Energized Trash Panda (Rocket Raccoon/Protection)

Took a few iterations but finally have this deck to a place where I really like it. I'm a big fan of Rocket. I always thought he had some synergy with protection especially in Solo, and wanted to see how he does with some of the new cards.

So - what's good about protection for Rocket?

1. Energy Barrier is for one a clear benefit. It's both a salvage target and a tinkering target when they are down to one charge, on top of just being a great card to help Rocket survive and deal damage.

2. Rockets survivability is his biggest weakness. Protection offers tools for this, for which in addition to Energy Barrier i've chosen to load up on Med Team. This is a great card to heal Rocket and high value allies, in this case Nova and Drax.

3. The Power of 2's. Rockets weapons all do even damage, his pistol does 2, particle cannon does 4, his attack does 2 with Cybernetic Skeleton. Tons of enemies also happen to have odd health counts at 3/5. The key with 2's is you will be highly flexible to get exactly one extra damage and draw your card. So this build brings the 2's in spades with Nova and First Hit. For the even health enemies, you have some allies Ironheart or Energy Barrier to possibly push you into the one damage over range. With Particle Cannon, you are a lot more flexible and can overkill any amount since it will go into the villain.

4. Nova is a great ally and med team target. You want to keep him around as long as possible. He's going to give you an easy and efficient 2 damage/cost. Even better, his ability can knock out minions before they can attack. By comboing with First Hit you even have a chance to take out higher health allies, and you could even get an excess card draw for it.

• First Hit may not always be worth it, sometimes you can just use it for Nova's interrupt, but it's highly flexible and even has an option to attack the villain if needed. I've had turns in alter ego where I saved First Hit because I knew I could take out a high value minion with it and Nova's ability before he attacked next turn.

5. Med teaming Drax is a fantastic way to help finish the game. And while the build has a lot of ping damage, Drax was the missing piece to get to the finish line quicker. The damage/cost ratio works out to an amazing 4.5 dmg/resource cost paid for the med team (not counting the initial investment into Drax), though that is limited to once a turn so you wont have time to put that to full use.

6. Finally, Ever Vigilant is new, flashy, and fun. You have to take Thruster Boots in this build no matter what. The base 3 thwart is highly valuable. With the boots, thwarting becomes a non issue. Without it you will struggle, but thanks to Salvage even if you have to pass on your boots just make sure to get them in the first run through of your deck. So Ever Vigilant basically becomes either a 5 thwart, 2 thwart/2 attack, or occasionally 2 thwart/3 heal. All can be useful. I've Got A Plan is the obvious comparison, but there's room for both. The "thwart bomb" nature of both cards helps you flip down and tinker.

Some strategy and key card considerations

Your key cards are Thruster Boots (can get through salvage late in first run through deck), Nova, Particle Cannon. You want to try for Cybernetic Skeleton and at least one of Helicarrier/Avengers Mansion as well. Play Med Team/Energy Barrier as they make sense. Whenever you are setup a little bring in Drax.

Keep Nova and/or Drax around as long as you can. Only in extreme cases should you block with them.

Wait to flip down until threat is under control and you have at least one target for tinkering, ideally two.

If you're playing against a villain with retaliate, consider swapping Drax for Lockjaw. Lockjaw is also great for consistency with both thwarting and attacking, and the deck has plenty of resources.

I think the deck is really fun! If you're looking for a different play style for Rocket I think you'll enjoy this.