Greetings everyone, seeing as how this board seems a little slow on the original conversation edge lately, I thought I'd introduce a friendly discussion topic/debate covering what we all felt would be the most appropriate way(s) to run a single-symbol deck. I feel the topic should discuss the overall goal of the deck, the key cards used to obtain the desired effect, sticking (wherever possible) to the cards that are less exclusive or rare,maybe a written demonstration of how these cards interact, and whether the deck is more generic or specifically character driven. I'd like this thread to stay here in Gen. Discussion if possible because Deck Building seems to be only for showing off what has already been built, but if neccessary I see no problem with it moving. We could do one symbol a week until we covered them all, offering some valuable input for players old and new alike.

That being said, let's discuss Chaos. I feel that Chaos wins most easily when the opponent has no hand. Chaos has very little in the realm of heavy-handed speed pump outside of Darkhunter of the Night and it does no good to compensate for a weakness when there are other ways through an opponents' defense. This is why I prefer the tactic of tranferring their hand to their momentum. Nagase gave us just the card for this in SNK3 with N-Type Human, which works fairly well assuming that you and your opponent have been saving at least one momentum for something. Four copies of this card can be devastating to the average 6 handsizer who just played at least two cards, and Billiard Player is just the card to make sure that at some point (through a very circuitous recursion) that you will have this arsenal at your fingertips. In conjunction with N-Type, The Corsair Under the Skull and Crossbones is a useful Foundation for relieving your opponent of those burdensome hand cards. You simply have to make sure that your opponents' execution follows quickly since these are destroyed on use. That leads us to the kill condition: Powerful.

Powerful is a simple and basic enhancement but it's fairly easy to find amongst the cards available to Chaos. What's even better is that with the recent release of SNK4 we now have a card that can not only pay for the momentum cost of Powerful with a simple commit cost, but can also grant Powerful to any opportunely played attack with the little red triangle on it. Of course I speak of Meat Eater, which when multiple copies are available, can make your opponent deeply regret having not built in card draw or some sort of massive damage reduction like Prince of Darkness (DS2). Nothing hurts worse than being cardless and having no recourse other than to take your opponents' pathetically slow 2 difficulty Powerful: 3 attack to the face when up until a minute ago you had a very nice block for just the zone of the attack he just played.

"But Matt, you burley iron god," you might say. "this stratagem clearly leaves you with no cards of your own! How do suppose to subplant this weakness?" Well, as my mother would say, Maternal Insticts (SC6) are for everyone. If you're going to drain your hand to kill them and they simply get to resupply themselves at the start of their next turn, why shouldn't you? You're sacrificing just as many cards to your momentum as they are. Shouldn't there be some sort of balancing when it comes time for their chance to whittle away at your vitality? Well if all goes well, you'll experience just that.

Now the path I've outlined doesn't come without time. It may be several rounds before you're ready to start attacking. So to make staying alive possible, I suggest the potent combo of Adopted (SNK3) and 100 Years of Humiliation (DS2). These will actually allow the momentum you're storing to use for bloody vengeance useful in making sure that you're opponent doesn't get there first. Also neither of these require any sort of control check or interaction from your hand at all, so if you happen to have your own hand discarded there's one less thing to worry about.

As far as attacks go, I recommend Fire Kick (SNK4). It comes with it's own Powerful (3!), is more or less easily obtained and can really put the lance through the old twig-and-berries if you know what I mean. Past that, Flying Edge (SC6) or any other decent 3 check attack will do because you're going to be pumping it up until it's so Powerful that the Governator would look like an inhaler using, pocket protecter wearing, Mom-said-I-can-take-my-lightsaber-to-school-with-me-today, D&D playing pansey by comparison (sorry WotC but you did turn one of my favorite games into a table-top MMORPG).

So I believe that's the crux of what I wanted to cover. If this sort of topic interests you, please ramble on. Nothing but good can come from it. Also, the particular wordy format in which I've chosen to present my deck design should by no menas be considered the norm. If you're perfectly comfortable rattling off some cards and providing a brief description of how they interact, then do so. Only good can come from this. Now if you'll excuse me, all this typing has given me carpal tunnel in my...well let's call it my card hand. Good night and good technique.

Well with the recent backlash against lighthearted topics, some users have been calling for a strategic discussion. Why not bandwagon this?

Chaos... well, I miss K'. I haven't really played Chaos (except Lizardman dabbling) since Block 1. At the outset, Chaos annoyingly has Defender/LotM+Mega Spike all on-symbol. I guess that's the easy mode win condition right there.

