The great game of UFS has so many cards in it that deck building can sometimes be really hard. Especially when you want to try something new and really anti-meta. The slots in your deck are so hard to trim and cut to fit in new cards or add in a new style. This is the hardest thing I face, and most of us probably, with deck building. With that said trying new cards that are powerful and different from the "staples" can be a great skill to have with your deck building and can really throw other opponents off guard. I for one will never forget the first time I Dark Hearted a Promo Alex after he formed to draw. The look on my opponents face was more priceless than a credit card commercial.

First up we have one of my personal favorites that is mainly considered sideboard at best by most players, Dodge Step. It is 1 dif 4 check action card with air, all and fire.

This card is first of all amazing hate on random discard. IT reads: If this card is discarded due to your opponent's card effect, commit X cards in your opponents staging area. X equals your opp's hand size!! This gives you a huge advantage as their turn is pretty much over after that. They might be able to spam a few foundations at most.

The second ability of this card is where it's at for me. How would you like to have another broken leg or rejection in your deck? I know I sure as heck do and this cards R does that for you in a limited but great fashion. It also has desperation 0. It says R: After you partially block an attack, that attack deals no damage and you draw 1 card. So you off center block that chain throw that's been hammered and you take 0 and get a free card out of it. This is a card that gets you a card back to hand and lets you take no damage off the games best attack. This card is so great against throws or bitter rivals zone changing.

This card helps so much against Zhao Daiyu, promo Ukyo, promo Cassandra, Bitter Rivals and Awakening as well as another discard card that is random. Punishing Awakening sounds amazing in my book, as well as the three characters mentioned.

Please people start finding room for this amazing card today.

Second up is Nefarious Deeds, it seems deceptively simple in nature, but once you really think about all the amazingly stupid things you can with this card you will see what I mean when I say this card needs to be played more. It reads E Commit 1 foundation: Ready any card.

So lets name off some cards you would love to ready off it's symbols; evil, fire and water. How about Zhao Daiyu, your one Higher Caliber that somehow got committed, your character like Promo Elena, Promo Alex(barf!!), Fight or Flight, Unrequited Love, Red Gi(rem when this was non unique?) battle disc, etc. This card opens up so many possibilities for defensive and offensive purposes. Readying your key card in your staging area after use is so good to be able to do. Not to mention it also shares symbols with megalomania and manifest destiny, some of the best commit effects in the game for evil/fire characters. Do you want to see this in Zhao Daiyu or promo Alex or Elena, I don't think SO!! 

Next up we have Fatal Disruptor. It is a 4 difficulty 3 check attack, with a plus 2 high block and all, chaos and order. It first off all has the amazing static text of If this card blocks an attack with Multiple, all of that card's Multiple copies are discarded.

Notice how popular promo Talim is lately?? Static abilities are uber powerful in this game and this is one of the best given the current meta. This card is largely considered side board material, but I think mainting at least 2 or 3 gives you a shot at a big tournament when you run into Talim, or a deck running Seichu Nidan Tsuki or the newly popular Feline Spike(if you can negate it's enhance). Having main deck answers to these powerful game winning cards will give you a big advantage over the competition. This card also has an amazing enhance on it as well. E: If this attack deals damage, add 1 card from your momentum to your hand. Before you clear your card pool this End Phase, discard this card from your card pool. So you can recur an attack or whatever you need out of momentum if this attack deals damage. That puts some pressure on your opponent to block this attack wouldn't you say? 

This card gives great defensive presence for your deck against multiples and also gives you recursion and cheap difficulty four damage attack with a great block. Plus it checks a 3! Note: Other cards that hate on multiples are ichi no taich, mark of the beast(which has an awesome damage pump) and other assorted cards.

Lastly we have a little personal favorite of mine and one that only shined briefly in block one before rotation with order and law. Dark Heart, one of the craziest combo cards ever.

Dark Heart says basically cancel your opponent drawing or adding any number of cards to their hand during the combat phase, they do not draw or add any cards to hand. You instead add x attacks from your discard pile to your hand. X equals the number or cards your opponent would of drawn or added.

This is one of the best tutor from discard pile cards in the game. It's only 1 dif and checks a 4. Has all, good and order on it. Good is the lackluster symbol on it but all and order really shine. Those two symbols give this card so many possibilities.

Blood runs true and this card combo to make your opponent check a 0, get no cards and you get one card from top of deck and one from discard pile. TALK ABOUT GOOD!!

Other cards that shine with this are Son of a Tycoon, A year's Difference, Vast resources. It can also kill your opponents mil rank, dons' right hand man, Getting an Education, tag along and rat chaser or any card they have that lets them add attacks back to hand/draw cards etc. This card also kills promo Alex's Form, I know we all would like to stop that game winning ability when playing him. ^_^

This card is amazing, it needs to be played more. It has so much potential off all and order.  I mean with vast resources and you get one card while they get nothing, same thing with son of a tycoon. Dark Heart has given me the attack I need to win so many times in games. It can get any attack without a block which is something even the great Military Rank cannot do.

So in conclusion I just wanted to say, look for more cards than just what people post in deck building forums and what you hear other people are running. Get creative and amazing things can happen!! I promise you if you try new things you'll not only have creative and fun decks, but ones other people are not as prepared for. Beacuase you will be playing new cards people aren't as familiar with, this gives your opponents more of a chance to make a mistake and give you the advantage! There is nothing like having your opponent say "What does this card do?" and then you proceed to win the game or gain the upper hand.

Feel free to contact me on fantasyflightgames.com/ufs/forums as ScottGaines or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thanks for reading,
Scott Gaines