Stephanie McMahon
Afterburn/Face/Smackdown/Cheater
by “Evil” Dave Fogle

With the world qualifiers being Revolution and All Axxess format, most people seem to be ignoring the “third” format, Afterburn. I personally plan on focusing on the Afterburn format to increase my chances of entering the two qualifiers for free. I generally prefer a more aggressive play style, yet I want a deck with several omni reversals so I am not steam rolled. Most importantly I wanted a deck with lots of options, yet a simple strategy to follow. I decided a GM was the way to go. Teddy and Paul have smaller deck sizes and against certain Superstars that can be bad. That left Eric and Stephanie as my choices.

I chose Stephanie McMahon because of the larger hand sizes available between Edge and the APA. Further study of APA and Revolution proved that they couldn’t play non-uniques but they could play antics. Plunge Steph used to be good, why not momentum Steph? Using antics I don’t have to switch enforcers to make it work. With all of that in mind, I went to work and came up with…

Back Stage Area (12)
Raw Deal 5th Anniversary
SmackDown Enforcer APA or A-Train?
SmackDown Enforcer Edge or Big Show?
SmackDown Enforcer Rikishi, Chris Benoit, or…Eddie Guenero?
SmackDown Enforcer Rock, Deadman, or… Matt Hardy?
SmackDown Enforcer Your Freaking Hero, or John Cena?
WWE Enforcer Coach, Cole, or Finkle?
WWE Enforcer Mankind/ Cactus Jack or…Dude Love?
WWE Enforcer Shane O’Mac or Stephanie?
WWE Enforcer The People’s Champ, The Big Freaking Machine, or…The Game
WWE Backstage Signature
WWE Signing Appearance

In most games choose the APA as your enforcer as it brings all of your maneuvers above the range of elbow to face, and allows you a large starting hand size. Against Doink, Andre the Giant and Ken Kennedy use Stephanie as your enforcer to take advantage of their superstar abilities. Always try to play the Raw Deal 5th Anniversary to give yourself some recursion. Also you want to play the signature as often as possible as it allows you to view an additional card. Do not reveal more than two enforcer cards, as this leaves you open to All Alone in the Night.

BACKLASH Deck (20)

Pre-Match (10)

Revolution Dressed for Success
Revolution WWE Intercontinental Title Belt
Revolution WWE United States Title Belt
Bitter Rivals
Managed by Dawn Marie
Managed by Vince McMahon
Pyrotechnic Volley
The Champ is Here
The First Family of Professional Wrestling
WWE Championship Belt

Your pre-match will depend greatly on your opponent. Against most opponents play Managed by Vince McMahon followed by the WWE Championship belt. Then play The Champ is Here, The First Family of Professional Wrestling, Revolution International Title Belt, Revolution Dressed for Success, and Pyrotechnic Volley. Against Legends, with Managed by Jimmy Heart in play, play Managed by Dawn Marie. Use your ability to get Atomic Knee Drop, overturn 5 cards for Revolution Dressed for Success, discard and search for the Thrust Knee Lift or Volley This if needed for the WWE Championship Belt. Then discard the Thrust Knee Lift for Pyrotechnic Volley. Ideally you will cause your opponent to discard a reversal to your first maneuver. Against Legends, your are looking for Don’t Try This at Home, so you can use Dawn Marie to get rid of Jimmy. Use Vince to pick up two cards and Dressed for Success to pick up a third, while leaving the Thrust Knee Lift in your discard pile. Use First Family to remove any Aces or Fortitude giving Pre-Match. If you have a lower superstar value, play Bitter Rivals to prevent your opponent from playing Managed by Vince McMahon before you. This will also allow you to play the Revolution WWE United States Title Belt, Instead of playing Revolution IC Title, which will stop your opponent from being able to play belts.

Mid Match (10)

2x Revolution It’s All Led to This
Revolution Nobody Messes With the McMahons
2x Revolution Tiger Bomb
For the Love of the Game
Let Me Introduce Your Brain to Your Mouth
Restricted Use in This Area
This Is Going Nowhere Fast
You’re as Graceful as a Cow on Ice

With the Champ is here and Managed by Vince McMahon you should be able to play nine of your ten mid-match. With the move set of this deck the two It’s All Led to This cards should set up finishing amounts of damage. Wait until your hand size is under 15 before playing any mid-match to avoid discarding to Road to Victory. You Should have enough reversals at your disposal to handle most decks.

