John Cena
by Andy Covell
Revolution Format

John Cena...he sure is a champ people love to hate and boo. People love to cheer and hope he keeps that title. I had a buddy tell me the other day that although quite a bit of people want Cena to lose the belt, he is the last person to ever count out, and he is sick of him holding the belt, kinda like me. In other words, NEVER BET AGINST CENA! I am trying to feel him (meaning listening to his rap album at this second) in order to get a better idea how I want to build him. Sounds strange, but listening to a Raw Deal wrestler's theme song gets ya more pumped to build a deck. It does me anyway. Although most players out there know Cena's Superstar card and Value, I'll tell you his Superstar card is Starting Hand Size: 6 and his Superstar Value is 6. But we are going to use his Storyline.

Doctor of Thuganomics
Pre-match: Storyline
Superstar Value: +2
New Superstar Ability:
Successfully play a Core: put up to 1 Mean from your Ringside into your hand.
Your opponent reverses a Core or a Mean from his hand: draw up to 1 card.
Unique

So what is Cena's new Value? He is going to be, based off his Superstar card and his Storyline, a HS: 6 SV: 8

Looks good for him to go 1st, but before we go any further, let's check out his Pre-match.

BACKLASH (12)

Pre-match (6)

4ever: No Mercy
A New Plan x1
Doctor of Thuganomics x1
Dressed for Success x1
Tomorrow’s <WWE logo> Legends x1
Underestimate the Competition x1

Strategy Notes: So what do we have here? Well what we have is a pretty nice Pre-match set up. The cards you should always play are Doctor of Thuganomics, 4ever: No Mercy, and Tomorrow’s <WWE logo> Legends if possible. A New Plan is obvious with awful hands. This card is gonna be used more often than not, because he has a greater chance getting a bad handsize.

Now as far as Dressed for Success goes, it gives Cena an extra card to his low hand size. This can counter Extreme decks by hopefully grabbing a Extreme reversal if one is not preent in your small hand, or a Batista with Throw reversals or Rey Mysterio or Sabu with Assault reversals. This also gives Cena a Ringside to use his Ability. You can use Underestimate the Competition as well.

Underestimate the Competition is another way for Cena to develop a Ringside, but this is hard to tell which one you want. This card will actually not let you take hard damage from your opponent's cards like Big Boot, Inverted Atomic Drop, or Chicken Wing. And since Cena is playing lots of Means, this will further keep him out of the low Arsenal range. However, in order to fuel his Ability to grab stuff from his Ringside, he needs to take a little bit of a beating. So this is going to have to be your call. Either way, Dressed for Success and Underestimate the Competition will do wonders for your deck. So this is a preference issue.

After the Pre-match, he should have at least 7-8 cards in his Ringside, a Handsize of 6-7, and a Superstar Value of 9, which gives him a very good chance to go first.

Mid-match (6)

Before This Gets Out of Hand x2
Caution: You’re Entering the O-Zone x1
Keep Your Eyes Open or It’s Game Over x1
Knock Your Shell Off x1
Talk Is Cheap x1

Strategy Notes: I think this is a great selection of Reversals. All the basics, and you have the power of Caution: You're Entering the O-Zone over I Can Do What I Want, which is much, much better. Knock your Shell off I play to usually avoid the Aggression Rule, as Cena's hand will begin to diminish, even though his Ability does help to keep the hand up. Trust me. If you have never played as Cena ( I have played as Cena quite a few times), you don't know how easy your hand falls prey to nothing left in your hand to play, even if you have a good hand size!!!
ARSENAL (60)
Superstar-specifics (8)

Chain Gang Headlock x1
Freestyle Shoulder Block x1
I’m Tougher than Nails x1
Live Fast—Fight Hard x1
The Marine Slam x1
The STFU x1
The Untouchable FU x1
You Hear Those Horns? You’re Finished! x1

Strategy Notes: I think all of Cena's cards are worthy of being put into this deck. The Trademarks are all great, especially the Means to grab with the Ability. Only card you could opt not to pack is The Marine Slam(or The STFU), but man do I love hitting that at such a low, low Fortitude. May not be great for Ability, but f your opponent is expecting Means, a Colossal may throw off his game, but I don't care if you don't like it. Hate on me like you do Cena. lol

Antics (0)

Strategy Notes: Antics...no. His Ability screams out Cores and Means. Sorry, it looks like the opponent's Antic reversals appear useless.

