Ditching the Posse to Hang with Psylocke

Jackpot!

If you aren't yet aware, Domino is RICH. Like Richie Rich rich (If I knew how to embed images, there'd be a picture of Macaulay Culkin here lol). The combos she can pull off with Jackpot! are pretty incredible, but they generally can be put into one of four categories:

1. Use her AE ability to pull Jackpot from the discard pile
2. Use Pip the Pug to put Jackpot on top of her draw pile and use Weapon X to draw it
3. Use Pip to put Jackpot on top of her draw pile and then use her Hero ability to switch for it
4. Use a Domino's Pistol, Probability Field, Diamondback or Outlaw to discard it and then put it under the The Painted Lady

Example Turn

Using some combination of these tactics, you can reliably play Jackpot as a triple resource 2x per turn, and it's even possible to do this 3x:

Start in Hero Form and flip to AE. Take Jackpot off Painted Lady and pay for a card. Use AE ability to pull Jackpot and pay for another card. Use Pip to put Jackpot on top of your draw pile and then take it with Weapon X. Pay for a third card! Then, on the start of your next turn, you'll be able to start a similar process with Pip again_

Other References

There are already many pretty sweet decks posted that already discuss some awesome Domino strategy, so if you haven't already you really should check out:

The Posse Hits the Jackpot! by Man-is-Obsolete

Dogs of War by MegiDolaDyne

Grave Robbing by ClassyRobot

Using Psylocke

One of the things that many decks have in common regarding shenanigans with Jackpot is the need to flip to Alter-Ego. This is obviously less of an issue if you're playing with more players, but using Psylocke in Aggression, there is a pretty easy pattern to keep the villain permanently confused. The timing looks like this in 2P+:

Turn 1 - Play Psylocke. Attack for 1 plus Confuse.

Turn 2 - Attack for 1 plus Confuse.

Turn 3 - Thwart for 2. Put on Top of Discard Pile. Use Domino's AE ability to pull her to hand. Play her again. Attack for 1 plus Confuse.

Turn 4 - Continue again at Turn 2.

In theory, you can stay in Alter-Ego permanently, but you can also flip regularly too. With this timing, unless you get hit with an encounter card that Seduces or Abducts allies, you'll control the timing of when Psylocke hits the discard pile, as you'll activate her on your turn.

Important Note About Blocking

This is a good place to talk about blocking with Psylocke... this is possible, but it can be risky to do this if there is more encounter cards to come. Getting hit with Caught Off Guard makes Psylocke not be on top of the pile anymore, and if you get attacked again, you'll likely not want to block with another ally. Trust me, I've been there and it just feels bad. Blocking with her is really only safe on the last encounter card of a phase, but you can roll the dice...

Solo Timing Chart

Back to timing charts - if you're playing solo, this is still very possible, but works best when you also have X-Mansion down. With this, it essentially gives Psylocke 4 HP with the 2 confuse tokens, so the timing looks like this:

Turn 1 - Play Psylocke. Attack for 1 plus Confuse.

Turn 2 - Thwart for 2.

Turn 3 - Heal 1 damage with X-Mansion. Attack for 1 plus Confuse.

Turn 4 - Thwart for 2. Put on Top of Discard Pile. Use Domino's AE ability to pull her to hand. Play her again. Attack for 1 plus Confuse.

Turn 5 - Repeat from Turn 2.

Note: This chart above presumes that you'll flip every turn.

Other Included Cards

So at this point, if you've been convinced that you can play Jackpot multiple times per turn, and that Psylocke can keep the villain permanently confused, the final question is what else to do. Using the Pistols along with Sharpshooter can often be worth 8 damage from both. However, you'll need to use Jackpot in Alter-Ego, which is where the X-Men allies come in.

With Cerebro down, Domino can use Psylocke's Psionic tag to always search the entire deck for an ally. Usually she'll be able to pay for it with Jackpot as mentioned above. With the X-Mansion likely being on the table, having X-Men Instruction in the deck allows you to run a 37 card deck (kind of) and keep the supply of possible plays fresh. The great thing about being able to search your whole deck is that you can play the ally with the cost that best fits what you have left in your hand.

Utopia is not a priority play, but does allow you to ready your X-Men if needed. I find I use it for the 4th ally slot more than anything. FWIW, Forge can also be abused using Domino's AE ability, as he can be played multiple turns in a row in order to get Cerebro and the X-Mansion online as soon as possible.

Danger Room and the Attack Training Upgrades were play tested, but I found they were only getting played when the game was well in hand. I also found that I would whiff on Cerebro sometimes and wanted to get as many allies in play as possible. Often, by the time I was set up enough with Pip, Cerebro, X-Mansion and Psylocke, taking time to also get down Danger Room and Utopia in order to get the most out of the allies was well after the game was over. Also, putting the 2 extra HP on Psylocke was almost always a bad idea as it messed up the timing of my Confuses.

Boot Camp however, is a fun card to get down if you can. It's also probably a "Win More" card, but great extra damage.

Ending

As always, thanks for reading this write up. Would love for a like, but comments are even more fun to respond back to.

Until next time Champions...