Decks to Dominate High Voltage
Surprise High Voltage!
Second Dinner added a sneaky weekend High Voltage run to the slate of events this month! It will run from February 6-9. Whether you revel in the big plays of this mode or are just looking to knock out missions to get some cosmetics we've got a deck for you!
New Bans
Ebony Maw, Sauron, and Onslaught were added to the ban list. All three cards were dominant in past runs, so things should feel fresh.
Banned cards:
- Alioth
- Arnim Zola
- Black Widow
- Ebony Maw
- Galactus
- Gambit
- Jim Hammond
- Magik
- Onslaught
- Sauron
- Shadow King
- Ultron
Notably NOT banned are Cosmo, Shang-Chi, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Juggernaut, Man-Spider, Cannonball, and Fin Fang Foom. Zola being banned means we're not going to be able to get too wacky though.
Star-Lord, Mots < Wiccan
The new Star Lord has felt like a strict upgrade to Wiccan in almost every way, but Wiccan will still be a staple in this mode. He's one of the most powerful first turn plays available in this mode alongside other powerful 4-Cost cards like Gwenpool, Ares, Galacta, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Some other dominant ladder cards like Shou-Lao also become a lot less powerful in a format with limited turns.
The Main Strategies
Slam Giant Cards
I expect the starting place for many this time around to be just putting out the biggest cards possible on each turn. Some will do this by cheating them out with Jubilee, Blink, and Dragon Lord, while others will rely on the wide range of Energy acceleration now in the game to put out multiple large cards on the final two turns.
Lock One Lane, Power the Other
This should be an effective strategy this time around since we have access to Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Juggernaut, Shang-Chi, and Cannonball to invalidate our opponents attempts to place Power in one lane. Meanwhile, we can stack a second lane with high-powered cards of our own in the form of Fin Fang Foom, Man-Spider or other huge threats.
Going wide is going to be a lot harder with Ultron (secretly one of the best cards in the format), Onslaught, and Living Tribunal banned. Expect plenty of shenanigans with Grandmaster and Absorbing Man, two cards I expect to have breakout performances this time around. Pack Cosmo if you're interested in stopping the shenanigans.
Scott’s Favorite High Voltage Decks
Tallest
If going tall is the name of the game, we need to make sure we can go even taller. I'm sure tech will come out to play after a while, but initially, people will be going for max Power. Zola was a lot better in this mode than Taskmaster, but we can rebuild older HV concepts to better take advantage of Taskmaster.
Fun Police
We want to start with Wiccan as often as possible, but FS Surfer means we can still get Wiccan energy if we start with 3, and Iron Patriot can bail us out in the games we start with 2. Sure playing Shang Chi only takes out one giant threat, but Grandmaster means we can wipe out, for example a big Fin Fang Foom in one lane and a Taskmaster from another. Stardust means we won't just get pushed out of the game by all of the Dragon Lord players.
Rampish
I build most decks praying to hit 4-Energy on the first turn, but this one is hoping for 5 – if we can lead off with War Machine we have a ton of options for later turns. However, playing Blink for something big on Turn 2, or pulling something big with Jubilee on turn 1 are also strong starts.
Fastball Special is one of the most fun new toys to come out since the last run of HV and I'm planning to get plenty of use out of it this weekend, whether it's with Nimrod or something more shenanigans-y.
Below the paywall I’ve put a handful other High Voltage concepts including my favorite idea for Fastball Special. If you love what we do, consider supporting us! We deeply appreciate any support we receive!
