New set is here bought a box and got a crap ton of paul stuff so yea safe to say im gonna make a paul deck heres what I got so far

Paul phoenix 1 dot

Actions:

overconfidence x2

Toughest in the Universe x2

Assets:

Pauls Gi x1

Foundations:

Nursing a Grudge x1

Communing with the ancients x1

For the money x4

Financial troubles x4

Rivalry with a bear x4

Its got to be the Hair x4

Bloodline rebellion x3

Best friends x3

open road x3

Attacks:

Gut drill x2 ( one of the cards im not too sure about its good especially against nina but it doesnt really work that well with the rest of the deck)

Zi Meis Wheel Kick x2 (i copied this combo from the forums havent gotten to use it yet and I dont have 4 more wheel kicks)

phoenix smasher x1 (need more)

neutron bomb x3 (I like it but if I get unlucky with card draws its kind of a weak attack unless i can give it stun with pauls gi)

the boot! x4 (this is an awesome attack its really good!)

Over the shoulder x4 (good throw basically stun 2 or damage buff)

Hammer of the gods x2 (good E with stun!)

Turn thruster x2 (yet another good attack from paul basically it has stun 2)

53 cards so im missing some which is mainly because im missing full sets

I've play tested against another almost complete deck nina twice with me winning both. I will get into trouble if I dont draw into a attack which I hope bloodline rebellion would help ( Q, can i use rebellion to name punch instead of stun for a key word?) and nursing a grudge will help me get some of my combos back if they get discarded. Control checks are not a problem with this deck for the money and communing see to that, Im thinking dropping open road both games I did not even use it I dont even know why I put it in there other than the fact that it was a paul card. Lucky for me noone in my group plays good or earth so I dont see torn hero but I plan to go to regionals with this deck. So what could I use to beat torn hero with?

Pommel smash is huge in this deck allowing for 2 targeted commits. It also makes it very easy to set up gigantic phoenix smashers. your attack will probably gravitate toward something like this.

4 Phoenix Smasher
4 Wheel Kick
4 Pommel Smash
4 Turn Thruster/Execution Techniques First Rite (depending on whether you want an alternate finisher with a 2 check or more consistency/stun)

Foundations pretty much build themselves. Financial Distress seems like an auto include as they make your offensive turns a nightmare for your opponents. With all the stun For the Money is obviously insane. Standard fare like POTM, Stand Off, maybe hungry for battle, and definitely From the Horse-Endurance. From the Horse is fantastic in theory as it it allows fully combo'd phoenix smasher to be unblockable if they are tapped out. Strongest in the Universe is obviously great in the deck.

Frankly, your build is a very good base. Just work on picking up the ultra rares and you will be fine. Fire Paul is cool in that he pretty much builds himself. Hes also very good against Rashotep and smaller characters as well.

Good luck with Mr. Phoenix and may you have plenty of counterhit Deathfists.

I have to disagree with the inclusion of pummel smash. Its a good idea to have a back-up kill aside from Smasher, so i would include dragon lifter in the deck.

Thanks alot guys I didnt even think about using Temujins stuff!

ShippuJinrai: I will definatly use stand off and from the horse, Stand off will work with the flow of the deck and from the horse is an easy 3 speed at the minimum. I cant get a hold of any POTMs but even though I want to go to worlds I think it would just be too brutal and over the top for the guys at my LGS.

Generalreaction89: yea if I include dragon lifter it would give me a reason to keep neutron bomb, and it also works with a few of Pauls other support cards like Hammer of the gods and etc..

GeneralReaction89 said:

Dude, pommel is the best attack in the format. You realize paul gets to tap 2 targetted, nonfoundation cards with pommel? You would cut pommel for a 2 check attack that commits the same number of cards? I agree with lifter in the build, but not OVER pommel smash. Lifter is much better than execution rites and and turn thruster in this deck and i did overlook it. Good addition but definitely not over the utility that pommel lends you. +1 damage to phoenix smasher, targeted commit of standoff or redux foundations or character cards, and lower difficulty for your combo kill is too good dude. like just because it doesnt slay a dude in one shot, its so good to set up for deathfist as the finisher. **** it Marco...

@Luthon- yeah dude i dont blame you on POTM its annoying as hell lol. But let me know what updates you make on your build. Me and GeneralReaction are going to be testing a lot coming up and I would love to swap notes with you on Paul matchups.

ok did some minor updates

I added:

Foundations:

Nursing a grudge x2

stand off x1

from the horse endurance x4

Open road -3

Attacks:

Gut drill -1

Dragon lifter x3

Turn thruster x1

after some play tests i think i might limit or take nursing for a grudge out of the deck, its nice but it really only works on the Over the shoulder attack since it is a throw. Stand off so far I havent been able to use it either because 1. i didnt have any open foundations or 2. I didnt pull it. I think if I added more it would be better. from the horse is great so far! Dragon lifters gives me another combo to work off of. And I luckily pulled another turn thruster! Eventually im gonna take out gut drill when I get more of the attacks I want when I get them. I may side board it though. Im considering dropping Pauls Gi I have yet to draw and use it and it being a UR it seems like it might be too much trouble for it.

Hi again just an update I finally got my 4 wheel kicks and communing with the ancients but noone wants me to run pommel smash and so are hoarding it from me : [ . I played a couple of games against an Astrid deck... Wow I actually have a deck that can go up against it and not get totally smashed! we played 5 games I won 2/5 the first game went to him with me dealing 1 damage but the rest were close games that mainly relied on us drawing important cards. One game I won by drawing 1 zie meis wheel kick and three turn thrusters, he had over extended himself trying to pull a odins wrath/ dragon flame combo on me, wheel kick stuns the rest of his foundations and I turn thrusted him dealing 26 damage he gave up on the next turn since he had only 1 hp left.

