Gameplay Link

I’m no stranger to Spider-Woman decks that use the opening “I’m no stranger to…” Because quite frankly, Spider-Woman is my favorite hero. Even 6 waves after release, she is still just a deckbuilder’s delight! No one in the game elevates aspect cards the way she does, and since aspect cards are the main deckbuilding hook in Marvel Champions, she has the most gratifying deckbuilding. Almost every aspect card has a combo that only her unique split-aspect focus can bring about, and she is frequently the best user of many aspect cards that would normally see little to no play. Her ability to tutor, pay for, and incentivize the playing of aspect cards with Jessica Drew's Apartment, Finesse, and Superhuman Agility, is second to none.

Ok, that was a big love bomb to a stellar hero, but what are we actually doing here? We are taking advantage of Spider-Woman’s access to Leadership cards and her ability to pay for aspect cards’ abilities, to elevate the new Husk ally! First, we should go over a couple key rules to keep the comment section light:

Husk cannot get the same resource icon boost multiple times on the same basic activation, she only checks if any of those resource types were spent, not how many. Finesse can pay for abilities in aspect cards’ text boxes, not just their numerical cost. This means that Finesse can be spent as any type of resource towards Husk’s ability. Likewise, The Power of Justice can duplicate itself for card abilities, and not just costs, meaning that spending The Power of Justice towards Husk can trigger two of her boosts. You can see where we’re going with this right?

Old Time Rock and Roll

Call me old fashioned, but today’s decks just don’t got the same soul. I want big, flashy combos and OTKs with unique mechanics and card combinations. I want each deck and game of Marvel Champions to be something new and distinctive, to keep the spice alive. We’ve had some good times together, you and I, so let’s see what’s cookin’.

The goal here is to get Husk out with Danger Room Training and Inspired, and pump her with as many 5 THW/ATK activations as you possibly can. I love that we get Danger Room Training here, because Husk's self-heal means the extra health from Mission Training is not as valuable as the flexible 3/3 statline that Danger Room Training provides. The extra attack here makes her a great win condition. Most games will end with 5-6 Husk activations for 5 ATK each.

This is usually accomplished with x2 Finesse, Quincarrier, Clarity of Purpose, 1-2 Band Together (Rapid Response Beast!), 1-2 The Power of Justice, and any remaining resources in hand. Towards the end of the villain’s health, the heal becomes less necessary, so the last 1-2 activations you only need to pump her with 1-2 resources (the final, only an to gain the plus stat!). So there we go, that’s the main thing going on, and you can stop reading here if you want, but I’m going to go a little more in detail on the strategy and all the card choices. If you continue on, you will be rewarded!

Husky Business

Some quick detail of how to play Husk. Her ability is an interrupt so the heal will apply before any consequential. This means using her first few hit points without healing is relatively safe (for most scenarios), and then just always using the heal option while sitting at 1hp. Danger Room Training will get her to 4hp, which is a floor of 3x4 activations, and Rally the Troops will refund two more.

The ready option is the one that requires the most thought, particularly at the end of the turn. There are times where you might be drawing cards at the end of your turn, either flipping down and drawing off Wolfsbane+Jessica Drew's Apartment, or defeating a side scheme and drawing off Skilled Investigator+Mission Leader. This means, you might draw into 2 cards with no available plays, and being able to pitch those cards into Husk gives them a use, rather than holding them. This makes it usually worth while to spend a leftover resource to ready Husk, even with no other way to boost the last activation, banking on whatever you draw.

Rather than using Finesse, Quincarrier, and Clarity of Purpose all on the same activation, I like to spread around to even things out. If we have multiple in hand for instance, using all of our on the same activation gives us one great activation, and then one weaker one. Instead, use 1-2 hand resources and 1 for each activation. Saving a for the previously discussed late draw situation, can also help you smooth out whatever resources you randomed into. Just note that Finesse and Clarity of Purpose are hero form only.

