Howdy players, new and old! It’s been a moment since we last had a fireside chat! I figure with all this talk of Spiders we’d go ahead and give you guys a run-down of what you should expect going forward, and how you should prepare your collections to have an available deck each night of play online.
Let’s start with a precursor though, what is “Project Spider”? Well Project Spider is division based project that splits every competitor in the game up into certain categories to help facilitate balanced and interested game-play. Topping with competitors in these divisions will earn that competitor points on a list that is reviewed every 4 months for reassignments. These points are observed from many different tournaments, ranging from your average Monday Night Fights, to even your own local beat downs! Ratings online are a little more stringent taking the Top 2 results, while ratings in person extend to the Top 4. (To encourage local play of course!)
So what Divisions should you be expecting to play in? Well give the list below a look!
- Worlds Division – This is the Top 32 competitors in the game, if a competitor from outside the division has earned a Worlds Shot they are immediately placed into this division, even if their power level may not be the highest of high. Tournaments ran under Worlds will typically allow anything currently legal. However not playing the Top 32 will not earn them points… Then you risk the competitors dropping into more volatile positions. (I promise Underworld doesn’t need a Snake Pitt!)
- Underworlds Division – This is the next top 64 competitors in the game, like the Top 32 if someone earns an Underworld shot, they are immediately placed into this division. Tournaments ran under Underworlds will typically only lock out the Top 32. Like underworlds, it’s possible for competitors to fall out, however unlike Top 32 it’s typically less volatile for someone to fall out of this division.
- Globals Division – This is where you’ll find all your Indie Competitors, that’s about the only requirement in this one!
- Old School Division – This is where you will find competitors that have been part of the “Old School” packs. These are typically a mix of Parody competitors, and old dogs with new tricks.
- Hardcore Division – Here is where you’re going to find a lot of mean competitors, one’s that typically attempt to circumvent Disqualification. Of course outside of that if your arts have weapons in them of some sort, you’ll typically find the competitor here.
- Intergalactic Division – Some cards in Supershow are definitively not wrestling themed, those competitors have a home here in the intergalactic where it is a grab bag of wild gimmicks! You’ll find Cosmics, Scally Wags, and Iku-Zo’s here! (Luchadors are also currently present in Intergalactic but may get their own division when Super Lucha releases.)
- United States Division – Everyone else typically goes into United States, there is no “Criteria” to be placed here, but that’s not a bad thing. It creates a vast roster that mimics typical Supershow play, just without one random person bringing a Top 32 to your fun tourneys!
So that’s the little split in divisions that we know as Project Spider, now how do you prepare for all these divisions? Well first don’t be afraid to look at the Project Spider page! Understanding which competitor currently stands in each division is the first step. Preparing decks is the next one! For our older players, you’re likely looking at 7 different decks to be able to throw down at any moment, however I can say that for the more frugal Supershow enjoyer, and our newer players. You can typically get away with less as long as you build smart!
For starters, most Worlds and Underworlds Divisions may lock out the highers, but they will typically allow you to play something from the lower 5 divisions. If you see a “Golden Pick” in the lower divisions, you can typically attempt to bring them up! To the really budget friendly player, you can then take this deck and plug in your top 3 stat lines into our advanced search engine and you can work backwards! Find competitors that line up with your current build and you can potentially get your “required” lists down to a singular deck, where you’re just swapping competitor and finishes but your 1-27 stay the same!
Of course while you can lower your total deck sizes, I’ve come to understand that it’s rare to find a Supershow player who doesn’t have an entire end-table worth of decks. So for your average player it’s typical to fill out at least 1 deck for each division… So what competitors really stand out in each division, for those that aren’t well tamed veterans?
Well I’m glad you asked!
- Worlds Division – All 32 of the characters in this division are typically “broken.” The only questionable ones are ones that have entered top 32 directly from a bottom 5 division. In this case you just have to lookout for the most recent additions due to the worlds title shots.
- Underworlds Division – Another division where you’re hard pressed to find a bad pick. However, the least questionable picks in this division are the competitors that have fallen out of Worlds due to title shot play-in’s. So if a character was formerly worlds and dropped here, consider giving them a try… They were 32 for a reason!
