Improving over Time
The Evolution of a Deck through the Sets
by Eric Shapiro
Raw Deal Guest Writer

I know that many of you reading this article have already read several reports on the West Coast Qualifier already. This one’s a little different… it starts a months before the qualifier. I’m hoping that some of you get some ideas on your next deck construction, and that the others are amused by the successes (and failures!) of my deck. Anyway, the deck I built starting in…

Part I—the No Way Out Era

I’d been thinking about what deck to bring to the West Coast Qualifier for a long time—specifically, since the day after my Stacy deck went 5-1 at last year’s qualifier just to miss the cut via strength of schedule and the diversity rule. (When you live in California, and there’s only one qualifier west of the Mississippi River, you don’t have too many of the top events to worry about—hint, hint, Barron!) After No Way Out came out, I thought I had my deck—the Phenom. It was going to employ several of the cheesiest combos to hit the game:

Clutch onto Opponent + Apply Illegal Leverage. This combo can still only be reversed by a handful of cards: Strangle Hold/Reach of the Ropes (only Angle can pack both, can’t pack either with Bash or A Revolution of the Mind), Hardcore Holly GRA (one use, Smackdown only, and would take a pre-match slot), It’s Great to be Back Here In… (Fan Favorite only), and Iron Will (only good on overturning). Barring Piper or the Brahma Bull, this is probably the hardest maneuver combo to reverse in the game, and it’s about as good now as it was back in the Backlash set when these cards first game out. With so many people playing Revolution, opponents didn’t have too many ways to prevent me from at least getting the fortitude from the combo, if not the full damage as well. Throw in the ability to pack four of each AND the fact that Phenom plays Big Evil—Red Devil for free, and my opponent had to struggle to stop me from starting the game with the combo in my hand.

The Urn + A Revolution of the Mind/Always Have a Plan B. These are great reversals, and when I overturn them, I can put them on the Urn instead of removing them from the game. This became amazing with Revolution, because next turn I put it in my hand, and my opponent now had to adjust knowing I had one of the best reversals of the game all ready to go.

Phenom’s ability + Death Waits for No Man. Barring ring removal or Yo Kill the Beat, I started every game with the Urn, Armageddon Is Upon Us, Managed by Paul Bearer, Big Evil Red Devil, You Will Respect Me, and I still had five pre-match slots to fill. Once I got 12 fortitude, odds were excellent that I had 5-8 Superstar Specific cards in my deck to fuel four Death Waits for No Man. That’s a lot of recovery for me, and a lot of overturning for my opponent.

With these in mind, I chose to go pretty much mono-submission, so my opponent would be even more limited on his choice of reversals. Here was the deck I built (as best I can remember it):

The Cheese Will Rise Again [NWO version]
Phenom: Heel/Smackdown/Cheater

Backstage Area:
Backstage Signature
Signing Appearance

I’d pack 5th Anniversary if I had it—I recommend you do so if you have it.

Pre-Match (10):
Denville, NJ
Bitter Rivals
Pay-Per-View Main Event
Managed by Paul Bearer
The Urn
You Will Respect Me
Big Evil—Red Devil
Armageddon is Upon Us
White Wedding
Survivor Series

I had the pre-match slots (assuming no Cerebral Assassin or card to reduce my pre-match), so if I felt like it, I could play all of them. I’d also skip any card I didn’t think was useful, to help fuel White Wedding, followed by Survivor Series.

Mid-Match (10):
Twelve Years of Terror
Brothers ‘Til the End
2x This Is Just the Beginning
2x Panic Grab
A Great Deal of Confusion
Backlash
You’re a Crazy as a Cow on Ice
Road to Victory

The most important thing is to get the initial fortitude to fuel Clutch + Apply, and then use the reversals and actions to mess with his Backlash deck. Nothing too complicated.

Reversals (33):
4x Volley This!
4x A Revolution of the Mind
4x Always Have a Plan B
2x Elbow to the Face
3x Manager Interferes
2x Kick Out TB
Don’t Try This at Home
Lift a Boot TB
Hold the Phone!
Sidewalk Slam
Iron Will (original)
Iron Will TB
Escape the Rules
Too Many Rules and Too Many Refs
Undertaker Sits Up!
Bad to the Bone
The Dead Will Rise Again
There’s No Forgiveness This Time
Physically Dominant Force
The Deadman Is Alive

Actions (8):
Ego Boost
A Few Heel Men
Dirty Taker
4x Death Waits for No Man
Rollin – Rollin – Rollin
Power of Darkness
Nobody’s Safe

