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[Hogtrail]

Superstar Strategy Session: Tommaso Ciampa

It's been a while! What better way to return than with new V10 #Spoilers

My goal is to spotlight and break down different superstars by going in depth on their cards, referenced cards, and different types of builds for them.

EricRD is allowing me to spoil Tommaso Ciampa for all of you, and give you a few ideas!

Let's get started.

PART ONE
Let's take a look at his specifics:

CIAMPA
Starting Hand Size: 7 Superstar Value: 3
NXT Superstar Ability: Once each turn whenever you overturn a Face or Heel card for your Superstar-specific effect, or when you successfully play a non-Backlash Face or Heel card and damage has been applied, you may remove that card from the game. Once each turn, when you remove your Face or Heel card from the game with a Superstar-specific effect, your opponent looks at the top 3 cards of his Arsenal, removes 2 from the game and shuffles.

There's a lot unpack here. Firstly, a 7 hand size and 3 value are pretty good starting stats. Combine that with Ciampa being an NXT superstar, and he can really have a nice big opening hand, which is always good.

As for the ability, oh man, is it DISRUPTIVE. Any opponent not prepared to deal with removed from game (RFG) cards is in for a bad day.

How it works: There are two different ways to activate his ability. Overturning a Face/Heel card with a specific effect (more on that in a minute), OR successfully playing a Face/Heel card and damage has been applied.

So, I play a Face/Heel card, such as Spit at Opponent:

Spit at Opponent
Action: Heel
Can only be played when you have 2 or more cards in your hand.
Discard 1 card and then your opponent discards 4 cards.
F: 4 D: 0

So, Ciampa plays Spit at Opponent and it's successful, Ciampa discards 1, opponent discards 4. THEN Ciampa may remove Spit at Opponent from the game and then opponent looks at the top 3 cards of his arsenal and removes 2 of them from the game.

That's a lot of good from just playing 1 card!

But wait, there's more!

The Sicilian Psychopath
Backstage Area
When you remove your card from the game for your Superstar Ability, you may put that card under this card, discard 1 card and then your opponent reveals 2 random cards in his hand.
Once during each of your turns you may put 1 of your face or heel cards removed from the game under this card, and then put 1 card in your ringside on the bottom of your arsenal.
When you have 10+ cards under this card, +1 to all numbers in your Superstar Ability.
Unique RMS logo

I love this card. It gives you an extra effect when you use your ability. Let's go back to the spit at opponent example:

Ciampa plays Spit at Opponent and it's successful, Ciampa discards 1, opponent discards 4. Then Ciampa may remove Spit at Opponent from the game and then opponent looks at the top 3 cards of his arsenal and removes 2 of them from the game. THEN you may put the removed Spit at Opponent under the backstage area card, discard 1 card, and opponent reveals 2 random cards in his hand.

(I have a feeling we'll be adding a few more sentences to this example)

The additional effect of this Backstage card allows you to put a RFG Face/Heel card under is and then recover a card (which is a really underrated effect)

And if you have 10+ cards under it, the numbers in your ability are increased by 1. To be honest, this effect may not happen too often, but if it does – it's absolutely crippling to your opponent.

Moving on:

Psycho Killer
Pre-match Event
Before the draw segment of your first turn of the game look at the top 6 cards of your Arsenal, put them on the top/bottom in any order and overturn 1 card.
ACE: Once during each of your turns, you may look at the top 5 cards of your Arsenal and then put them at the top and/or bottom in any order, and then overturn 1 card.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique Permanent

This card allows you to manipulate the top of your arsenal for the entire game, while also giving you a chance to use your Superstar Ability (if you overturn a Face/Heel card). This is a great card for Ciampa to use every turn.

No One Will Survive
Mid-Match Action + Action
If this card is unsuccessful, look at your opponent's hand, choose 2 cards and he discards them.
Overturn 2 cards and put 2 cards from your Ringside on the bottom of your Arsenal.
When this card is in your Ring and he reveals cards for The Sicilian Psychopath, he discards one of those cards and you may put 1 card in your Ringside on the bottom of your Arsenal.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique Multi

This card is really good. If unsuccessful you get to rip 2 cards from your opponent's hand.