Arsenal (60)

Antics (14)

2x Revolution All I Got Left is my Pride
2x Look Under the Ring
2x Revolution Never Give In, Never Give Up
2x Revolution Shock the World
6x Revolution Snatch and Lift

The antics in the deck are all about gaining momentum and keeping your hand size up. To accomplish the former, I have included six copies of the Revolution Follow-Up, Revolution Snatch and Lift. This card provides momentum for any throw played after it. If you find yourself behind in fortitude, Revolution Shock the World will allow you to play a maneuver and gain momentum, whereas Revolution Never Give In, Never Give Up will give your next two antics momentum. The two Revolution Look Under the Ring will keep your hand size by picking up important cards from your ringside pile. Finally the two All I Got Left is My Pride cards allow you to draw when you run low on cards, as long as your opponent has more cards in their hand than you do.

Actions (0)

I have included no actions in this deck, making it likely that your opponent will have dead cards in their deck, in the form of action reversals.

Maneuvers (20)

2x Revolution Back Breaker
3x Revolution Big Boat
3x Revolution Chicken Wing
3x Revolution Inverted Atomic Drop
2x Press Slam
5x Revolution Sidewalk Slam
Atomic Knee Drop
Thrust Knee Lift

By using the APA as your enforcer you are making it very difficult for your opponent to reverse your maneuvers unless they have the correct Revolution Reversal in their hand. All of the zero fortitude maneuvers become eight damage, which takes you out of the target range for Elbow to the Face. Because Revolution Sidewalk Slam is played as a follow up you can include more than the usual three copies of any one card. This is significant as this card bridges into your larger maneuvers. The Revolution Back Breakers and Revolution Press Slam allow you to look through your deck to get the best cards available into your hand. The Atomic Knee Drop is difficult to reverse and can be played on your first turn in some games. The Thrust Knee Lift is in the deck to utilize Pyrotechnic Volley and to remove managed by the Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart from the game.

Reversals (26)

2x Revolution Only One Solution: Revolution
2x Revolution Why Don’t you Kiss My A%$
A Dynasty’s Destiny
3x A Revolution of the Mind
Divine Intervention
2x Don’t Try This at Home
2x Elbow to the Face
Master Manipulator
2x Once is Enough
3x Sloppy…Very Sloppy
3x The Bitch is Back
The Raw Deal Revolution
Too Many Rules, Too Many Refs
2x Volley This

I have included as many omni reversals in the set that is allowed, which should cover most of what your opponent will play against you. When you combine the reversals in the arsenal with the reversals in the backlash deck you have a way to deal with most situations your opponent could place you in. I would recommend using The Bitch is Back for your opponents Superstar Specifics and using Sloppy…Very Sloppy as an omni reversal against non-uniques. Master Manipulator is an awesome reversal as it draws all copies of that card out of your opponent’s arsenal. A Dynasty’s Destiny is also a good omni reversal, as it can be used to search for any card.

Over all the best way to play this deck is to draw out your opponent’s Restricted Use and their Cow on Ice as early as possible. If they don’t use them on your first turn you should have 30 fortitude. Start with an 0F 7 D maneuver, play a Revolution Snatch and Lift, followed by a Revolution Sidewalk Slam and then play an Atomic Knee Drop. At this point you should be in the drivers sear. In the worst case scenario, just repeat the above on your second turn after burning through Restricted Use and Cow. This is easy and effective. Once you have reached that point just keep playing Revolution Throws until you get four Target Back Maneuvers in your ring area. Once you do have four Target: Back in your ring area use Revolution It’s All Led to This, followed by Revolution Tiger Bomb. Ideally that will finish off your opponent; at least it will nullify his superstar ability for that turn. You will also be able to play every reversal in your deck, leaving your opponent locked down. One of the best features of this deck is the ability to switch from “Smashing Aggro” to “Red Wall” making it very appealing to many players.

Against Legends who do play Managed by Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart, Make sure you use the WWE Championship Belt to go get the Thrust Knee Lift. Discard the Thrust Knee Lift from Your hand to Pyrotechnic Volley. Look foe Don’t Try This at Home, That way you can make sure your opponent cannot stop you from using Managed by Dawn Marie to get Jimmy Hart into your opponent’s ringside pile. Once there, you can place the Thrust Knee Lift on the bottom of your arsenal and Remove Jimmy from the game.

I wish you all good luck during the upcoming tournament season. Feedback and questions can be e-mailed to me. Thanks for reading.