Starting VS. Needs Advice

[GIGN]

I want to start playing the VS. TCG. I have a few questions about starting out:

1. Do you guys recommend buying the starter deck? If so which one?
2. Do you guys recommend buying singles/boosters opposed to starter deck?
3. What are some of the good decks themes that are popular right now?
4. And how much do your current decks cost?

Any answers are welcomed !!! Thx :)

[techno-tpuefol]

I recommend getting any starter deck, they provide an excellent introduction to the game's basic mechanics and you can get quite a few fun games out of them. Go for the Brotherhood/X-Men one if you want a Magneto for the deck below.

I've taken the current best one in the metagame and replaced most of the expensive rares with slightly inferior (but $10-$20 cheaper) commons and uncommons. I think you could do well with the following deck:

5x Hounds of Ahab
8x Sentinel Mark II
9x Sentinel Mark V
4x Nimrod
4x Bastion (he's rare but believe me he's worth it)
4x Magneto, Master of Magnetism (starter rare)

4x Overload
4x Cover Fire
4x Reconstruction Program
4x Nasty Surprise
4x Flying Kick (replace with Savage Beatdown if you can)
2x Acrobatic Dodge

4x South American Sentinel Base (replace with Genosha if you can)

Savage Beatdowns are $20 at the absolute cheapest, so you'd probably end up spending close to $100 for a set of 4. Trouble is, pretty much all the top decks run them. Genshas are $5-$10 depending on how foil/1st edition they are and Bastions and Magnetos are $2-$3 each. The above deck should cost you no more than $30, probably less, and it's not too challenging to play (though there are intricacies but it's a very forgiving deck if you make a mistake).

I don't think you should buy packs unless you're going to draft them. I typically buy a couple of boxes a set for drafting and the commons/uncommons, then I buy all the rares I need on eBay. You should be able to pick up most non-rares for pretty cheap at your local card store.

[jerichoholic]

I agree with the other guy in that buying a starter deck is a good starting point, especially since they can help you learn the basics of the game. The starters released so far are: X-men/Brotherhood, Spider-friends/Sinister Syndicate, Gotham Knights/Arkham Inmates. With the Fantastic Four movie coming out, UDE will be releasing a set of collectible movie cards that have nothing to do with the game, but I do believe that the will release a VS. starter deck of Fantastic Four/Doom around the same time as the release of the movie. To play any of the myriad of different affiliations out there, you'll have to by boosters. In case you are unaware of what affiliations are out there:
Marvel Origins Set:
X-men, Fantastic Four, Brotherhood, Doom, Sentinels, Brotherhood, Negative Zone, Skrulls.
DC Origins Set:
Gotham Knights, Teen Titans, Fearsome Five, Arkham Inmates, League of Assassins.
Web of Spider-man:
Spider-friends, Sinister Syndicate.
Man of Steel:
Team Superman, Revenge Squad, New Gods, Darkseid.
Marvel Knights:
Marvel Knights, Crimelords, X-Statix, Underworld.

My best advice to give is to choose the affiliation based off your favorite superheroes or villains. That way, win or lose, you'll enjoy yourself more.

[mirrorfreak16]

if you want to learn the game, just buy a starter deck. but you want to make a good deck, buy cards in singles. buying singles saves you a LOT of money..

[MSUHitman27]

Also, there are new starter decks coming out for Batman vs. LOA and F4 vs. Doom this month so you could try those as well.

Overall the best starter deck before the new ones is BHood VS XMen. If you go to a Gamestop store, a lot of them are selling out of their non Yugi/Magic CCG stuff and I've seen the starter deck for $5 there.