Maneuvers (19):
2x Shoot Headlock
3x Wraparound Wrist Lock
4x Clutch Onto Opponent
4x Apply Illegal Leverage
Blatant Chokehold
Sharpshooter TB
Figure Four Leg Lock TB
Throwin Big Ol’ Soup Bones In the Corner
Undertaker’s Tombstone Piledriver
Taking Care of Business

The deck did pretty well for the most part, and I did win a fair number of games in the local scene with it. But too often, I found myself stalling out, and just waiting to flip Dirty Taker or Death Waits for No Man onto the Urn, and using it for the win. I wanted a deck that was more aggressive; a deck that didn’t play “Draw/Go,” a deck that made my opponent kill or be killed. It didn’t happen with this deck. But then Great American Bash came out, and it was time to completely renovate the deck.

Part II—the Great American Bash Era

The story so far—I wanted a deck with combos that were hard to reverse, got me a lot of fortitude, and then got the win. I picked Phenom so he could play four copies each for the classic Clutch/Apply combo. The deck had a winning record, but it stalled too often, and something needed to be done.

Enter the release of Great American Bash…

The Pre-Match options just blew my mind… and I knew what I needed to change just because of them. It was time to bury the Phenom—and go back to the old school approach of the original Undertaker. Why? There were two cards that immediately caught my eye:

The Best Laid Plans… -- UT had had one weakness haunt him since the Premiere Edition—his hand size. In the first set, he had the second smallest SHS in the game with six, and since then he’s had more threats to his starting hand then he’s gotten help. (Yes, he had a nice run with Premiere SD Superstar/My Sac/Hard being this Original, but that died once Break You and IAATG came out.) Now, Undertaker has a way to ensure that his small hand doesn’t get any smaller, and maybe get it up to eight cards.

A No Show—This is the card that UT’s been waiting for years to see! I get two extra cards (yeah, they have to be heel cards, but that’s okay), and gets an extra pre-match slot to boot! Given the way my deck has already been working, there’s no bad news here.

Now that I committed to changing from Phenom to UT, I needed to see what to change in my deck. There were seven cards that I legally had to pull (six cards were the fourth copy, plus Physically Dominant Force). I swapped out the Wraparound Wrist Locks for Cranial Crunch, because I figured that a Multi was harder to reverse than a Chain, plus I could pick up whatever I lost to card text with my ability. UT’s ability negates the purpose of Shoot Headlocks, so they made way for TB Judo Chokes, etc. By the end, I’d set up a collection of great combos:

0F: Cranial Crunch > Throwing Soup Bones > 12F (enough for all but three cards in the deck)

0F & behind in fortitude: Panic Grab + Cranial Crunch > Blatant Chokehold > Tombstone or Taking Care of Business

0F & behind in fortitude: Panic Grab + Clutch > Apply > 11F

2F: Clutch > Apply

Now, I finally had a deck that I could play something offensive almost every turn, regardless of fortitude. Here’s the final version:

The Cheese Will Rise Again (GAB version)
Undertaker: Heel/Cheater/Smackdown

Backstage Area:
Backstage Signature
Signing Appearance

[If I could pick only one card to add to this deck, it would have been a Raw Deal Fifth Anniversary… if only I had one. That card would have undeniably bought me a lot more time in most of my games.]

Pre-Match (10)
I’m the Biggest Dog on the Block TB
Hell in the Cell
Managed by Paul Bearer
The Urn
A No Show
Big Evil Red Devil
The Luck of the Draw
For the Love of the Game
Taunt the Fans
The Best Laid Plans

Biggest Dog, The Urn, and A No Show were the key cards of this pre-match, and in the Qualifier I got to play every one of them without fail. HIAC was for every legend but
Andre, plus Booker T/Bookerman and all the Dudleyz (too many run in cards). Paul was a judgment call, usually if I didn’t have a specific reason to go for a particular card, I grabbed Big Evil. My No Show would usually be used for Apply Illegal Leverage and TB Steel Chain Shot for a bigger hand, and then my extra card would depend on my opponent’s pre match, although For the Love of the Game was my first choice, if legal.

Mid-Match (10)

You’re Gonna Pay TB
Twelve Years of Terror
Road to Victory
Brothers Till the End
Unscrupulous SOB
Backlash
You’re as Crazy as a Cow on Ice
Panic Grab
Took That On the Chin
A Phoenix Rising

I loved playing You’re Gonna Pay as an early card just to kill my opponent’s Backlash deck, but it didn’t happen often. (Remember, I only used four pre-match cards effectively, and even if my opponent still had fifteen cards left in his Backlash deck—which was rare—I could play it and still have four cards left in mine.) Odds were that I just played my Mid-Match cards whenever I couldn’t play a card from my hand, or a had a useful application for it.

