[{"text":"Hey everyone!<br><br><br>The recent changes to the tier list and to the &#34;Teamwork&#34; mechanic have shaken up the meta a bit. With that, I\u2019d like to talk about what Team-Ups, I think, will give you the best shot going into any upcoming tournaments."},{"header":"Harley and Friends"},{"sbs":[{"src":"har920964harley-q.jpg"},{"caption":"With Black Adam and Golden Glider moving up a tier, Team-Ups involving those characters are taking a significant hit. With that, the new queen of the format is Harley Quinn. Harley teams were already some of the strongest in the format before this update, and now that two of her biggest threats are gone, it\u2019s her throne for the taking.<div><br><div>Two different variants have shown success at our most recent tournaments, and one other variant will probably make a resurgence. The first one I\u2019d like to talk about is Harley and Weather Wizard.<br><div><br><\/div><div><br><\/div><div><br><\/div><div><br><\/div><div><br><\/div><div><br><\/div><\/div><\/div>"}]},{"header":"harley quinn \/ weather wizard"},{"double":[{"src":"har311458harley-q.jpg"},{"src":"wea945364weather-.jpg"}]},{"text":"This Team-Up is very powerful because it allows a player to filter through their deck in order to find the powerful cards they bought faster and more frequently than any other Team-Up in the game. As soon as Turn One, a player can discard two cards with Weather Wizard\u2019s effect to draw one card. Then using Harley Quinn, the player can draw an additional card. My favorite part about this Team-Up isn\u2019t just the cycling, but also that it will never produce less than four power for you on your first turn."},{"text":"Example situation:<br>1) You start with a hand of 3 Punches and 2 Vulnerabilities<br>2) You discard your 2 Vulnerabilities to draw a Punch and a Vulnerability.<br>3) You discard your 1 Vulnerability and a Punch to draw a Punch."},{"text":"The player is now at 4 Punches in hand and now has 2 cards left in their deck. Additionally, they still have the Teamwork ability available from Weather Wizard. This means that the card a player buys on Turn One will  be in their deck for them to dig for on their second turn of the game. This is why this team-up is so strong!"},{"text":"One of the other Harley Team-Ups I'm going to talk about is Harley Quinn, Batgirl, and Black Manta."},{"header":"harley quinn \/ batgirl \/ black manta"},{"double":[{"src":"har196278harley-q.jpg"},{"src":"bat718206batgirl-.jpg"}]},{"sbs":[{"src":"bla501672black-ma.jpg"},{"caption":"Like its counterpart, Harley Quinn and Weather Wizard, this Team-Up is very strong because it will consistently let a player draw the card they bought on Turn One on the player's second turn. With Black Manta\u2019s effect, any card bought from the lineup can be put on the bottom of a player's deck instead of putting it in the discard pile. After using Batgirl\u2019s ability Turn One, discarding a punch to draw with Batgirl and then drawing for Harley\u2019s effect, a player's deck will have three cards before they put the card they bought on the bottom of their deck. With this Team-Up, the card you bought Turn One&nbsp; will be in hand 100% of the time on Turn Two.<div><br><\/div><div>The main difference between these two Harley Team-Ups is that Weather Wizard doesn\u2019t need destroy his vulnerabilities because he can always discard a Vulnerability and another card to draw again. Batgirl and Black Manta do not have this same luxury. It is possible that a player could discard a Punch for Batgirl and still draw two Vulnerabilities. The pay off if a player can get rid of their Vulnerabilities is significant though, and a player really can\u2019t go wrong with either of these two Team-Ups in any tournament.<\/div>"}]},{"text":"The last Harley partner I want to mention is Red Lantern Supergirl."},{"header":"harley quinn \/ red lantern supergirl"},{"double":[{"src":"har377468harley-q.jpg"},{"src":"red200443red-lant.jpg"}]},{"text":"Red Lantern Supergirl fell out of favor because teams needed to be consistently fast-paced and proactive in order to compete with the Teamwork mechanic. If a player wasn't able to generate free advantage on Turn One without relying on their opponents to do something, then that player's Team Up was probably too slow for the last format. Now that things have slowed down a little bit with the reworking of Teamwork, Red Lantern Supergirl could make a huge resurgence. The interaction between her and Harley can make a player's hand count range from 6-8 cards while simultaneously sculpting the hand to be the best 6-8 cards in the player's deck. Red Lantern Supergirl is especially good at countering Killer Frost or any other Main Character that likes to destroy cards."},{"header":"King Shark"},{"sbs":[{"src":"kin907564king-sha.jpg"},{"caption":"King Shark is a character that\u2019s going to benefit greatly from the change to the Teamwork mechanic.&nbsp;<div><br><\/div><div>Before, an opponent with a Teamwork Character could focus on a King Shark player by flooding him with VP in order to get the King Shark player out of the 3 VP range. This makes it to where, if the King Shark player were going to use his ability (spending 3 VPs to get +1 Power), the opponent essentially got multiple free Teamworks on the King Shark player. This hindrance made it hard for Team-Ups looking to take advantage of King Shark's free VP every turn to thrive in a format where Teamwork was so popular.<div><div><br><\/div><div>The first partner for King Shark I\u2019d like to bring up is Killer Frost. Killer Frost and King Shark is a classic Team-Up and actually won the 2016 Texas Invitational.<\/div><\/div><\/div>"}]},{"header":"king shark \/ killer frost"},{"double":[{"src":"kin29235king-sha.jpg"},{"src":"kil562229killer-f.jpg"}]},{"text":"Killer Frost suffered in a very similar way that King Shark did in the old Teamwork meta. Now that opponents can\u2019t just focus down Killer Frost and King Shark with their Teamwork abilities, I fully expect Killer Frost to become one of the top threats in the format again."