[Revolution] Batista
Revolution format
by Michael Ho

I am a fan of building competitive decks out of unconventional strategies and overlooked Superstars. Some may call me a Johnny/Spike while others may call me a borderline scrub, but I just like to win on my own terms. If I’m looking to use unpopular Superstars then why, you may ask, am I building a Batista deck? The answer is his I Walk Alone storyline.

Batista’s inherent Superstar ability is very powerful as exhibited by his popularity and dominance in the Revolution 1 era. Because of the power of his inherent ability and a somewhat limited Colossal pool, I’d imagine few people chose to go the Storyline Batista route over normal Batista in Revolution 1. Fortunately Revolution 2 contains a great new sampling of Colossals and I’m just the kind of schmuck to try to build Storyline Batista with them!

The big issue I considered about this deck was how to make it an actual viable option for people to play. Why would people use this deck instead of another similarly themed, but better, deck? More specifically, let’s compare Test and I Walk Alone.

Test (Superstar Card)
Starting Hand Size: 8
Superstar Value: 2
Extremist <Superstar Crossed Out> Ability:
Your Colossals are -1F times the Fortitude in your opponent’s Ring.

I Walk Alone
Pre-match: Storyline
Discard 2 cards.
Superstar Value: +4
New Superstar Ability:
Your Colossals are -6F.
Successfully play a Colossal: draw up to 1 card.
Unique

Let’s take a closer look at Test and Batista.

**Superstar-specifics**
Test: Test’s TKO is a very powerful and dangerous superstar-specific. Test also gets the “Extremist discount” to Revolution 2’s Extreme maneuvers such that he can play the Extreme Colossals Electric Chair and Drive Opponent Through Announcer’s Table at F:11 and F:16 respectively.

Test also gets to pack A New Breed Unleashed. If you haven’t already been at the wrong end of a Test beat down, one popular strategy for Test decks is to allow his opponent to get a bit of Fortitude, then reverse from hand/overturn, play <WWE> Layla: Diva to the Core to search for and play A New Breed Unleashed and immediately be in Colossal range.

Batista: The Animalistic Clothesline and The Hanging Tree are excellent cards, but they are Means and won’t be a good fit for a Storyline Batista deck. The Guardian Powerslam is a good reversal, but seems strangely out of place and underpowered next to The Evolved Spinebuster. The Evolved Spinebuster, on the other hand, is a devastating reversal at a mere F:20. It’s also a Colossal that can be played at F:14 for Storyline Batista to boot. The Demon Bomb is a nice Colossal that can be played at F:29 for Storyline Batista, but I tend to frown upon any card that costs more than 20 or so Fortitude to use.

Batista’s stronger cards are in his Antics and non-hybrid reversals. I’ll Chew Them Up and Spit Them Out is freakin’ brutal at F:6 and can swing the game irrevocably in Batista’s favor. Inside This Pit of Danger is the cheapest of any Antic reversal (save for Talk Is Cheap), deals 1 damage, and makes your opponent discard 1 at random to boot. A Thousand Years of Anger is an amazing reversal that will save space in both your Backlash and your Arsenal.

Winner: This is a tough one, but I think I’m going to have to give the slight edge to Test because of his ability to search for and play A New Breed Unleashed and his ability to play Electric Chair at F:11. Keep in mind that these comparisons are made between Test and a Storyline Batista.

**Handsize**
Test: Test’s handsize is 8.

Batista: Batista starts with 9, but discards down to 7 from I Walk Alone.

Winner: Test

**Pre-match and Superstar Value**
Test: Test has an SSV of 2 and isn’t particularly reliant on any pre-match cards so his pre-match strategy is pretty much wide open.

Batista: He has an SSV of 9 with I Walk Alone so he is vulnerable to Randy Orton’s Burn in My Light. He can usually play a Title Belt before his opponent because of his high SSV. He can also possibly use Judgment Day in conjunction with I Walk Alone. Unfortunately, Storyline Batista is essentially down to 2 pre-match slots because I Walk Alone is required. He is also prone to being United States Title Belt’ed and then Heavyweight Title Belt’ed, allowing his opponent to go first. On the plus side (as you will see later) this Batista deck might actually prefer his opponent to go first.

