Summer of Storms

Summer of Storms

Is it just me, or does it feel like UFO came and went faster than any set we’ve seen before?
Granted, it wasn’t the most powerful set to date, but it did come with some absolute game-changing BANGERS.
I’ve been harping on Infinite Power since we saw our first UFO Spoilers, but we all know the MVP of the set goes to Call of the Storm. Once I read it, I knew I would be playing Lightning, at least until Seance dropped and went into my Batcave to tinker. As I suspected, the Lightning Deck performed remarkably well, even holding its own against the new Cosmic Flatwoods Loop that had surfaced and taken over the meta. With the deck’s ability to pressure early and control the opponent’s board state with powerful 2-card combos, I was able to secure a couple of Top 8 placings as well as a 2nd Place finish.

This list was my earlier build of the deck, which featured one of my favorite most delinquent combos, Slide-Rock Bolter, Snipe, and Cryptid Nation. Being able to get Slide-Rock out turn 1 with Totality is very close to a win condition and having multiple ways to get it in the Arena and frustrating your opponent was awesome. Now, if you weren’t aware, Cryptid Nation already has an immense amount of synergy in Lightning. However, with the addition of the new ruling behind the Spellbook Promo cards, we get the bonus of playing Wilderness to help play our Growth, Snipe, and Quetz’s as well. This realization also led me to one of my other main deck decisions, Void Spell. A 1-cost negate for the biggest cards in the game? Sign me up. With the assumption I was headed into a Lightning heavy format, I prepared for the mirror matches by making sure I had strong main deck options like Lightning Bolt and Lightning Split. These main deck choices absolutely saved me the first time I bumped into the Flatwoods Loop. Having both Lightning Split and Quetz in hand gives you an immense amount of leverage and makes it hard for them to effectively perform their lock.

Main Deck (40):
x1 Slide-Rock Bolter
x1 Snipe (Wilderness)
x3 Phantom Car
x3 Thunderbird
x4 Quetzalcoatlus
x1 Lightning Storm (Have you seen the Seance Lightning Storm? *chef’s kiss*)
x2 Lightning Bolt
x2 Call of the Storm
x2 Lightning Split
x1 Growth
x2 Void Spell
x2 Bookmark
x1 Powerup Red
x2 First Anniversary Celebration
x1 Wilderness
x1 Cryptid Nation
x8 Lightning Aura
x2 Prism Aura
x1 Totality Aura

So outside of what I explained above, we have your actual bread and butter of the deck. Call of the Storm is UFO’s latest addition to the Lightning arsenal, and it lets you search your Spellbook for any 2 Lightning Beasties with the same name, as long as they are 4-cost and lower, and place them into the Arena awakened. If that wasn’t broken enough, the card also makes it so that Lightning Storm Terra is active for the rest of the turn. Now there is a drawback to the card, at the end of the turn, we do have to say goodbye to one of those 2 Beasties. So we have a great way to push for some huge damage or take down multiple big threats, but we also have another option. If you take a look at Thunderbird, you’ll see that it states, “This card’s name is Quetz at all times,” so that means instead of burning through all of our Quetz with Call of the Storm, we can bring out a Quetz and a Thunderbird and let the Thunderbird take the L at the end of the turn. This also means that with First Anniversary Celebration + Call of the Storm, we have HUGE blowout potential with Thunderbird being able to take advantage of the 25 Damage from FAC, allowing it to secure a kill that will ultimately awaken our Quetz again for another fat 90 damage swing.

The side deck I prepared felt really well-rounded. For Lightning, I sided into 2x Blue Jet Strike. The idea here is to play passively, only committing as needed, playing primarily off of the Phantom Cars, and then punishing your opponent for over-extending with their flyers. If you’re like me and have played against Youth Legend Colin Williams, you are probably traumatized by Gaasyenthia. Knowing evil was lurking, I sided heavily for the match-up with 2x paralyze, 3x devoid potion, and 2x Absorb Aura. Luckily for me, the devoid potions and absorb auras ended up being a phenomenal side into Cosmic Flatwoods Loop. The absorb auras keep the opponent from getting ahead too early and locking you out of your Aura. Once they Contract El Verde Entity and return their Beasties to their hand, you drop the Devoid Potion on them. Now that every page your opponent contracts is considered Neutral Aura type, El Verde can no longer lower their cost, effectively leaving their El Verde stranded in the Arena. Personally, I always keep 3-4x Bubbling Brew in the side. It is a lifesaver against Fearsome Critters but can also wake up sleeping Beasties you control against the Spirit match-up or against people just teching in Morpheus. The last cards in the side are, of course, dedicated to keeping Water at bay (no pun intended) 3x Radioactive hornets puts the pressure on early and can change the tide of the match with some clutch paralyze dice rolls.

I’m looking forward to a few more events before Seance arrives to shake things up, but I hope this was pretty great insight into the deck. I greatly appreciate you all for taking the time to read, and I hope for some solid feedback.

Michael “Bagira” Beaumont
Caster Society Pro Team