},{"text":"You can check out the coverage of the Invitational here: www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/x.php?id=9679&nbsp;<br><br>And check out our article about the Team-Up here: www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/x.php?id=9644"},{"text":"The other King Shark partner who could make a return is Sinestro."},{"header":"king shark \/ sinestro"},{"double":[{"src":"kin703670king-sha.jpg"},{"src":"sin786723sinestro.jpg"}]},{"text":"Sinestro's early game relies on the King Shark trigger in order to gain a VP to trigger his ability to draw a card. This VP ramp would allow Sinestro to reach those higher value hands and to make more impactful attacks earlier than his opponents could. With the Teamwork mechanic being able to target down King Shark, players would essentially remove Sinestro\u2019s ability to draw a card in the early game. Now that Sinestro should be able to more consistently get his free draw in the early game, he should be able to see more success in upcoming tournaments."},{"text":"If you\u2019d like to know more about this Team-Up, check out our article on Sinestro and King Shark here: www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/x.php?id=9610"},{"header":"Beast Boy \/ Alan Scott"},{"double":[{"src":"bea895703beast-bo.jpg"},{"src":"ala192835alan-sco.jpg"}]},{"text":"The next Team-Up to look out for is definitely Beast Boy (TTG) and Alan Scott. This team is very similar to Harley and Weather Wizard in that it looks to filter through all of its bad cards and to draw its good cards every turn. This team is straight forward and simply looks to buy as many Super Powers early game as it can in order to filter through its deck and to draw any powerful cards it might have pick up'ed along the way."},{"text":"If you want to get a better grasp for this Team-Up's strategy, check out this guide: www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/x.php?id=10802"},{"header":"Martian Manhunter \/ Chameleon Boy"},{"double":[{"src":"mar740512martian-.jpg"},{"src":"cha40947chameleo.jpg"}]},{"text":"Martian Manhunter is currently one of the most hyped-up Main Characters because of his recent tier change. He was once a Tier-5 because of how strong his late game is. He can potentially give a player +6 Power for playing four cards. No other Main Characters gives that kind of value by themselves. Martian Manhunter has slowly been adjusted down to a Tier-3 because of how slow he can be to trigger both of his&nbsp; abilities and because of how fast a lot of the other Team-Ups can be. Often, games would end before he could trigger both of his abilities in a single turn. With that being said, his recent change to a Tier-3 character gives him access to more support than he\u2019s had recently.&nbsp;"},{"text":"Chameleon Boy is the first Main Character that I\u2019d recommend pairing with Martian Manhunter. Chameleon Boy lets a player discard a card from their hand to Time Travel a card in the lineup. This ability lets a player access the type of cards that Martian Manhunter's abilities need by allowing the player to play certain card types out of the lineup. By doing this, both of Manhunter's abilities can activate more consistently. mFor example, if a player has a Hero and a Villain in their hand, the player could discard the Villain in order to Time Travel a Hero in the Line-Up (or vice versa). Since Chameleon Boy is only a Tier-2 character, playing Chameleon Boy and Martian Manhunter not only makes Manhunter more consistent, but also leaves players with 1 more point to spend on a Tier-1 character."},{"text":"It\u2019s really up to you how you spend your last tier point.&nbsp;<br><br><br>Some people like Black Manta just to try to draw the cards they buy faster. Some like Felicity Smoke or Oracle to trigger off playing multiple hero cards. And others like Phantom Girl to get a free +1 power for every time Chameleon Boy\u2019s ability is used. Regardless of what Tier-1 character is played with Manhunter, I\u2019d recommend giving Manhunter a shot as he has some serious potential this upcoming tournament season."},{"double":[{"src":"bla590665black-ma.jpg"},{"src":"fel156624felicity.jpg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"ora210755oracle-m.jpg"},{"src":"pha206892phantom-.jpg"}]},{"header":"Golden Glider"},{"sbs":[{"src":"gol727153golden-g.jpg"},{"caption":"With Golden Glider becoming the game's first Tier-6 Main Character and with the change to the Teamwork mechanic, Golden Glider has lost some of her power.&nbsp;<div><br><\/div><div>However; she is still a very strong Main Character even by herself. Without having the Bizarro safety net to prevent her from getting flooded by weaknesses, Glider will have to actually prioritize defenses and destruction cards like any other Team-Up would -- instead of being able to just blindly turbo through her deck, welcoming any weaknesses.&nbsp;<div> <br><\/div><div>Don\u2019t be surprised if you still see Golden Glider being played here and there. She\u2019s still the best individual Main Character in the game, and when piloted well, she can still win games against the top contenders.<\/div><\/div>"}]},{"text":"You can review a past article about Golden Glider for tips on how to play her, as lots of the information is still relevant: https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=10711"},{"header":"closing thoughts"},{"text":"With the changes to the Tier List and the Teamwork mechanic, we should see some new faces amongst the best teams in the format. The format is still new, and there\u2019s probably still a Team-Up out there that will break the format. Let us know what you guys find success with, and good luck in your upcoming games!"}]