[Stacking the Deck: Mega Man TCG] Shortcut to Victory

Following up on the previous two Stacking the Deck articles, this third article will present yet another 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.

Heavy Metal and Demolition

I’m creating this as a gimmicky team/deck combination. What this means is that, while the team and deck will neither be especially offensive or defensive, the specific combination of card effects should produce a unique interaction that allows the player to achieve victory nonetheless. In this particular case, I’ve tried to create a strategy that will allow you to score many Victory Points while making very few actual attacks. The three Characters I’ve chosen for my team are Cut Man (Set 1, #6), Metal Man (Set 2, #1) and Mothraya (Set 4, #102).

Cut Man has an ability that lets you draw 4 cards and then discard 4 cards. This won’t actually increase the number of cards in your hand, but it will make it more likely that you’ll have just the card you need when you need it. He can also play Tactics cards of the slash element, and there are a few of them in the deck – each of which let you score Victory Points without attacking your opponent’s Characters.

Metal Man has an ability that lets him use an action to score Victory Points equal to the number of Resource Points you have. Use him to create a steady income of Victory Points. Also, like Cut Man, he can use Tactics cards of the slash element.

Mothraya can use an action to discard a Terrain card from play. You score Victory Points equal to 4 times the cost of the card (usually 8 Victory Points). That’s not going to come into play too often, but when Mothraya isn’t demolishing the scenery, it can focus for more Resource Points or make basic attacks.

Victory by Any Means

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.

Areas

Cloudy Skies (Cost: 2; Set 2, #83)

Momentum Platforms (Cost: 2; Set 4, #92)

Minions

Batton Ton (Cost: 2; Set 4, #12)

Flying Shell (Cost: 2; Set 1, #61)

Ladder Press (Cost: 2; Set 4, #27)

Petit Snakey (Cost: 1; Set 3, #40)

Tactics

Item-3 (Cost: 1; Set 2, #79)

Metal Blade (Cost: 1; Set 2, #69)

Metal Mass (Cost: 0; Set 2, #42)

Metal Refinement (Cost: 0; Set 2, #41)

Metal Sharpener (Cost: 0; Set 2, #43)

Yashichi (Cost: 1; Set 1, #61)

Both Area cards can score you additional Victory Points if played at the right time. What for the most effective time to play them, and then have Mothraya use its special ability to destroy them for more Victory Points on the next round.

Deploy Ladder Press when you have the “1^st” token, and you expect that your opponent will want to deploy a lot of Minions on that round. Use Flying Shell when your opponent has a lot of Minions in play to get the most out of his ability. Play Batton Ton and Petit Snakey early to get the best results from them.

Item-3 should be played as early as possible in order to get the most use out of it. Use Yashichi after you’ve played at least one of the slash element Tactics cards. Only use Metal Blade against an enemy Minion, and use the other Metal Tactics cards as often as possible. It will usually be best if Cut Man plays the slash element Tactics cards, freeing up Metal Man to use his special ability more often.

That’s my idea for a gimmicky 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.