Saving For A Rainy Day (9 Damage per ER)

Introduction

This is a deck that I've been working on for a while hoping to share... but then journeyman2 let me know of his plans to post this banger of a deck, so I've put off publishing until now. If you haven't read his writeup on how to get a crap-ton of damage out of Nova using Ms. Marvel, you should start there with a primer. His deck is pretty awesome and is worth a read if you haven't seen it already.

Side-By-Side Loop

However, despite having a fairly similar strategy, this deck only actually has 5 (non-hero) cards in common with journeyman2's take. This interpretation of the Side-by-Side loop is really all about collecting resources and saving them for later. If you're willing to be a saver, the compound interest you can earn will really build up on your OTK (one turn kill).

If you're not already familiar with the strategy, the basic idea is to use Ms. Marvel's ability to exhaust and take a damage to return a card to your hand. When this card is Side-by-Side, you can then ready Ms. Marvel and Nova so she can do this again. When you have Supernova Helmet in play, you can then always have a resource available after you take a basic action, so Side-by-Side can be played for only 1 card (1 Effective Resource or ER) and you can keep readying Nova over and over again building his attack stat each time until you only have 1 HP left on Ms. Marvel. At that point, you'll need to choose the option on Side-by-Side where you heal so that Ms. Marvel stays alive.

This deck then revolves around trying to stock up on up to 15 resources on the table, plus cards in your hand to go for a massive Wombo-Combo turn to end the game.

Stocking Up

With 3 copies of everything in the 'Enhanced' suite, plus 3x Resourceful, Clarity of Purpose and 2x Connection to the Worldmind, you in theory can have 15 resources saved on the table in order to really maximize your Side-By-Side turn. If you also invest by saving up some Adrenaline Rush, you can start your loop at 4 ATK. Then after the first Ms. Marvel activation, your first Side-By-Side ups you to 5 ATK before going to 6 ATK, 7 ATK, etc...

Because in this deck, Ms. Marvel has a copy of a Reinforced Suit, along with the Sidekick card, she also has up to 7 HP. You need to use the first HP on the turn you activate Side-By-Side and you can't entirely kill her off, so it means your would get 5 activations where you increase your stats before the remaining activations need to be used with healing Ms. Marvel. This means, you can get +5 boost from Ms. Marvel from whatever ATK you start at.

If you've saved all 3 copies of Adrenaline Rush, you'll have 4 from an initial activation, and then 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 damage, using up all of Ms. Marvel's available HP. At this point, any resources you have left will be 9 ATK each, and you could have a huge number of resources left on the table which then all pay off at 9 damage each. With a pretty generous rate of return of 9 ATK per ER, this is some serious compound interest... if you're willing to wait and save.

Strategy

Depending on the player count, you'll need to save up a certain amount of damage - so this is a rush deck of sorts. Strategy is going to be important here. Obviously playing true solo is the most challenging - but you'll may want to be doing some math to figure out what sort of damage you can push at any given time. If you have Side-By-Side under Black Panther, with Ms. Marvel and a Side Kick out, you'll be ready at anytime you need to push for the win, or even just to hit a 'panic button' to get out of a jam. You can always go use Suit Up to find Ms. Marvel again if needed...

So some strategy tips here as this is actually a pretty nuanced deck to pilot:

• Turn one you really want to find the Helmet, so this deck has 8 wild resources. Mulligan hard to get one of these turn one. 8 wild is a fair amount, as it's 20% of the deck. With the ability to see 12 cards, there's a good chance you'll see one wild.
• After you have the helmet, you're hoping to play a copy of Suit Up immediately. If you have one on turn one, with a hand size of 6, you can use a wild to get down the Helmet. Use a copy of Suit Up with two other cards to get Sidekick and Ms. Marvel from the deck. You should have 4 cards left in your hand now. Use the Helmet plus 2 cards to play Ms. Marvel. Perform a basic activation to ready the Helmet and use that to play Sidekick. Now you have your first set up piece ready.
• Turn two and onwards, you are looking to stock resources. The ideal turn is to play an Enhanced card with copy of The Power in All of Us. Then use one of those resources plus the Helmet to play another Enhanced. Then use that resource plus your second Helmet to play a third. Now you'd have 3 stored resources on the table, plus you still can use them one more time.
• Use Black Panther to store your single copy of Side-by-Side until you are ready for your big finish. We have a few ways that you can play him depending on sequencing. If you see Black Panther before you see Side-By-Side choose option A, and if you see Side-By-Side before you see Black Panther choose option B.
• Option A: If Panther comes out early, let him pass by. Once you see Side-by-Side hit the discard pile, flip to Alter-Ego and play Black Panther when you next get a copy of Suit Up to be able to scoop that up. Make sure you don't play Clarity of Purpose on yourself before this, as you may need that to meet the requirements of Suit Up.
• Option B: If you see Side-by-Side before Panther, you can just wait until you draw into T'Challa. This is actually better because you can use your extra Enhanced resources while in Hero form in order to pay his cost. Since he and Ms. Marvel are the only 3+ costed cards we really need to play, we aren't running doubles. However, you NEED to play Black Panther after Side-by-Side is in the discard pile, otherwise you can't save that card for later.
• Use Ms. Marvel to keep recurring the cards you need most. Unleash Nova Force is probably the most fun and helps you keep churning through your deck and stocking resources on the table. However, she will run out of HP, so you'll want to flip down and use a basic activation to heal yourself and her. So depending on the villain, I often just tank their attacks and heal them back. Down Time can be included here in order to make your own basic REC a little more worthwhile.
• Personally, I like to flip every turn, so I use Ms. Marvel to recur Lightspeed Flight and just flip all the time knowing I have very effective threat removal. Also, if Jesse Alexander is down, it's like having an Avenger's Mansion - plus you can start using your Connection to the Worldmind's a little more generously.
• The ideal scenario is that you always keep building your Enhanced card pile, so make sure you always keep 1 resources left on each. On the turn you play one, you can still play one resource, so use those for things like playing more Enhanced cards and especially Adrenaline Rush.

Multiplayer

Although this deck has worked for me in true solo, it really shines in multiplayer, where you can relieve some of the pressure with another player. Just keep on storing up those resources. Remember that each one could be worth 9 ATK at some point, so you if you do the math from where you are at, you'll discover that you are pretty quickly in range even on the first stage of a villain in 4P game once you start to accumulate those resources in the bank. If your teammates know that you're doing this strategy, you're really just looking for them to keep things at bay until around the end of the first deck pass. If you really just commit to using all the Enhanced cards to pay for other Enhanced cards, once you have 10+ resources on the table, you'll be looking at being able to approach 100 damage and finish the game on the spot.

This one is fun! You're not going to contribute super much to the team at first, but you'll destroy once you're up and running. Take this one to your next games night and impress all your friends! As always, a like and/or a comment is always greatly appreciated.

Until next time Champions...