Personal preference and scenario dependent, but I usually prioritize thwarting with Husk over attacking as long as Wolfsbane is left enough threat to also thwart. However, Leadership+Justice Spider-Woman can be fairly damage light, as Venom Blast is low damage and she only has basics and allies otherwise. Husk attacking for 3-5 is a great minion answer. Kaluu is great for popping toughs that Husk wouldn’t want to do. Our survivability is fairly high with Pheromones and Contaminant Immunity, so leaving minions out for a few turns also isn’t terrible.

When Husk is basically replacing our hero’s basic power with a much stronger and easy to replicate one, it leaves Spider-Woman free to DEF or REC. I try to boost to 3 THW/DEF turn 1, clear any starting threat, and then basic DEF, especially against villains with extra encounter card deals. This gives us pretty good leg room to build and set up, without being vulnerable. Always look at the top of the villain’s deck turn 1, to ascertain what boost you’ll be facing.

Allies

• Beast tutors out The Power of Justice or Band Together (or very rarely The Power of Leadership to set up a Rapid Response). I usually go for whatever is in my discard, to get an extra use out of it that deck cycle, or just default to Band Together if 3 allies are out.

• Wolfsbane combined with Jessica Drew’s top deck peek helps cycle the deck, and is especially valuable when you hit a double or triple. She’s also a The Power of Justice target.

• Kaluu is in all of my half-blue Spider-Woman decks, he searches out events, particularly off-aspect events that will guarantee to boost her stats. Grabbing whatever you need to suit the situation and getting 2/2/2 (one from Kaluu and one from his event), is worth more to me than Maria’s blind draw and extra thwart. Being a The Power of Leadership target is noteworthy here.

• Cypher is really nice with all of the confuse Spider-Woman throws around with Pheromones. More deck cycling is always good. He ends up being either 1 ATK, +1 stats, and a chump for 2ER or 2 ATK and +1 stats for 0ER. Usually the lowest priority ally in the deck, but the occasional extra card on your next turn or a chump this turn, makes him the best justice card left to grab, and of course he’s a The Power of Justice target, even if it is likely feeding Husk instead.

Player Side Schemes

With Husk’s ability to machine gun side schemes in solo or multiplayer, we are including more PSS than I ever have outside of Cable. In solo, her 3 THW neuters a majority of side schemes in the game, and in multiplayer getting off multiple 3-5 THW activations can clear threat for the entire table. Three of these PSS are also really cheap stat boosts, and playable with Finesse/tutor-able with Apartment.

• Call for Backup gets us Husk if we don’t have her yet. Otherwise, I’ll go for Captain Marvel who is difficult to get down and gives us some steady card draw, or Beast for another Band Together pump for Husk

• Generation X is truly a card that I can’t see ever being excluded from Justice decks for the forseeable future. Here it is an instant Pheromones or Contaminant Immunity, and a +2 stat boost. Getting a third use out of either is excellent, and that Pheromones can be played immediately with The Power of Leadership or a combination of Finesse and Deft Focus. Husk can clear this without even needing to pump her stats thanks to the constant ability.

• Rally the Troops is really good value when it’s healing Husk, Wolfsbane, and Captain Marvel. Saves us from needing to heal Husk twice, and I like it over Team Training because it triggers Skilled Investigator and Mission Leader.

• Build Support is here to get out Quincarrier, which is otherwise a difficult play, and Superpower Training gets us Finesse. These PSS are net zero with Skilled Investigator+Mission Leader, and then net you a resource from the incoming build card. Even in the late game, these can be played and cleared relatively easily with Husk, just to deck thin and cycle some cards, or to help other players.

• Specialized Training is even more card draw, while also helping Spider-Woman supplement her stats. 5 threat is relatively easy to clear with a 5 THW Husk, or with Inconspicuous that can chip away at it while still targeting threats.

Resources

Husk doesn’t really like the basic doubles, so we’ve cut those out and included aspect resources instead. Remember, Pheromones is a target for The Power of Leadership! Even if we don’t draw into a matching target (which is unlikely with our card draw), Husk is the best resource sink around, and resources are the best type to pitch! Only one Band Together, because we can get it back with Beast, and we don’t want to see it early. Being above 40 cards reduces the odds of seeing a dead Band Together in the early game.

