The Modern Ex-Commando
By Michael Stadermann
Ex-Commando
Dangerous Vet
Cost: Dra Dra 3
Generates: Dra
Fighting: 3
Ex-Commando unturns when a Weapon or State is played on him.
This week, we’ll take a look at a good old friend and see how his work environment changed over the years. Instead of trying to provide a complete overview, I will provide a more in-depth view for a specific deck type and explain which cards fit into it well and which ones are less useful.
The Ex-Commando has been around for a long, long time. In fact, he’s been with Shadowfist longer than I have. I guess everybody who plays Dragons has played him at some point, found that he fit into a very state-heavy deck that rocked every once in a while, but mostly sucked, and put him back into the binder. The Ex-Commando’s job wasn’t easy when he came out. There was really only one free state that unturned him, Both Guns Blazing (BGB), and it was that same state that was necessary to pump his fighting. Unpumped, the Commando is a fragile little thing that can dish out a lot of damage, but can get eaten easily by interceptors. So you had to find those Both Guns in your deck to make it work alright, and maybe toss in a few Slo-Mo Vengeance for those rare cases where Both Guns get smoked and the Commando doesn’t to make the combo a bit more robust. Even if you did all that, you still have a very elementary problem: you have a deck full of states that all cost power, and you are very likely to stall because you’re sitting on a handful of guns.
Today, there are free weapon states. Lots of them. You can build an entire Commando deck and not put in a single weapon with a cost greater than 0. There are also two more pump cards, both of which are better than BGB, because they count cards in your smoked pile. You can work towards pumping those cards during the entire game, and your effort cannot be ruined with a single Nerve Gas. Those two cards, of course, are Battlematic and Spirit of the Gun. The latter only triggers off of Gun states, which still all cost power (except for We Need Bigger Guns), but the former triggers off of all those free weapon states, making it the pump card of choice. Between providing Tech readily and having the awesome Battlematic, the Jammers look like the combo faction of choice when building a modern Ex-Commando deck.
So, let’s look at some of our deck choices. We want free weapons, so that we can unturn the Commando without paying, and we want a pump state to give him the fighting he needs to be dangerous. We also want a way of getting quickly to the states we want, and a hand size increase so that our friend can unturn many, many times a turn. I’ll go over each element in detail.
Free Weapons
As of SSG, there is a whole slew of free weapons that either require Tech, Jam, or nothing: “We need bigger Guns:, Shurikens. Electro-Gauntlet, Tesla Lightning Blaster, and the fantastic BoBo Splitter. “WNBG” is probably least useful state for this deck; all we gain is +1 damage. Shurikens are good, because they can remove interceptors and cost no resources; you can drop them on a character as soon as you play one, and they will never clog your hand. Electro-Gauntlet is likewise good: a single Tech resource give you a +1, potentially higher, damage bonus until end of turn, but this isn’t a state you’ll want many of, since it’s only marginally better than “WNBG”. Tesla Lightning Blaster costs two Tech resources, but is worth it. The card may not look like much at first read, but it provides an excellent deterrent against interceptors or potential attackers. An unturned Tesla Lighting Blaster backed up with a power always presents a significant threat, and can easily make opponents with Superleapers or Stealthy characters look for easier targets.
The BoBo Splitter, finally, is a 5-of state in the Commando deck. Once he’s sitting in the Battlematic, your character is unaffected by the Splitter, and it can easily be sacked to pump the Battlematic or inflict damage. But it gets better yet: the Splitter can provide perpetual unturning, provided you have the power. You can reload the Splitter either before your turn to draw it, or reload it during your turn and draw it with cards like The Bazaar, Coral Reef, or Bountiful Fields.
While we’re looking at states, there are a few non-free states to consider: Sonic Reducer, Single-Action Devolver, and Fastest Gun in the West. All of these cards enhance the punch-through of your Commando or other Battlematic-driver. The Reducer, combined with the Lighting Blaster, can take down an 8-fighting character before you even touch it, once per turn and for 1 power. The Single-Action Devolver can take down even bigger interceptors, but it will typically do so only once. The Fastest Gun in the West, finally, is a 1-of per deck. It is a very good late game card, when your Battlematics are enormous, as you can pretty much ignore interceptors, and it will also unturn the Commando. Toss some Outlaw Bikers in the deck, and you can get even more mileage out of the card.
