[{"text":"Hello, again! LRock here, and I\u2019m back today with the second part of the analysis of some of the best decks for tournament play today, to help you, the tournament player, find their &#34;pet&#34; deck. As mentioned in Part 1 of this article series, our writers have put a lot of emphasis on drafting recently in order to raise awareness of why it's so important to the central aspect of the game. Remember: flexibility counts, and a 3 + 3 pairing is a very common aspiration to strive for if you're trying to remain flexible while everyone else commits to their 2 + 4 teams early. With that being said, let's have a look at what we've got!"},{"header":"cYBORG (3) + INDIGO-1 (3)"},{"image":[{"src":"cyb194882cyborg-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"image":[{"src":"ind23015indigo-1.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Starting off with a bang, we have Cyborg, arguably the most versatile and complete Tier 3 character in the game. He pairs very well with a variety of characters, including The Flash if you want to push the option of going first or Superman if you want to turn the Kick stack into a tower of Doomsdays. Pairing him with another versatile character in Indigo-1 works well at any position at the table, and has been discussed in the past at length by Captain Banhammer. The synergy is pretty simple: any non-Location cards you buy are going to obtain a little bit more upside with your respective abilities, and you'll benefit even greater from playing 3-4 non-Starter non-Location card types in a turn. Playing a Hero, Villain, Super Power, and Equipment in a single turn grants you a Speed Force for the turn at no extra cost. With the proper deck configuration, you'll be slaughtering Super Villains in no time! Just make sure you prioritize Equipment and Villains if you haven't obtained them already, since those are your draw engines, and don't ever let an Element Woman or Garfield Logan out of your sites! In addition, Indigo-1 can also serve as a great counterpick if the person to your left takes a Comedian-based team. You can always snag their Villains first, and if they're waiting until 4 for Wildcat, a similar Hero\/Villain pushing team that includes either Granny Goodness or Martian Manhunter should play very well ahead of them as a counterpick! Pros "},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Benefits off of any of the four major card types, including the Kick stack"},{"caption":"Turns that feature three-to-four of those types being played will yield good things for you"},{"caption":"Incredibly difficult to cut due to their versatility"}]},{"text":"Cons"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Turns without multiple different card types don't amount to much"},{"caption":"Doesn't do as much in the early game compared to more powerful ramp teams"},{"caption":"Best turns require four non-Starter non-Location card types and still may not yield enough"}]},{"text":"Best played from: Preferably early in the turn order, but generally anywhere"},{"header":"OLIVER QUEEN (3) + ROY HARPER (3)"},{"image":[{"src":"oli600110oliver-q.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"image":[{"src":"roy646166roy-harp.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Here we have the ultimate in Cheaty McCheaterson technology! There are days when I'm amazed that this team still exists. It's an incredibly easy team to play when it gets what it wants\/needs, and it comes at very little cost to you, especially if the best of luck happens in the early turns. The breakdown is pretty easily explained: use Roy to snipe Super Powers from the Lineup, then discard a card at the start of your next turn to add it into your hand with Oliver Queen. Did someone say that a Super Strength or Speed Force on Turn 2 was good? Because I'm pretty sure they did. The craziest part is that you don't even have to spend any Power to obtain these bombastic cards from the Lineup! There is a small cost, of course. The team is heavily luck-based. If you never see an orange card in the Lineup on your turn, the team amounts to nothing. You're stuck playing a team that has no abilities and is just playing a generic game of DCDB, so tread carefully when going this route. Even with that in mind, this team still plays extremely well to the right of another Super Power team that contains Beast Boy or Cyborg since you're obtaining all of the cards that they want at literally no cost, so always remember that you have the option if you're willing to remain open. Pros "},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Basically cheating in many ways since you don't have to pay to ramp to big dumb orange cards"},{"caption":"Multiple good turns can lead to easy victories, especially when you obtain cards worth 2-3 VP"},{"caption":"The team can't be separated for profit since they only work well with each other"}]},{"text":"Cons"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Bad Lineup luck will almost always lead to finishing in 3rd-4th with no points"},{"caption":"A fast ramp team to your right that contains Frost or Darkseid usually spells your doom"},{"caption":"Shazam also plays well to your right since they doesn't have to add cards to the Lineup"}]},{"text":"Best played from: Preferably early in the turn order, but generally anywhere."},{"header":"OZYMANDIAS (3) + VIXEN (3)"},{"image":[{"src":"ozy987468ozymandi.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"image":[{"src":"vix531873vixen-mc.