Kevin Thorn
by Jake “The Softcore Legend” Weires
Revolution Format

If there is one strategy I like to use when going into a tournament, it is this: Try to pick the superstar that nobody is playing. If you can win more games than you lose, most of the time you will end up with a decent prize and ranking. Plus it is fun for everyone to give the local scene something different for a change.

This deck was inspired by the diversity of GENCON’s Revolution tournament. When everybody signed up, nobody was playing Kevin Thorn. So, with the new Revolution 3 cards, I decided to share this “EXTREMLY MEAN” Thorn Deck with you all, to give you some diversity with the underrated vampire!

BACKLASH (12)

Pre-match (6)

4ever: No Mercy x1
Climbing the Ladder x1
Dressed for Success x2
The New Breed x1
Underestimate the Competition x1

Strategy Notes: 4ever No Mercy is the driving force behind this design. Every turn you give your opponent a choice to make, REVERSE THE CARD AND TAKE DAMAGE! or GIVE YOU FORTITUDE AND TAKE DAMAGE!
The purpose of this deck is to overwhelm your opponent very quickly with a barrage of Means. This deck could be categorized as “Crashing Aggro”, and should be played as such. To add to the support for your Mean Maneuvers, The New Breed adds a nice thematic and strategic touch (My favorite combination!). Not only will your opponent be overturning 4 cards from their Arsenal when they reverse a Mean from their Hand or Backlash Deck (4ever No Mercy), they will also be discarding a card (The New Breed). These two cards should be played almost every game.

Climbing the Ladder and Underestimate the Competition are 2 cards that you will have to make a decision on, depending upon who your opponent is. Underestimate the Competition should be used against superstars that can play non-unique reversals from hand that do damage. That way, if they decide to reverse your maneuver, you won’t take damage, losing valuable resources. Such superstars include Extremists (Overexposure) or Ric Flair with his storyline (High damage Maneuver/Reversal hybrids). Not to say that you won’t get hit with the occasional Big Boot, but in general, these types of superstars will give you the most trouble. Climbing the Ladder should be used against superstars that don’t fall into the categories above. You should be able to play it almost every game because of your superstar value of “1”, and when you successfully play your Mean, you will get to draw 2 cards.

Dressed for Success is a good back-up plan if you need to get the right cards in your opening Hand against certain superstars like Tommy Dreamer. Combined with Underestimate the Competition you should be able to find what you are looking for. If you must play Dressed for Success it means you will have to sacrifice other Pre-match cards. The Deck will still function even without the desired Pre-match, and sometimes it is more important to have that perfect starting Hand.

Mid-match (6)

Before This Gets Out of Hand x1
Body Lock x1
Boston Crab x1
I Can Do Anything I Want x1
Keep Your Eyes Open or It’s Game Over x1
Talk Is Cheap x1

Strategy Notes: The Mid-match contains 4 reversals to prevent your opponent from running wild on you because of a bad hand. Talk Is Cheap stops run away and follow-up Antic based Decks. Before This Gets Out of Hand will stop that one mean you don’t want your opponent to have quite yet. Keep Your Eyes Open or It’s Game Over will stop both Antics and Means. I Can Do Anything I Want is a great card for shutting down that late game Colossal, and for moving some of your cards out of your Ring, whether it be “blood sucking” Means, or freeing up Mid-match. Body Lock is great for that situation when you just can’t get a maneuver into your hand. Usually, it will be played early on, as there are many methods in the deck for getting maneuvers out of your Ringside. Boston Crab is a wonderful Mid-match mean you can use when you don’t have access to another mean, or throwing an Assault or Throw becomes too dangerous. I chose the Hold Mid-match, because the “Blood Sucking” Mean of choice in this Deck, happens to be a Hold.

ARSENAL (60)

Superstar-specifics (3)

Ariel’s Augural Affection x1
The Elijah Experience x1
Here’s a Lesson Plan x1

Strategy Notes: The 2 reversal cards, Ariel’s Augural Affection and Here’s a Lesson Plan, reverse all of the dirtiest things in the game: Extremes, Antics, and Momentum. The Elijah Experience is a solid unique Extreme Mean that can be recovered via Thorn’s Ability, and be used in a tight spot where only an Extreme will do. If it is successfully played, you can use it to pick up your Spinning Drop Kick cards without having to discard 3 cards.

Antics (0)

Strategy Notes: This deck is a “Blood Sucking”, Crashing Aggro, machine, and it does not have the time, or the room, for silly Antics!

