Ric Flair
by Justin “The Devil” Brook
Revolution Format

Woooooooooo! The Nature Boy is back baby and man is he stylin’!

147/206 (STARTER DECK – FOIL – Ric Flair)
Ric Flair (Superstar Card)
Starting Hand Size: 4
Superstar Value: 4
Superstar Ability:
Once during each of your turns, put up to 1 Maneuver with “chop” or “punch” in the title or Target “leg” from your Ringside into your hand.

This ability really interested me the first time I saw it. Everybody tends to think that in order to play Ric Flair successfully you need to be playing 2 copies of Ring Psychology: Leg. I chose to go a different route and out of the box so to speak, and ended up basing Flair around Assaults. Crazy am I? Maybe just a little. In this design, I am going to take full advantage of Flair’s ability, Hardcore Hell, and 2 Ring Psychology: Assaults.

BACKLASH (12)

Pre-match (6)

Hardcore Hell x1
Man of 1000 Moves x2 (grab 1 fortitude 0 Hold for each played)
Ring Psychology: Assault x2
The Degenerates x1 (draw 2, discard 1)

With a measly hand size of 4, I wanted to find a way to increase Flair’s hand size throughout the entire match and I figured what better way to do that than by playing 2 Ring Psychology: Assault. For every Assault I successfully play, I get to pick up a total of 2 Holds, and/or Throws from my ringside and put them into my hand. In this order, your Pre-match will always look like this.

1. Ring Psychology: Assault
2. Ring Psychology: Assault
3. Man of 1000 Moves
4. Hardcore Hell
5. Man of 1000 Moves
6. The Degenerates

This way you get to play your entire Pre-match out and increase your hand size to 7. Hardcore Hell will be a key card for your deck because with your low starting hand size, you will be getting hit around a little bit to start the game off. Then, when you can activate Hardcore Hell’s effect, you play your Assaults to activate your Ring Psychologies to fill up your hand with your overturned hybrid reversals. Combine that with Ric Flair’s ability to pick up certain cards, and your hand size continues to grow and grow. You also are able to play some nice Degenerate cards which will be talked about later.

Mid-match (6)

Before This Gets Out Of Hand x1
I Can Do Anything I Want x1
Layla: WWE Diva to the Core x2
One for the Money… x1
Talk Is Cheap x1

Pretty standard Mid-match here. Before This Gets out of Hand and Talk is Cheap are staple reversals. One for the Money is to grab you the card Eat Spit early game. Layla: WWE Diva to the Core is to grab your specific Trademark Core; Space Mountain Punch, and some hybrid reversals. Finally, I Can Do Anything I Want is a pretty neat card for this deck. You are required to get rid of up to 8 damage in your ring when you play this card, so you want to get rid of cards that you can pick up with your ability and play all over again. For example, you played Space Mountain Punch earlier in the game. You play I Can Do Anything I Want, remove the Punch, and then pick it up to play again next turn. Woooooooooooooooooo!

ARSENAL (60)

Superstar-Specifics (6)

Flair’s Figure Four Finale x1 (leg)
Nature Boy Chop x1 (chop)
Profilin’ Shin Breaker x1 (leg)
Space Mountain Punch x1 (punch)
Still the Man x1
Stylin’ Low Blow x1

Flair has some pretty nice Superstar-Specifics in here. Each maneuver can be picked up via his superstar ability.

148/206 (STARTER DECK – FOIL – Ric Flair)
Space Mountain Punch
Trademark: Core
Draw up to 2 cards.
Unique
head
F:0 D:4

This card is better than A New Breed Unleashed in my opinion. Being able to draw 2 cards and pick this card up with your ability is great. His Profilin’ Shin Breaker is an 8/8 Mean that lets him draw 4 cards! That some pretty nice hand build-up between those 2 cards right there. Stylin’ Low Blow is a nice 4/4 Antic or Follow-up reversal while Still the Man reverses an Extreme, Mean, or Momentum for either 12 or 16 fortitude and it deals 8 damage. I chose not to pack I’m Going—Whoooo!—Up Top! or Wheelin’ Knee Drop because they didn’t fit with the style of this design.

