The Perfect Perfect Defense

This deck is focused on defending for a table full of players (3-4 is best) while taking next to no damage, turn after turn.

Warning: it makes some of the hardest-hitting villains (Thanos, Venom, Ultron, and now Juggernaut) in the game look absolutely stupid as they flail at you over and over and you take no damage.

I average two to three defenses per villain phase, which is plenty for a four player game where one person is usually in alter-ego per turn on average. On the off chance that I can't defend for everyone, there's usually an ally someone else controls that can step in or a hero that can take a hit without serious danger.

Adjustments

In the age of Build Support, if other players run that PSS, I would remove one copy of Never Back Down and put in a Quincarrier. You always need more resource generators that can be used in the villain phase.

Against a Stalwart villain, Never Back Down is obviously not good. I would remove all copies of it and include three copies of Riposte or Not Today!.

The Bottom Line

Kitty is (and probably always will be) the apotheosis of the perfect defense build, and once you get the hang of this deck, it's what you pull out when you want to make a scenario look stupid.

This is not a solo-friendly deck. It doesn't remove threat well. It doesn't handle minions. It doesn't do that much damage. Your player phase will usually be very short because you've done all your work in the villain phase and probably only have a couple cards left.

What this deck does, it does superbly well: keep everyone at the table alive so they can unload on the villain and keep the schemes in check.

Last updated: July 2024 after Nightcrawler's release to include Change of Fortune, which is a really nice addition for Kitty. With it, her Counter-Punch and Powerful Punch can net her cards in the villain phase, which always helps her get to 3-4 defenses per round.

Example Turn / Tactics

I pulled this from a comment response on a previously-posted version of this deck.

This presumes you have X-Jet and Nerves of Steel on the table. This is a three player game and Kitty is the first player.

Hand: Desperate Defense, Counter-Punch, Shadowcat Surprise, Phased and Confused, Preemptive Strike

You're starting the villain phase in Phased.

1) Villain attacks you

• You exhaust to defend and play Desperate Defense using Nerves of Steel
• The attack resolves. You take no damage, since you're defending in Phased
• Because you took no damage from the attack, you ready yourself from Desperate Defense
• As a response to the defense, you are forced to flip to Solid
• As a response to the defense, you activate Unflappable, drawing Kitty's Room
• As a response to the defense, you play Counter-Punch, which does 2 damage and you activate the hero response on Solid to flip back to Phased.

2) Villain attacks player 2

• You're in Phased
• Boost card is dealt and turned face up, revealing 2 boost icons
• You use X-Jet to play Preemptive Strike, dealing 2 damage to the villain and making you the defender of the attack
• You're defending in Phased, thus you take no damage.
• As a response to the defense, you are forced to flip to Solid

3) Villain attacks player 3

• You're in Solid
• You use Kitty's Room and the resource ability on Solid to play Powerful Punch
• The attack part of Powerful Punch resolves, dealing 4 damage to the villain
• As a response to the attack, you flip from Solid to Phased
• Powerful punch is also a defense, so you're defending the attack in Phased
• You take no damage
• As a response to the defense, you are forced to flip to Solid
• During the ensuing player phase, you use your basic activation to attack and flip back to Phased

As you can see, the key is to use your attacking or flipping cards (Counter-Punch, Powerful Punch, Quick Shift) to strategically get yourself back to Phased so you can defend there. Getting used to playing this way is not easy, which is why I don't recommend this deck for beginners. Once you get it, though, you will be shocked at how effective it is at keeping people safe in a big multiplayer game.