Maneuvers (19)

Throttled Within An Inch of Your Life
3x Clutch Onto Opponent
2x Judo Choke TB
2x Cranial Crunch
3x Apply Illegal Leverage
Throwin’ Big Ol’ Soup Bones in the Corner
Blatant Chokehold
Sharpshooter TB
Takin’ Care of Business
Undertaker’s Tombstone Piledriver
3x Steel Chain Shot TB

Steel Chain Shot is only in this part of the list as a technicality—I’ve only once played one as a maneuver, the rest of the time they were merely so I could toss them for my ability, and then let my opponent wonder about what I drew. Judo Chokes were good for Andre, and several times I managed to drop it in response to numerous actions played. Sharpshooter was to deal with any card I needed to remove from my opponent’s ring area, and was a good target for Rollin—Rollin—Rollin. Throttled is just an incredible card (especially with the Steel Chain Shots). Everything else just combo’ed off of each other, and of course almost all of my 0F maneuvers were good for Panic Grab too.

Actions (9)

Ego Boost
Dirty Taker
Rollin’—Rollin’—Rollin’
A Few Heel Men
Nobody’s Safe
Power of Darkness
3x Death Waits for No Man

It’s amazing how many times my actions were good for the win, not the maneuvers. Dirty Taker, Rollin, and Death Waits were all potential kill cards. Power of Darkness had great potential, but it’s the first card I’d drop the next time I revise the deck. Late game Death Waits for No Man is both offensive (from overturning) and defensive (recover nothing but reversals—I can overturn to reverse most things, and use my ability to get the maneuvers I need.)
Reversals (32)

3x A Revolution of the Mind
Get Back in the Ring
Don’t Try This At Home
Lift a Boot TB
Iron Will TB
Iron Will original
2x Elbow to the Face
3x Always Have a Plan B
2x Sidewalk Slam TB
3x Volley This!
2x Escape the Rules
Too Many Rules and Too Many Refs
Hold The Phone
3x Manager Interferes
The Dead Will Rise… Again
There’s No Forgiveness this Time
The Deadman is Alive
Bad to the Bone
Undertaker Sits Up!
The Raw Deal Revolution *
Divine Intervention *

*These two cards were last minute additions, because I only got the cards less than 24 hours before the Qualifier. Looking back, I don’t know if I would have pulled the same cards for them, but they both needed to be in there. Lift a Boot was in case I faced Shane or Matt Hardy; Shane especially had the ability to landslide me.

That’s the deck… how’d the weekend go?

Part III—The World Qualifier

Friday—The day got to an auspicious start, as my friend Justin I timed our trip to hit Los Angeles around 2 pm to avoid as much traffic as we could. It didn’t work. We figured that 150 miles shouldn’t take more than three hours; it took us 4.5 hours. Then, even though the hotel had been recommended, it was more than a little sketchy, although it did have great beds. I didn’t have time to finish my deck for the Money in the Bank tourney; I played a borrowed Ken Kennedy deck that lost two straight. I did get into a Rumble Pod, though. The bad news—I didn’t get back to the hotel until about midnight. The good news—three packs got me the Andre deck, and even though I could only get 70 cards in the deck, I won every match but the first, and left with Divine Intervention. Then back to the hotel, deal with Wilson and Chris complaining about the room :) and do some final playtesting.

Saturday—I’m helping with the registration, so I have to show up early. I’ve already committed my deck, so I do my deck list while taking people’s registrations; Adam takes the deck list so I don’t get unfair info. Sadly, Wilson and Chris interpret my “I have to get there at 10am to set up,” as “You need to be there at 10am.” Well, we can still chat a little with some old friends who we only see at these events. Then the matchups:

Round 1—Andre

Scott’s a new player, but he’s playing a solid Andre deck someone made for him. I’m glad I packed The Best Laid Plans; my hand is solid after the pre-match. I do get one Clutch/Apply off before he strips my hand, so I deal with a lot of one shot moves to get things through later. I even play Road to Victory as an action just to draw a card—and pick up three Chain Shots. He’s heat, so I can’t play most of my maneuver unless I want to eat Headstrong, but I had a backup plan for that. Eventually, I push Blatant Chokehold through, hit him with both my finishers… and he’s still not dead! I survive with Death Waits twice, and at the two minute warning he only had five cards left, and I ability for Dirty Taker for the win. Onlookers complains, but hey, if he takes two finishers and still walks, I’m not going to apologize for that win! 1-0

