Phantom Phone Booth 2008

Phantom Phone Booth 2008

For the Bring your own team format

By Joe Corbett

 

 

 

 

Mom made this costume! Me @ 3.

My favorite set is the Superman set. Go ahead & laugh. I know it is the worst set in VS. (Hopefully it will remain that way). I like DSM because of the teams in the set. I am a huge New Gods freak & have an enormous crush on Big Barda. I also have adored Superman since I was 3 years old. (Thanks for making the suit Mom.) Infact I actually was born & still live in Kansas. So Superman has always been one of my favorite Superheroes for a multitude of reasons.

 Does anyone remember Superman Matt Meyers? He was Superman’s biggest fan back in the day & nobody worked harder to make Team Superman more viable then Matt. Matt ended up in 12^th place just 1 win shy of top 8 @ a 10k in Phillipsburg NJ January 15^th 2005. He was a member of Team Realmwork & briefly a member of TAWC. One of his big contributions to Vs was The Phantom Phone Booth deck.

 

 

  Here is the old metagame article: http://www.metagame.com/vs.aspx?tabid=46&ArticleId=983

 Here is the old list:

Phantom Phone Booth
played by Matthew Meyers

4 Gangbuster
4 Superman, Red
2 Linda Danvers ◊ Supergirl
4 Superman, Clark Kent
2 Alpha Centurion
3 Cir-El Supergirl
2 Superman: Blue
3 Kara Zor-El ◊ Supergirl
1 Superman, Kal-El
2 Eradicator, Soul of Krypton
1 Superman, False Son
2 Superman, Man of Steel4 Acrobatic Dodge
4 Cover Fire
4 Man of Tomorrow
3 Overload
4 Savage Beatdown
4 Super Speed

4 Cadmus Labs
4 Phantom Zone

 

 

 I met Matt Meyers there in NJ in 2005 & it seemed fate had crossed our paths. Interestingly, I was also playing a Team Superman clone deck. Since Matt & I were both playing Team Superman we had a bit to talk about. Here was my build:

Joseph Corbett

 

Characters

3 Cir-El ◊ Supergirl, Daughter of Tommorrow

4 Girl 13, Traci Thirteen

1 John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Peerless Engineer

1 Krypto, Superdog

4 Lois Lane, Star Reporter

3 Strange Visitor, Sharon Vance

2 Superman Robots, Army

2 Superman, Blue

4 Superman, Clark Kent

1 Superman, False Son

3 Superman, Kal-El

2 Superman, Man of Steel

4 Superman, Red

 

Plot Twists

1 Acrobatic Dodge

4 Burn Rubber

4 Cover Fire

2 Have a Blast!

4 Man of Tomorrow

4 Savage Beatdown

1 Tag Team

 

Locations

4 Cadmus Labs

2 Genosha

If anyone wants to see all the deck list’s from that tournament here is the link: http://www.metagame.com/vs.aspx?tabid=46&ArticleId=1011

This event was a big wake up call for me. My performance was awful. This was my first real competitive event & I realized then if I wanted to compete at events I couldn’t just play one of my favorite superheroes. Yet I was still in denial. I just couldn’t believe UDE made Team Superman the worst team in VS. I was determined to make a Team Superman tier 1 deck. After 4 months of trying I gave up & started playing Teen Titans. I just couldn’t admit that Matt’s PPB build was as good as it got. In those 4 months I tested allot with Matt’s PPB build. There was just too many ways you could play around it if you knew the match up. The deck wasn’t consistent in hitting its drops either. It always sucked when you couldn’t make Superman non unique which happened from time to time.

Much time has passed since that 10k in New Jersey. Both the DCL & DWF sets have given us some really good Superman’s. It is Unfortunate the JLA set didn’t give Team Superman enough of a boost competitively. By the time the Worlds Finest set hit the shelves everything from DSM was buried in golden age forever. So when UDE announced this bring your own team format the first deck I wanted to retool was Phantom Phone Booth.

