Regional Ramblings: The Setup
Work, life, card games…
This is my life these days. This is how I choose to spend my time: I work, I spend time with my wonderful partner Phil, and I play UniVersus.
I started playing UniVersus midway through My Hero Academia: Heroes Clash, or MHA: Set 3 as most of us call it. I remember going to Friday Night Magic, walking around between rounds talking to friends and the employees at the store where we played. I looked down, and when I saw cards that had all my favorite characters on them I became hyperfixated. I had been watching My Hero Academia and was a big fan and I needed to know more. I went home and devoured all the content I could on UniVersus.
I went in whole hog. I netdecked a Mineta II list which, as a RG Land Destruction player, seemed the closest thing to what I knew and wanted to do. Sometime later I went to my first locals, met the wonderful friends I have today, and went 0-0-3. Technically, I was undefeated. That felt cool as a brand-new player being able to navigate and even take a couple games! I was hooked, and I haven’t stopped playing since.
Shake Ups and Shake Outs
That was January of 2023. Six months prior, I had changed careers entirely. I went from being a music teacher to a traveling network and systems administrator for major sporting events. I travel a lot, but I never fail to make locals when I am back in town. In less than a week I’ll be flying to London for the Wimbledon Championships. This time though, I get back right in time to make it to Louisville with the rest of my team, and hopefully, I’ll get to play some really cool games of UniVersus along the way.
The worst part is that I lose about a month of testing for Louisville with my teammates, and there’s no locals in the area of London where I will be staying. This is a recipe for disaster for a competitive card game player. I don’t think I’m going to do well, but I’m going to go support my teammates and do the best I can.
I’m not one for giving up though. So, this article series will chronicle my deck ideas, how I prepare when I’m not actually able to play, and my general tips to reach the right competitive mindset. I’ll probably throw in some travel pictures and a blurb here and there about my travels.
The Choices
“What do I play?”
“Is this deck good enough to deal with the format?”
”Why should I play anything else but this?”
We’ve all said this or had these exact questions at some point in preparing for events. The best deck is always the one that is right for you.
Universus is a game that rewards you for knowing your deck and your matchups better than any other CCG that I’ve played. Personally, I enjoy mid-range and control strategies the best. I like decks where there are several decision points at any given time. Being able to win a game and say “I won because I made the right choice” really resonates with me as a player. This regional will be no exception, and I’ve got a few deck options to consider over the next few weeks.
Beast Titan
Beast Titan is a deck that I’ve spent a ton of time on. It’s a powerful midrange deck that relies on cards like Beast Titan Attacks, Death Rattle, and Nine Titans from Throughout the Ages to either play sixteen damage throws and make your opponent deal with them or slowly burn them out with Death Rattle responses one health at a time.
I always find myself going back to this character card. It’s a strange one for me because I’m not a fan of Attack on Titan as an IP. I never really felt good about any of the characters from the anime, and the story certainly didn’t resonate with me. I play Beast Titan because I enjoy drawing lots of cards and having multiple win conditions. I also think Backup strategies are very entertaining to play and offer a lot of depth to the game.
King Ghidorah, Emperor of the Cosmos
The preeminent control deck of the format. The Godzilla Challenger Series characters are very strong even five sets later. King Ghidorah uses his head counter mechanic to survive otherwise lethal damage, and cards like Nonagon, True 100% Unleashed, and Chronostasis Trigger control the pace of the game in a way that’s truly satisfying to play. When playing this deck it feels like there’s always a line for any situation. Being able to recur any card from your discard pile when you need it to block, or to advance your board state really allows King G to put up an almost impenetrable wall against your opponent.
This is the deck that’s really at the top of my list, and while I have less time on it than the two other characters I have here, I believe I can pilot this list to a solid finish in Louisville.
Smiling Titan
Smiling Titan is a character that I shied away from precisely because she was at the top of charts when she was released. I wanted nothing to do with this character; however, once she got her errata I felt like I could finally play her. Smiling Titan post errata is still a very solid mid range deck utilizing the high difficulty titan attacks. Cards like Unexpected Outcomes, Ravages of War, and Beast Titan Attacks put up some strong offense with their high stat lines, and they all have extremely solid effects to boot. Combined with the new backup The Nine Titans from Throughout the Ages to double her attack’s damage or speed before piling on the massive stats from her own enhance allow her to put out some truly terrifying numbers.
All of this coupled with great defensive foundations like Desperate Struggle, Invincible Body, Frantic Rescue, and Keiko’s Aid make this mid-range deck a force to be reckoned with.
In for a penny…
I’ve never made anything easy on myself, and the deck decision for Louisville isn’t an exception. I’m not one for coin flip matches or for trying to win the game on turn two. I want to ride to victory on the back of solid play and do everything I can to lock my rival out of the game at every turn. With all of that said, I think my regional deck of choice for Louisville is King Ghidorah, Emperor of the Cosmos.
Stay tuned for the next article where we’ll discuss the past winning King Ghidorah decks, look at how the character has evolved over time, and make changes to find the best list for me.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this one just as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it, and, as always, keep coping.
