Ghost Spider and the Web Warriors ! v1.0

Since the announcement of her arrival on Marvel Champions, Spider Gwen is a character that interests me a lot. Her power seems to allow for a very dynamic gameplay that reminds me a little bit of Quicksilver, which I didn't play much but I loved.

When I received my box, I thought about the best way to use Spider Gwen. I quickly concluded that the Protection aspect seems to be the most suitable, because it has two big advantages. First, it allows you to play a "response" or "interrupt" event during the villain's turn and optimize Gwen's power by getting up twice per turn. Secondly, the George Stacy card allows you to set aside one event per turn to use at the right time, a luxury for all those little green events that you don't like to keep in your hand but that you need at some point. Don't forget that you can only activate one Web-Bracelet per event you play, so playing one during the opponent's turn + one during your turn allows you to activate both, to draw two cards per turn!

From there, the construction of the deck was quite fast. I took a lot of inspiration from the "Flow like Spider Man" deck by removing Desperate Defense and replacing it with Never Back Down. Since you get up with Spider Gwen's power, stunning the opponent adds a nice extra effect.

Next, I took the liberty of adding the Web Warriors tools to the deck by replacing the allies in the Spider Man. All of these cards look interesting together. Don't forget that Spider Gwen is a Web Warrior, so with Web of Life and Destiny in play + an ally, you quickly have 3 or 4 Web Warriors cards in play. I took the opportunity to remove Machine Man and Lockjaw which seem less useful in this deck, because thanks to George Stacy we rarely have dead resources at the end of the turn.

To go into a bit more detail:

• Across the Spider-Verse: this is a card that works well with the entire Web Warriors pack. I use it most of the time to bring Silk back and use her effect, or Spider Man - Peter Parker to avoid having to pay his demands.

• Web of Life and Destiny: This card costs 0 and stays in play. It counts as a Web Warrior card, so it indirectly improves several other cards. And its effect is a bonus, so it's all good.

• Silk, I think is an excellent card. It costs very little, is a web warrior so it takes advantage of synergies, and above all it counters a big weakness of Gwen Stacy: Worried Father. This card is a real nightmare because in addition to forcing us to return in alter ego to recover George Stacy and to pay a resource to put it back in play, it makes us lose the events that we had set aside. Silk allows you to remove this card from the deck and it's a big safety. You can also remove other cards like Shadow of the Past, or specific cards of certain villains that are particularly dangerous. I should also mention that this is a character I like to put back into play with Across the Spider Verse to benefit from its effect again.

• Spider-UK: With 5 health points, it's a safe bet that he can take two attacks. With Spider Gwen + Web of Life and Destiny + himself, that's already three Web Warriors in play, so 3 damage per attack, so 6 at least. If you can take three attacks and/or have an extra Web Warrior in play, you can go out and do a lot of damage and all for three resources. This is a card that I really like and it really adds some punch to the protection aspect that sometimes lacks a bit.

• Spider-Man - Miles Morales: At first I thought this card was a little weak because it seemed like a tough condition to hit. But in the end, as he is a web warrior himself, with Spider Gwen + the web of life and destiny, his ability is triggered very easily and can target the villain. Small warning, you have to play him from your hand to activate the effect so Across the Spider Verse doesn't work on him.

• Spider Man - Peter Parker: this is a good card, but difficult to play. Don't forget that you can always bring him in with Across the Spider Verse. Still, it's probably an ally I'd replace with another one when we have more choices, as I find it a bit lacking.

• Spider Man - Hobbie Brown: this is a very dispensable ally who has the advantage of being a web warrior and who can still do some damage when he leaves the game, but I would probably replace him by another one as soon as I have the opportunity. There's even a good chance that if I test the deck a bit more, I'll replace this character with Black Widow, which offers extra protection against Worried Father.

To conclude, the deck revolves around two pillars. First, the protection aspect which seems particularly suited to Gwen Stacy and the more I play it, the more I like it. I often find protection decks a bit passive and sometimes a bit boring to play, but with Spider Gwen, you can block a lot of damage during the villain's turn, and then follow up with a full turn. The cards in Spider Gwen's base deck are pretty versatile and are useful in just about any situation, handling a lot of shenanigans or doing a lot of damage as needed. The second pillar is the addition of Web Warriors, which I've been excited about since they were announced and I'm enjoying the fact that it's changing my deck building habits and play style a bit. I can't wait to see what the next packs have in store to further enhance this aspect of the deck!

Bonus thought: I thought about adding three copies of Adrenaline Rush to the deck. The idea is that with Spider Gwen's base attack power of 2, you can go up to 5 for a turn. With her base power + her medallion + Spider Man - Peter Parker, you can straighten up three times for a total of 20 damage. It seems like an interesting finisher that doesn't cost that much, but I'm not sure what cards to remove for this combo. And since I'm playing mostly with three players, I figure the others will do the damage, and my role is more to protect them. In solo, I think this combo really makes sense.