Antics (1)

Eat Spit x1

Draw 3, and your opponent randomly discards 1? Wooooooooooooo!!!

Maneuvers (18)

Bionic Elbow x2 (Assault, Hardcore Hell)
Knee Lock x2 (leg, Hardcore Hell)
Rapid-Fire Punches x3 ( Assault, punch)
Roundhouse Punch x3 (Assault, punch, Hardcore Hell)
Running Lariat x3 (Assault, Hardcore Hell)
Spinning Heel Kick x2 (Assault, Hardcore Hell)
Steel Chain Shot x3 (leg)

As you can see, each of these maneuvers listed above helps the various aspects of this deck out in one way or another whether it be by being an Assault for your psychologies, a core for your Hardcore Hell, or something to pick up with your ability. Bionic Elbow is great for Hardcore Hell as it has the effect of making my next maneuver have Momentum if it has the target leg. As a result, it can help chain a couple of moves together for you since you are packing quite a few leg cards. Knee Lock has a little dandy effect of searching for a non-Unique Assault with fortitude equal to or less than your fortitude and adding it into your hand. This could help you continuously throw maneuvers under the protection of Hardcore Hell if it is activated. Roundhouse Punch can be picked up with your ability and is a good recovery card. Then, there is Running Lariat which is another nice recovery card for the deck and Spinning Heel Kick which will let you pick up a card in your ringside. Now for the colossals. Steel Chain Shot can be picked up with your ability and basically your opponent will either take 18 damage, or continuously discard 2 cards to reverse it from his hand or backlash. If he reverses it, you just pick it up next turn. This effect could create some very difficult decisions for your opponents’ late game strategy. Finally, you have what I believe could be the star of the deck. Rapid-Fire Punches!!!

16/206
Rapid-Fire Punches
Assault: Colossal
Put up to 2 other non-Uniques with Target “head” from your Ring into your hand.
head
F:14 D:15

If you happen to successfully play 2 of this card, you can continuously play a Colossal every turn without even having to worry about your ability. You successfully play the first Rapid-Fire Punches. Then if you can get a second one out there, you are able to pick up the first Rapid-Fire Punches to play again next turn. Wash, rinse, and repeat for added annoyance. Even if your opponent happens to draw a Colossal reversal, you can just pick this card up again with your ability and start the chain all over again. The great thing about this is it shouldn’t even be hard for you to get 2 copies of the card out there because of your ability to continuously pick them up from your ringside.

Maneuver-Reversal Hybrids (21)

Chop x3
Collar and Elbow Lockup x3
Double Leg Takedown x3
Headlock Takedown x3
Only One Solution: Revolution x3
Slap x3
Wrist Lock x3

A normal set of Maneuver-Reversal Hybrids here, plus you can pick up Chop with your ability as an added bonus.

Reversals (14)

Assisted by the Dirtiest Player in the Game x1
Heartbreaker x1
I Won’t be Beat Tonight x2
Inertia x2
Not What We Came to See x3
Try to Get Away x2
Two for the Show… x1
Why Don’t You Kiss My A$$? x2

Nothing too fancy here except for your 2 faction reversals and Two for the Show.. which is a really good reversal as well that people will really find to be helpful in almost any deck. Assisted by the Dirtiest Player in the Game reverse Cores for 4 fortitude. Heartbreaker reverses Means and Colossals for 8 fortitude and it dishes out 4 damage to boot. Being a Degenerate does have its’ bonuses! Also, you can do the same removing trick I spoke of earlier with your 2 I won’t be Beat Tonight which requires you to remove 4 damage.

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! This Nature Boy looks like he was back in his prime (without the man boobs that is). This deck can truly devastate an opponent when it starts to build up fortitude. Once it hits Colossal range, your opponent will be flopping around just as much as Flair does in real life. So have fun with this deck guys. Until then, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!