[Stacking the Deck: Mega Man TCG] Shock and Awe

This is the first in a new series of articles called Stacking the Deck. The idea behind these articles is to present deck ideas for various expandable card games that involve building your own deck to play with. This first article will present a team and deck for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. If you’re not familiar with this fun TCG you can read my Design Review here.

Shocking Team-Up

I’m creating this as an offensive team/deck combination, so the primary focus will be on scoring Victory Points as quickly as possible through attacking your opponent’s Characters. The two Characters I’ve chosen for my team are Elec Man (Set 1, #7) and Spark Man (Set 3, #3).

Elec Man has a very straightforward advantage. He gains a positive Power Token every time he performs a basic attack or executes a Tactics card of the electric element. Positive Power Token effectively raises his meager starting Power value of 6 by 1 each. So, keep Elec Man attacking or using Tactics cards every round.

Spark Man is a bit more complicated. He starts out with a Power of 8, so he can make a pretty effective basic attack from the get-go. But, his real advantage comes from his ability to play an unlimited number of Tactics cards with a single Action, so long as their Costs progressively and continuously ascend or descend by 1. That can be tricky to pull off, and you’ll need quite a few Resource Points each time you do it. Have Spark Man alternate focusing (which gives you more Resource Points) and attacking.

It’s Electric!

Now let’s look at our deck. I’m going to start by simply listing all of the cards in the deck, and then I’ll discuss how to use them.

Double Shot (Cost: 1; Set 1, #48)

Elec Charge (Cost: 3; Set 1, #43)

Elec Converter (Cost: 2; Set 1, #44)

Elec Transfer (Cost: 2; Set 1, #68)

Electric Bolt (Cost: 1; Set 1, #42)

Return Shot (Cost: 1; Set 1, #46)

Spark Arc (Cost: 2; Set 3, #56)

Spark Interest (Cost: 0; Set 3, #54)

Spark Shock (Cost: 2; Set 3, #81)

Thunder Beam (Cost: 2; Set 1, #56)

The first thing you’ll notice is that all of these cards are Tactics cards. This deck has no Minions in it. This could be a weakness of the deck, depending on what your opponent is playing with, but what we’re really trying to focus on here is scoring Victory Points quickly – before it really matters what your opponent is up to. The number of Tactics cards creates a better opportunity for Spark Man to make use of his special ability, and because both Elec Man and Spark Man are Electric element characters they can both use any of the Tactics in this deck.

Here are a few tips on making the most of these cards. Put Elec Converter and Spark Arc on Elec Man as early as possible and have him drain Spark Man’s Power to boost his own basic attacks. Elec Man can then use Double Shot and Return Shot to greater effect. Have Spark Man use Tactics cards that don’t rely on his own Power, like Electric Bolt and Thunder Beam. Since Spark Man has the lower Armor of the two, he’ll benefit most from Elec Charge, which will give you a free attack each time he’s hit by a basic attack. Use Elec Transfer and Spark Interest to get the right cards in your hand to have Spark Man throw out multiple Tactics cards on his turn. Lastly, have Spark Man use Spark Shock to give Elec Man another Action he can use to attack.

That’s my idea for a Tactics-centric offensive deck. I haven’t actually played with this team/deck combo, but I would be curious to see it in action. Have any thoughts on how this deck could be improved? Is there a better way to make use of these cards? Please share your thoughts in the comments.