Seriously, you must play quickly with this deck, and it is more beneficial with this deck to throw a Mean and try to pin your opponent, than to try to recover some lost cards with A Spirited Turn of Events. Don’t get me wrong, I like Antics, and they have their place, but it just isn’t in this Deck.

Antic-Reversal Hybrids (6)

Centered Defense x2
Head-to-Toe Defense x2
Lateral Flank Defense x2

Strategy Notes: What a wonderful set of Reversals! Not only do they each stop ANY maneuver with 1 of 2 of its matching listed targets, but if they are in your Ring, you can put them into your Ringside to end your opponent’s turn after he plays a nasty Mean, Colossal, or Trademark Maneuver. These kinds of extra reversals are necessary, when you are running The Second Solution. I suppose if you REALLY wanted to play an Antic, you could always play one of these cards to give you that fix, but I seriously would advise against it!

Maneuvers (20)

A New Breed Unleashed x1
Double Leg Lock Crab x3
Elbow Smash x2
Full Nelson Slam x2
Homicidal Lunge x3
Scissors Hold x2
Snap Bulldog x2
Spinning Drop Kick x2
The Unforgiving Ladder x3

Strategy Notes: The Bread ‘n’ Butter of this Deck! First you have the Extremes: A New Breed Unleashed, Homicidal Lunge, and The Unforgiving Ladder. They are mainly used to fuel you ability. You may throw some of the core Extremes if you are having trouble using non-Extreme cores. The Unforgiving Ladder could be used to finish a game if your opponent catches on to your “non-Extreme Mean” theme and shuffles back a wall of reversals. The giant Colossal Extreme should make them re-think their strategy if it hasn’t pinned them already! The non-Extreme cores are what you will primarily use to build fortitude. These cards include: Elbow Smash, Scissors Hold, and Snap Bulldog. All of these cards are great new Common cores from Revolution 3: Judgment Day that can put themselves into your Hand from your Ringside Pile in one way or another. Until you get in range to start throwing Means, you should try to throw one of these maneuvers EVERY TURN until something sticks. Once you have 7 fortitude, you can start looking for one of these tasty maneuvers: Double Leg Lock Crab, Full Nelson Slam, or Spinning Drop Kick. These 3 maneuvers make up your non-Extreme Means, and are what you will use to deplete your opponent of his Blood…I mean, Arsenal.? Like the cores in this Deck, the Means listed here can also put themselves into your Hand from Ringside and should be thrown every turn, and multiple times if possible. You WANT you opponent to use up his Backlash reversals, and put cards into his Hand with Double Leg Lock Crab. Remember the text on 4ever No Mercy, if your opponent reverses a non-Extreme Mean from his Hand or Backlash Deck, he overturns 4 cards. Mean reversals in your opponent’s Hand are a GOOD for you, bad for him!

Maneuver-Reversal Hybrids (3)

Only One Solution: Revolution x3

Strategy Notes: I like good promos, and with The Second Solution’s restrictions, these cards are very necessary in shutting down core-based decks. Plus they are good backup maneuvers for that pesky Aggression Rule!

Reversals (28)

Inertia x2
I Won’t Be Beat Tonight x2
Masochist at Heart x2
Never Think Twice x2
Not What We Came to See! x2
Off Your Mark x1
Outmaneuver x2
Overexposure x3
That’s Extremely Un-Original x2
The Second Solution x3
Try To Get Away x3
Two for the Show… x1
Why Don’t You Kiss My A%$? x3

Strategy Notes: A little bit of everything. The Deck needs to be a little heavy on reversals due to the fact that it lacks a recovery engine. The goal of this reversal set is to get these reversals into your Hand or overturned stop your opponent as fast as possible. I usually build defensive decks that can take a serious beating. This is not one of those Decks. The Second Solution and Overexposure should cover a lot of your bases when you draw into one of these cards. The other reversals should stop a good deal of Mean, Colossal, Extreme, and Momentum maneuvers.

Final Strategy / Other Notes:

DON’T FORGET YOUR ABILITY!!! If you have an Extreme in your Ringside Pile, use your ability! The overturn effect of Kevin Thorn’s ability get around the card I’ve Trained for This Day All My Life, and is useful for messing up recovery strategies for Hardcore Hell + Bow and Arrow Decks. Not to mention drawing into that The Unforgiving Ladder or A New Breed Unleashed late in the game.

So, the next time you have a local Revolution Tournament, try this Deck out for a change! Stay in control of the game with your massively “Mean” offense! Show off your new Revolution 3 cards and strategies with the underrated superstar--Kevin Thorn! And maybe you can even dress up like a VAMPIRE!!!

Maybe…