Comic Book Depot Report + Deck Strategy
by Kenny Latham

<Revolution> Characters do not see the light of day in All Axxess and Afterburn too often, especially here in the Northeast. Where I Play, Comic Book Depot, they don’t even run Revolution tournaments, because only 3 or 4 of us have Revolution Format decks built. But all the ‘power’ cards from the last 3 sets are in the Afterburn and All Axxess decks.

But not too many Revolution characters are played. Those that are include Triple H, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, because of massive support from Raw Deal Classic.

However, I took up the challenge of bringing a Revolution-Only character into All Axxess, and had great success.

First, the Deck:

For Samoa!
Heel Smackdown <No Cheater or Fan Fav Cards> Umaga
By Kenny Latham*

(I put the asterisk next to my name, because the concept of this deck was originally posted by former World Champion Frankie Ho, and I just added what I felt was good for the Northeast Environment)

Backstage Area (4)
<Revolution> Umaga Face Card
Raw Deal Fifth Anniversary
Backstage Signature
Backstage Signing Appearance

Pre-Match (10)
Managed by the WWE Divas
Calling You Out
Old School Wrestling Match
United States Title Belt
The Champ is Here!
<Revolution> Dressed for Success
My Sacrifice
<Revolution> Rey Mysterio is In My Corner!
A No Show
It’s Showtime!

Basic CYO/OS/US build… once that’s down, I throw the foundation for the deck down (Dressed, Rey in Corner). Sac/Showtime for when I’m the lower value.

Mid-Match (10)
The Road to Victory
This Is Going Nowhere Fast
Sustained Damage
Introduce Your Brain to your Mouth
Restricted Use in this Area
Outside Interference
Goodnight, Everybody!
<Revolution> Armando Alejandro Estrada: For Samoa!
Unscrupulous S.O.B.
You’re As Graceful as a Cow on Ice

Arsenal (60)

Maneuvers (27)
3x Poke
3x Shake
3x Clutch onto Opponent
3x Apply Illegal Leverage
3x Boot Lace
3x Precision Sleeper
<Revolution> Rey-Rey’s Wheelbarrow Bulldog
<Revolution> Droppin’ Da Dime
<Revolution> The 1904
West Coast Bronco Buster
<Revolution> The Samoan Diving Head Butt
<Revolution> The Samoan Banzai Drop
<Revolution> The Samoan Wrecking Ball
<Revolution> The Samoan Spike
The Finisher

Actions (0)

Antics (7)
2x <Revolution> Look Under The Ring
2x <Revolution> You’re Fired, Playa!
2x <Revolution> Go Candice, Come To Daddy
<Revolution> The Samoan Wrecking Machine

Reversals (26)
3x Over Sell Maneuver
3x Manager Interferes
2x Strangle Hold (TB)
2x Hold The Phone!
2x Volley This!
2x Backslide
2x Elbow to the Face
2x Blindsided Control
2x Sidewalk Slam
<Revolution> Two For the Show…
The Raw Deal Revolution
Armageddon
Divine Intervention
<Revolution> The Samoan Scream
<Revolution> The Samoan Bulldozer

I took the deck to Comic Book Depot for some fun. It went 2-2 at Depot and 3-2 at Dark Tower (Top 8) while in its early stages. I think it’s complete now (I still may switch out the WWE Divas for Managed by Vince (TB).

4 Rounds, Top 8… I think because Alan screwed up. (Again)

Round 1: Greg Abbate (Team Angle)
My ability lets me keep a fresh hand against Chain decks, and that comes in handy here, as he has no way to stop the Hard-To-Reverse-Poke-Shake-Clutch-Apply Combo of Doom. I bridge up to 50, Momentum Spike for the PIN

1-0

Round 2: Joe Booth (Stephanie McMahon)
He’s a Run the Gauntlet deck. RTG, meet CYO/OS/US. Without the gauntlet being run, he has a hard time getting moves off. (Basically Clutch/Apply/Atoms, but he got very little). Thumb 2 Throat for the PIN

2-0

Round 3: Jon Daguiar (Tazz)
LOL Tazz is so Old School. He runs It’s Hard Being this Original, which works for him, he doesn’t pack too many maneuvers, most of them suplexes, almost all of them grapples. I pinned him on the second turn with Da Thumb of Doom.

3-0

Three Undefeated decks at this point: Chad Gropack playing Team Angle, Johnathan “Nugget” Alvarado playing Ultimate Survivor and Me. Since I played a Team Angle deck already, I get paired down.

Round 4: Sam Torres (Andre the Giant)
Nice Pair Down. Thanks. Lucky for me, I draw <Revolution> The Samoan Wrecking Machine, which would let me search for and play Rey-Rey’s Wheelbarrow Bulldog. Except he drew Death-Defying Maniac in his opening hand. BOOOOO! I still set up my anti-Andre combo, which is throw Droppin’ Da Dime until it sticks, and it works… until he overturns Obey on the first card. Next turn, he hides the card, Balls Mode Initiates into 8th wonder into Slingshot into Corner Ring Post.

3-1

Top 8: Joe Daguiar (Eddie Guerrero)
Rey’s Bulldog gets eaten by Rechazo, I eat a few t3ch actions that has me lose my good maneuvers out of my Ringside Pile. Luckily, the Samoan Spike wasn’t one of them. I eat a Let Me Get a Shot In, but the Candices in my deck save me, let me recover, and finally I hit the Spike when we both had less than 5 cards left. GREAT game.

Top 4: Chad Gropack (Undefeated Team Angle)
Match went like the one against Greg’s Team Angle. I keep him off the board, my Ability keeps my hand fresh, and The Finisher with Momentum from Estrada does him in.

Finals: Sam Torres (Andre the Giant)
Ugh. Again, I draw <Revolution> The Samoan Wrecking Machine, and this time, he doesn’t have Death-Defying Maniac. I get 10F on the first turn. On the third turn, he gambles and hides his card, searching for <R> Full Nelson Slam and Booby Trap, discarding both to nuke my hand and recover Shoot Headlock. He can’t full Balls yet because he has yet to overturn a second <R> Full Nelson Slam. He hides Fifth anniversary, and overturns a second <R> Full Nelson Slam. And his Eugene Gump. I Scoop.

Second Prize netted me the missing piece in my ‘One, Two, Three, Four’ combo, the Four now Go Cat Go. I like the way the deck ran all day, and I think y’all should try it as well!

Again, special thanks to Frankie Ho for deck design. And Congrats to Sam for taking the tournament down.

Signing Off:
Kenny Latham
“The Voice of Raw Deal on YouTube”