Card Draw

Being above 40 cards, we want to cycle our deck really quickly to find Husk. Then once Husk is out, every additional card and resource just increases the upper limit of activations we get with her.

• One Way or Another, Chance Encounter, Call for Backup are excellent ways to get Husk out early. She is great at clearing whatever scheme OWOA pulls, and those schemes feed Skilled Investigator and Mission Leader for even more card draw. There aren’t many schemes that aren’t worth drawing 5 cards for. Every ally except Husk gives us card draw or resources, while our PSS tutor, deck thin, and get our build pieces for cheap or at a rebate with Skilled Investigator and Mission Leader.

• Deft Focus reduces the cost of Pheromones and Contaminant Immunity, two of our most important cards for staying alive, since we aren’t chump-blocking.

• Jessica Drew's Apartment is one of the single best cards for this deck. Card draw is even better when it can turn into multiple resources, and Apartment can draw us either Power of or Band Together, and because Husk’s ability isn’t locked to hero, we can trigger it in alter-ego. Flipping down with 0 cards in hand, the pulling a The Power of Justice for a late turn boosted activation with Husk feels soooo good.

• Rapid Response can either get Husk back if we had to use her up early, or can turn into a 2-3x Band Together turn. Clarity of Purpose can even be put on Beast to kill him off early for Rapid Response (though 99.99% of the time Clarity is already on Spider-Woman).

Other Things Tried

Spider-Woman requiring an even amount of each aspect makes her deckbuilding a balancing act, and partially why we’re above 40 cards.

• Originally, I started out with x3 Chance Encounter and x3 Suit Up, with the intention of grabbing Husk and Clarity as early as possible. Turns out, that was entirely unnecessary. A few copies of Chance stayed in, and are great to setup a late game Beast, but Suit Up had too much competition from the other amazing Leadership cards, and ultimately I like the PSS and Jessica Drew's Apartment better.

• Agent Coulson was in for the tried and true Rapid Response loop, but turns out we didn’t need the chumps as much, and I’d rather put The Power of Justice into Husk.

• Maria Hill can be subbed over Kaluu in multiplayer, but when we’re triggering Mission Leader every turn with Husk, they can’t complain too much if we leave her out! White Tiger is always good, but I again prefer Kaluu's ability to give us a choice and the fact that he is playable with a single The Power of Leadership. Choices always advantage a strong player, who can gain more value out of more knowledge. We don’t need her comparative extra stats with Husk.

• The Triskelion is worth a note, to be able to cycle Kaluu and Beast through even when the mega board of Husk/Captain Marvel/Wolfsbane are set up, but I’d rather just use Captain Marvel or Wolfsbane up.

• Inspiring Presence and Game Time are both a little redundant with Husk’s ability. The latter does not give us a stat boost and is not searchable off Jessica Drew's Apartment. When our entire hand and board act as these, we don’t need to spend precious card slots on them. While Game Time technically saves a resource, so does The Power of Justice, while also providing doubles and a tutor from Jessica Drew's Apartment. Likewise, we have 4 board generators that give us whatever we need. X-Mansion can heal Husk, but she doesn’t need it.

• More Voltron upgrades really aren’t needed, as Husk is already hitting 3 without any, and doesn’t require the extra health. Sidearm can be included for ranged, but being a basic is kind of a bummer. Lead from the Front and R&D Facility are cut but overkill. Innovation isn’t as necessary with Husk’s heal and Rally the Troops.

• If you’ve noticed a distinct lack of Justice cards in this section, that’s because there aren’t many alternatives I’d consider. Overwatch is great with boosted Husk, but you can just ready her and go again. Float Like a Butterfly is good for the kill turn, but ends up as overkill more often than not. Cable or Clear the Area make any side scheme worth 6 cards, but space and ally slots are tight and Husk makes clearing side schemes easy already.

Since you've made it this far, here are some photos of my Husky as a reward for you!