Balls Mahoney
by Guy “Bill” Gamble
Revolution Format

Of all the cards from Revolution 3: Judgment Day sure to shake up the current game environment, the new Faction cards promise to be some of the most predominant. In the Revolution format, it seems that you’ll be more likely to encounter decks that are packing one or more than not. However, for the Tournament Kit Extremists, it may seem to be a little more difficult to activate the bonus next on all your Faction requirement cards since they have only one superstar specific card. As this Balls Mahoney build here will demonstrate, not only is it easy, it might be the best thing to happen to the lot of them.

BACKLASH

Pre-match (6):

A New Plan x1
ECW Originals x1
Judgment Day x1
The New Breed x1
Tomorrow’s WWE Legends x1
You’re Drafted x1

Strategy Notes: A New Plan and Judgment Day are only packed in the off chance you’d rather play one of these and sacrifice one of your factions and all of it’s related cards. In every other match you’ll play this side of Jupiter, play You’re Drafted along with your three factions. Since all your factions now have the Balls Mahoney logo, they all collectively activate the bonus text for all three sets of cards. Also, since you share the lowest superstar value in the format with CM Punk and Matt Striker, ECW Originals is almost always going to give you the first turn of the game if you play it as your fourth pre-match card. If you know your opponent isn’t packing Originals, but is packing multiple copies of Ring Psychologies or Dressed For Success, you can afford to play it sooner in order to draw an extra card from its text. If you know your opponent is going to play a title belt, play Tomorrow’s Legends as your first card for the same reason. This set up allows you to have 8 to 10 cards in your opening hand and the first turn, all of which puts you in a good position to start things off.

Mid-match (6):

Before This Gets Out Of Hand x1
Caution: You’re Entering The O-Zone x1
Keep Your Eyes Open Or It’s Game Over x1
Layla: WWE Diva To The Core x1
One For The Money x1
Talk Is Cheap x1

Strategy Notes: With Balls’ ability, it isn’t as critical to play Layla: WWE Diva To The Core as it would be for most of the extremists, but if you find yourself without any fortitude and any maneuvers to throw, it’s going to be valuable enough to have on standby. One For The Money is the one mid-match card that will probably get played every game because of the sheer versatility that comes from packing three sets of faction cards. Having trouble punching your maneuvers through? Search for A Bloody Nightmare or Enter The Sandman. Don’t have a maneuver in hand? Search for Innovative Violence or The Elijah Experience. Getting overwhelmed by your opponent? Search for Death Defying Maniac or Here’s A Lesson Plan. The Reversals here also cover all your bases. Talk is Cheap shouldn’t hinder you since it’s the maneuvers that drive the deck, but the requirements on the ECW Originals cards can help you bring your fortitude back below your opponent’s if necessary.

ARSENAL

Superstar Specifics (1):

The Nutcracker Suite x1

Strategy Notes: The search ability on this card is awesome and only increases the likelihood of beating your opponent by only playing the unique maneuvers in this deck. It also makes it great for combos since you will be able to have it in hand nearly every game.

Antics (9):

A Bloody Nightmare x1
A Spirited Turn Of Events x1
Enter The Sandman x1
Four Now Go, Cat, Go! x1
Go Candice, Come To Daddy x1
Live Fast-Fight Hard x1
Look Under The Ring x1
Prepare For The POUNCE x1
Worth The Price Of Admission x1

Strategy Notes: The faction specific antics are all strong cards, but with the secondary text activated they become even more powerful. The requirements on Enter The Sandman and Worth The Price of Admission make them a little tricky to play, but keep in mind, they also help you keep your Ring in check so you can avoid allowing your opponent to draw cards from your ECW Originals faction. Most of the antics included in here, including Go, Cat, Go, give you ways to recover cards from your Ringside, but are only packed one copy each to, again, avoid having multiple copies played to the Ring. A Bloody Nightmare not only makes your extremes harder to reverse, playing it in conjunction with The New Breed makes playing reversals like Try To Get Away and Before This Gets Out Of Hand to your extremes more painful for your opponent.

Antic-Reversal Hybrids (0):

Maneuvers (26):

A New Breed Unleashed x1
Double Leg Lock Crab x3
Edge FX x1
Entangle In The Ropes x3
Eye Rake x3
Full Nelson Slam x3
Hand Smash x3
Homicidal Lunge x3
Innovative Violence x1
The Elijah Experience x1
Three To Get Ready x1
Toe Smash x3

Strategy Notes: Possibly the best part about playing the three factions above is that it gives us four unique extremes to throw at our disposal. Ideally, these would be the only maneuvers needed to win the game: use Layla to search out A New Breed Unleashed, One For The Money to fetch either The Elijah Express or Innovative Violence, which themselves can find Edge FX. Once you get into FX range, use the abilities on Double Leg Lock Crab and Full Nelson Slam to keep picking it up and dropping it on your opponent. Since there are only a few reversals that will stop this combo, Double Leg Lock Crab can actually since serve as some additional “milling” whenever your opponent chooses to draw for it. Not including Unleashed, there are 15 F:0 extremes to get you off the ground and help you search for your unique extremes, but they can also serve as additional fuel for the Edge FX, since whenever it gets played, you can search for one of these to discard and play it again.

Maneuver-Antic Hybrids (0)

Maneuver-Reversal Hybrids (3):

Only One Solution: Revolution x3

Strategy Notes: Actually, since I’m packing The Second Solution, there isn’t a whole lot of “strategy” behind packing these, other than trying to reverse your opponent’s core maneuvers. In the best-case scenario, discard Double Leg Lock Crab and Full Nelson Slam to search for a couple of these, along with A New Breed Unleashed, when using Layla.

Reversals (22)

Death Defying Maniac x1
Here’s A Lesson Plan x1
Inertia x1
I Won’t Be Beat Tonight x2
Masochist At Heart x1
Not What We Came To See x1
Off Your Mark x1
Overexposure x3
The Second Solution x3
Try To Get Away x2
Two For The Show x1
Welcome To My World x2
Why Don’t You Kiss My A$% x2
You Telegraphed That One x1

Strategy Notes: Death Defying Maniac is one amazing piece of cardboard! Not only does it let you reverse any card at ZERO fortitude, its bonus text allows you to strip critical cards like Storylines, or other superstar specifics, and Ring Psychologies out of your opponents Ring. That card, combined with the ability to start every match, is sure to make ECW Originals one of the most popular Factions in all of the constructed formats. The Second Solution and Overexposure are the only cards here important enough to be packed in triplicate, with the antic reversals just behind those. Everything else can be altered as needed or desired.

Final Notes: Because it features only one superstar specific card, this deck could easily be run by any other extremist with very minimal adjustments. As outlined above, it is especially effective with Balls Mahoney because, not only will he be able to get first crack at his opponent, his ability to search his arsenal for some very powerful maneuvers should make most of his games a very short endeavor. It’s exactly the type of deck that any hardcore, chair-swinging freak can be proud of. Now, “Who’s got the biggest Balls of them all!?!”