Adamantium Upgrades

"Put Into Play" Deck Series

The release of the Player Side Schemes has been the biggest change to Marvel Champions in some while. With the ability to put cards into play, rather than playing the cards directly, this has opened up some card combinations that were not previously possible.

(For those who would like the reference, according to RR1.5 in the “Play, Put Into Play” section: “Some abilities cause cards to be put into play. This bypasses the need to pay the card’s cost as well as any restrictions or prohibitions regarding playing that card”)

In this deck series released over the next few days or so, I would like to share five decks that highlight cards that can now be played without restriction through the use of Player Side Schemes:

You Get One Shot… featuring Call for Backup --> Gamora

The G.I.R.L. In Cerebro featuring Build Support --> Cerebro

Adamantium Upgrades featuring Build Support--> Weapon X

The Magnificent Multiple Men featuring Build Support--> Knowhere

Aamir and Angela featuring Build Support --> The Bifrost

Adamantium Upgrades

Weapon X is a really interesting support to be able to play. There are a few considerations worth mentioning here when finding the right hero to try and cheat this into play for:

1) We need a hero who has really good Hero cards, especially ones that can be played in Alter-Ego. On turns you flip back to Hero form, you can take that card with you, but on the turns you flip down to Alter-Ego, it would be nice to have a use for the card you just pulled

2) Because we are going to be heading to Alter-Ego regularly to play this card, we want a character that can ideally remove a lot of threat, or preferably, confuse the villain regularly. In-kit confuse would be good, especially from Alter-Ego.

The Candidates

With this criteria, I found there were two suitable candidates: Black Widow and Nebula. Both are characters who rely on finding upgrades to play in the Alter-Ego side, then flipping to Hero form to trigger the upgrades.

Ultimately, I think that Nebula has better synergy here, as Widow doesn't really get to choose to trigger her upgrades very often - it happens as a response to how the game unfolds. Nebula though will always trigger the these cards on a turn she starts in Hero form, which makes this a bit more predictable.

Both of these heroes have in-kit confuse from Alter-Ego, but Nebula can also include being a Guardian. With the addition of Upside the Head to the card pool, Justice is able to provide a plethora of confuse options, allowing Nebula to flip down regularly (including in solo).

Finally, it just seemed thematic to think of Nebula having been upgraded through the Weapon X project. She already has Cybernetic Upgrades... let's infuse her with some Adamantium while we're at it!

Weapon X

So obviously the first goal is to get Weapon X down through the clearing of Build Support. After this, whenever you flip down you'll generally be looking through your deck for one of three types of cards: a Technique upgrade, Lethal Intent or Combat Ready. You also have Gamora and Nebula's Ship, but these are more likely to stay on the table (Gamora less so) so we can talk about each of these types of cards next:

If you pull a Technique upgrade, this is an easy play as it will refund itself immediately in Alter-Ego with drawing your two cards. You pretty much want to play all your Techniques whenever you have one in hand. Perhaps the only one not to would be a 2nd copy of Wide Stance as the special ability isn't super useful to do twice in a row very often.

If you pull Combat Ready, this is still a playable card in Alter-Ego and it will get you the next Technique card, and trigger it's special ability for 0 cost which is ridiculous. You don't draw 2 more cards, but this is also a must play at 0 cost unless you know your deck is out of Techniques.

If you pull Lethal Intent, hope it happens on the turn you're planning to flip back to hero form. Unfortunately, it'll be useless if you just flipped to alter-ego, but it's a pretty powerful card, especially if you have a few good Techniques down. Ultimately, in your kit there are 12 of 15 cards that are playable in Alter-Ego, which is one of the reasons why Weapon X is great for Nebula

Are You Confused?

As mentioned earlier, this deck runs all of the confuse options, as you'll be churning through your deck and skipping past all non-hero cards. So we've included 3x "Think Fast", 3x Upside the Head, 3x Concussive Blow and 2x Sonic Rifle to stay on the table as a backup. This is in addition to Evasive Maneuvering which can also confuse (and be triggered by Gamora while in Alter-Ego if needed)

In order of preference, I like Upside the Head, as I will regularly be using Nebula's basic attack on one of the two turns I'm spending in Hero form. If possible, I always try to confuse the villain again as soon as I flip back to Hero though, as Float Like a Butterfly will buff all your attacks, making Weapons Master become 5 damage.

"Think Fast" is nice to have as an option for Nebula which most other characters won't have access to; however, it does come at the cost of her health, which is already going to be depleted by Weapon X...

The Basic Damage Prevention/Healing Suite

Because of this, we are running every single basic card that helps with damage prevention or healing: Booster Boots, Down Time, Endurance, Ready to Rumble and Crew Quarters.

Crew Quarters is a priority play when you see it, as it will cover the costs of the damage that Weapon X requires all on its own. Endurance will provide a few extra HP to work with, and Down Time will help when you need to exhaust to recover. Remember that you'll not see all these cards because you'll flash past many of them when you churn your deck with Weapon X, so we're including all the options here.

Booster Boots won't help in Alter-Ego, but it can help with villain attacks. You'll spend a decent amount of time having free blocks (keep on reading), being tough or having the villain stunned, but it's a really sweet combo when you already have Wide Stance down on the table and you avoid damage even more.

Better yet, Booster Boots will also help to trigger both Digging Deep and White Fox, which are already likely to be discarded by Weapon X or Combat Ready.

Finally, Ready to Rumble effectively gives you an extra exhaust to recover while in Alter-Ego, allowing you to heal and be ready again, in case you need to exhaust to play Upside the Head later in your turn. It's even better once Down Time is in play.

A Fox, A Raccoon and a Dog

You'll really hope to pull White Fox every deck cycle on a discard, which will help with getting a free block and some damage. Remember, she will attack for 2 on a confused villain which is pretty sweet. Try and get her back into the deck again before you shuffle!

I really find that Rocket Raccoon is important in this deck because Nebula has a weakness in dealing with minions. Because she has to wait for her copies of Weapons Master to trigger, it can happen that you pull a minion but aren't going to be able to do much damage to it for a few turns. Rocket has an ATK 4 with overkill that helps this problem. My advice is to leave him on the table until you need him though as you can't guarantee you'll find him again once you are churning through the deck.

Lockjaw is such an important piece in this deck. Because you're running through cards due to the discarding you'll do, you will have less consistency in finding cards. This is why we have so many confuse and healing options because you might not find the exact one anymore - so strength in numbers here. Occasionally then, you'll have hands where you have 3 copies of a card that confuses and no need to play them. Lockjaw is an awesome resource sink in this case.

I find this can happen on turns when you flip to Alter-Ego and play a Technique, triggering your 2-card draw. If you don't pull any further Techniques, you may be stuck with nothing else to play, but Lockjaw is likely in your discard pile. He'll often get passed by, but the strategy with him is to try and play him right before you shuffle so he goes in the discard again.

He is also pretty decent value when the villain is confused as he provides either 3 damage in two bursts, or 3 damage and a block for 4 ER. This is actually a pretty fair price.

Ending

I really like playing Nebula, and this deck really allows you to get deeper into her techniques. You have a strong chance of playing one every turn because of Weapon X. Once Gamora and Nebula's Ship are out, you have 8 techniques, and 5 events left. 2 of those events will also find a technique, so the chances are high that you'll play one every time you're in Alter-Ego giving you at least two to trigger every other turn.

Nebula is still a bit of a unique character that won't fit everyone's playstyle, but if you like Nebula's playstyle already, I think this one will help you to do what she naturally wants to do even better!

As always, thanks for reading through this walkthrough and checking out my deck. Likes and comments are always appreciated!

Until next time Champions...