Noble Dracrifice

"MANTIS, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Does that sound like you in the middle of a Drax game? Desperate for healing, unwilling to flip down and lose your precious counters?

As of Magneto's pack we now have Noble Sacrifice, a new card to keep us healthy and tough. That's really, really good for Drax!

We're combining it with another new card, "You Got This!". This card readies your hero. Spoiler alert: readies are also crazy good for Drax.

Put them together and it's a revolving door of expendable henchmen ready to be Dracrificed!

If you've never played Drax in Leadership, what are you waiting for?!

Don't miss this opportunity - Drax wouldn't. His reflexes are too fast. He would catch it!

Overview:

• Archetype: Ally Discard
• Difficulty: Low-Medium
• Play Style: High Tempo
• Recommended Player Count: 1-4
• Ideal Aspect Partner: Justice

Mulligan Priorities:

• DWI Theet Mastery
• Superpower Training to find DWI Theet Mastery
• Nick Fury to find DWI Theet Mastery
• Drax's Knife
• Clarity of Purpose
• An ally ready to be sacrificed

Why Is Gamora? (and other allies)

The challenge this deck faces is that both of the new Leadership events here require you to discard allies and, until your counters and DWI Theet Mastery are drawing you a bazillion cards every turn, you have to work with a puny hand size of 4. In other words, it's easy to run into a situation where you have these events and no allies.

That can really slow you down. So incredibly slow that you might think you become invisible.

The solution is simple: bring Gamora and a whole freakin' army of allies! Like 10+ allies!

It works extremely well. We always have targets for our events, and the ally limit is never an issue since we're discarding them so frequently. Sure, taking so many allies isn't perfect but - like Mantis - it's beautiful. On the inside.

I Hate Stories Where Everybody Lives

Noble Sacrifice is the clear priority - so discard those allies! This card keeps Drax's gameplan alive. Remember, Drax wants to get hit to gain counters. Chump blocking is for chumps. ...Well, and emergencies.

When it comes to readying, I admit I've generally preferred Limitless Stamina over "You Got This!" - but you're generally playing whatever readies you can get your hands on for most of the game. Combine "You Got This!" with Knife Leap to hit 12-13 damage in one basic ATK with piercing and overkill. Nice.

There Are Two Types Of Beings In the Universe

Some allies are better off being discarded by one event over the other, but sometimes even a non-ideal ally is worth discarding if the event does the thing you really need. It's something you need to weigh up on a turn-by-turn basis.

Ideal for Noble Sacrifice to discard (3+ printed hp):

• Blade
• Gamora
• Machine Man
• Mantis
• Nick Fury
• Rocket Raccoon
• Wonder Man

Ideal for "You Got This!" to discard (2+ ATK):

• Blade
• Gamora
• Kid Omega
• Nick Fury
• White Tiger
• Wonder Man

Other Allies:

• Major Victory - This guy has a built-in ready! Just don't discard him through an event.

Looking For the Legendary Kevin Bacon

DWI Theet Mastery is THE CARD for Drax that you're looking for. Mulligan to try and find this or Superpower Training (which should be used to get this still).

Nick Fury is great to dig into your deck and find DWI Theet or Drax's Knife. He can block for you if you really need it but, since Drax wants to get hit directly, he is a perfect candidate for any of the new Leadership events which discard allies. He might even draw that card for you!

If your deck is about to reset, consider using Noble Sacrifice or "You Got This!" to discard an ally you want to look for in the next deck pass instead of a slightly better option in that moment. Drax isn't good at planning ahead - but you can be.

While Drax does want to get hit, if you have a drought between Mantis/Noble Sacrifices, you can totally chump block or - notably if you have readies - even exhaust to defend until you start finding some healing. This is generally preferable to going alter-ego.

And then there's Face the Past. Drax is good at damage, so carving through a minion is typically very easy making this a low-risk play - especially if you are at this deck's cap of 5 ATK which will one-shot your nemesis. I recommend keeping a 3-cost ally and Face the Past in hand if you are going to play Face the Past. In the "worst case scenario", you just use the three cards you drew to play the ally. It's great. (Just don't play this on Turn 1 when your ATK is also 1!)