If successful, you get to overturn 2 (possibly remove 1 of them for your ability), and then recover 2.

And if it's in your ring, you get a VERY useful addition to your already impressive chain of effects. So let's go back to our Spit example:

Ciampa plays Spit at Opponent and it's successful, Ciampa discards 1, opponent discards 4. Then Ciampa may remove Spit at Opponent from the game and then opponent looks at the top 3 cards of his arsenal and removes 2 of them from the game. THEN you may put the removed Spit at Opponent under the backstage area card, discard 1 card, and opponent reveals 2 random cards in his hand AND THEN discards 1 of them.

If I was playing against Ciampa, I would really try to reverse No One Will Survive. It hurts immediately, but will save you a lot of hassle in the long run.

Let's get to the arsenal cards:

Fairytale Ending
Trademark Finisher / Reversal: Special
As a maneuver when successfully played, Promo: 4, put 1 card at the top of your arsenal and the rest at the bottom of your arsenal. Overturn 1 card. You may repeat this up to 2 more times.
As a reversal, when played from hand, reverse any Strike or non-maneuver card.
When this card is in your Ring, when you overturn for any non-damage card effects, you may instead put them at the bottom of your arsenal.
F:35 D:25 SV: 3 Unique

This is a big ol' trademark finisher. 35F is a steep price, but the effects are well worth it. As a maneuver, you get to add up to 3 cards to your hand, and it also gives you a chance to use your ability.

As a reversal, reverses strikes OR non-maneuver cards. That's a whole lot of good!

And if it's overturned, it gets put on the bottom instead. Very, very good card.

Project Ciampa
Grapple
When you have face cards in your ringside, this card is Chain.
When you have heel cards in your ringside, this card is multi.
When you do not have any face or heel cards in your ringside, this card is a Trademark Finisher
F:15 D:15 SV: 3 Unique

This card has a shape-shifting quality to it. If you are a face build, this will likely be Chain. If you are Heel it will likely be Multi. And if you have neither of those in your ringside (which is very possible for Ciampa), this card is instead a TMF. I really like this card. And 3 Stun Value never hurts.

Sicilian Barrage
Strike + Strike
Cannot be reversed by D:2+ reversals.
When successfully played, you may put 1 card from your ringside on top your Arsenal and overturn 1 card.
When successfully played and it is not reversed from arsenal, you may overturn 1 card and put this back in hand. You cannot play this card for the rest of your turn.
F:12 D: 8 Unique

This is my favorite Ciampa arsenal card. It's difficult to reverse, allows you to trigger your ability, and has the potential to put itself back into your hand. In playtesting, this was the was I defeated most of my opponents.

This Is MY Moment!
Reversal: Card
Look at the top 5 cards of your Arsenal and put them at the top and/or bottom in any order.
Overturn 1 card.
When this card is in your Ring, whenever you overturn a card for a non-damage effect, you may discard 2 cards. If you do, the overturned card is considered to be face/heel for your ability, but it is blank.
When this card reverses from Arsenal, put in Ring instead.
F:12 D:0 Unique Permanent

Any Reversal: Card is good in my book. It's even better when it helps you trigger your ability. This card lets you use your ability regardless of what card was overturned – at the cost of discarding 2. This can be quite useful, especially in late game scenarios.

That's it for Ciampa's Specifics. I think they are all very good, and as I said early, very disruptive.

PART TWO
Non-Specific cards that could be helpful for Ciampa

Ciampa is an NXT Superstar, so he is able to pack a bunch of good cards, such as:

NXT Arrival
Pre-match Pay-Per-View Event
Can only be packed by an NXT Superstar. Cannot be packed when packing a Pro or Nexus Armband.
When your opponent successfully plays a maneuver and damage is applied, you may put any number of cards in your Ringside overturned for damage under this card.
When you play a maneuver as a Counter, it is -1F for each card under this card, and when it is successful, put up to 3 random cards under this card on the bottom of your Arsenal and the remaining cards under this card into your Ringside.
ACE: During your turn you may remove this card from the game, and then shuffle up to 5 cards from your Ringside into your Arsenal.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique Permanent NXT logo