Round 2—JBL

I struggle not to laugh when he puts two copies of Revo on the Limo AND plays a belt with the Champ is Here, because I just drop Love of the Game on a No Show, and he’s going to eat my Clutch/Apply. He’s playing for TB German Suplexes, and then he calls the judge on my overturn Revo on the Urn trick. I screw up a little the first time he triggered White Wedding, but then I remember that Biggest Dog trumps it—and that’s another time the judge needed to look up the FAQ. I spend the entire game without playing any maneuver that can be reversed with Revo. He was very smart to play Clothesline from Hell as a maneuver instead of holding it as a reversal (there isn’t a single card in the deck he could play it on), but between my Clutch/Apply and my reversals, I easily push through enough fortitude for Takin’ Care and Death Waits for No Man. The game ends on a DQ, when I see an All Axxess card in an Afterburn tourney, but when he had less than ten cards in his deck, and I still have Dirty Taker and another Death Waits, I don’t see how he survives anyway. 2-0

Round 3—John Cena

Damn… Justin is the deck I know best besides my own here. He can beat me if I don’t reverse Chain Gang because he’ll get plenty of fortitude on a High Risk out of it. I taunt for one reversal, and got lucky to spin the second on Chain Gang. He completely strips my Backlash deck of anything useful, but I still push ahead for the win. 3-0

Round 4—Junkyard Dog

I can’t speak well enough about this deck—I never expected to see Major Announcement fueled by the Chain so effectively. Worse yet, he pulled it early, and he played perfectly. My Cell got stopped by Vince GRA, and he was happy to let Throttled go instead of giving it up. He discarded three for Phoenix Rising instead of losing Jimmy Hart and a free maneuver on my first turn. He targeted Nobody’s Safe with TB Double Leg Takedown, and I had nothing I could do about the Chain after that. I don’t know that I could have beaten him without a perfect opening hand and the Chain at the bottom of his deck; he destroyed me with an amazing deck. 3-1

Round 5—Vince McMahon

Albert Rubio’s deck was very clever and well done, relying on Inferno Match & No Way Out to burn you—not something I was prepared for. Worse, my opening hand was so bad, I had to choose to burn seven for Backed by Mr. McMahon just to get some options. The burn deck beat me quickly, and I dropped to 3-2. (After the beating, I asked him for a rematch for fun, and we played it without changing our pre-matches. I won that game, leading me to wonder what might have been if I’d won…)

Round 6—Shawn Michaels

The second deck in a row to play Inferno Match & No Way Out… sigh. This time, Technical Drop Kicks and Technical Monkey Flips were the recursion of choice. Sadly, I didn’t realize the way it worked until after I killed both our Backlash decks with You’re Gonna Pay, and he removed all the best cards in my ringside pile from the game before watching me burn in the Inferno. 3-3 After the game, he told me the You’re Gonna Pay ended up helping him, as For the Love of the Game was discarded, giving him the top deck draw to stop me in my tracks, but he thought the play was a really good idea.

I thought I was out, but it turned out that some 3-3 players made the cut, and with four of my six opponents also in the top 16 (and Andre only missed to the diversity rule), I was in. Great news… and then my first match was, once again

Top 16—Shawn Michaels.

We both change up our pre-match (he’d played Old School Wrestling Match just to see me play A No Show, so he stopped that, and I got the Luck of the Draw to save myself one turn from a technical maneuver). This game plays a lot closer, and towards the end I’ve got about three cards left in my arsenal to his fifteen or so. I know he’s recovered some copies of the technical maneuvers at the bottom, but I don’t think it’s too many. I have to choose between Death Waits for about five or Throttled and pray he doesn’t have enough reversals to spin. I try the Death Waits, and he reversed with Raw Deal Revolution and let me die to No Way Out. For fun, we checked to see if I’d played Throttled—wouldn’t have worked, because he had just enough reversals left, but if Death Waits had gone through then the Throttled would have been good for the win after No Way Out.

In the end, I had a blast. I’d still adjust my deck, but it was a lot of fun to play. Once more, big thanks go to Adam Crites, Manager Extraordinaire, for being the one person I know who can put on an event better than most of the Convention tournaments without being paid to do so.

The last word in your deck—pick a strategy, and have your entire offense work with that strategy. Then pick a defense that can support it, and a Backlash deck that sets it up. Keep your cards working with each other, and above all—Have Fun! It’s still a game!!!