Card Draw
As mentioned earlier, you’ll want some means to cycle states into your smoked pile fast to get big Battlematics, and then want to continue drawing lots of states to unturn the Commando, which means you’ll always want a good-sized hand. Besides the usual suspects, like Art of War or Temple of the Celestial Mercy, there are some other cards to consider: Coral Reef, Bountiful Fields, The Bazaar, and Waterfall Sanctuary (yes, you heard correctly). Bountiful Fields is a no-brainer: play a state, draw a state. Likewise the Bazaar.
Coral Reef is a card you’ll find very useful, since it’ll allow you to cycle faster through your deck. Since you will likely have a whole bunch of states in the deck (20-25 or so), you need to add a whole slew of Feng Shui Sites and foundation characters, both things that you won’t need later on. Coral Reef will allow you to discard these quickly so that you can get to the good stuff.
Finally, the Waterfall Sanctuary. If you smoke your own states with it, you get to draw a card. It also provides protection against the opponents’ states. Yes, it can hose you if it gets seized, so play it in the back row and only when you’re in a strong position. All of the above sites will also let you draw a reloaded BoBo Splitter during your turn, making them doubly valuable.
Another card you’ll want for card finding/deck thinning is the Jack-of-all-Trades. He will make your life a lot easier when looking for those Battlematics and pumping them up, so put 3-4 in your deck.
Support Cards
This category contains cards that either have good synergy with the above-mentioned combos, or generally support them. Two cards that go in immediately are “Who’s the Monkey Now?” and “Is that all you got?” for event defense and recycling of Commandos. Festival Circle will stop the events that don’t smoke you but still hurt, like Larcenous Mist or Op Killdeer. Outlaw Bikers are great for the Battlematic deck, since they give you recursion for your Battlematic.
Toss them all together, and you get a very strong Ex-Commando deck. Sure, a pure Jam Battlematic deck may be more reliable without the Dra, but cannot make up for the sheer power that the Commando adds. The free states make the Commando a force to be reckoned with even when you have no power. Opponents may hold back blockers that are smaller than the Commando, because you can potentially unturn at any point during your attack and heal, as often as you have cards in hand.
The combination of states in the deck may make the opponent think twice before blocking with any character, in fact, as long as you have power, especially if they are familiar with the deck. If you get knocked out of the game, you can jump-start your deck again with 2 power (one for ITAYG on Commando, the other one for a Battlematic), and maybe even win when you start your turn with no sites in play. The deck can easily take 3 sites a turn.
Finally, don’t be afraid to make this deck big. Put in lots of states. Just be certain to add enough FSS and foundation. My version of the deck runs smoothly even with Gatling draws, and it has more than 90 cards.
I hope I was able to convince you that the Ex-Commando is still a very worthwhile card, now stronger than ever. Just be certain to not play this kind of deck to often, or people will start beating you down as soon as they see Dra and Jam resources.
5 Battle-Matic
3 Tesla Lightning Blaster
5 BoBo Splitter
2 Electro-Gauntlet
2 Sonic Reducer
2 Single-Action Devolvers
4 Shuriken
1 Fastest Gun
4 Ex-Commando
2 Buffalo Soldier
3 Outlaw Bikers
5 Student of the Dragon
5 Mad Scientist
5 Hacker
5 Marmojet
4 Jack of All Trades
2 Art of War
2 Payback Time
4 Who's the Monkey Now?
3 Scrounging
4 "Is That All You Got?"
2 Blow Things Up!
2 Final Brawl
1 Temple of Celestial Mercy
1 Temple of the Angry Spirits
4 Coral Reef
2 Nine Dragon Temple
1 Monkey House
3 City Park
1 Petroglyphs
1 Whirlpool of Blood Alt Art
2 Festival Circle
1 Turtle Beach
2 Waterfall Sanctuary