New Build for Algol, off All and Void:

Algol
Void/All Build - 69 Cards
6HS 27HP

Assets: 10

4x Pseudo Soul Edge

4x Pseudo Soul Calibur

2x Ice Coffin

Attacks: 20

4x Evil Sparrow

4x Alaraph Achernar

4x Alphard Maliki

4x Wipe the Floor

4x Alshain Najm

Foundations: 38

4x Body of Souls

4x Chasing After the Power

4x Genius Alchemist

4x Ancient Fighting Style

2x Keep Them Down

4x Financial Troubles

4x For the Money

4x Man Behind the Mask

4x War Between Sisters

4x Open Road

Card by Card:

Algol: Fairly Standard character. Some really nice synergy with his own stuff. His R basically does not exist for most games, as I would rather not give my opponent an attack or a card they need. IMO, would only be good against a tri-symbol deck that has very tenuous chaining. Anyway, 6/27 is a decent stat line.

Pseudo Soul Edge: Kinda Algol's shtick, it aides in his effort to pump his combo. It also helps to block, as I can discard non-blocks for draw power after I block with an attack. The R Commit ability is nice if I am up against Financial Troubles, or Path of the Masters.

Pseudo Soul Calibur: Algol's other fun asset. Great against Financial Troubles, and to an extent, Path. Also helps to build Combo bit.

(NOTE: I went with 4 of each of these because A: I had 4, and B: because it makes build for the kill really fast. Between being discard fodder, Open Road cards, and blocks, they can be useful in the hand, and in the deck, they are 5s to check)

Ice Coffin: Nice speed bump. Very nice speed bump. If I can build fast enough, I can use it to push almost every attack through. Then recur them with Body of Souls. The Vitality gain bit is really only applicable to Tira attacks, but it also has no downside. With 2 commitals, it will make my standard Combo lineup 3SPD - 6SPD - 8SPD, which can be nigh unblockable.

Evil Sparrow: I like it. Makes my combo easier to play. Too bad the Discard does not add to Najm's Combo, but it still is benefital. Nice little poke.

Alaraph Achernar: Standard in any Algol deck. Easy combo to pull, and good card draw/discard-draw.

Alphard Maliki: Throw, cheap, higher damage. 2 check is just something to live with, because the attack is worth it. Combo with Keep them Down to empty my opponent's hand.

Wipe the Floor: Yes please. Lets me control my opponent's hand, and if it deals damage, I can then see their hand to know just how much they can block.

Alshain Najm: Strong Combo. High speed, can produce really high damage. Finisher, though it can be used just for damage, or for a speed bump to start the Combo. Najm -> Wipe the Floor -> Evil Sparrow -> Najm. 5SPD, 8SPD, 6SPD, 8SPD.

Body of Souls: Standard attack recuring. Or I can just use it to dicard, I guess. Really nice with Maliki, as I can throw it every turn.

Chasing After the Power: An 'Oh Crap' button. Commit it first to make checks, then blow it up to make the next one. Can save Bacon.

Genius Alchemist: Easy Combos. Really all its their for. Makes it so I can keep playing attacks if I need to.

Ancient Fighting Style: Combos with War Between Sisters really well, as I can just draw back what I dropped. Spamable, and has a block, I think .

Keep Them Down: Really good card, almost abusable. With 2 on the field, you can empty your opponent's hand really easily with a throw.

Financial Troubles: Needs no introduction. Makes Algol's job easier either way my opponent goes.

For the Money: Again, already introed. Easy combos, easy attacks, and can tap out my opponant if they want.

Man behind the Mask: Basically a spamable defensive card. Good for DR when Algol hits 13. Can also help to push damage.

War Between Sisters: Um. Double yes. The discard, unlike most like it, is part of the effect, so it stacks on Najm's combo. Also hand control and multiple defense.

Open Road: Silly bit of synergy. Tap a foundation to put Najm on top of the deck before you F with Algol. That way you don't lose your kill card, but can also bump it with the discard. Could also be used to stack checks early in order to assure that you make it.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? I know Algol has gotten a bit of a bad rap, and I am really looking to change that.

-Mr. Tinman

I don't know about how experience with dual sourcing but it seems alot of your foundations dont have all/void. There maybe times when you draw and you can only play 1-2 foundations first turn because its one or the other.
ancient fighting style has a +4 mid

Most of the decks I build are duel symbol, to a point. Old MTG habits die hard. I looked into a bit of chaining statistics, and this is what I got:

Counting Foundations and Assets:

% Cards with Void: 71%

% Cards with All: 75 %

% Cards with Both: 46%

And for off symbol chaining:

% Cards with Chaos: 42%

What I get from this is that I have a very good chance of having 1-2 cards of both All and Void in my hand, as well as 1-2 cards which could be either symbol alone. In most cases that will mean I will be playing 3 foundations/assets on one symbol to build. This might mean that I am a bit reluctant to attack sooner, but with some of the low difficulty foundations I have chosen (Mask, AFS), I should be able to spam out foundations after a bit of attacking.

I may need to review after a bit of testing, but I do not forsee symbol chaining to be a crippling weakness.

Thanks for the input.

-Mr. Tinman

Another thing I was thinking about. Will keep them down drop all 4 if played twice? Or will it drop 2, reexamine the hand and see only 2 left and cannot drop? In anycase, have you thought about researching the past? I've played with it before with terry, It became pseudo-selective draw and selecting CC (for the most part). I've checked 6'slike 8 times in a row because of it. Plus it will give you another all and void card. Downside however is it has no block

Before Tekken came out, I was running a full set of Researching the Past, partly for the checks, and partly for the ability to Algol F and draw into my kill cards again (attack, R with the Pseudos, F with Researching, F with Algol). The problems I found with the card then are now covered well by Open Road. Researching has a 4 check, and is limited by what is on top of my discard pile. Additionally, because of the Pseudos, I wind up drawing whatever the second card is, so the ability really only affects 1 check, just like Open Road. Open Road lets me reuse itself again and again, and lets me put cards from my hand, meaning I don't have to wait for my discard pile to stack the right way.

Keep Them Down's restriction only applies to playing the ability, not to when your opponent discards their cards.

-Mr. Tinman

Have you tried playing with both yet? I would intrigued to see the results. Recon could also be a good card to add. Just commit a foundation and you can see if your next check is worth it. It has a block, and also antidiscard (allows you to draw two more) but its only got all