Of far more interest, Chaos has Float a Brick. It also has ready, turn-ending CC'hacks (Anti'K, Forethought) and is very, very good at anti-CC'hack (Destiny). In the latest prize support, Zhao Daiyu will be released and may well go straight to tier one. Of ZD's two abilities, her uncommit requires three momentum per use, which is a heavy cost that Evil and Void can struggle to pay for. With the right base though, a Chaos ZD may be able to generate the momentum needed for this every turn.

Chaos has access to some really fantastic anti-Order/anti-control cards, such as Oral Deed, Red Lotus and Instant Success. Sadly, Chaos is not featured on either Tag Along or KFT, which are two of the most useful (and in the case of KFT, highest speed-bump) actions out there.

What Chaos does seem to have are better than average CC's. Many good Chaos cards already mentioned roll 5cc and are low difficulty. In combination this makes for a very consistent base for any deck.

That's my bit of brainstorming for now. Anyone want to take over?

You may miss K', but I love The Anti-K' more than I think I can ever love any character card . It goes in every deck, and when that deck also gets Forethought, Spirit of Athens , Self-Sacrifice , [legacy] Dark Hado and Psycho Power - oh baby.

Chaos Fio is fun as hell to play. The hand-to-momentum cards just get ridiculous if you can dodge the Tag Along [and she splashes Inhuman Perception easily, but that's cheating]; you can trade 1 card and a commit for 2 cards from your opponent with both N-Type Human and King of Fighters 2006 , or in the case of Military Combat Arts 2 for 3... and 1:1 even if it gets negated. And card advantage wins games, big time. She also almost consistently shorter than everyone else, enabling her to take advantage of one of the most powerful draw mechanics ever, The Bigger They Are. I second Fire Kick as the best budget win condition since High Plasma Beam -- when your opponent just has too much life, or is playing Hugo , you can strip their hand, do a big chunk of damage, and then have a full hand to defend/Anti-K' with next turn.

In general, Chaos puts up a decent fight in control wars (two multi-purpose cards that answer Olcadan's , Red Lotus and Oral Dead , SEVERAL card draw options, Olcadan's + Lynette's just like every deck, Billiard Player to grab checked foundations and counter Lynette, Lesser of Many Evils to go through important turns without interruption), randomly auto-wins games when bad control checks and good draws collide [see: Anti K' timewalk on your first/second foundation, 3 foundations-Spirit-Forethought-Olcadan's on my turn], and just has lots of good cards in general.

I like to think of Chaos as the mischevious imp of the 12 symbols, it moves cards around so they're not where your opponent wants them to be;

if they want them in their hand it'll put them in momentum (courtesy of Fio/Nagase).

If they want staging area they'll go to hand (A la Victor)

If they want card pool they'll go straight to discard pile (thanks to Sophitia/Kula), and so on and so forth.

Of course, Chaos also has a mean streak with it's not insubstantial aggro possibilities with Hsien-Ko's speed pumps and plentiful powerful cards. It's also got lifegain thanks to Terry too. Also, like people have said, it's not lacking in budget kill conditions like 125 Rapids of Rage/Fire Kick Powerfuls and Checkmate loops. Also it shares a lot of symbols with Order so it can go heavy control too.

I have to say that one of the most fun patch tournaments I've been too so far has been the Chaos patch, many shenanigans were happening there.

chaos has 2 ways to go: defender loop or hand to momentum. i personally think defender loop of victor/reanimated is one of the best ways to go. also i would like to say promo guy needs to be mentioned. he is my favourite chaos charecter.

I fell in love with Chaos after Set 10 was released; that symbol got SUCH a boost!

I built Siegfried, as he's my favorite in the Soul Calibur series. Off Chaos he was a beast, with Lord of the Makai and others to gain momentum, and his ability with throws like Mega Spike was awesome. Top it off with Flying Edge, or Powerful attacks, and you have a beatstick in your hands.

Problem was dealing with control. I had Lesser of Many Evils, but it was too easy to negate with Oral Dead or Chester's before it resolved. I had to work hard for a playset of Preventing the Curse, which was my answer to this.

I'm working on a Kula deck, which originally started as Chaos/Life, but is slowly turning Chaos/Evil, thanks to Meat Eater, and Kim's Neck Crunch Drop (another awesome 3 check Throw, even if it's not as strong as Chain Throw or Air Backbreaker) will be an awesome addition to Siegfried when I rebuild him.

i am going to post a chaos sophita deck i have been working on in the deck building forums soon. with n-type human, KoF 2006, lilien knights, etc. for hand removal, sophita's form, maternal instincts, and the bigger they are for draw, and meat eater+ any atack for kill. also with sophita you have hackage that ends the combat phase.