Underplayed: [Revolution] Back Breaker
by Ryan “The GOAT” O’Donnell

Greetings one and all, and welcome back! As I sit here before a glowing computer screen drinking my 24-ounce diet cherry cola, I must say I’m excited about the pending spoilers and release for Revolution 3: Judgment Day. Not only will we be provided with six new and exciting superstars, but a whole set full of new cards. From a player’s standpoint, I can’t want to see what new and cool tricks I’ll get to build my decks around. From a writer’s standpoint, I’m ready to delve right into the next set and start writing about the new cards.

That being said, I suppose I was a little taken aback as I browsed deck lists for the Revolution format and didn’t come across one of my favorite cards to come out of Revolution 1…[Revolution] Back Breaker. So, just I’ve done several times before, I decided to write about the merits of this fantastic card. Here’s the card text for those of you who have killed too many brain cells to remember what it does:

Back Breaker
Throw: Mean
Look at the top 7 cards of your Arsenal: put 1 of those into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your Arsenal.
back
F:9 D:10

Why doesn’t it see play?

Without sitting down with every Revolution player as they construct a deck, I can’t get into their train of thought, although that would be exceedingly cool to do. However, in Revolution format the growing trend seems to be avoiding playing Means all together. Between [Revolution} Before This Gets Out of Hand and [Revolution] Keep Your Eyes Open or It’s Game Over, they are the easiest type of maneuver to reverse from your Backlash. Since more and more players are avoiding playing Means in favor of playing several Cores before jumping right into Colossals, this leaves cards like [Revolution] Back Breaker sitting alone in the corner.

When talking about All Axxess and Afterburn, the issue becomes a little different. The struggle to get Fortitude on the board and prevent your opponent from doing the same defines Raw Deal, and [Revolution] Back Breaker is one card that haphazardly gives your opponent the chance to get F:7 on the board with a single reversal. With a Fortitude to Damage ratio that can easily be topped by many other cards, [Revolution] Back Breaker is also often passed over for cards that are more difficult to reverse such as German Suplex (Throwback), Shoot Double Arm Lock, or Boston Crab (Throwback). Our good friend also lacks any significant key words in its title, such as “BASH,” “shoot,” “dynamic,” “blindside,” or “precision” which would allow us to play the very valuable Me Llamo … Armando Alejandro Estrrrrrada.

Will it ever be more popular?

As far as Revolution format is concerned, a major shift in the competitive environment would be needed to make [Revolution] Back Breaker more popular. Until playing Means is less detrimental, I don’t see any point in time that [Revolution] Back Breaker will resurface into popularity.

In Afterburn and All Axxess, in order for this card become a more popular choice, the game will have to shift away from maneuver with restrictions to the way they can be reversed to an environment where players plow through their opponent’s Hand and Backlash deck of Reversals until they are unable to reverse any more. Whether this will come with Revolution 3: Judgment Day remains to be seen, but I don’t foresee it happening any time during the remainder of the Revolution 2: Extreme era.

How do I make the most out of this card?

The most distinct advantage to [Revolution] Back Breaker is its effect. While simultaneously mimicking card draw effects and search effects, it is in fact neither of those two things. The advantage to this is that it cannot be affected by cards, nor reversed as though it was allowing you draw any number of cards or search your arsenal for any number of cards. In All Axxess and Afterburn, this can be a huge advantage as it allows you to dodge cards such as Shoot Counter, The Luck of the Draw, and Ax Kick.

When talking about Revolution format, we are not as interested in the fact that the text avoids these types of reversals and they frankly do not exist in that format. However, in Revolution format search and draw effects are usually few and far between and tend to be generated mostly from Uniques. What this means is that [Revolution] Back Breaker affords you a method to dig deeper into your Arsenal to find just what you’re looking for in a format that offers you few other options to do that.

Why should I play it?

I’ve played in enough games in Revolution format to know that superstar-specific cards win games. If you can fetch out and get to your superstar-specific cards before your opponent gets to his, you’ve probably already won the game.

All Axxess and Afterburn tend to be little different. Many superstars have incredibly powerful superstar-specific cards and getting them into your hand is often the key to victory.

Getting to see what you need quicker than your opponent is very valuable as well. You’re far better off seeing that there were five cards in the top seven of your Arsenal that you didn’t want to draw than spending the next 5 turns drawing those cards.

What superstar should I play it in?

This card is a great fit for any deck that has a few key cards that inevitably lead to victory. Basically I think this card is great for everyone! However, just like any card in Raw Deal, certain stars can use and abuse it more than others. Here’s the Breakdown (Heh, take 12 Damage…heh Breakdown)…anyway:

[Revolution] The Sandman – The ECW Original and cane swinging freak has a great card to help him out in [Revolution] The Extreme Icon. Whether you avoid or embrace Means, reducing their fortitude can help greatly. A well constructed Sandman deck in All Axxess can boost their opponent’s Superstar Value to at least 9 and play this card right off the bat.

[Revolution] Batista – Simultaneously making your opponent’s hand bad and scoping the top 7 cards of your Arsenal sounds like a great plan to me.

[Revolution] Randy Orton – Any Throw or Assault has potential in Randy due to his synergy with those maneuver types, but add to that being able to grab one of his great superstar specific cards from your Arsenal…where do I sign up?

Rikishi – In All Axxess, Rikishi has the ability to be able to play [Revolution] Back Breaker repeatedly until his opponent cannot reverse it anymore. It might not be the most popular strategy, but it could work out in the end.

Raven – Often times when playing Raven (does anyone do that anymore?), you can haphazardly overturn a card you wanted in your hand when you successfully play a maneuver. Playing [Revolution] Back Breaker ensures that if you want a card in the top 7 cards of your Arsenal that it ends up in your hand.

The People’s Team – Getting out multiple maneuver types is kinda their thing. Once you’ve got their Superstar Ability working, you take away one of the major downsides of playing [Revolution] Back Breaker.

Well, that about does it for today’s Underplayed article. Hopefully by the next time I write one, we’ll have gotten our first glance at the spoilers for Revolution 3: Judgment Day and I’ll have a whole new mess of ideas to share with you pending its release at Gen Con. Until then, I suggest you go out and show your opponents how annoying it can be fetching key cards out of your arsenal only to punish them for being unable to stop you.