Antic-Reversal Hybrids (0)

Strategy Notes: Still not good with the Ability. Cards are not packed in decks without prior use of Ability or some real protection, in my opinion.

Maneuvers (17)

Belly to Back Suplex x2
Choke Hold x3
Discus Punch x2
Double Leg Lock Crab x2
Dragon Sleeper x2
Gut Punch x2
Knee Lift x2
Spear x2

Strategy Notes: This is a great selection of Maneuvers to utilize his Ability. I put in the hardest hitting F: 0 Maneuvers I could find that do some pretty decent effects. This is because you can't rely on hitting all your Fortitude with tons of F: 0 D: 1's all day to get you to that Mean level. Most of these cards are set up as the lowest Fortitude possible, because you don't want Cena battling to get high Fortitude all game while it turns into an uphill battle. The Maneuvers should flow into each other easily and efficiently. And with John Cena, Hardcore Hell is a bad choice only because your hand can look something like this (assuming you have a handsize of only 6 and you draw a card for the first turn of the game)

Try To Get Away
Knee Lift
Sleeper
Slap
Discus Punch
You Telegrapahed That
Spinning Heel Kick

Now that is what a Cena hand can look like, which I have drawn after a pretty good constructed deck even after A New Plan. That's pretty brutal. That is why Cena needs really low Fortitude cards because he doesn't have the Handsize, ability to grab any Maneuvers to use Hardcore Hell. I am saying this because i had someone argue with me how Hardcore Hell is basically a staple card in Cena! I can't come to terms to believe that crap.That is why great cards like Sleeper and Spinning Heel Kick don't do anything if you don't have the Fortitude to play them!

Maneuver-Antic Hybrids (0)

Strategy Notes: I don't see the need to pack these type of cards. I don't think the text on any othese new cards do Cena any justice.

Maneuver-Reversal Hybrids (21)

Big Boot x3
Chicken Wing x3
Collar & Elbow x3
Headlock Takedown x3
Inverted Atomic Drop x3
Only One Solution: Revolution x3
Slap x3

Strategy Notes: These cards are going to help Cena get the Means he needs. The reason for more Big Boots, Chicken Wings, and Inverted Atomic Drops is for using as a Maneuver if you happen to get it into your hand if you need to or can. They bridge nicely into some of your Means, which is good news for Cena. Plenty of protection as well.

Reversals (14)

Inertia x1
I Won’t Be Beat Tonight x1
Not What We Came to See! x3
Masochist at Heart x1
My Way x1
Outmaneuver x2
Try To Get Away x2
Why Don’t You Kiss My A%$? x2
You Telegraphed It x1

Strategy Notes: Nice way to really enhance your reversals and cover your bases. I thought a copy of Interia and You Telegraphed That is not bad if you think of The Untouchable FU. So 3 Momentum Reversals are good enought I think. Antics reversals are just fine. you have 2 in the Backlash, and 1 for a Specific, and My Way along with 2 Why Don't You Kiss My A%$? I think Extreme reversals may be a bt low, but still take care of business.

Final Strategy / Other Notes:

12 Means overall in deck

28 Cores overall in deck

What's great is everytime your opponent reverses your Means, he has to dump 4 cards. So cards like Before This Get's Out of Hand are much more dangerous for your opponent to play. Imagine him reversing your Mean, dumping 7 cards and giving you back your card so you can play it next turn? That is a Balls Mahoney buster. They will have to be extra careful. And even if your opponent does keep reversing your Means, cards like Double Leg Lock Crab can be replayed so many times until they stick, it's crazy. And allowing your opponent to draw 2 cards may be a little scary, but all they are doing is depleting their Arsenal, which could cost them the game. Plus it can help you ignore the Aggression Rule.

You pummel them with Cores and Means which fuel your hand, and if they reverse your Means, they overturn 4 cards. At some point, their Mean reversals will be exhausted. This is a fun and easy going deck that can win you lots of games.

If I only had the chance to draw Live Fast—Fight Hard and The STFU at the start of the game in my hand...it's called ownage!

Hate him or like him, you tune into RAW every Monday to see if he will keep the belt or not. So show some respect to the WWE Champ.

The Champ is Here!!!!!!!!!!