Jess and Carol Kill the Marvel Universe

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is my favorite hero in the game. Voltron - a nickname for throwing lots of upgrades on one ally - is my favorite deck archetype. The Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) ally is one of the best voltron targets in the game. Put it all together, and you've got an amazing signature hero kit, an ally that draws you extra cards, and the Pool aspect takes an already-great deck into the realm of "broken."

I love this deck so much that I've started a 2-handed expert campaign, where Jess and Carol will take on every scenario in the game, with a different "guest star" hero joining each battle.

Here's some tips and tricks for success!

Mulligans and setup:

• Between Captain Marvel, 2 Call for Aid and 3 Mulligan, you have over a 90% chance to see one of these cards in the first 12 cards of your deck. Adding a third Call for Aid isn't worth it here, unless you decide to run Digging Deep and White Fox, which I don't.
• Cards I like to keep in my opening hand: Captain Marvel is obviously priority #1, and Call for Aid is functionally an extra copy of Carol. If you have either of these, try to find at least one double resource to help pay for Carol. Your next highest priorities should be Tic-Tac-Toe, and Finesse/Deft Focus/Clarity of Purpose, all of which are excellent T1 plays.

Status cards:

• Between Pheromones and Contaminant Immunity, Jess's hero kit has access to 2 stuns, 2 confuses, and 2 tough cards per deck cycle. This combination of status cards is completely busted in true-solo, and still extremely strong in 2P, where you can end with one player in Hero and the other in Alter-Ego, to skip both villain activations with a single Pheromones.
• Contaminant Immunity may look underwhelming at first, but it functionally cancels out two villain attacks, by healing 3 damage from the last thing that hit you, and then absorbing the next attack that comes your way, which in expert mode can often be 5 or 6 dmg. Functionally recovering 8-9 HP for just 2 resources is strong.

Alter-Ego spy ability:

• Don't forget to use this ability whenever you're in AE. I always flip the top card of the villain deck, which really helps you plan ahead for the next villain phase.
• If nobody's deck is shuffling this round, you'll know exactly what the villain's first boost card will be. In solo or 2P, remember that if you cancel the villain's activation(s) with Pheromones, that card becomes an encounter instead of a boost. Use this info to your advantage; sometimes it's best NOT to play Pheromones, in order to dodge the Crisis of Infinite Deadpools or Shadow of the Past sitting on the top of their deck.

A Day at the 'Pool:

• Tic-Tac-Toe is the best thing that ever happened to the voltron archetype. Play it every time you draw it. This 0-cost upgrade heals up to 7 consequential damage from Carol, and can also heal your teammates and their allies in a pinch. I had one game where I discarded this to pay for Captain Marvel, and regretted it the rest of the game, as she had to sit there for several turns with 3 HP and 2 dmg.
• Blackout is good too, but your deck has plenty of thwarting without it. It's mostly in the list because it's another way to dump a few resources before Mulliganing away any given hand. This is a bread-and-butter combo for Pool decks at this point, and the power of Mulligan quickly becomes apparent when you're digging for that next ally upgrade or whatever the situation demands. The two metagame cards are also great resource dumps when Carol draws you an extra card you can't afford to play.
• Don't forget that Finesse can put counters on both Blackout and Tic-Tac-Toe!
• The 3 pink ally slots are flexible, and you could even drop Blackout for a 4th. I like Headpool for his infinite THW 2, and occasional bonus value via his attack ability. Kidpool's piercing alleviates the awkwardness of having Jess at 3 ATK and Carol at 5 ATK while your villain is wearing a Tough card. Dogpool is also a great choice, giving you at a free ping on the turn you play him, followed by at least 2 blocks, sometimes 3.
• Negasonic Teenage Warhead is a vital safeguard against Crisis of Infinite Deadpools, which is honestly a much bigger problem for us than Shadow of the Past. Negasonic can cancel any treachery for the cost of 2 HP, but if Crisis resolves when she's not around, she can still set up later, and protect you from 'Pool-ized, just by being another 4-cost ally alive on the board. We really, really don't want 'Pool-ized to steal our Carol when she's got 6 upgrades attached. The extra encounter card is a steep insurance premium, but I think it's worth it, especially in 2P+.
• Stick-To-Itiveness and Get Rage-y provide extra readies for Jess and Carol, which we always love.

Building the Voltron

• Sky Cycle is top priority, allowing Carol to activate (and draw you an extra card) twice per turn.
• Inspired, Sidearm, and Power Gloves bring Carol up to 5 dmg per ATK, or 3 THW and 1 dmg if you thwart.
• Reinforced Suit and Sidekick bring her HP up to 7, which means you get 6 activations before you have to heal. Note that Sidekick is great here, even without any of the other cards in the "sidekick package." Just having a second copy of Reinforced Suit is good enough, and if you happen to flip down and use Jess's basic REC, the free 2 healing on Carol is amazing.
• Do not cut First Aid from this deck. You will need to heal 2 from Captain Marvel at every opportunity. Especially once she starts activating twice per turn (3x when you draw Get Rage-y).
• If a nasty encounter card takes Carol out of play, don't scoop up your cards just yet. It's a big tempo hit, but you'd be surprised how quickly you can cycle your deck and rebuild, thanks to Call for Aid and Mulligan.

Superhuman Agility

• Jess's hero ability gives her +1 to all stats, per each differently-colored aspect card you've played this round. This deck is not specifically built around this ability, but she'll still be getting +1 or +2 to her stats on most turns. A 3/3/3 stat-line is more than enough to profit off of extra readies from Self-Propelled Glide or Stick-To-Itiveness.
• Remember that Mulligan is essentially a free card that gives +1 to all of Jess's stats, so anytime you draw a just-okay hand with Mulligan, toss your spare cards into a Metagame upgrade and see what the next hand has to offer.
• Those stats last through the villain phase, so don't be afraid to defend for 2 or 3 when needed, especially if your hand is low on aspect cards for next round. Not to mention you can probably ready up again anyhow. I usually defend anytime I don't have a Tough card.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

• When building or selecting a deck to play alongside this in 2-handed or multiplayer, there's really no wrong answer. Jess and Carol can easily cover the weaknesses of their teammates, with good thwart and attack options on any given turn.
• The only thing this deck doesn't do well is defending for other teammates, so Jess and Carol do appreciate teammates playing perfect defense, or just running lots of chump blockers.
• Here are a few examples of cards that we don't mind seeing in another player's deck: Get Ready, Psychic Kicker, Command Team, Med Team, more copies of First Aid, Render Medical Aid, Rally the Troops, Honorary X-Men and training upgrades, Honorary Guardian with Energy Spear or Comms Implant & Laser Blaster, Boot Camp, and any 4-cost allies to protect Carol from 'Pool-ized.
• This deck doesn't really have much use for Build Support, but if someone else is running it, you can get Jessica Drew's Apartment for free. And we always love getting a free Finesse off of Superpower Training, but it won't make or break our game.
• Spider-Woman also utilizes basic stat increases better than your average hero, so spare copies of Combat Training and Heroic Intuition and even Armored Vest are always appreciated. Specialized Training is obviously great for us, but it does come with a considerable THW cost. Soaring Acrobatics can buff Jess after a Self-Propelled Glide, or Carol once she's got her Sky Cycle.

That's all I've got for now! Feel free to follow along with my full Jess and Carol Kill the Marvel Universe campaign logs on Reddit.