Corey Graves: Savior of Misbehavior
Pre-match Event
Cannot be blanked.
This card and your NXT Arrival do not take up a Pre-match slot in your Ring, and your The NXT Generation cannot be reversed from hand.
When you would move cards from under NXT Arrival, you may put 1 card from under that card on the bottom of your Arsenal.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique Permanent NXT logo

NXT Championship Title Belt
Pre-match Object
Your Starting Hand Size is +1.
When you are Seth Rollins, Big E, or an NXT Superstar, and your opponent is not one of those, your Superstar Value is considered to be 0 for your card effects.
Superstar Value +1 Universally Unique

From NXT to WWE
Pre-match Event
Can only be packed by an NXT Superstar. Cannot be blanked.
This card and Underrated Superstar do not take up a Pre-match slot in your Ring.
When you draw for your Ability, draw up to 1 additional card, and when you move cards into your Arsenal for your Ability, move up to 1 additional card.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique Permanent

The NXT Generation
Action + Action
Shuffle up to 4 non-reversal cards from your Ringside into your Arsenal, draw up to 1 card, and when your opponent is a Legend or Classic WWF Superstar, he puts 1 card from hand on the bottom of his Arsenal.
When you are an NXT Superstar, double those numbers.
F: 12 D: 0 Unique Multi NXT logo

Youthful Agility
Action / Reversal: Special
Can only be packed by an NXT Superstar.
When you are Justin Gabriel or Michael Tarver, this card is F: 0.
As an action, shuffle up to 3 cards from your Ringside into your Arsenal.
As a reversal, reverse any Strike, Grapple, or Submission and draw up to 1 card.
F: 8 D: 0 Unique

These are all good cards. However, there are two NXT cards I want to share with you now that I feel are must packs for Ciampa. First:

The NXT Breakout Star
Backstage Card
Can only be packed by an NXT Superstar.
This card is considered Superstar-specific.
Do not discard for Armageddon Is Upon Us.
Once during each of your turns, you may overturn 4 cards and then draw 1 card; when you have lower Fortitude, overturn 2 less cards.
Unique RMS logo

"This card is considered Superstar-specific." This means that anytime Ciampa overturns a Face/Heel card with this effect, he can trigger his ability. That's HUGE. And it allows you to keep your hand up so you can get the full effect of No One Will Survive.

Second:

The NXT Arena, Full Sail University
Pre-match Venue
Can only be packed by an NXT Superstar. Cannot be packed when packing a Pro, The Nexus Armband, or From NXT to WWE.
Cannot be blanked and can be played when your opponent has a Venue in his Ring.
You can play The NXT Generation regardless of your Fortitude Rating, and when it is in your Ring, you may shuffle it into your Arsenal when you successfully play a Superstar-specific NXT card.
Your NXT cards are -1F for every card in your Ring with 'fans' or 'crowd' in the title, and during any turn when you successfully play a Face, Heel, Cheater, or Fan Favorite card you may Promo: 2.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique Permanent NXT logo

Not only does this let you use NXT Generation over and over, but the Promo effect is tailor made for Ciampa. Let's see how this card effects our Spit At Opponent theory:

Ciampa plays Spit at Opponent and it's successful, Ciampa Promos: 2, Ciampa discards 1, opponent discards 4. Then Ciampa may remove Spit at Opponent from the game and then opponent looks at the top 3 cards of his arsenal and removes 2 of them from the game. THEN you may put the removed Spit at Opponent under the backstage area card, discard 1 card, and opponent reveals 2 random cards in his hand AND THEN discards 1 of them.

Moving on from NXT cards, Here are some non-staple Face/Heel cards that I find particularly useful for Ciampa (I feel like if you're heel, you're going to be packing Manager Interferes anyway, so I won't discuss cards like that)

Now the key to remember with these cards is how they interact with ALL of the other cards/effects i've showed you so far. Use the Spit at Opponent theory as a guide.