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Here we have an interesting team that has had its share of ups and downs, but I've seen some people take to it as a pet deck due to how efficient it can be. Ozymandias allows you to flesh out your draws AND provide value on the following turn with Vixen. Whatever you want out of her, she can provide it for you: free power, drawing a card, destroying a bad card in your hand, or an easier route to beating the Super Villain. She's practically a Swiss Army knife! For those that haven't played him before, Ozymandias can be a very complex characters. In most team configurations, cantrips like Kid Flash or Johnny Quick aren't really what you want since they're just going to draw the card you didn't want to have in your hand at the end of the previous turn. Here, however, they can still work very well for their purpose since they can either be returned and revealed with Vixen for positive effect or help you dig deeper by drawing Equipment that you revealed to drop the Super Villain or draw past a Super Power you've drawn. With a lucky reshuffle, you can be doing this as early as turn 2! There are some things to watch out for with this team. First, take extreme caution if someone at the table wants to play a Teamwork character like Captain Cold or Trickster, or if you know they're holding out for Golden Glider, because even with Teamwork being random now, a successful Teamwork in your direction will generally end up being pretty big for that player; this also similarly goes for Rorschach teams, except that they CAN target you and usually will, and you don't even get the VP benefit. Second, any card that interacts with the top of your deck like Poison Ivy or Starro is going to end up being very good against you, so make sure you can obtain those first if at all possible. Pros"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Essentially always has a six card hand past the first turn due to team synergy"},{"caption":"Most situations will lead to you getting what you need, plus early destruction with Villains"},{"caption":"Excellent counterdraft choice for pesky 1+2+3 teams that want Vixen"}]},{"text":"Cons"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Big ramp decks can zoom past you with very little recourse"}]},{"text":"Best played from: Anywhere"},{"header":"SHAZAM (3)"},{"image":[{"src":"sha657131shazam-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"This one may seem like a bit of a cop-out at first, but despite being more random than a bag of 20-sided dice, Shazam definitely has the potential to be a powerhouse, and whom you pair him with really just comes down to whether or not you're metagaming the table or if you just want to go for the gold early and often. In this range, some of your better selections are as follows:"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Animal Man: Can turn hands full of less-than-stellar Shazam hits into a power boost"}]},{"image":[{"src":"ani129669animal-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Rorschach: A discarded Vulnerability and some luck can hit Turn 1 hit even with 3 Punches"}]},{"image":[{"src":"ror592992rorschac.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Red Lantern Supergirl: Keep this one in mind if your table contains Killer Frost or Darkseid"}]},{"image":[{"src":"red745136red-lant.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Mirror Master: Similar to Rorschach, with a touch of Animal Man. The best of both worlds"}]},{"image":[{"src":"mir353672mirror-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Regardless of whom Shazam is paired with, the game plan is usually retained: if you have 4 Power and nothing in the lineup is what you're looking for, then just spin the wheel and gain a card off of the main deck instead! What's even crazier is that you can do it multiple times in a turn AND you can even spend additional Power to do this if you've already beaten the Super Villain on your turn. Shazam is the only character that's allowed to perform this glitch, so try taking advantage of it sometime! Pros"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Snowballs harder than most characters when he hits valuable cards"},{"caption":"Plays well after decks that control the Lineup (i.e. Frost) because the Lineup means little to him"},{"caption":"Similar to Team Arrow, has something of a &#34;cheating&#34; motif since he gets to break a lot of rules"}]},{"text":"Cons"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Bad hits usually land you in the last two spots pretty quickly"},{"caption":"...and not much else. Shazam's worst matchup is always the main deck, so count your blessings"}]},{"text":"Best played from: Anywhere, though mileage may vary depending on your partner."},{"header":"RED LANTERN SUPERGIRL (3)"},{"image":[{"src":"red604938red-lant.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"For my last entry in this series, I feel it's important to discuss one last character that will persistently have a spot in a majority of metas: Red Lantern Supergirl. It's hard to really consider her to be a &#34;pet&#34; deck of sorts since it seems like no one really wants to play her, but in the spirit of drafting, I feel as though it's important to understand what this character can do for you if the table allows it. In a game full of characters like Killer Frost and Darkseid devouring everyone's resources, Red Lantern Supergirl is going to ensure that your hands are always going to be better, so it's necessary to remain open as long as possible in the event that you'll need to play her for profit, especially if you're the first person drafting at the table. Of course, with this being DCDB, she's going to need a partner. Here are some of the better choices: "},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Animal Man: Has the option of digging to more card types, allowing for consistent ability use"}]},{"image":[{"src":"ani269500animal-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Arsenal: Allows for easy Starter destruction at the cost of buying cheaper cards"}]},{"image":[{"src":"ars733131arsenal-.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Kalibak: Your early game is fairly weak, but consistent 7-card hands aren't that far off"}]},{"image":[{"src":"kal21988kalibak-.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Shazam: Mentioned above, and it might be Killer Frost's worst matchup pairing"}]},{"image":[{"src":"sha99238shazam-m.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Best played from: Last position, usually. More turns for them means more benefit for you. All right, everyone. It's been two long articles, but that's going to do it for me. Some of you may not have obtained any new info from any of this, and that's okay. For those of you who did, I'm glad I could help. Best of luck to all of you players in upcoming tournaments! Maybe I'll see you there. ;) "}]