- Globals Division – There are a lot of crazy good Indie competitors, typically avoid the ones that are obviously bad or unplayable. Ie look for bad finishes, or gimmicks that can’t hold up. There is a big difference between Swoggle and Kung Fu Donnie.
- Old School Division – One of the best balanced divisions, in my opinion. (Also one of the least played online, to my chagrin) Pick your favorite and go to town!
- Hardcore Division – Not as easy a choice as the surface intends. You likely don’t want one of the competitors that can get you Disqualified, from the latest hardcore shows, only top cut has been No DQ. There’s a lot of risk in group stages, and often times it’s not a necessary enough risk; because the payoff on weapon stipulations is a rough sell. My personal experience is play the more conservative characters on the list, and pack some supplemental counters for DQ’s, unstoppables, and if stopped effects.
- Intergalactic Division – A characters strength in the intergalactic is often determined by what weird, out of the box tweak they can add to a match. Cosmics tend to be the most conservative on the list, with characters like Neptune being a powerhouse. Iku-zo’s are famous for overkills in their finishes as well as being on class card stat-lines. Scally Wags have some of the most oppressive entrance selections in the game, alongside solid finishes. The variety is insane here, and I can’t outright recommend any subsection; as everything is balanced in their own unbalanced zany way.
- United States Division – If the Intergalactic is balanced in an unbalanced way. United states is purely balanced in a balanced way. You got bad competitors, you got good competitors, but at the end of the day you’re playing some raw Supershow here.
Yeah it all boils down to “Play what you like.” I can’t deny that. Project Spider has done what I would call an amicable job in balancing over 700 competitors. Everyone has something they can want to play somewhere. Allow me to practice what I preach for a moment. Below you can find a generically good list that will work sufficiently for multiple competitors! Now this list won’t be entirely specialized, but it’ll allow a baseline for our newer players; in a manner of making this somewhat threatening list of competitors, just a smidgen more digestible.
- Main Top 32 Competitor: Captain C.J. Sparra
- Entrance: Director of Operations
- Spectacles: Valiants
- Punch
- Lock Up
- Headlock
- Apocalypse (Zero Setup Competitors in our lineup, so Apocalypse is an easy choice.)
- Rejected (Staple)
- Armbar
- Forearm Shot (Our 7-9 will exist for some standard recursions, and advancing board state)
- Restoration Potion #8
- Chugga-Chugga Chugga-Chugga Chugga-Chugga, Chug! [Agility Skill]
- Kickback (We want some reliable draw power in each list)
- Japanese Arm Drag
- Arm Stomp
- Al13n Invasion [Sub Skill] (We’re going to just play “Perfect Stat-Line’s” so these will always be our top 3 stats)
- Falling Powerslam
- Bow and Arrow
- Mounted Turnbuckle Punches (This is sort of what your standard recursion packages at 16-18 these days)
- Powerbomb over the Top Rope
- Cat Scratch
- Elbow Strikes
- Neckbreaker
- Leg Lock
- 360 Lariat (Lariats are still generically one of the best lines in the game)
- Lariat Takedown
- Lariat Knot
- Dropkick
- Fallaway Slam
- Double Armbar
- Release the Kraken
- Where’s the Rum
- Walk the Plank
Competitors that match CJ Sparra’s stat line in other divisions.
- United States – Belinda
- Hardcore – Big Daddy Boughter V1
- Globals – Colby Corino
- Underworld – General Manager John Calace V1
- Intergalactic – Sire
This one deck can pilot all 5 of these accessible competitors, and don’t require an insane amount of rebuild… In fact plugging in his stats there are 16 competitors that can pilot this list, of which I would say 13 of them would “fine.” Admittedly we don’t match up in the Old School Division, that’s sort of the joy of my favorite division though… The parody competitors come with entire decks, and those pre-builds are some of the most solid in game!
Would specialized decks do better? Absolutely; however at the baseline this build will get you started in Supershow’s current age of the Spider. If you have any questions don’t be afraid to reach out! Our comments section is wide open… And the next topic? Well I want to revisit what cards are considered staples these days, this time with a pro’s input. So keep an eye out for that!