HEEL:

Handcuffed
Strike: Foreign Object: Heel
Your opponent cannot play the card titled Over Sell Maneuver immediately after you play this card.
When reversed from your opponent's hand, he discards 2 cards.
When successfully played, draw up to 3 cards.
When this card is in your Ring area, your opponent discards 1 card when he plays a Face card.
F: 0 D: 0

It Pays to be Evil
Action: Heel
When this card is in your Ring area, your cards titled Distract the Ref, View of Villainy, Deluding Yourself, Bait Opponent, Drawing Extra Heat, Giving Away the Business, and Remove Corner Turnbuckle read as F: 0 and cannot be reversed.
Permanent
F: 0 D: 0

Drawing Extra Heat
Action: Heel
Draw 1 card and then your opponent discards 1 card and overturns 2 cards.
Throwback
F: 0 D: 0

Deluding Yourself
Action: Heel
Draw 4 cards.
At end of turn, discard your hand.
F: 8 D: 0

Perplex Opponent
Action: Heel
Your opponent reveals the top 6 cards of his Arsenal, puts 1 of those cards into his hand, and puts the rest into his Ringside pile.
F: 6 D: 0

Daddy's Little Girl
Action: Heel
Cannot be played against Triple H, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, or Vince McMahon.
Opponent overturns cards from his Arsenal into his Ringside pile equal to the total number of Face cards he has in his Ring area plus his total Superstar Value.
F: 4 D: 0

Backed by Eric Bischoff
Action: Heel
Remove cards in your opponent's Ringside pile from the game equal to his Superstar Value plus the number of Face cards and Fan Favorite cards in his Ring area and then shuffle 1 of your cards that has been removed from the game into your Arsenal.
Raw logo
F: 7 D: 0

FACE:

Good Things Sometimes Happen
Action: Face
When this card is in your Ring area, your cards titled Flash in the Pan, Pat & Gerry, Call to the Crowd, Referee Finally Catches Something, Seeing Stars, Give It All I Got, and Let's Pick Up the Pace read as F: 0 and cannot be reversed.
Permanent
F: 0 D: 0

Who Booked This Match?
Action: Face
Draw 2 cards or your opponent discards 2 cards.
Throwback
F: 2 D: 0

Reach for the Ropes
Reversal: Submission: Face
Reverse any Submission maneuver (including the card titled Clutch Onto Opponent) and end your opponent's turn. You may draw 1 card.
"He broke another hold!" ... "But in even more style!" - Michael Cole & Tazz
F: 0 D: 0

Offer Handshake (SS2)
Action: Face
Draw up to 4 cards and then your opponent may draw 1 card.
Throwback
F: 4 D: 0

Enough With the Trash Talk (V2)
Action / Reversal: Special: Face
As an action, remove up to 2 cards in your opponent's Ringside pile from the game.
As a reversal, this card is -8F, reverse any card that would allow your opponent to draw any number of cards or search his Arsenal for any number of cards and end his turn.
Throwback
F: 8 D: 0

Divas! Divas! Divas!
Action: Face
Cannot be reversed when your opponent is a Female Superstar.
Look at your opponent's hand, choose 1 card, and he discards the chosen card.
Unique
F: 5 D: 0

All of the above examples examples are worth packing depending on your build.

I'm going to point out 3 Pre-Match cards right now that I feel are very useful for Ciampa:

The Abraham Washington Show
Pre-match Event
Cannot be packed by The Heat Seekers.
When you are an Extremist, this card does not take up a Pre-match slot in your Ring and your opponent's Starting Hand Size is -1.
At the end of the Pre-match phase, search your Arsenal for 1 Heel Action, reveal it, put it in your hand, and shuffle.
The first Heel Action played on each of your turns is Multi when you do not have a card with that title in your Ring, and ignore "completely" on his reversal cards played to it.
His Once is Enough cards are +10F for each copy in his Ring.
F: 0 D: 0 Unique

This card can let Ciampa keep throwing multi Heel cards as long as he keeps removing them from his ring for his ability.

