[Revolution] CM Punk
Revolution format
by Jake Negley

Like Pat Eshghy, I am a huge fan of the Revolution format. Many veterans of the game truly need to give the format a chance. All Axxess is still my first love, but with the release of more Revolution sets – perhaps even now with the release of Revolution 2 – it has potential to one day take over as my new favorite format.

The following deck is easily to build and play, while being fun and effective. It only contains 6 Promos (CM Punk Superstar Card + Straight-edge, A New Breed Unleashed, and 3 One Solution – Revolution; all of which are fairly easy to come by now) and 11 Rares. Of the 11 Rares, only 4 are not found in Starter Decks: Underestimate the Competition, I Can Do Anything I Want, Keep Your Eyes Open or It’s Game Over, and Talk is Cheap. These 4 Rares are staples in most decks and should be sought out regardless of whether you attempt to build this deck or not. The deck will actually function almost as well without most of the Rares, but will benefit from their inclusion.

(Note: This deck was not built with the rare count in mind, nor was this deck designed for this article, or to be user friendly; it just happens to be a great deck for new and/or low budget players)

BACKLASH (12)

Pre-match (6)

[Revolution] A New Plan x2
[Revolution] Dress for Success x2
[Revolution] Hardcore Hell x1
[Revolution] Underestimate the Competition x1

Strategy Notes: The second A New Plan and second Dress for Success could be substituted for just about any other cards – in reality it doesn’t matter. Unless you start with a hand with only 0 or 1 0F Cores (highly unlikely, but possible) and A New Plan is necessary, your Pre-match should probably always be Underestimate the Competition, Hardcore Hell, and Dress for Success (overturning all 7). This will put almost a quarter of your arsenal in your Ringside, and allow you to abuse CM Punk’s ability.

Mid-match (6)

[Revolution] Before this Gets Out of Hand x3
[Revolution] I Can Do Anything I Want x1
[Revolution] Keep Your Eyes Open or It’s Game Over x1
[Revolution] Talk is Cheap x1

Strategy Notes: Full of Reversals to try to stop whatever they throw at you. Based on your metagame, minor changes may be appropriate.

ARSENAL (60)

Antics (0)

Strategy Notes: After a bit of playtesting and discussing with people, I have come to the conclusion that no Antics are necessary for this build.

Maneuvers (32)

[Revolution] A New Breed Unleashed x1
[Revolution] Abdominal Stretch x3
[Revolution] Arm Wrench x3
[Revolution] Bear Hug x3
[Revolution] Bow & Arrow x3
[Revolution] Chicken Wing x3
[Revolution] Chin Lock x3
[Revolution] Choke Hold x3
[Revolution] Clutch onto Opponent x3
[Revolution] Hair Pull x3
[Revolution] Hammerlock x3
[Revolution] Head Vise x2

Strategy Notes: All maneuvers, with the exception of A New Breed Unleashed (which as of Revolution 2 still can not be reversed), are Core Holds. Means and Colossals are unnecessary. Means take longer to bridge into and will only give your opponent more opportunities to reverse you (especially since everyone is packing at least one copy of Before this Gets Out of Hand). Colossals likewise will open you up to more reversals with little gain, not to mention their high fortitude cost. The effects of the Cores (specifically random discard and arsenal manipulation) will give you a strong advantage over your opponent, especially when the same effect occurs multiple times one after another. Make sure not to waste your Bow & Arrows and Arm Wrenches early, as they are your only source of recursion and should only be used to recur reversals and A New Breed Unleashed. I could see a case to be made for the inclusion of Sleeper over one of the Revolution 2 0F Cores, however I don’t think you’ll find them necessary after playing the deck. And although 17 0F will surely be plenty, do not forget that the 0/1 and 0/2 that are primarily used as reversals also make excellent maneuvers to begin the chain with (the smaller they are, the harder they are to reverse).

Reversals (28)

[Revolution] Chop x2
[Revolution] Collar & Elbow Lockup x3
[Revolution] Double Leg Takedown x2
[Revolution] Headlock Takedown x2
[Revolution] Masochist at Heart x2
[Revolution] Not What We Came to See! x2
[Revolution] One Solution – Revolution x3
[Revolution] Overexposure x2
[Revolution] Slap x2
[Revolution] Straight-edge x1
[Revolution] Try To Get Away x2
[Revolution] Why Don't You Kiss My A$% x2
[Revolution] Wrist Lock x3

Strategy Notes: A solid set of reversals. Overexposure is amazing for Extremists, and Straight-edge provides an extra Mean/Colossal reversal and has a more than decent effect. The reason for an extra Collar & Elbow Lockup and Wrist Lock is because you can pick it up and toss it as a maneuver (or hold it for a Reversal depending on your hand). Likewise, don’t forget that One Solution – Revolution is a Hold for the purpose of your Extremist Ability.

Final Strategy Notes / Insights: The plethora of new quality Core Holds from Revolution 2 (not to mention Overexposure) have definitely taken CM Punk up a notch or two on the Revolution Superstar rankings. I now believe him to be one of the top decks in the format, with the possibility of even taking down the top guys given good draws and enough experience with the deck.

The basic idea of the deck is to abuse CM Punk’s ability and pummel your opponent with low damage Core Holds. To help achieve this, the Pre-match is designed to overturn a quarter of your deck before the game begins. Since roughly 70% of your arsenal consists of Holds, you should get a good number of them in your Ringside before the game even starts. I would suggest starting with the lowest damage maneuver available to you and playing all of them until you have to move to the next damage maneuver. This method will ensure that lower damage maneuvers will be successful and deal damage to your opponent (if they don’t reverse them from hand odds are they can’t reverse the maneuver, however they could be holding a reversal that only hits printed X-7D Holds, where X is the damage of the maneuver you are playing plus one). Abdominal Stretch and A New Bread Unleashed are the usual finishers. Remember to abuse Hardcore Hell every chance you get as well, preferably with Bow & Arrow to recur your overturned Reversals.