Rocket Raccoon - Ready for a New (Re)Purpose

Introduction

Rocket Raccoon is often paired with Aggression or Justice to highlight the strengths of his kit. Protection is not often considered because of his weaker DEF stat and lack of cards that really synergize with a lot of the traditional strategies that the aspect offers.

Repurpose Synergy

With the release of Repurpose Rocket has an extra use for the various TECH upgrades he has built into his deck. Protection also can give you some extra defenses in the form of various defensive allies and even more TECH such as Energy Barrier and Forcefield Generator that both protect his small HP pool but also give you fuel for both a Repurpose turn but also his Alter-Ego ability to discard a TECH to draw 2 cards. It can always be a bit awkward to find time to flip down with Rocket, especially if you're going to be playing a Protection aspect, but you can maximize the trashing of your nearly spent TECH cards regardless of which side you are on for the turn.

Gameplay

Rocket also has some synergy with wanting to be readied up. He already has cards such as Schadenfreude, which already work off his weapon's exhausting, but can also work off of Rocket's basic attacks, which un-upgraded aren't much, but become much better with Repurpose. Rocket also shores up one of the weaknesses of Protection by having a very solid Thwarting package. 2 THW being upgraded possibly to 3 with the addition of granting Aerial trait opens up Ever Vigilant as both a readying tool but also deals with the Main Scheme. Repurpose can allow Rocket to set up some big multi-THW turns knocking out multiple side-schemes or nuking down the Main Scheme when its getting away from you. I've Got a Plan also feeds into this same strategy and can work alongside Repurpose. What Doesn't Kill Me is yet another readying tool but also provides you with some additional healing which can become an issue with Rocket if not taken care of.

The Ally package includes Groot, which can make several blocks before being spent. Mockingbird can stall out the villain's attacks with a Stun and chump block. Blade and Daredevil are cheaper options that are good for about one block. Iron Fist can deal decent damage while also dealing out Stuns for Rocket.Black Widow is the only ally we typically want to keep around as a way to insulate ourselves against bad Encounter cards and since Rocket Raccoon's alter-ego side has the Genius trait we can play Ingenuity to act as both a resource engine but also keep Black Widow's ability active during the villain phase. Finally, all of these allies happen to be Fist resources (or wild) for the purposes of making What Doesn't Kill Me easier to play.

Our Support package is rounded out with C.I.T.T. as a resource sink to ready primarily Rocket to work with our ready/repurpose engine and Helicarrier to help with your economy if required.

Mulligan Guide

Typically you can be a bit more aggressive with your mulligan to find setup pieces since Rocket has Salvage which lets him get back some TECH cards he used as resources or during the mulligan. I really like finding his Thruster Boots to stall the main scheme and some form of protection, generally in the form of an early ally or TECH upgrade. We generally will pitch away damage events, thwart events, and readying cards if they aren't useful on Turn 1.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my write-up. Please let me know your feedback and any card suggestions or options to consider that I may have overlooked. I think this can be a fun archetype to run with Rocket that blends his various signature cards with this interesting new card in Repurpose.