Buried Alive Match
Pre-match Stipulation
Any player that has at least 5 fewer cards in his hand than his opponent, 10 or more Fortitude less than him, and 20 or more cards removed from the game than him loses the game by Pinfall Victory.
Active
Permanent
F: 0 D: 0

All of the criteria to meet this pin condition are very plausible with Ciampa. Sure, this card is very gimmicky, but Ciampa can make it work. Especially if he pairs it with this:

Lethal nWo Poison
Pre-match Event: Heel
Can only be played if a card in your Ring area or your Superstar card has the "nWo" logo.
Before your Draw Segment, your opponent must remove 2 cards in his Ringside pile from the game.
If you end your turn without attempting to play a Maneuver card, you must put this card into your Ringside pile.
If your opponent removes this card from your Ring area, he must discard 3 cards.
nWo logo
Active
F: 0 D: 0

This requires you to be Heel and have an NWO card in your ring (Which I'm more than hapy to accommodate). With this card, Ciampa's opponent could be removing up to 4 cards from the game PER TURN.

ONE MORE THING....

I would like to remind the reader that if you remove your Face/Heel card from the game, any lingering effects those cards have are taken away. A card like this for example:

You Feeling Lucky?
Action + Action: Face
Your opponent names Strike, Grapple, or Submission.
When your next card played this turn is a maneuver not of the named type, if he reverses it from his hand or Backlash deck, discard 2 cards and he discards his hand.
Throwback
Multi
F: 0      D: 0

You will not recieve the benefit of it if you do decide to remove this card from the game with your ability. Just wanted to remind you.

PART THREE
Specific Build Types

Other than wanting to load up with Face or Heel Cards, Ciampa is pretty open as to what kind of build he could be. I'll be brief with my examples:

First Build Type: Volley

Any time I see a superstar that can manipulate RFG cards, or makes opponent remove cards from the game, I initially think Volley. Volley maneuvers tend to have very generous damage totals, and your opponent isn't going to want to use the volley trait because he is already removing a bunch of cards each turn any way. Plus Volley also is loaded with stun value, which can really help keep your hand size up.

Second Build Type: Chain

While Ciampa is going to be removing all of his opponent's cards from the game, he can also just as easily destroy their hand. That's where Chain comes in. If opponent has no hand, then they cannot reverse your chain cards too easily. The problem is that chain maneuvers are often low damage, but even low damage maneuvers are good if opponent cannot stop them.

Third Build Type: Reversal Restrictions

This is pretty self explanatory. Ciampa is someone that can afford to pack fewer maneuvers than a normal superstar would, because of his abiity to strip away his opponent's arsenal. So when he does play a maneuver, he wants to be pretty sure that it will hit. That's why cards like German Suplex, Shoot Lock-Up, and Boot Lace can be very effective with him.

Fourth Build Type: Overturning

With Ciampa's superstar ability stripping opponent of arsenal cards, Adding a bit of overturn could really speed the game up. Cards like No Way Out, Dirty Taker, and even the non-throwback Inferno Match could be useful. Only be careful you don't overturn too many of your own cards in the process.

PART FOUR
In conclusion:

I think Ciampa has potential to be in the elite class of Raw Deal Superstars. His ability is so disruptive, that it may force people to pack certain cards like Kristal: Broadcast Beauty and Technical Bear Hug just to try and combat the number of cards that get RFG. Ciampa also has the advantage of not needing to rely on many maneuvers to try and finish off his opponent.

I'm really looking forward to see how he impacts this game.

Thank you for reading this article. I'm going to try and do these more often, schedule permitting.

I hope you enjoyed the return of the Superstar Strategy Sessions, and I hope you enjoy V10!

[Keith0913832]

Personally, Tech Bear is a must pack for 90% of my decks and if I ever have free mid-slots for a raw deck, The Sex The Gods are my go-to cards since I can recover my Revos, Divine, or MOD, plus they can't get Road-ed!

Ciampa is probably gonna be a slow burn deck though. The faster and harder your opponent hits, the more vulnerable Ciampa is going to be because his ability will be more advantageous for him when it starts to pile up.

Interesting concept though. Believe the playtesting for this must have been a b*tch since there are so many moving parts.

[MonkeyLord13]

I would like to remind the reader that if you remove your Face/Heel card from the game, any lingering effects those cards have are taken away.[\quote]

Does that include the "discard your hand" effect of Deluding Yourself? I had no idea about RFG as a way to avoid those kinds of effects. (Makes me consider different uses for Backed By/Managed by Paul Heyman.)

[Hogtrail]

Removing deluding yourself from your ring will prevent the hand discarding.

[necrobaron75]

Building him ASAP.