[{"text":"The Season 15 update (https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=10900) brought a whirlwind of changes to the DCDB competitive format, one of which was the unbanning of Crisis Red Tornado:"},{"image":[{"src":"red769234red-torn.jpeg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Because flipping your deck over into your discard pile isn't the most useful ability out there, this is the type of Main Character that embodies the competitive nature of the DCDB tier list.&nbsp; Played alone, this MC can be of little value, and I would not expect to have success with this MC against one of the more utility MCs that can function and provide meaningful support on their own, such a Cyborg or Indigo-1 (https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/article.php?id=9519)."},{"double":[{"src":"cyb49773cyborg-m.jpeg"},{"src":"ind647937indigo-1.jpeg"}]},{"text":"Knowing that Crisis Red Tornado can get some help from his friends, and being mindful that he's willing to flip our deck over, potentially every turn once we get rolling, let's look at the MCs players have been pairing him with and see which we think is the best fit."},{"image":[{"src":"cap359339capture.png"},{"caption":"https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/chars\/adv\/"}]},{"text":"Right away we can see people have been experimenting with this new MC like crazy!&nbsp; He's been tested with some combination of 21 different MCs across 15 different team configurations, all in just a matter of weeks since the season began. It's clear players are exploring this character, but its yet to be seen if the most successful build has been determined yet.&nbsp; Let's look at a few of his most common pairings:"},{"header":"Double-Nado"},{"double":[{"src":"red199680red-torn.jpeg"},{"src":"red974715red-torn.jpeg"}]},{"text":"The synergy between these two MCs is readily apparent.&nbsp; Our Crisis counterpart will gladly flip over our deck and fill our discard pile with the necessary types to provide us with +2 Power from his Heroes Unite counterpart, assuming we keep these type restrictions in mind when building our deck (so make sure not to lean to heavily into any one type because your deck will need to be diversified for this to work). Generating +2 Power each turn is quite good, especially considering that the price of investment is only three tier points for this duo.&nbsp; With only considering a tier-3 partner to round out the team, we can see that players have tried out the following:"},{"image":[{"src":"cap537729capture.png"},{"caption":"https:\/\/www.dcdeckbuilding.com\/chars\/adv\/"}]},{"double":[{"src":"ani34263animal-m.jpg"},{"src":"aqu774730aquaman-.jpg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"ars973371arsenal-.jpg"},{"src":"cyb65775cyborg-m.jpg"}]},{"header":"animal man"},{"text":"Animal Man triggers on the same condition that Crisis Red Tornado does, so he is a natural partner for the team.&nbsp; I can see this team doing quite well once it gets going, but the early game can be ruff as your MCs don't function until you have an assortment of cards in your deck."},{"header":"aquaman"},{"text":"I'm not a fan of Aquaman because, while he helps you trigger Crisis Tornado sooner, he is at odds with HU Tornado who would rather you leave that freshly gained Equipment into your discard pile so that he can provide you with +2 Power for now having four card types, which will often provide you with enough power to buy another card."},{"header":"arsenal"},{"text":"Occasionally the bane of an &#34;all around&#34; team (one where you must diversify across multiple card types) is that you end up buying a lot of otherwise bad cards you may not get much value out of.&nbsp; With the Double-Nado team we are happy buying two cheap cards instead of one expensive one because it gives us more types, and more cards, both of which we need to have our team functioning at max potential. I like Arsenal here for that reason, in that he's a little slow because you will be shuffling frequently the first few turns, but his ability to remove Starters from your deck is a welcome benefit for having to buy an otherwise useless early game Cybernetic Enhancement, etc.&nbsp; Less starters means more diversified types will be in your hand, allowing you to reliably use your MCs each turn.&nbsp; Eventually you hope to arrive at a game state where you can flip your deck over every turn and continue destroying any Starters or Weaknesses you get as the game goes on."},{"header":"cyborg"},{"text":"I can't fault Cyborg or Indigo-1 as potential candidates for the last 3 tier points.&nbsp; Both fill roughly the same roll by rewarding you for diversifying your deck, and you probably can't go wrong with either."},{"header":"honorable mention"},{"text":"Although we don't have any data on these teams yet, there is room for exploration with other MCs as well:"},{"double":[{"src":"bra515199brainiac.jpg"},{"src":"cha529945chameleo.jpg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"gor87574gorilla-.jpg"},{"src":"car916885card-bac.jpg"}]},{"header":"brainiac 5"},{"text":"His ability to discard two cards for no benefit (say you have nothing to return) will come in handy just often enough by allowing you to discard a Vuln and a Weakness so that you have necessary type count into your discard pile to use HU Tornado.