Winner: Nothing spectacular from either superstar here, but I’ll give the win to Batista.

**Metagame**
Test: Not sure what to say about Test here. I personally find him very strong, but he doesn’t seem to be too popular at tournaments (at least from the tournament reports I’ve read).

Batista: Many people played non-Storyline Batista in Revolution 1 and I predict that this trend will continue in Revolution 2 so a Storyline Batista player would have to beat a strong Batista field in order to advance in a tournament.

Winner: Test

**Colossal Fortitude discount**
Test: Test essentially adds his opponent’s Fortitude to his own when playing Colossal maneuvers. This is incredibly powerful because it’s easier to allow your opponent to get Fortitude than it is to generate your own. As mentioned above, Test can really abuse his opponents with the Layla/A New Breed method to further supplement his Fortitude discount. On the flip side, Test may inadvertently allow his opponent to gain too much Fortitude and proceed to lose the game.

Batista: I Walk Alone provides a straight -6F discount to Colossals. You also get to draw 1 card when successfully playing a Colossal.

Winner: Almost overwhelmingly Test. Test will never truly be “shutdown” because he can play Colossals at F:0 if his opponent has enough Fortitude. I Walk Alone’s -6F requires Batista to actually “do work” and the extra card drawing provides an almost insignificant amount of assistance.

**Conclusion**
So the question to ask yourself is: would your Storyline Batista deck function better if you simply switched your superstar to Test while keeping the rest of the deck the same (barring superstar-specifics, of course)? If the answer is yes, then the deck needs some rework.

One doesn’t need a degree in Economics to see that unless you do something really special with Storyline Batista, there would be little reason to play him instead of Test. So what can Storyline Batista do that Test can’t? What weakness does Test have? Well let’s see…because Test’s Colossal discount allows you to use your opponent’s Fortitude against him, it relies on the assumption that you allow your opponent to get Fortitude in the first place. Though Test is pretty much immune to getting shut down from having his Cores reversed, he may be vulnerable to getting steamrolled by letting his opponent gain too much Fortitude too quickly.

So the theme of our Batista deck is to attempt to do what Test can’t: deny your opponent Fortitude. This deck is all about reversing your opponent’s Cores. This will keep your opponent at low Fortitude while you build your own Fortitude towards playing Colossals. Finally after three pages of rhetoric...onto the decklist!

BACKLASH (12)

Pre-match (6)

Dressed for Success x[2]
I Walk Alone x[1]
Judgment Day x[1]
WWE Championship Title Belt x[1]
WWE Intercontinental Title Belt x[1]

Strategy Notes:
This pre-match is designed to customize your hand with the cards you need. I generally like to save I Walk Alone for last to surprise my opponent and to give him as little information as possible as he plays his pre-match. Your pre-match will vary a lot depending on your opponent.

Against an Extreme-Maneuver-using opponent
If you think your opponent is likely to start off with Extreme Cores, then you need to get a Not What We Came to See in your starting hand. All of the new Revolution 2 Extremists fall into this category. We cannot search for Not What We Came to See with the WWE Championship Title Belt because it is does not have a Target. The only thing we can do is use Dressed for Success to get it into the hand. Overturn all 14 cards to Dressed for Success x[2] if you have to. Your pre-match will go like this:

Dressed for Success -> Dressed for Success (if you didn’t already nab a Not What We Came to See with the first one. Play one of the belts instead if you’ve already got it.) -> I Walk Alone

Against The More the Merrier
Do not allow your opponent to get 3 The More the Merriers in play. This will give him a +3 swing to his starting handsize and will make you lose three random cards from your hand. This is especially harmful to this deck because our pre-match is rooted in hand-customization. Use Judgment Day to mitigate this by removing one copy of The More the Merrier, but remember that you must play it before I Walk Alone or else you’ll be stuck with no superstar ability!