He suggested that I put from the mouse humility but I dunno if I want to risk putting cards into my momentum what do yall think?

The mouse is not a personal favorite of mine in this type of deck, but perhaps you should try From the Horse, Endurance. It makes phoenix smasher a psuedo unblockable attack. Also i retract my previous statement about pommel smash, i now 100% agree with Shippu that it should be in the deck. Also maybe try testing out a few copies of Trained Far and Wide, it makes it almost impossible to fail Phoenix Smasher with that card.

-Alex Marco

GeneralReaction89 said:

Plagiarism will get you kicked out of college Marco. You should know that. Please cite sources properly.

Maffei, Drew. "From the Horse, Endurance. It makes phoenix smasher a psuedo unblockable attack." Dr. No's Comics. Sept. 5, 2009.

But seriously. I'm glad to see youre beginning to wreck with that deck Luthon. If you're interested in a list that we are gonna start testing let me know and i will post it up on the boards when im not so f'ing tired.

Also, what issues are you having with astrid? that matchup becomes very keyed in on who can build faster with stand off in play. your defensive turns are crucial and she can have just as big a turn as you can especially with more access to card draw.

ShippuJinrai said:

well whats really killing me is the reversals, and for awhile the shield asset of hers (I cant think of the name but adds breaker ) and the astrid deck i play against only has 10 attacks so he builds way faster than I can. I have alot of foundations to stun against him and so I have to kind of force him to attack me and hope he makes a bad check, plus the shadowar foundation (incedently called shadowwar) is really hax he can get a +1 dam +1 spd without requiring to commit it. Basically if he stays his hand and reversals me he will almost garuntee a win but he tries for the Odinswrath/dragon flame combo which isnt a problem for me since I can survive most of it if it hits.

I have been using from the horse but I've been thinking... its kind of redundant maybe its because I only have one phoenix smasher but generally I kill most of my opponents with turn thruster and it can give me 3 spd and I've already committed my opponent out of his foundations. I dunno I'll keep it in and see how well it does with more copies of phoenix smasher.

I'am definatly going to add in trained far and wide that is so awesome in this deck especially when I pull 3 turn thrusters in my hand : P

Hey Shippu and Gen.reaction: Well I hate Astrid but like you said its just a matter of how fast I build so I'm not really worried about her for now. I've been thinking alot about rashotep and well I've never seen a deck or played against him all I know of is him being able to blank stuff. My question is how should I deal with a Rashotep deck? I was thinking that if I just go all out and stun the hell out of him he wont be able to blank my entire staging area.

Luthon said:

Well with paul and pommel you should be able to deal with rashotep easily as long as you commit him and his ka techniques with your first attacks

It looks like you have a solid base for a deck but id get a few more copies of pauls gi and pheniox smasher and maybe even communings and test it out then

Da_ghetto_gamer said:

well thats kind of the problem im having right now. No one in my play group plays rashotep, or similar characters to him. I haven't been looking very much but I havent seen a rashotep deck posted on here, I was thinking of making the deck and then having a friend use it on me (proxies of course im having trouble as it is getting pauls stuff.).

You mentioned Pauls Gi, is it that good? I was considering throwing it out because I could never pull it off (1 copy will do that unfortuneatly). And yes communings is awesome I finally got a set for that and im working on some pommel smashes I think I might just bite the bullet and buy two astrid decks for them.

I actually have 4 gut drills im my deck. it works great with a stun two reversal + 1 choosable commit on their turn can be devastating. BUT beware of enemies now friends . You might als try to add a tandoya into your deck for a low attack. Too many of paul's support cards are mid blocks and if you run into a character stacker you will have problems getting your low speed attacks through esp later into the game when you cant stun all their stuff or if they have anti-stun stuff

Luthon said:

I like it alot but ive never played with it outside of draft so i dont know actually how good it could be. Card draw is always importaint and later in the game when your opponent has alot of ready foundations that extra stun can be handy

Da_ghetto_gamer said:

Also drawing 2 cards off of your opponents attack can be kind of good

ok so an update on this list I took out all of the over the shoulders, took out some its got to be the hair and 1 neutron bomb and added trained far and wide, another pauls gi, and finally some pommel smashes!

played two matches 1 against astrid and the other against Nina. In both games I lost 1 round but won 2. Astrid was as usual tough, but the Nina deck is what really surprised me. being able to snipe the cards I need every turn is very rough against this deck but I think I'm being hit really hard because of the low number of copies I have (like only 1 smasher, 2 toughest in the universe etc..) and I eventually lost the first round because I was getting all of my attacks sniped.

Some thoughts on the deck: I dont know if this is consistent with other paul decks but not drawing in to attacks will kill it, but if I got a good opening hand I can consistently put astrid/nina to either 8 or 10 hp and be able to finish it in either the next turn or the one after that. The killers are turnthruster/dragon lifters though Im thinking about taking lifter out if I switch the boot to tandoya and when i completely take out the neutron bombs. Funny situation Astrid tried for a early heavy damage attack and used fury of the north sure I was hit hard but next turn I came back with a Toughest in the universe, we were both thinking "overkill". This deck is fun and it rightly suits the new block, I may not have the luxury of facing a diverse group of people but I believe I could take this deck to worlds/regional/etc.. and do very well in it.