Goldberg
All Axxess
by Eric “Big Easy E” Norris

With Goldberg not only have a Superstar Ability that let’s us reverse any non-unique maneuver, we can also search for a couple of maneuvers also. Also, out of those maneuvers, you are getting searchable F:0s whose damage is out of the range of Elbow to the Face. The draw back to this though is that both parts of his Superstar Ability are a drain on our Hand Size. Not only that, we are not able to pack any non-hybrid reversals… Ouch. As long as we can keep our Hand Size up, we should be able to fall back on our ability to reverse non-unique maneuvers to keep us in the game long enough to deliver the killing blow.

BACKLASH (20)

Pre-match (10)

[Revolution] Gone-Not Forgotten (x1)
Dance, Coach, Dance! (x1)
GGGGGGoooooolllllldddddd-berg! (x1)
Old School Manager (x1)
Premiere Raw Superstar (x1)
Raw Intercontinental Title Belt (x2)
The Best Laid Plans... (x1)
The Champ Is Here! (x1)
Washington, DC (x1)

Ah yes, Premiere Raw Superstar: the scourge of many sets, still a powerful contender now. And now that we have [Revolution] Gone-Not Forgotten, we have a non-Smackdown way of putting those reversed maneuvers on the bottom of the deck so we can get them next turn with our ability. Washington, DC is there primarily as a defensive measure to stop your opponent from playing a venue, but if you know the deck you are going against, there are a couple of Throwback options in the deck that you might be able to use. Old School Manager reduces the Hand Size of your opponent’s hand and does not take up a pre-match slot. The Raw Intercontinental Title Belt gives a +1 to our Superstar Value and also does not take up a slot. It also lets us play The Champ Is Here! which allows us to play 5 more pre-match slots. Premiere Raw Superstar says for every card we play that has the Raw logo on it, our opponent discards a card, and boy do we have a lot of those. Dance, Coach, Dance says for every Raw logo we have in our Ring, and boy will we have many, our non-unique Raw logo’d cards are minus that fortitude. We will be starting with 4 Raw logos in our pre-match alone, so our beginning non-unique Raw cards will be –4F to start with. [Revolution] Gone-Not Forgotten puts our reversed cards on the bottom of our Arsenal so we can retrieve them later. GGGGGGoooooolllllldddddd-berg! will be the card protecting us from cards such as I’m Gonna Break You! or Fans Love an Underdog [TB]. Not only does the card provide us another Raw logo, it also lets you ditch cards out of your hand to remove pre-match cards out of our opponent’s Ring. If we resolve first, we can dump our hand to remove 4 pre-match if need be. With The Best Laid Plans… we get our hand back right after using GGGGGGoooooolllllldddddd-berg. This set-up is essentially an updated version of the old Premiere Raw Superstar engine that a lot of players will remember seeing.

Mid-match (10)

[Revolution] Spinning Crescent Kick (x2)
Here Comes The Coach
Silent, But Violent (x2)
Suicide Strike (x1)
That's Sub-optimal (x2)
The Sex, the Gods, the Freaks, the Frauds (x1)
The Road to Victory (x1)

No non-hybrid reversals means no You’re as Graceful as a Cow on Ice, no Backlash, not even Sustained Damage. The only reversals in our mid-match are The Road to Victory and the Silent, but Violents. Even Here Comes the Coach is there mostly to get an extra card out your opponent’s hand when they play an action. Instead of the standard reversals, That’s Sub-optimal can dig out cards that have been put on the bottom of the deck by [Revolution] Gone-Not Forgotten that you are unable to get with your ability. The [Revolution] Spinning Crescent Kicks and the Suicide Strike gives you some options for damage. The Sex, the Gods, the Freaks, the Frauds is another Raw card to do a little bit of healing while doing some hand control to your opponent.

ARSENAL (60)

Actions(24)

Absolutely Raw (x1)
Believe the Hype (x1)
Don't Hate da Playa, Hate da Game! (x2)
Forceable Entry (x2)
From the Mind of Eric Bischoff (x3)
Here's a Ratings Booster! (x3)
I Can't Be Reading This Right... (x3)
J.R. Style Action (x3)
She's Got Legs (x1)
Twisted Smile (x3)
This Has Gone Over By ... Three Minutes (x1)
Who's Next? (x1)

You are going to drown your opponent in Actions with this deck. With so many things for your opponent to worry about, there is a good chance of being able to get a lot of these Actions into play. Nearly all of them have the Raw logo to go with Premiere Raw Superstar. From the Mind of Eric Bischoff is the main reason why I built this deck so heavily Raw. This card will put Raw cards from my Ringside into my hand after I discarded them to one of my abilities. Twisted Smile is another great Raw card for this build. Not only is it multi, but if your opponent does not or cannot discard 4 cards, you get to draw 3. Then there is J. R. Style Action which makes your next card, if a maneuver, into a multi, and multi Means will be hard to reverse. Discarding I Can’t Be Reading This Right… to my search ability and then putting it back into my hand will keep my hand up for when I need to discard 3 cards to reverse a maneuver.

Maneuvers (15)

[Revolution] Jackhammer (x3)
[Revolution] Spear (x3)
Dynamic Finisher (x1)
Goldberg's Spear (x1)
Goldberg's Jackhammer (x1)
Jackhammer (x3)
Spear (x3)

Pretty straight forward here. Twelve of the maneuvers are searchable via your Superstar Ability. The other three are two Trademark Finishers and a really big Strike that reverses Actions. All you’re going to do is keep throwing out the Jackhammers until two stick. Then it’s up to [Revolution] Spears until they start going through, using the mid-match maneuvers for extra firepower. Even with only 15 maneuvers, this deck can definitely switch gears to become aggressive quickly.

Reversals(21)

Ap Chaki Kick (x3)
Armageddon (x1)
Brass "Nuks" Shot (x2)
Don't Try This at Home (x2)
Iron Will[TB] (x2)
Sidewalk Slam [TB] (x2)
Spine Buster [TB] (x2)
Strangle Hold [TB] (x2)
Takedown (x2)
Volley This! (x3)

These reversals basically cover what our ability might not. Sidewalk Slams are there for the unreversables, Strangle Holds are there because Clutch onto Opponent is a major bane to Goldberg since he cannot stop it at all with his ability. The Ap Chaki Kicks are in there just in case things go really, really wrong. Volley This! and Takedown are your only ways to stopping Actions, so you may want to keep one in your hand instead of ditching it to GGGGGGoooooolllllldddddd-berg during the pre-match phase.

The concept of the deck is to hold off your opponent with your ability until you can get a maneuver to stick, then ratcheting up the maneuver damage until your opponent submits to the barrage. All the while, you will be playing Raw Action cards to dump your opponent’s hand to eliminate those defenses. With the ability to keep throwing the same maneuver over and over again, you will eventually crash through your opponent. Then all that is left to say is, Who’s Next?

‘Til next time,
Eric “BigEasyE” Norris