[{"text":"Hey everybody, this week we\u2019re bringing you a real diamond in the rough, the lovable shapeshifter Beast Boy. While the Beast Boy from Teen Titans Go is sitting pretty at the top of the standings so far, the Teen Titans original is going through some rough times. Despite his current record, I think that this Beast Boy has the potential to be a strong contender this season, and I\u2019m confident that he can slot into some fun and powerful teams, so let\u2019s get started."},{"header":"beast boy (TT)"},{"image":[{"src":"bea127513beast-bo.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"First, there are some important things to note about Beast Boy\u2019s ability:"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"You are allowed to discard the card no matter what type it is or what is in your discard pile when you use it. If you end up not being able to return a card, that\u2019s fine."},{"caption":"If the card you discarded is now the only card of that type and with cost 6 or less, you must return it to your hand. This is all part of the same ability, so you will not have the chance to do anything with that discarded card, like put it on top of your deck with Deadshot, before it gets returned to you hand."}]},{"text":"Beast Boy\u2019s ability is deceptively powerful. It does not explicitly grant you additional Power or cards, and you don\u2019t usually get to actually return a card with it during the first several turns of the game. Instead, the ability offers you the chance to be flexible around generally powerful cards, and to build your deck around abusing those high-impact cards repeatedly. While you might find yourself favoring one or two types based on the cards you\u2019ve picked up, you\u2019ll be much more free in the early and mid game to pick those types and sculpt your deck accordingly. Beast Boy also helps you transition your early game necessities into late game powerhouses. Didn\u2019t get attacked last turn? Upgrade the Katana you didn\u2019t use into a Raven."},{"double":[{"src":"kat98891katana.jpg"},{"src":"rav110837raven.jpg"}]},{"text":"Bought an Nth Metal for some early game destruction and now it\u2019s slowing you down? Trade it in once you pick up some more powerful equipment, such as a Green Lantern Power Battery."},{"double":[{"src":"nth750242nth-meta.jpg"},{"src":"r02543704r02-gree.jpg"}]},{"text":"See your Heat Vision in the first hand after a reshuffle? Now you can treat one Super Power in all your future hands as a Heat Vision until you have to shuffle."},{"double":[{"src":"kic966599kick.jpg"},{"src":"hea977232heat-vis.jpg"}]},{"text":"There are as many possibilities as Shapeshift has names, and there are a few decent teams that leverage this:"},{"header":"Arsenal (crisis 4)"},{"image":[{"src":"ars757308arsenal-.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Beast Boy and Arsenal have been a bread and butter combination since Arsenal got lowered to Tier 2. As mentioned before, you are allowed to discard a Starter to Beast Boy\u2019s ability even though there will not be a card you can get back into your hand. But that\u2019s fine, because we want to keep that Starter in the in the discard so that Arsenal can work his magic every turn. The team is traditionally topped off with a late game character such as Orion, who becomes much more reliable once your deck is rid of Starters."},{"header":"orion (crossover 7)"},{"image":[{"src":"ori3123orion-ng.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Beast Boy works nicely with both MCs, cancelling the downside of Arsenal being forced to buy cheap cards by letting you trade them in for more expensive ones later, and giving you a way to see more powerful cards in a single turn to trigger Orion more often. While the Arsenal + Beast Boy shell helps accelerate the Orion clock, it is still relatively slow, so you\u2019ll need to be wary of your opponents playing fast teams to try and blitz past you. Your success is also strongly tied to your early game buys. If you pass up on Arsenal triggers for generally more powerful cards, you\u2019ll fall behind even some slow teams, as most of your MCs will be doing nothing despite the card you picked up. And some games will have worse cheapest cards in the lineup than others, so you may not end up triggering Orion for quite a while. If you can get a read that it\u2019s going to be a slow game though, it will be your game to win.<br>"},{"header":"deadshot (crisis 3)"},{"image":[{"src":"dea630570deadshot.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"While this team hasn\u2019t seen quite as much success, Deadshot is another partner who can make consistent use of Beast Boy\u2019s ability. The pair can do a half-hearted Aquaman impression, discarding a Starter after you buy a 5 or less cost card to stack it on top of your deck. The team also has some unique, albeit annoying, interactions with most defenses. If you are not attacked during your turn and had a Defense with cost 5 or less, and you have another card of the same type that you can get back with Beast Boy, you can swap the Defense for the other card, then stack the defense so you have it again for the next round, and you can rinse and repeat until you shuffle. Even if you have to use and discard the defense, Deadshot can stack it on other players\u2019 turns too. A lot of times, though, Deadshot only triggering from Beast Boy is not quite good enough, especially with no easy choice of a third Tier 2 MC now that Donna has been raised. You want to try and end up with Deadshot at a table with multiple discard effects going on, such as Chameleon Boy or Batgirl, so you can really make the most out of the engine and see 3-4 cards very consistently.<br>"},{"header":"Doctor fate (crossover 1)"},{"image":[{"src":"doc524124doctor-f.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"While admittedly not as powerful as the other two MC pairings, Beast Boy + Doctor Fate is another late game team that, while the setup is not as easy as Arsenal or Deadshot might make it, makes use of Beast Boy in a unique way that lines up perfectly with Doctor Fate\u2019s needs. The concept is very simple too. Doctor Fate doesn\u2019t care about the types of cards you\u2019ve purchased, only their costs. One of the worst problems you can run into as Doctor Fate is having a hand full of 3s into a hand full of 4s, and not getting any bonuses from them. Beast Boy, types permitting, lets you play with the costs of cards in your hand and line up your Fate triggers. The team is terribly slow, though, with no way to generate extra power or draw extra cards early, and Beast Boy is still at the mercy of the lineup giving him cards of the same type and different costs, so keep that in mind before you take a chance on Fate.<br>"},{"header":"conclusion"},{"text":"Here\u2019s to hoping that Beast Boy sees some more play in the upcoming months and picks up a few more wins, maybe with one of these teams, or maybe with some new ones. He\u2019s all-in-all a refreshing MC with a lot of potential for strong performances, and is fun to play.<br>"}]