DC Regional 2009-10 Championship Decklist

By Shaneth, in UFS Deck Building

Here's the deck I played and took 1st at in the DC Regional Championship held in Woodbridge VA.

I pretty much went undefeated. I went 3-1-0 in swiss, giving Chubbs the win in the 4th round so he would make top 4 with me. Unfortunately my math was wrong, and he ended up in 1st seed while I ended up in 4th (instead of 3rd like I was hoping), so we brothers had to play in top 4 instead of finals.

I 2-0'd all of my matchups, except for 2nd round where I swear I did not hear my opponent use the enhance on Over the Shoulder Throw, but he insisted he did, and I didn't want to feel like a **** and call the judge, so I just moved on to the 3rd game.

Deck is off of Fire.

Characters: 4
1x 6/6 6HS 28VIT James Hata.. (air/death/fire) +0M
3x 6/6 6HS 27VIT Sophitia. (fire/life/order) +0M

Assets: 5
3x 2/5 Path of the Master +2M - Unique
2x 2/4 Paul's Gi +2M - Unique

Actions: 2
2x 5/4 Soul Wave. +2M

Attacks: 8
4x 3/3 2H1 Pommel Smash - [s:1]
4x 5/3 3M4 Hammer of the Gods +2H - [s:2]

Foundations: 43
4x 0/5 Hope for One's People +3H
4x 1/5 Brooding +3H
4x 1/5 The Strength Within +2M
4x 2/5 Best Friends +3H
4x 2/5 Defeated the Rifle
4x 2/5 In Search of Plunder +3M
4x 2/5 From the Mouse, Humility +3L
4x 2/4 Looking for a Thrill +3H
4x 3/4 Memories that Stain it's Armor +4M
4x 3/5 The Ultimate Team +2L
3x 3/5 Needs a Challenge +3M

Cards Maindecked: 62
___________
Sideboard: 8
4x 2/4 Martial Arts Champion
4x 3/5 Might Makes Right

The deck is crazy consistent. You can tell by the checks. It sports a 61-card arsenal and 53 blocks. Totally unheard of, playa. The only cards without blocks are Pommel Smash and Defeated the Rifle, two necessities while building Fire.

Sophitia is style points. I believe character blocks will start seeing play again just like they did in the old days. Path of the Master is mainly used for the draw mechanic rather than the damage pump. Since Hata has funky symbols, I rarely ever use it for the damage pump, however, you'll find it the game winner in a lot of situations when you're 1 or 2 damage off killing your opponent. Paul's Gi is used for the draw mechanic mainly, but either my opponent or I must have Path of the Master out to use it. Otherwise, the Stun 2 serves as +2spd.

Pommel Smash is staple, as stated above. I chose Hammer of the Gods as my kill switch because it has a build in pump, a decent block, and is a Stun attack. Being a stun attack matters tremendously, which means I get maximum usage out of Best Friends, which sports two separate enhances which both Hata can respond off of. It becomes ridiculously deadly. Tutch it and you die.


I have no idea why nobody plays Memories that Stain it's Armor. That card is so tech. It completely hoses Torn Hero if they respond with it off your Pommel Smash. The +4M block is nuts with Hammer of the Gods E, and even moreso on The Ultimate Team, where pitching a +4 block will net you +1spd +5dmg with Hata.

From the Mouse, Humility is a little secret tech I have. Actually it's not. I play it in case I have to toss attacks across a couple turns. I make them deal damage and then put it in my momentum for next turn. It's just a way of retrieving stored attacks. I believe more people should play that card, especially since the "I can't kill you this turn so I must draw attacks next turn" situation arises very often.

I never needed to side in once. Martial Arts Champion was unnecessary. I originally had it mainboarded to combat Financial Troubles, but I found myself pitching all the time for Financial Troubles and just drawing mad cards with Path by enhancing with The Strength Within, Defeated the Rifle, and Paul's Gi on their turn. I moved it to the sideboard, but never touched it again. I figured Might Makes Right would be a decent sideboard card because I didn't know what kind of damage redux I'd come across. Magically, I came across none, so they were never touched. Shouldda played without a sideboard :) haha

I'm the best. Don't forget it.

This deck looks brutal. And, only 8 attacks, NewFS?!?!

On avg, how long were your matches, i.e. How many turns/game? You went undefeated, so obviously you had plenty of Fire power (pun fully intended), but were there ever any turns that you wish you had drawn some Orange, and just didn't have any?

Again, 'gratz on the win, man! You rock!!

I run 8 attacks because Hata only needs one attack to OTK. I could have run 4 attacks, but I wanted better versatility and more chances to kill with, so I stuck in a playset of both Pommel Smash and Hammer of the Gods. Other Hata decks run 16+ attacks and that is fine, but this is my way of playing the most broken character at the moment.

My average game took around 10 minutes and 4 turns.


There was only one time when I wish I drew an attack. In top 4 against Chubbs and his Heihachi, the game dragged on for like... 7 turns until I finally got an attack. I was able to survive because Hata can change zones of attacks, and I was blocking low Spinning Demons with high blocks. It was probably the most pissed I've ever seen Chubbs. For 4 straight turns he said "Show me an attack and you win" but I couldn't, and for those turns I kept blocking around 4 attacks.

Thank you for your words, RockStar, and if UFS picks back up and stays strong, I wish to hang out with you someday.