Your pre-match will go like this if you have higher SSV:
A card of your choice -> Judgment Day (once you see that your opponent plays The More the Merrier) -> I Walk Alone

Your pre-match will go like this if you have lower SSV:
Judgment Day (after your opponent plays his first The More the Merrier) -> a card of your choice -> I Walk Alone

The great thing about going second in this situation is that your opponent will not be able to strip you of one of your “customized” cards with The More the Merrier if you just play your pre-match in the right order. Wait for your opponent to play his last The More the Merrier before playing your “customize” card (Dressed for Success or WWE Championship Title Belt).

Against everyone else
If you’re missing a reversal to a certain maneuver type and you’re able to grab it with the WWE Championship Title Belt, do so. This involves knowing your deck intimately, particularly your Core reversal base. You can also use the belt to grab an STF so that you have a cheap Colossal handy when you get to F:8. Note that it is highly improbable that you’ll be able to grab a Samoan Drop in this way because you’ll likely have a target Back in your hand already from all the Core Throws in the deck. If you don’t have a target Back in your hand...then you should probably think about grabbing a Core Throw instead of a Samoan Drop =P.

If you can’t make good use of the WWE Championship Title Belt, then play the Intercontinental Title Belt. And of course, if your opponent gets one of the two belts out before you do, play the other one. I’d imagine that most players will pack duplicates of their most important non-unique pre-match cards to stave off Judgment Day so it’s not really worth it to play Judgment Day other than against The More the Merrier. Therefore try to play your other belt as your second card if you can. If you can’t, play Dressed for Success. Your third card will of course be I Walk Alone. Your Pre-match will go like this:

Belt -> The other belt or Dressed for Success -> I Walk Alone

Mid-match (6)

A Thousand Years of Anger x[1]
Before This Gets Out of Hand x[1]
Talk is Cheap x[1]
Indian Death Lock x[2]
Tiger Bomb x[1]

Strategy Notes:
A Thousand Years of Anger allows you to forgo packing I Can Do Anything I Want and from packing more than one copy of Before This Gets Out of Hand. Play your Indian Death Locks at the first chance you get to really put the screws on your opponent. Tiger Bomb can be played at F:12 and serves as a backup in case you don’t have a Colossal to play in your hand and you don’t have F:16 for Indian Death Lock.

ARSENAL (60)

Antics (4)

I’ll Chew Them Up and Spit Them Out x[1]
Look Under the Ring x[3]

Strategy Notes:
I’ll Chew Them Up and Spit Them Out is in here because it’s ridiculously awesome. Look Under the Ring will mainly be used for fetching Colossals from the Ringside to chuck at your opponent.

Maneuvers (42)

(alphabetically)
Arm Bar x[3]
Belly to Belly Suplex x[3]
Collar and Elbow Lockup x[2]
Figure Four Leglock x[3]
Fireman’s Carry x[3]
Front Face Lock x[2]
Head Butt x[3]
Headlock Takedown x[2]
Hip Toss x[2]
Kick x[2]
Punch x[3]
Samoan Drop x[3]
Slap x[2]
Standing Side Headlock x[3]
STF x[3]
Torture Rack x[3]

(by damage, by maneuver type)

Assault F:0 Cores:

Slap x[2]
Punch x[3]
Head Butt x[3]
Kick x[2]

Hold F:0 Cores:

Collar And Elbow Lockup x[2]
Arm Bar x[3]
Standing Side Headlock x[3]
Front Face Lock x[2]

Throw F:0 Cores:

Headlock Takedown x[2]
Belly to Belly Suplex x[3]
Fireman’s Carry x[3]
Hip Toss x[2]

Colossals:

STF x[3]
Samoan Drop x[3]
Torture Rack x[3]
Figure Four Leglock x[3]

Strategy Notes:
There are a whopping 30 Core reversals in this deck. They are all symmetrically laid out with D:1 x[2], D:3 x[3], D:4 x[3], D:5 x[2] of each type. Change how you allocate the reversals based on your local metagame. If the local players like to play Assaults, pack some more Core Throws. If the local players really love Snapmare (who doesn’t???), throw some Wrist Locks in there. The point is to provide good coverage over all the commonly played Cores so that your opponent’s first Core will be unsuccessful. How you customize the deck, how you play your cards, and luck will determine if subsequent Core attempts by your opponent will be successful.

