War-Lord: Nifty Fifty

Overview:
Join me as we try something different and unleash the forbidden art of fifty card decks. The downsides? Our Helmet is harder to find. The upsides? It dilutes our hero events.

This isn't a rush deck and so we largely only want our events to close the game out. Which is a long way of saying that 50-card Star-Lord has consistently better hands than 40-card Star-Lord!

It's an Aggression Star-Lord deck - and it has allies, Energy Spears, and Boot Camp. It has everything you could wish for.

But it also has Meditation, First Aid, and goes to 50 cards. We're playing big allies all the time - and they're wreaking havoc on a galactic scale.

• Archetype: Meditation/Ally Attack
• Difficulty: Above Average
• Recommended Player Count: 2-4
• Ideal Aspect Partners: Protection
• Ideal Hero Partners: Storm, Cyclops (Thunderstorm and Exploit Weakness are our friends!)

(Note: If you are experienced with Star-Lord, you can use this deck to great effect in solo play - in my tests, it has reliably defeated Expert Magneto. But I wouldn't strictly recommend it.)

Strategy:
Our game plan is simple: play big allies with big discounts to deal big damage. The method? A little more nuanced!

Your average turn should look like this: play a 3+ cost ally → ensure you have defense for the villain phase (stun, confuse, Bad Boy, a cheap ally, a low hp ally, or something from another player) → play upgrades/supports with any remaining resource.

You will draw a big ally on most turns. Since they tend to live for at least 3 turns, you will quickly start to amass an army - especially if you heal them with First Aid. And since you will be able to play so many big cards quickly, you should have plenty of resources to start supporting those allies with other cards.

Star-Lord's Helmet, Knowhere, Avengers Mansion, and Boot Camp are your priorities - but all except Knowhere can easily be skipped in favour of tempo where necessary. Just try not to skip all of them - between your hero ability and Meditation, you should be able to play a few without issue! And they pay off massively - unless you have almost won, in which case skip them for the last couple of rounds.

(Note: Most of the 1-2 cost allies are just here to defend you. If you have a dedicated Protection player, check the Other Tips section for replacements.)

In 1-2 player, Wolverine is the star of the show. In 3-4 player, he has to share the spotlight with Tigra who is honestly sometimes superior; they have different pros and cons but are both very powerful. Throw them an Energy Spear and watch them tear through minions.

Be aware this deck definitely prioritizes a strong early game, focused on amassing an army - as opposed to fine-tuning mid and late-game hands. You will likely bump into the ally limit later on - and yet the ally limit should not be an issue if you play around it.

If you do not have Knowhere in play? Play one of your long-lived allies and then focus on playing the shorter-lived allies and make sure you use them aggressively, don't sit on their hp. If you play Wolverine, Tigra and Sentry as your first three cards? You are in for a rough time and a lot of wasted value.

Once Knowhere is in play, you can safely dedicate two ally slots to permanent or near-permanent allies, and then rotate allies in the other two slots. You're also probably ready to start some Sliding Shots!

Even if your hand is very ally-heavy, you can blast some cards through your Element Guns and Plan B. Worst case? Block with them some more, even at 2 hp. And if you're really, really, really stuck? If you are at your ally limit with these kind of allies and upgrades, you are probably just winning anyway.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Star-Lord's Helmet
• Knowhere
• Avengers Mansion
• Boot Camp
• Meditation

Other Tips:

• Don't forget that Knowhere only works on natural Guardians when you're alter-ego. This important when considering Meditation.

• Hulk likes it when you use your alter-ego ability to swap a physical resource card onto the top of your deck. This is honestly the main use of Sliding Shot in this deck. HULK SMASH.

• Rocket Raccoon and Gamora are your main targets for First Aid. With an Energy Spear, their value is silly. Sentry is great too, and even Psylocke to help thwart in 2-player.

• It's better to play Gamora after seeing Star-Lord's Helmet and Knowhere. Everything else you can potentially grab on your second deck pass.

• Sidearm is for Wolverine, Tigra, Sentry, or Rocket Raccoon. In that order of priority.

• Don't play Sentry unless you have Star-Lord's Helmet in play and plan to end the turn in hero form. If you do, he's spectacular with Energy Spear and First Aid.

• If you have a dedicated Protection player, feel free to drop Groot, Cosmo, Blade and Mockingbird. If your team brings a lot of confuse, you can drop Psylocke. Good replacements are Brawn, Valkyrie, Wasp, Spider-Man and Snowguard.

• Much like Hulk, Cosmo likes it when you swap the top card of your deck - just remember what you put there so he can dodge consequential damage.

• Since you have incredibly high ally damage and piercing from their Energy Spears, your Element Guns are much lower priority than normal. Sliding Shot isn't needed early here and can wait.

• If you do try this deck in solo play? Prioritize covering your weaknesses even more - namely your defense. Sometimes it's better to pass up on a juicy ally to play a 1-2 cost blocker or Groot and have them ready to defend you. Also, be even more cautious with your hero ability.

Further Reading:
Wondering where As One! is here in a Star-Lord deck? I tested it a few times - and I swear First Aid is just better.

Both effectively save you two consequential damage. Wolverine and other double consequential allies do prefer As One!, as does Hulk, and it does give you Overkill - but First Aid is cheaper, more flexible, requires no real setup, and has other uses (like healing yourself in a pinch!). Everything just flows a lot smoother and you can always split your damage.

Likewise, as good as Bug is, we do have limited ally space (have you seen how many allies we have?!) and Wolverine and Tigra effectively fill the same role. They cost more, but deal more damage and heal themselves regardless of what you do as Star-Lord. You can try adding him but, personally, I found that he was redundant in my testing.

Star-Lord Advice:
Star-Lord is one of the higher skill-cap heroes. In the game. Not only can the likes of Knowhere and his alter-ego ability Smooth Talker require careful sequencing, but he is a combo-centric character whose cards shift in value. More than that, his combos all rely on encounter cards - risk management is the key to playing him.

The decision of when to use your hero ability and when to hold back is a fine balancing act that all Star-Lord decks require. Your ability to do so will improve with your game sense and game knowledge.

The more you understand the value of certain plays and the dangers of other situations, the riskier you can be and greater the rewards you can get. Likewise, the more you know when not to take risks.

There is no easy answer.

...With that said, to begin with, I advise the following: if the scenario starts without much on the board, pop your hero ability on Turn 1. Otherwise? Try to wait until Star-Lord's Helmet is in play unless you have something insanely valuable you can't otherwise afford.

And don't forget to track the encounter card discard pile - you can check it whenever. Keep an eye out for Assault, Advance, Under Fire, and Shadow of the Past. The more of those in there, the safer your hero ability becomes.

Likewise, knowing when to prioritize your defense and threat removal at lower player counts is hugely important - and, given this deck's insane damage potential, I advise you to err on the side of caution. You can't deal damage if you're defeated. And, even when cautious, the damage will still be there. This deck is dripping with it.

Master your priorities and risk-taking, and everything will fall into place.

Good luck!