The Sandman
by Justin “The Devil” Brook
Revolution Format

I haven’t seen an article for The Sandman and I was wondering to myself WHY??? He has a good ability, a recovery ability for that matter, a nice starting hand size, and is an Extremist. What can be better than that??? This deck is going to take advantage of The Sandman’s ability and his Pre-match card The Extreme Icon.

Sandman (Superstar Card)
Starting Hand Size: 8
Superstar Value: 1
Extremist <Superstar Crossed Out> Ability:
Successfully play a Maneuver: put up to 2 cards from your Ringside on the bottom of your Arsenal.

The Extreme Icon (Sandman logo)
Pre-match: Event
Your Means are -1F times the Superstar Value of your opponent.
Unique

Whenever you can make the most out of this card, immediately play it!!! Of course there will be times where you don’t play it due to your opponent’s low Superstar Value, but when you do play it, your Extreme Means are probably going to cost you close to nothing.

Lets take a look at the deck shall we?

BACKLASH (12)

Pre-match (6)

A New Plan x1
Dressed For Success x1
ECW Originals x1
Hardcore Hell x1
The Extreme Icon x1
WWE Intercontinental Title Belt x1

Your normal Pre-match set-up will be as follows:
1) ECW Originals
2a) The Extreme Icon (if your opponent has a high Superstar Value)
OR
2b) WWE Intercontinental Title Belt, Dressed For Success, or A New Plan depending on the match up and your starting hand
3) Hardcore Hell

With this set-up, you get to start the match first since you are an ECW Original. Your hand size is already a nice 8 which you may or may not have increased during the Pre-match and you have ways of reducing your Means to a possible 0 fortitude. Plus, Hardcore Hell will make sure that you always have fortitude on the board and can get maneuvers through so you can use your ability.

Mid-match (6)

Before This Gets Out of Hand x1
Layla: WWE Diva to the Core x1
One for the Money… x1
Spinning Crescent Kick x2
Talk is Cheap x1

Before This Gets Out of Hand and Talk is Cheap are standard reversals here. Layla: WWE Diva to the Core is to allow you to grab A New Breed Unleashed, and possibly some of your other Extreme Cores. One for the Money is to grab you Death-Defying Maniac which reverses any card at 0 fortitude. That’s just plain old mean. If you want to keep recycling it with your ability instead of playing it, you can do that as well and grab Worth the Price of Admission or Innovative Violence instead. Finally Spinning Crescent Kick can be played at 6 fortitude because you are an Extremist and can be played at 0 fortitude if your opponent is a SSV 6 or greater while you have The Extreme Icon in play.

ARSENAL (60)

Superstar-Specifics (0)

Unfortunately, the Sandman doesn’t have any Superstar-Specifics for his Arsenal.

Antics (5)

Double Your Value- Double Your Fun x3
Four Now Go, Cat Go x1
Worth the Price of Admission x1

Double Your Value- Double Your Fun is such a good card for this deck as it basically allows you to play all of your Means, and can put you into Colossal range when played later in the game. Plus, getting extra fortitude never hurts either. Four Now Go, Cat Go lets you draw 4 and if you have the 1,2, and 3 cards that go with it in your ring as well, your opponent can’t play any Antics. Worth the Price of Admission is good for this deck as it allows you to put 3 non-Uniques from your ring into your ringside and thus, you can recycle them with your ability and play them again. It also gives your next card this turn Momentum.

Antic-Reversal Hybrids (0)

None of these are necessary for this deck.

Maneuvers (28)

A New Breed Unleashed x1
Drive Opponent Through Announcer’s Table x2
Garbage Can Lid x3
Homicidal Lunge x3
Innovative Violence x1
Roundhouse Punch x3
Snap Mare x3
Spinning Heel Kick x3
Steel Chain Shot x3
Struck by a Singapore Cane x3
Three to Get Ready… x1
Toe Smash x2

The maneuvers are going to be the keys of the deck with The Sandman’s ability. Everything in this deck is EXTREME in this deck except Three to Get Ready… which will allow you to recover 5 cards altogether. It’s also a Trademark, so its really hard to reverse. A New Breed Unleashed, Homicidal Lunge, and Toe Smash are your only 0s for the deck but with The Extreme Icon and Double Your Value- Double Your Fun, it shouldn’t be a problem. Snap Mare, Roundhouse Punch, and Spinning Heel Kick are for use with Hardcore Hell. Each has a nasty effect in this deck as well. Your opponent discards 2, you recover 2, or you pick up a card from your ringside? I’ll take those any day. Snap Mare and Roundhouse Punch bridge off of The Second Solution too. Now for the fun stuff. You have Garbage Can Lid at 5 fortitude, Struck by a Singapore Cane at 9, and Innovative Violence at 7. That’s not including The Extreme Icon’s benefits either. All of these Means can be played extremely (no pun intended) early in the game when that’s out there. Then you have Steel Chain Shot which makes your opponent discard 2 to reverse it from hand or Backlash, and Drive Opponent Through Announcer’s Table which makes all players put 3 cards from their hands on the bottom of their Arsenal if it’s reversed. Once you are in Colossal range, your opponent’s hand size will slowly diminish when those cards are played. You have plenty of options here and tons of different things you can do to get fortitude depending on what the situation calls for.

Maneuver-Reversal Hybrids (3)

Only One Solution: Revolution x3

These are staples in pretty much any deck right now.

Reversals (24)

Death-Defying Maniac x1
Inertia x2
Masochist at Heart x2
Never Think Twice x2
Not What We Came to See x3
Overexposure x3
That’s Extremely Un-Original x2
The Second Solution x3
Try to Get Away x2
Two For the Show… x1
Why Don’t You Kiss My A$$? x3

Pretty standard set of Reversals for a deck that is running The Second Solution. Since everything can be recovered via The Sandman’s ability, the value of all these cards increases greatly. Overexposure is great since you are an Extremist and the requirement can be ignored. Never Think Twice is so you don’t get scooped on the first turn in case you don’t have The Second Solution in your hand or don’t overturn one. Other than those, nothing too special here.

As you can see, The Sandman can be a very potent force in Revolution. He seems to be underplayed and underrated from what I have seen. You can prove everybody wrong though by playing him and winning some tournaments. No drinking though kids, The Sandman isn’t a very good role model. He is an EXTREMELY dangerous deck though so have fun guys!