[{"text":"Hello everyone, I'm ninjafriend. I've been playing competitive DCDB for quite some time and recently made it to the finals of the last tournament held in Texas. After having taken time to review the recent tier list changes, I wanted to share my thoughts with everyone... You\u2019ve seen it happen before. You\u2019re sitting around the table enjoying the power of Captain Boomerang\/Trickster\/Blue Beetle, until someone tells you your team is no longer legal. Now you have to play with some guy named Kyle, someone you didn\u2019t even know existed up until this point. That\u2019s right, another tier-list update has shook things up, but this time around it comes with a brand new set of Main Characters. With the Tennessee Championship just around the corner, here are some of the new teams, and familiar faces, you\u2019re likely to run into:"},{"header":"Hello Darkseid My New Friend"},{"sbs":[{"src":"dar819320darkseid.jpg"},{"caption":"<div>Darkseid\u2019s ability is comparable to Bane\u2019s: both villains destroy cards to generate more power. Instead of destroying a card you\u2019ve played, Darkseid lets you destroy a card in your hand or discard pile.<\/div><div> <\/div><div>This effectively gives you the option to upgrade chaffe like Silkie into +2 Power and an extra card. A Kick on turn one can turn into a 6 or 7-cost on turn 2, which sets you very far ahead of your opponents. At 4 Tier points, Darkseid has a couple options for teams that take advantage of this constant destruction, most notably Bizarro\/Kid Flash or Deathstroke. Atmoz wrote an article about Darkseid recently, which you can check out here:&nbsp; https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=10827&nbsp;<div> <\/div><\/div>"}]},{"header":"Kalibak In Black"},{"image":[{"src":"kal127131kalibak-.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"double":[{"src":"bla759206black-li.jpg"},{"src":"bla981740black-ma.jpg"}]},{"text":"Like Darkseid, Kalibak also wants to trade power now for power later. Instead of destroying cards though, Kalibak simply asks that you don\u2019t play your Starters. This can mean doing nothing turn 1 for the potential of 5 or more Power on turn 2. As the game goes on and your deck fills with non-starters, the tradeoff becomes merely a few Power for 2 extra draws at the end of your turn. Eventually, you'll spike on a turn with hardly any starters in your 7 card hand and buy the super villain. A good option for Kalibak is to join forces with Black Lightning and Black Manta. Black Lightning helps by letting you trade your starters for real cards and keep the Kalibak engine going, while Black Manta puts the high power cards you buy on the bottom of your deck so you can see them faster. A little bit of destruction or some draw\/looting effects will help you run away with the game. "},{"header":"I See Miracles Every Day"},{"text":"At first glance, Mister Miracle doesn't actually do a whole lot, at least not on his own. Where he truly shines is in his interactions with other MCs, and at 2 Tier points there are a lot of combinations to be found if you just open your mind."},{"header":"Kyle Rayner\/Mister Miracle\/Harley Quinn"},{"image":[{"src":"mis901202mister-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"double":[{"src":"kyl220354kyle-ray.jpg"},{"src":"har834481harley-q.jpg"}]},{"text":"Imagine an opponent attacks us with Power Drain. Not only does Mister Miracle save it from hitting the discard, but Harley will let us redraw it. This protects you once per turn from most hand disruption, while adding upside to your discard effects. For example, if we see a good card with Jervis Tetch, we can simply keep it on top of our deck. Kyle Rayner (that guy you forgot about before) brings this whole combination together. When Kyle triggers, you pitch your hand for a new 5 card hand. Harley and Mister Miracle will then both trigger, now leaving you with a host of options. You can stack any of your Kyle discards back on top, allowing you to draw one card from your old hand with Harley. You can also draw your 6th card immediately, and just stack enough cards on top that you can trigger Kyle again next turn. It can take a while for the engine to kick in, but once it does, you are able to sculpt your deck and keep it running."},{"header":"Mister Miracle\/Booster Gold\/Stargirl"},{"double":[{"src":"boo390981booster-.jpg"},{"src":"sta679687stargirl.jpg"}]},{"text":"Mister Miracle\u2019s other strongest synergy is with defenses. Most defenses require you to discard them as you defend against attacks, and Miracle lets you return it to the top of your deck. This happens after the defense resolves, though, so he can't simply loop the same discard and draw defense forever on his own. With MCs like Booster Gold and Stargirl, however, you not only get the draws from your defense, but from your supporting cast as well, putting the defense card right back into your hand. This can add up to a lot of card advantage after a couple attacks. Focusing on buying defenses specifically does make the combination more prone to getting your cards hated since defense cards are highly sought after, but the value from pulling this combination off is stellar. "},{"header":"Goodness, What Strong Turns You Have"},{"double":[{"src":"gra153566granny-g.jpg"},{"src":"ind27475indigo-1.jpg"}]},{"text":"Draw effects are top notch when it comes to deck building, and the Villain half of this team up has you covered. From playing your second Villain, you get the cumulative effect of playing The Flash (Forever Evil). Playing 2 heroes nets you + 4 power as well, but that's old news for Indigo-1\/Martian Manhunter players. The real beauty here is how it feeds into itself: Granny allows you to use your villain cards to find your hero cards and trigger the whole MC combination more consistently. Alternatively, you can sub out Indigo-1 for other MCs, such as Harley Quinn for the discard synergy or Manhunter himself for the all-in late game strategy."