I included 6 copies of the cheapest Colossals: the F:14 STF and F:14 Samoan Drop. Batista can play each of them at a mere F:8. Unfortunately, STF’s card text doesn’t really aid this deck very much. It’s in here only because it’s cheap. Samoan Drop, however, is an awesome card that lets you replace dead cards in your hand with new ones so that you can continue the pressure on your opponent.

Torture Rack provides the only source of real recursion in this deck. Between the Target Backs such as Samoan Drops, the Core Throws, and the Torture Racks themselves, you should be able to recur at least 2 or 3 cards each shot. Figure Four Leglock is great for dealing with pesky Storylines and other Pre-match cards (didn’t somebody write a Sabu article for the Revolution Format =P). It can also be used to remove your opponent’s Fortitude to keep him down while you finish him off.

I felt that The Guardian Powerslam was too expensive as a reversal at F:30 and was out of place in this deck as a Mean so I did not include it. The same goes for The Animalistic Clothesline and The Hanging Tree regarding the inclusion of Means. The Demon Bomb is also too expensive at F:29...plus I simply don’t own a copy!

Reversals (14)

The Evolved Spinebuster x[1]
I Won’t Be Beaten Tonight x[1]
Inertia x[2]
Inside This Pit of Danger x[1]
Masochist at Heart x[1]
Not What We Came to See x[3]
Try to Get Away x[2]
Welcome to My World x[1]
Why Don’t You Kiss My A%$ x[1]
You Telegraphed It x[1]

Strategy Notes:
We’re going fairly light on Mean and Colossal reversals here because we have A Thousand Years of Anger in the Backlash and because our opponent will hopefully not even get enough Fortitude for them. The threat of Test always makes at least one copy of Masochist at Heart worthy in any deck. Not What We Came to See deserves 3 slots here because they’re the only way of extending our “gain Fortitude by reversing your opponent’s Cores” strategy to Extreme Cores. The Evolved Spinebuster is an awesome reversal serves as a possible game-ender.

Any Final Strategy Notes / Insights:
So the magic number for this deck is 8. Getting 8 Fortitude opens up I’ll Chew Them Up and Spit Them Out, Look Under the Ring, Why Don’t You Kiss My A&$, STF, and Samoan Drop. F:8 will usually come in the form of playing two D:4 maneuvers or one D:3 maneuver and one D:5. If you don’t have an STF or Samoan Drop handy once you reach F:8, you will need to grab one using Look Under the Ring or push to F:10 or F:11 for Torture Rack and Figure Four Leglock.

Try to gain Fortitude through reversing rather than actually playing maneuvers. Yes, I know it’s a step back from the Revolution mentality and I don’t like it either. But you gotta do, what you gotta do, eh? Don’t be afraid to eat 6 cards from the aggression rule if it means saving a Core reversal in your hand to play against your opponent.

If you’re really in a jam, don’t forget that you can play Tiger Bomb as a follow-up at F:12. Also remember to throw Indian Death Lock at the first chance you get. Also don’t forget to draw a card from I Walk Alone every time you successfully play a Colossal.

The unfortunate thing about this deck is that its purpose is to essentially create an NPE (negative playing experience) for your opponent. The goal is to reverse all your opponent’s Cores, not let him get off the ground, and pummel him with Colossals before he can effectively stop them. However, this was the only way I could think of to build an effective Storyline Batista deck.

I hope that this article will inspire the little rogue deckbuilder in every Raw Dealer to go find unconventional builds to test out. I also hope that somebody out there can come up with a better strategy for Storyline Batista. Thanks for reading!