&nbsp; As the game goes on, your goal will be to pick up a solid 5 cost, and then play it every turn by triggering Crisis Tornado with three cards to flip your deck, and then using Brainiac to discard your final two cards and return the 5-cost and play it."},{"header":"cham boy \/ grodd"},{"text":"Both of these MCs are looking to help smooth out any early game issues you have during turns where you are missing one type for HU Tornado and you can get the bonus by discarding that type to Time Travel a card, providing you the benefit of the TT card plus gaining +2 Power from HU Tornado.&nbsp; There is a potential for additional synergy with Crisis Tornado in that you can discard a redundant card type (say your hand is three Starters and 2 Heroes) to TT a card of another type, allowing you to flip your deck with Crisis Tornado on an turn when you otherwise would have had a lackluster turn."},{"header":"cards to watch for"},{"text":"Every team typically has a handful of great cards that provide lots of synergy to the team.&nbsp; Based only on the team of Tornado + Tornado, the following cards help accelerate this team: Any card that plays other cards will help trigger Crisis Tornado, so you can flip your deck and use HU Tornado."},{"double":[{"src":"eme74546emerald-.jpeg"},{"src":"cla467605clayface.jpeg"}]},{"text":"Any cantrip: i.e &#34;Cards that draw more cards&#34; helps make sure you hit the necessary types to flip your deck with Crisis Tornado, ensuring that HU Tornado provides you with +2 Power for your troubles."},{"double":[{"src":"kid871853kid-flas.jpeg"},{"src":"con654436construc.jpg"}]},{"text":"Cards that return cards from your discard pile.&nbsp; These would be the last cards you play each turn, once you've already used both halves of the Tornado duo.&nbsp; Use these to return cards from your discard pile that Crisis Tornado so kindly placed there for you."},{"double":[{"src":"air578227air-walk.jpeg"},{"src":"alf525388alfred-p.jpg"}]},{"text":"Cards that can put cards into your discard pile.&nbsp; Sometimes you can't quite get enough types to trigger Crisis Tornado and flip over your deck, and these cards can help you use HU Tornado on those turns."},{"double":[{"src":"amn127226amnesty-.jpeg"},{"src":"boo925192book-of-.jpeg"}]},{"text":"General discard pile utility cards.&nbsp; Since we're likely to be in a situation where we flip our deck every turn and then shuffle and draw a new hand, our discard pile is likely to be empty at the start of each turn.&nbsp; On the turns we draw either of these we'll be nicely rewarded:"},{"double":[{"src":"gig404200giganta-.jpeg"},{"src":"mer897689mera-.jpeg"}]},{"text":"Element Woman and Shapeshift are fine pickups for this team.&nbsp; With either of them in your discard pile they are sufficient to provide +2 Power via HU Tornado and when played they will help you hit the three types necessary to trigger Crisis Tornado by providing a much needed 3rd card type. Note: the requirements for Crisis Tornado and HU Tornado are different.&nbsp; Crisis Tornado needs three or more cards with different types, while HU only looks for three or more types, so HU Tornado can be satisfied by a single card, while Crisis Tornado requires at least three different cards to fulfill his condition."},{"double":[{"src":"ele374277element-.jpeg"},{"src":"sha446574shapeshi.jpeg"}]},{"text":"Infinity Island is worth discussing since it has synergy with Crisis Tornado in that, while it requires an interesting board state to arise, its worth being cognizant of. When this comes up it's typically because you have multiple Ongoings and your opponents have Attacks that make you discard them.&nbsp; Eventually these Ongoings get shuffled back into your deck (typically after your next turn when you draw and shuffle), and then, so long as you didn't draw the Ongoing, you will end up putting it into your discard pile when you flip over your deck with Crisis Tornado, such that Infinity Island will allow you to return it to your hand. Again, not a case that comes up often, but it can be easily missed if you don't pay attention, and interactions like this are often the difference between finishing first and second, or second and third."},{"double":[{"src":"inf301767infinity.jpeg"},{"src":"car136765card-bac.jpg"}]},{"header":"counterplay"},{"text":"When selecting a team I always consider how easy it will be for my opponents to interfere with my game plan.&nbsp; Given the reliance on double Tornado, drafting the team is not guaranteed if you are not drafting first, so this is something you must keep in mind, and have a backup team in mind in case you get counter-drafted. Outside of being counter-drafted, this team can be difficult to disrupt since it does not rely on any specific card types, and even hand disruption only goes so far against them since.&nbsp; While you might hit enough cards so they can't trigger Crisis Tornado, it may inadvertently give them enough types to trigger HU Tornado which makes the disruption not as good against them.&nbsp; Even the first few Weaknesses the team gets during a game can actually help them by providing a much needed extra type, especially if its early in the game."},{"header":"recap"},{"text":"Up to this point we've mainly discussed the duo of Crisis Red Tornado + Heroes Unite Red Tornado, and some potential pairings for them.