Other Considerations:

The great thing about Marvel Champions in 2024 is there are sooo many good options for almost any deck. This leaves a lot of ideas on the cutting room floor that could be swapped back in to make any number of viable variants.

I tried to keep this version of the deck simple for two main reasons.

1) Starting off with a hero hand size of 4 is rough. Bringing together different elements, or investing in something slow tempo, might not come together or pay off in time. With Drax, I really heavily prioritize getting through the early game - especially the first 2-3 turns. If it's going to take 2-4 turns to pay off, or is only good if you have max counters, it probably didn't make it in.

2) Ease of understanding. This is a pretty simple deck all things considered. You play allies - and you throw them away while laughing maniacally like Drax when Mantis tells everyone Quill's deepest, darkest secret. Yet it has a write-up this long! Decks are complicated - so I really wanted to focus on the core idea. If people feel confident in understanding it, by all means tweak it. I bet you were planning to anyway, weren't you?

Here's some options I considered and/or had in previous versions of the deck, and why I personally didn't include them here:

• Blaze of Glory - This card is great, but deck space is tight and our late game damage is already crazy.
• Squared Off - On the one hand, I think this card works great for Drax with his ability to carve through enemies. On the other hand, it's begging for even more 3-4 cost allies which Drax can't always afford when he doesn't draw the combo together. It also adds another card to the deck reliant on allies, dangerous for a 4-hand size hero. Also deck space...
• Call for Backup - It's excellent. I've just used it way too much and early-game Drax can struggle to clear a side scheme while keeping up with the scenario's tempo, meaning this can either "block" Superpower Training or be wasted.
• Deadpool - An excellent ally for this deck, there's just limited room for 3+ cost allies if you want to keep the early game smooth. Groot - Drax wants to get hit, and Groot wants to block, which puts them at odds. There's also limited room for 3+ cost allies. But Groot has 6 hp, making him an amazing target for Noble Sacrifice and one of the better cards to swap in for that reason alone.
• Maria Hill - C'mon guys, it's Maria. She should really already be in this deck, I'm just a little tired of using her and she doesn't work great with our central events.
• Professor X - He's Professor X. And a great Noble Sacrifice target. But the confuse isn't that useful for us if we never plan to go alter-ego (although yes, still good). Combined with him blocking an attack being less useful for us, well, he didn't make the cut.
• U.S. Agent - A bunch of thwarting and then 5 hp for Noble Sacrifice is great. But he's slow tempo for his cost. But I do like him a lot here.
• Knowhere - If I was to include a support, this would be it. But we only have 4 Guardian allies giving this ambiguous value from the card draw. Especially since, if we do cycle our deck again, we're probably very close to winning because we're Drax. The ally limit increase is nice but we do have 6 ways to discard allies.
• C.I.T.T. - A staple among Drax decks due to readying - but you'll be hard-pressed to set this up and/or spend on it while playing allies, paying for Noble Sacrifice or "You Got This!", and paying for Drax's own cards. But it's still good and worth considering.
• Specialized Training - The ATK boost is soooo good. But introducing and thwarting 5 threat is typically something Drax can only do when he's already in a winning position. This is great for someone else to bring in multiplayer, though.
• Booster Boots - I used this in an earlier version of the deck but it doesn't gel well with the Toughs we're prioritizing from Noble Sacrifice. It's still a fine inclusion but deck space is so tight.
• Band Together - So many allies, so much money! There are a few issues with this however, notably that it discourages you from doing what this deck is built to do (discard allies), but especially the fact that Drax's own cards are dirt cheap.
• "Welcome Aboard" - Much like Squared Off, I'm reluctant to add yet another card to this deck reliant on allies. Our basic doubles are already mostly used just for allies. But it has potential if you want to get a little riskier, or can even help your other players out in multiplayer when you yourself lack a good target.
• Unshakable - I dislike its low impact but it's crazy good for certain stun-heavy scenarios and should be taken against them if you're willing to tech.

Finger Across Throat Means Death!

And that's it! Drax sacrifices his allies - then his other allies tell him "You got this!" and run off before they too are sacrificed upon the altar of vengeance. What's a little death among allies if it means bringing death to your enemies?

I hope you enjoy this deck as much as I have! Drax has never had this much synergy in Leadership before. Good luck!