This article covers one of the types of cards in VS System 2PCG. While locations may seem simple and intuitive on the surface, they can have a large effect on a decklist and throughout the course of a game. Thus, this is a primer on how to think through the location choices you make when brewing a new deck or tweaking an existing one.

Locations are used to pay for super powers. This is all they are used for, but this is an important role. As we saw in the Storm: Deck Discussion article, this function can be critical to the strategy of an entire deck. But all decks use super powers, and they are some of the strongest effects in the game.

Another benefit of locations is that they allow you to get value out of your resource row. Any card can be played as a resource in VS System 2PCG, but only locations can still fulfill their original function in addition to being a resource. In this sense, compared to playing a facedown resource, playing a location saves you a card and is a source of advantage in cards in this way. The player who plays more locations will effectively have access to more cards in the course of a game.

So, given the importance of locations, what is the ideal mix and total number when you are building a deck?

The first place to look when deciding your optimal location choices is your main character. Almost all of the time, you want to have four of your Main Character's team location, four of the basic location type used by their level one power, and four of the location used by their level two power (an exception here is perhaps Groot or Dr. Strange.) No matter which support characters you play or draw, your Main Character can use all of these locations, and their super powers should be central to your game plan.

The team location will likely be shared by many support characters in your deck, since this is one of two very strong benefits from playing characters of the same team (the other being team attacking.) Since it is good to play the basic locations your M.C. will use, you can further help your consistency by playing on-team supporting characters which use those same location types, maximizing the chance of getting the right location with the right character.

• To summarize:

• 4 MC Team location
• 4 Level 1 Power basic location
• 4 Level 2 Power basic location
• 12 Total Locations

• Example:

• Professor X MC
• 4 Xaviers School
• 4 Laboratory
• 4 Academy

This outlines what I consider the basic location requirement for a deck, though playing just 12 locations is too few. This leaves a few options to round out your decklist.

1) Play a heavy second team, and play the team location of this second team.

This option is good if you play almost exclusively two teams. If you make your SC choices again to match the basic location types of your main character, then now we have a 16 location deck that is very consistent for getting the proper locations to match the super powers.

2) Play a third type of basic location.

This is another option, and it works well for several types of decks. If you have particularly strong support character(s) you want to play that use different locations from your Main Character, this is the option to go with. This applies to characters such as Adam Warlock, Major Victory, and others. If these share your M.C. team, this is pretty consistent. With Defenders, we see the introduction of MC's with more than two types of location printed on them (Ghost Rider, Kingpin, Luke Cage (effectively)), so for these you definitely want some of the third basic type.

3) Both 1 and 2

If your deck is location hungry, you might want to play some or all of the locations from 1 and 2.

Keep in mind some decks are unique and play differently (Thanos), but this is a good outline for how to think about your location selections. Ideally, a deck should have between 14-20 locations, with 16-18 being the target for the average deck. Too few and you lose out on cards and good super powers, more than 20 and you run short on either plot twists or support characters and risk opening hands with all locations.