&nbsp; It's clear there is still ample room for exploration just in that sub-set of teams, but the team can also be taken in a completely different direction, as we'll see here:"},{"header":"Crisis Red Tornado + Captain Boomerang + Trickster"},{"double":[{"src":"red465370red-torn.jpeg"},{"src":"cap187730captain-.jpeg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"tri48152trickste.jpeg"},{"src":"car222665card-bac.jpg"}]},{"text":"This team seeks to abuse Crisis Tornado by forcing us to shuffle our discard pile and make a new deck each turn.&nbsp; Let's look at how a typical turn will go once our deck is functioning optimally, starting with the end of our turn:"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"End of turn: Discard our hand and cards in play"},{"caption":"Our deck is empty, so we shuffle our discard pile into our deck while purposely leaving the best card in our deck in our discard pile"},{"caption":"Draw 5 and pass the turn"},{"caption":"Start of next turn: Use Boomerang to return the card we left in our discard pile with Trickster"},{"caption":"Play out our hand, while flipping our deck with Crisis Tornado along the way"},{"caption":"Repeat sequence, win the game; ggez"}]},{"text":"This teams goals are slightly different from the double Tornado team in that this team needs to trigger Crisis Tornado every turn, but it doesn't want to pick up plethora of cards along the way just to be able to do so, and instead it prefers to pick up a single, powerful card.&nbsp; This is because the deck wants to play that card every turn via the sequence we just discussed.&nbsp; Getting a few discard pile centric cards along the way is fine, but its not worth passing up raw power cards to do so.&nbsp; The ultimate goal is to be Boomeranging back Super Villains on your path to victory!"},{"double":[{"src":"fel553114felix-fa.jpeg"},{"src":"sha783839shazam-1.jpeg"}]},{"header":"COUNTERPLAY"},{"text":"Unlike the Tornado duo team we discussed in the first half of this article, the Boomerang version is easy to disrupt via discard effects and\/or Attacks that give Weaknesses. Even if they have a sufficient quantity of Defenses in their deck to avoid the attacks, it means they are restricted to Boomeranging back a 1-vp card (instead of potentially an SV), which can take a psychological toll on them when they decide what to leave in their discard pile each turn (in hopes of returning it next turn).&nbsp; If they leave an SV and then have to defend an Attack then it becomes an SV they lost a chance at drawing in their hand and playing next turn since they'll have to boomerang back the Defense they used. When playing against them you'll do well to pick up any of these cards:"},{"double":[{"src":"aza648673azarath-.jpeg"},{"src":"dea819380deadshot.jpeg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"jin560978jinx-6-.jpeg"},{"src":"kry77195kryptoni.jpeg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"mr-818696mr-zsasz.jpeg"},{"src":"ner690629nereus-c.jpeg"}]},{"double":[{"src":"r02677951r02-slus.jpg"},{"src":"yel197619yellow-l.jpeg"}]},{"header":"counter-drafting"},{"text":"Since the Trickster version is a 1-2-3 team, you cannot deny this team to a player drafting first.&nbsp; If they are second or later in the draft then you can look to turn their team inside out by taking a 3\/3 team of Trickster + X and still expect to do reasonably well considering you cut them out of their best partner and now their whole deck is liable to collapse.&nbsp; I'd personally recommend Trickster + Arsenal here, but probably any 3\/3 team you pick with Trickster will do better than their busted up 1\/2\/3 team of Crisis Tornado, Boomerang + X. In the event you see this team drafted from first position, you won't have the luxury of taking one of their MCs, but that doesn't mean you're out of options.&nbsp; Looking through the pool of available MCs, and thinking back on how best to counter this team, we should take note of an old friend:"},{"image":[{"src":"the988175the-joke.jpeg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"With Joker, we have a reasonable chance of giving them a Weakness often enough to throw them off their game plan.&nbsp; I'll leave it to you to determine your preferred Joker team, which might change based on the other players at the table and what they draft.&nbsp; My approach would likely be a 3\/3 team featuring another utility MC, be it The Comedian, Cyborg, Aquaman, etc. The ability to them a Weaknesses just often enough during key turns should be sufficient to significantly stunt their chances of winning."},{"header":"conclusion"},{"text":"Hopefully this overview has provided you a good understanding of the new Crisis Red Tornado MC.&nbsp; Whether or not you choose to pilot a Tornado build, at a minimum you're likely to come across the team during a big event, and when that time comes I hope these tips help you make better informed decisions on how to proceed. Next weekend we're headed to the Pennsylvania Championship (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/305967683650047\/) where players get their next shot at securing an invite to the 2020 Player's Challenge.&nbsp; Whether any of the teams discussed here will end up taking the event by storm is yet to be seen.&nbsp; We look forward to seeing you there!"}]