Here you go guys:

Phantom Phone Booth 2008

 28 Characters

 

1 Gangbuster Jose Delgado

4 Krypto Guard Dog of El

3 Hiro Okamura <> Toyman

4 Superman Red

1 John Henry Irons <> Steele-Steel work

1 Superman Clark Kent

3 Superman Last Son of Krypton

1 Superman Blue

3 Superman Metropolis Marvel

1 Supergirl Kara Zora el

2 Superman Ka-El

1 Superman Founding Member

1 Superman Deterrent Force

1 Eradicator Soul of Krypton

1 Superman Man of Steel

 

25 Plot Twist

 

4 For the Man who Has Everything

4 Man of Tommorrow

3 At Their Finest

3 Cover Fire

3 Impervious

3 Savage Beatdown

2 Indestrucible

2 Early Edition

1 Look alike Squad

 

8 Locations

 

4 Cadmus Labs

4 Phantom Zone

 

I really think Phantom Zone is a Meta call. Back in 2005 when Matt busted  PZ out the top decks were:

 

1)      Teen Titans

2)      Curved Sentinels

3)      X-Stall

4)      TNB

5)      Common Enemy

6)      Big Brotherhood

7)      Medium Brotherhood

      Wild Vomit

 

6 of these decks abused the graveyard. With Garth, Jean Grey, Avalon Space Station & Reconstruction Program it is no wonder why Phantom Zone was the only reason you used to play Team Superman. With that being said if you think 50%+ will be abusing their graveyards then Phantom Zone is a great call.

 

 There are 4 things I don’t like about this deck:

 

1)      PPB doesn’t have any KO pile recursion.

2)       You must be cautious when replacing Cadmus Labs & Phantom Zone. Make sure you can tutor first for a character you need because you don’t have a way to get characters out of the row.

3)      All of your Characters are Superman. Thus if your opponent has Omnipotence or Utility Belt you could lose if they can stop Cabmus & get rid of Superman Red. Also, you may be tempted to power up Superman allot since all your characters are Superman. The general rule is to wait to power up on your kill turn or unless absolutely necessary.

4)      There are many Team Superman cards you could add to this deck. Deciphering which is needed is the key & sometimes heartbreaking. Personally, I would love to run Solar Powered.

 

If you do not think you will need PZ then here are some suggestions for replacement. Messiah Complex is easily my favorite card from Marvel Universe. Grabbing a card from the KO pile is really needed sometimes in this deck. The fact that you can gain life though is priceless. If that doesn’t work for you then I would suggest more pump, Cover Fire or Impervious. Some people refuse to play Impervious. Against all odds is a decent substitute here. I’ll remind you however that usually you will use Cover Fire on the first attack anyways. Many of you may wonder why I would play Cadmus Labs over Look Alike Squad. The reason is because the main theme of the deck is to brick wall your opponent. This is a defensive deck. Cadmus gives you the +1 +1 & a replacement effect which makes it more versatile then Look Alike Squad.

 

 Matt Meyers Phantom Phone Booth deck ran 61 cards. At that time their where many competitive players that believed running a 61 card deck was the way to go. In tribute to Matt Meyer & his Phantom Phone Booth deck I thought it would be fitting to leave it at 61 cards. I do not agree with the 61 card deck theory but sometimes traditions just need to be kept.

 

Lastly, here is my Superman Clone little deck:

 

16 Characters

 

Lois Lane Star Reporter

Gangbuster Jose Delgado

Kelex Faithful Servant

Hiro Okamura <> Toyman Whiz-Kid

Krypto Guard dog of el

Superman Red

John Henry Irons <> Steel Steel Works

Superman Clark Kent

Superman Last Son of Krypton

Superman Blue

Superman Metropolis Marvel

Superman Kal-El

Superman Earth 2

Superman Deterrent Force

Superman Avatar of Peace

Superman Man of Steel

 

11 Plottwists

 

For The Man Who Has Everything

Early Edition

Man of Tommorrow

Look Alike Squad

Solar Powered

Impervious

At Their Finest

Indestructible

Cover Fire

Soaring to New Heights

Hero’s Welcome

 

3 Locations

 

Soul World

Cadmus Labs

Slaughter Swamp

 

Well I hope you enjoy these lists. Tune in next week when we explore a deck revolving around a Prophecy.

 

 Joe Corbett has been playing Vs. System for a long time, and playing casual decks and competitive decks alive.  Being an ultimate fan of all things not explored, Joe is constantly coming up with new and fun decks to tinker with. Joe is also known on VSRealms as Savage Tofu.