The Captain and the Cavalry

So this deck originated as an experiment. I tend to have one deck of each colour made up at any one time, and after a couple of Strength In Numbers decks with Aerial heroes (Vision https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/19414/vision-aerial-avenger-1.0 and Ironheart https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/20456/ironheart-1.0) I felt in need of something different. But to be honest I couldn't think of a Leadership deck archetype that I wanted to try.

Not because I thought it would be a great idea, but simply because it wasn't something I had done before, I thought of trying a deck built around Quinjets. With the powerful Avengers allies out there, you can get truly incredible value from a 2-cost Quinjet. Captain Marvel will thwart for 8, Giant-Man will thwart for 4 and attack for 8. Add in Mighty Avengers and Team Training and you can get even more value from the humble Quinjet, but the problem is obvious: it takes a long time for that value to arrive. It may be very efficient, but if you've lost the game before the cavalry turn up, then it won't be a very satisfying denouement.

So I thought about which hero to use for this deck concept and my first choice was Captain Marvel. She has the ability to absorb a lot of damage and draw a lot of cards, and she has an Avenger as her signature ally, which helps. On reflection, though, she needs to assemble some key pieces to maximise her defence and her thwarting power, and she isn't always great at taking out minions. Then I thought about Captain America. If anyone can hold on for half a dozen turns with just their hero cards, it is him. He starts with Def 3, and I Can Do This All Day doesn't just allow him to thwart two schemes a turn, it is also great for absorbing the unplayably expensive allies in this deck if you happen to draw them early.

The strategy of this deck couldn't be simpler. You lay down all three Quinjets on your first pass through the deck, whilst holding off the villain as best you can. If you have spare resources, then you can build out the support pieces too - Team Training and The Triskelion are pretty cheap; Super-Soldier Serum will never go wrong. On the second pass through the deck the Quinjets start to pay off as you have enough time counters to get your big allies into play, and with Call for Aid you should be able to get them into hand when you need them. These powerful allies have enough thwart and damage output to deal with side schemes and minions, allowing you to get out your remaining support pieces and really start to whittle the villain away. Rapid Response is a powerful card at this point. You can lay the Quinjets down again too, although hopefully the game won't last long enough for you to need them again. There's no end-game burst here, but with Mighty Avengers in play your six allies can hit for 20. A couple of turns of that should do the trick. If that's too slow for you, add an Avengers Assemble! What could be more thematic?

A couple of the other card choices may need justifying. Avengers Tower won't deliver full value when we rarely play an ally from hand, but it is still worthwhile for the extra ally slot, given that you can't have two The Triskelion. Avengers Mansion and the second Rapid Response are also a bit situational and could be swapped out for something that will help keep threat under control. Push Ahead works well in a scenario where you may need to make those kind of thwarting numbers.