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General Hospital


Straight Architect speed deck, using Dangerous Experiment to get out its horde of big hitters.
By Bob Whiteman

Total cards: 58
Primary role: 2- or 3-player
Cards by set and rarity (R/U/C)
Main Set: 14/13/5
Netherworld: 7/3/7
Flashpoint: 2/2/5
Foundations:
5 BuroMil Grunt5 Test Subjects
Hitters/Utility Characters:
5 Sargeant Blightman3 Prototype X
3 CHAR2 Nirmal Yadav
5 Vivisector2 White Ninja (Promo)
Misc:
5 Dangerous Experiment2 Elevator to the Netherworld
3 Reinvigoration Process2 Art Of War
5 Cellular Reinvigoration
Feng Shui:
2 Sacred Heart Hospital2 Fox Pass
2 Festival Circle4 Whirlpool of Blood
1 Fortress of Shadow

Yeah, it's a little light on resource guys for the size of deck, but Vivi's more than make up for it.

When you play a character, don't think of it as just a character. Think of it as an investment. You don't just leave an investment lying around in a mattress, you protect it! So keep that investment in the bank. Keep a Vivi in play. If anything bad happens to that poor Big Guy you can get your four power back. In fact, that's why there's so many characters which cost 4 power to play--you can get the power back from one who's on his way out of this world and replace him immediately.

For instance, you have a Vivi in play and are attacking with Sergeant Blightman. You have a measley 1 power. Someone Neutron Bombs everything into non-existance. So go ahead, get back the 4 power from Sarge by using the Vivi, play a replacement Prototype, use the 1 spare power to play an Elevator to the Netherworld behind him. Now you can thank the guy who played the Neutron Bomb, because he just cleaned out all the blockers!

Another of my favorites is to attack with Sarge when he's got 6 damage on him. Your opponents think, "Why should I throw my characters in front of him when he's just going to die from his self-inflicted damage the next time around?" At this point you can either use your Sacred Heart Hospital to heal Sarge just before he slams into that poor 8 body site, or you can Cellular Reinvigorate him. Either way, the site's yours and your opponents are taken by surprise.

Don't forget that with Vivi's you can unturn a heavy hitter. You attack with your heavy hitter, take a site, vivisect him and play another and attack again that same turn. If you got through the first time, it's very likely you'll get through the second.

Remember that duplicate Unique sites can be a very good thing for you. Let's say you're attacking with Nirmal, who's at just 4 health, and one of your two Sacred Heart Hospitals are already revealed. You attack, someone throws a beefy 6 body blocker in front of Nirmal. You turn your Sacred Heart Hospital, and Whoa! He just canceled it with his Whirlpool of Blood! Okay, reveal your second Sacred Heart Hospital, bid a few, and then heal Nirmal with the new one. Sure, you lost the old Sacred Heart Hospital, but you took out one of his big characters, and maybe had enough left over to take the site.

Using Dangerous Experiments properly is definitely an art form. There's many situations where they can hurt you or help you depending upon subtle timing. Let's say you've got two dead Test Subjects and two in play. Attack with them before you use the DE! If they run into another character and do a point of damage each, they're now safely in your smoked pile. The resources won't go away because your opponent can't toast them when you play the DE. If they decide to toast your only Feng Shui site, play another one and get a point of power!

The mix of Heavy Hitters is critical. Many Sarges because for 4 power they've got the highest fighting available. (Don't worry about his drawback, you'll hardly notice when you're healing him with Sacred Heart Hospital, Cellular Reinvigorating him or Vivisecting him.) Prototype X also has a high fighting for his cost, and though most of the time you'll use the Reinvigoration Processes for Vivi's, they're convenient for Prototype as well. Nirmal's ability isn't too special, but he's another good ratio of cost/fighting. I tried replacing him with Prototypes, but I started getting into Uniqueness problems with too many Prototypes. Last is Char, who's great against damage redirection decks. White Ninja, need I say more?

The defense in this deck is nearly non-existant, but it's there. General Hospital relies on the fact that a very strong offense is the best defense. Festival Circles are good for those pesky Nerve Gasses and Imprisoned's. Fox Passes can make a poor, weak attacker suddenly change course and run into a wall of Prototype. Cellular Reinvigoration is excellent defensively. Someone's attacking with a Shinobu Yashida and a Sun Chen. All you've got is a turned, damaged Sargeant Blightman, but he's in front of your un-revealed Fox Pass. Well, first toss a Cellular Reinvigoration on that Sarge. Delcare him as a blocker for Shinobu, and then Fox Pass Sun Chen to Sarge. Sarge takes a TON of damage, but Shinobu and Sun Chen both take 9 damage as well! If you're lucky enough, you've got a Sacred Heart Hospital in your back row which you can use to save Sarge before he turns into a smear on the table at the end of the turn.

Last thing to say: General Hospital is a very good 2-player deck and an excellent 3-player deck, but in 4-player it rarely wins. This is because it ROARS out of the gates, takes a couple sites and gets you one away from the victory, and then all your opponents gang up on you and beat you into submission. You rarely come up with more than a site or two after that, and if you actually get another heavy hitter to show his ugly face someone will immediately use that Nerve Gas he's been saving up.

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©1997-2000, Tony Hafner