
4x Cosmic Radiation

Locations (6):
4x Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
2x Atlantis

8 "team-ups" might be a bit to much specially if I miss Mr. Fantastic on he 2nd turn but since Rogue is a rare drop I don't mind the under drop as long as I can disrupt the opposing hand.