},{"header":"Make New Friends But Keep The Old"},{"text":"At the last tournament, the most popular teams were Harley Quinn\/Weather Wizard and Captain Boomerang\/Trickster teams. In addition to those synergies, the Teamwork ability gave those teams the option of playing a 6th card at little cost in order to buy cards just out of their reach. While increasing the tier for some nerfed characters effectively killed their teams, a few manage to still have a place in this meta."},{"header":"Trick Me Once, Shame On You"},{"image":[{"src":"tri954616trickste.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Trickster\u2019s power is almost exclusively based on the MCs he\u2019s paired with. Thankfully, at 3 points, he can still be teamed up with his usual partner in crime Captain Boomerang, with 1 point left to spend. Once again, Kyle Rayner is here to save the day, being the easiest choice to fill the gap. The team still functions the same, but with a little less power early on. The beauty of Kyle comes from getting to cycle through your deck faster. Since both Kyle and Boomerang trigger at the start of your turn, you can discard your hand when your deck is small, draw a new hand while leaving your best card in your discard pile, then have Boomerang return that card to your hand. Atmoz also wrote an article about Trickster, some of which is still quite relevant: https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=10715"},{"header":"Shazam?!"},{"image":[{"src":"sha283774shazam-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Shazam! offers a flexibility that no other hero provides letting you defeat the super-villains and still use unspent power on gaining main deck cards. Without caring about specific types or what\u2019s in the line-up, any pairing you can imagine works fine. For instance, Red Tornado can leverage your random acquisitions for more power, or newcomer Big Barda has the potential to high roll your way into doubling your current power if you get enough 5+ cost cards.The possibilities are endless, even after the tier increase to 3, so expect to see a handful of Shazam! teams."},{"header":"Gods of Old"},{"text":"A number of previously existing teams that dominated past metagames were not negatively affected and now have the opportunity to capitalize on the nerfs. The aggressive early game teams that edged them out of the spotlight have lost their momentum, while some of the new teams allow these old gods to thrive."},{"header":"Harley Quinn\/Red Lantern Supergirl"},{"double":[{"src":"har444935harley-q.jpg"},{"src":"red599248red-lant.jpg"}]},{"text":"Harley will always be a staple in the game, since drawing through your deck lets you see your best cards sooner and buy better cards faster. When paired with another hero with a discard effect, you can focus more on raw power instead of enablers. Although you are usually not triggering her effect on your turn, Red Lantern Supergirl preys on teams concerned with using destruction to streamline their decks or boost their power (see Darkseid and Killer Frost). Even in a game where only one of your opponents is destroying cards, drawing two cards and discarding one is enough of an advantage to make a worthy inclusion. Once you start triggering twice per round, you'll end up with incredibly strong hands, not to mention getting the usual Harley benefits with defenses and discard effects."},{"header":"King Shark\/Killer Frost"},{"double":[{"src":"kin381416king-sha.jpg"},{"src":"kil705499killer-f.jpg"}]},{"text":"As another powerful early game team, this team gets better as Teamwork heroes get worse, since there is less of a chance that you get flooded with VPs that makes King Shark dead weight. There is still a high chance of seeing a 4 or less cost card in the opening line-up, giving you the opportunity to buy an expensive card on the first turn, a feat few teams can match. The team\u2019s ability to hate out cards from the line-up should not be overlooked either. Captain Banhammer wrote the original definitive guide to these two MCs and his take on them is as good now as it ever was.&nbsp; You can read his guide here: https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=9644"},{"header":"Golden Glider"},{"image":[{"src":"gol12833golden-g.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Last but certainly not least, we have the infamous rouge herself: GG. Even after the change to Teamwork and her ascension to the Tier 6 throne, Golden Glider still performs admirably. She's one of the fastest first turn MCs with guaranteed 7 cards every turn, and this is before getting to take advantage of any high power card, X-Ray Vision effect, or Time Travel cards in the line-up. The nature of the draft allows you to stay open for her while other players fight over Tier 1 and Tier 2 characters, which you couldn\u2019t do in her Bizzaro days. If all else fails, Glider has your back. Coiser penned an article about Glider back when she was tier-5.&nbsp; His article is still quite relevant, and the strategy hasn't changed any although you have lost a bit of your advantage, Glider continues to put up solid finishes.&nbsp; You can check out his guide here: https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=10711 Unfortunately I won't be able to participate in the Tennessee tournament this weekend, but hopefully this article has provided everyone a good understanding of what to expect this weekend!"}]