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Stitches

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Dragon/Architects deck revolving around the classic combos of Vivisector/Golden Comeback and Proving Ground/Pocket Demon.
By José Garcia

Total cards: 48 Primary role: Dueling Cards by set and rarity (R/U/C) Main Set: 0/13/19 Netherworld: 4/6/6

Foundations: 5 DNA Mage 5 Friends of the Dragon Hitters/Utility Characters: 3 Arcanotechnician 2 Golden Gunman 3 CHAR 2 Ting Ting 5 Vivisector Misc: 2 Imprison 5 Golden Comeback 1 Nerve Gas 5 Pocket Demon Feng Shui: 1 Inner Sanctum 5 Proving Ground 1 Pinball Hall 3 Monkey House

(Description edited from Jose's original post of Stitches on usenet.)

Here's a typical opening:

Let my opponent go first.
Turn 1: Discard aggressively: optimally I want a DNA Mage, a Proving Ground, and a Pocket Demon, but usually I have to settle for 2 out of the 3.
Play Proving Ground and DNA Mage.

End of my opponent's second turn, reveal Proving Ground.

Start of my second turn: play Pocket Demon (chances are my opponent has 2 feng shui sites at the moment), generate 2 power. Turn Proving Ground and pay 2 power to play CHAR.
Kick ass.

Later on...
Attack with CHAR.
Vivisect CHAR after the attack (or if an opponent tries to Imprison him), then I have a series of options:
1: Golden Comeback CHAR, attack and Vivisect him again. Repeat as often as possible (you'd be surprised how often you'll be able to).
2: Play Ting Ting or the Golden Gunman and attack with them. If you have a Golden Comeback in your hand (or in your smoked pile and an unturned Arcanotechnician) then Vivisect and play Golden Comeback (they come back unturned and ready to attack again).

Once Stitches gets rolling, it's a true terror to behold: if played correctly, it can routinely attack 2 or 3 times with heavy hitters (sometimes it's the same heavy hitter over and over again). And no matter how badly I'm being slammed, a Comeback is only a Pocket Demon away (provided that I haven't been recently stripped by an Inauspicious Reburial).

I've often come back from devastating setbacks using this deck, including times when my opponent controled 5 feng shui sites, a number of characters, and I had nothing (no power, no sites, no characters). I've also had some incredible stunning and brutal victories with this deck: last week I went from 1 feng shui site to 6 in a single turn (granted, my opponent was floundering and ineffectual).

General play tips:
Inauspicious Reburial hurts this deck: when playing against the Lotus, Imprison their characters and recycle your Imprisons with Arcanotechnicians. Chances are that you'll be outproducing them in the power department with this deck and you have a good chance of keeping them from accumulating a lot of resources in this fashion. Avoid killing their characters, keep them on the ropes, and don't park your characters in the smoked pile unless you have a Golden Comeback and the power needed to play it on hand. Also, don't attack or intercept with your foundation characters when playing the Lotus: try to keep them in play as long as possible (where their resources are safe).

Avoid playing the Golden Gunman when playing against the Ascended (unless you have an unturned Vivisector handy): if they Shadowy Mentor him you won't be able to get rid of him.

Never play more than 2 sites, burn for victory, use Monkey House to discard the feng shui sites you draw. The exception being where your opponent has no sites for you to take in which case you'll have to play your own. If your opponent controls a Proving Ground, make it your preferred target if possible (as you don't get any power from it using your Pocket Demons).

Don't reveal your Proving Ground at the beginning of the game unless you have a Magic resource in your pool (to avoid getting stuck just in case your opponent steals your power and has a Whirlpool of Blood).

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