On a whim, I've decided to build an Alex:: deck to see just how good he is, and have discovered he has a pretty nice power curve. The trouble I've found is finding that balance between offence and defence to tackle decks like Victor and Chun-Li (the two feared decks in our meta currently). The attack line-up I've found to be the easiest part of building him with my current lineup being:

4 x Chop, 4 x Boomerang Raid, 4 x Dash Low and 3 x Monster Lariat (which I am thinking of changing to Slash Elbow)

Assets are easy enough too, with Ready For Anything, Olcadans' and Times Square taking up those slots. The biggest problem is the foundation base. The current ideas floating are an All/Fire build which allows me access to Makai High Noble and Amy's Assistance from Fire and access to Blood Runs True and Chesters Backing. The chainable foundations are pretty powerful too, with Commitment To Excellence (which admittedly becomes less powerful as the game goes on due to Alex's effect), Bitter Rivals, Raw Talent and Silver Spoon. I've also noticed, thorugh sheer coincidence, that all of the attacks I'm playing are punches, so American Made has proven to be EXTREMELY effective in this build. However, I am finding that the foundations sometimes strike a halt because of resource chaining and, as I've said before, Victor and Chun-Li prove to be quite difficult to deal with, and I can't imagine decks like Talbain or anything with Ira-Spinta's involved are good match-ups for him. Draw power if my greatest difficulty, despite the fact that BRT and Ready For Anything are in the deck.

And so the discussion is open. Is carrying on with the Punch theme a good idea? Should one of the attacks be changed to a non-punch like Kuzuryu Reppa or something that draws cards more? Is All/Fire the way to go, or is All/Water more effective in order to get cards like Aquakinesis and Shooting Capoera? How can more draw ability be put into a deck like this? How does he defend against Feline Spike and Defender Loops? Is playing Alex:. to start with and stacking Alex:: a better idea?

I leave the ideas to you guys, but I'll post the current decklist I have so you can see what I've come up with:

Alex::

Attacks x 15

4 x Dash Low, 4 x Chop, 4 x Boomerang Raid. 3 x Monster Lariat

Assets x 9

3 x Times Sqaure, 3 x Olcadan's Mentoring, 3 x Ready For Anything

Foundations x 36

4 x Blood Runs True, 4 x Chester's Backing, 4 x American Made, 4 x Commitment To Excellence, 4 x Trapped In A Nightmare, 3 x Silver Spoon, 3 x Raw Talent, 4 x Makai High Noble, 3 x Amy's Assistance, 3 x Bitter Rivals

I built this sucker a while back and even posted the decklist here on the forums

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=27&efcid=5&efidt=51767

I can't stress how MVP Kuz Reppa is in the deck, and how really uneccessary Ready for Anything is.

There is some really good back and forth in the discussion, andi f I had a chance to go back and re-do the deck, I would split a little bit Fire/All and put in things like TaekwonDo Master, Makai high noble/Blinding Rage and maybe Dedication.

Good luck with it otherwise, the onyl current concren Ihave with your build is the number of 3 checks, which is Very high.

either way you look at it american made it a nice foundation even if not used for the +1 damage but the abiltiy 2 block with it and put it in your staging area or its speed reduction....most of your attacks arent bad and should be kept but id really find a way 2 push reppa in the deck.

Viewtiful_Joe said:

edited

First of all, thank you Trane for using the magic word *edited* to make me look stupid, it goes much appreciated...

I have indeed put in Kuzuryu Reppa but I also put LotM in, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get the full effect out of it and any momentum I gain above that can be drawn thanks to the second effect. I changed Commitment To Excellence for it, as with playtesting I found that it became incresingly difficult to use, but I might try and find room for it to go back in, after all, it is a 6CC that shares both of my resources. I guess Ready For Anything could come out, but it's the draw power part of it that puts me off taking it out, is Kuzuryu Reppa really enough draw power? I did think about A Years Difference, but then making my opponent draw (into potential Rejections etc) isn't really the best thing to do in my mind. I've also yet to come across any problems with checking, mainly due the fact that the majority of the cards I'm playing are so easy in comparison to other decks. I almost always run 16-20 3CC's and below as I find as long as you're careful, you can attack so much earlier and pressure your opponent so much more quickly. So far this deck is working really well, but I still need to iron the creases out of it and appreciate feedback as long as it's actual feedback rather than just changing the words I've written. Thanks

Viewtiful_Joe said:

yeah doesn't edited make you feel smart? i just was about to make my post, and i forgot your decklist so i went back to look at it and in the end just decide to go the edited route to save me time. my apologies, it was at 4:48 pm and i was tired

i might also sugest running pr alex as your starting char and alex4 in your deck (it will boost your draw, and alow you to run only kuzura reppa for draw.)