Close Encounters of the Deadpool Kind

Deck change: Replace Deadpool Corps Ship with Laser Swords

Play testing HeriocSkeleton's 'Pool Wasp deck Gundam Wings made me see how powerful Laser Swords is in a Wasp 'Pool deck. I then replayed Magneto on Expert and noticed a significant difference once the kit was built out with regard to damage output, especially in combination with Stick-To-Itiveness. I highly recommend Gundam Wings for multiplayer.

Deck write-up for Close Encounters of the Deadpool Kind

The title is a reference to the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where the "third kind" are alien beings. In this case, we meet the alien Deadpool kind traveling in the Deadpool Corps Ship, which makes us "encounter" the villain deck in order to put a 'Pool ally into play from one's hand. Additional encounters of this kind are facilitated by Live Dangerously, which allows for all kinds of possible responses to these encounters by adding 2 to each identity's hand size (in exchange for adding one each of the hazard, acceleration, amplify, and crisis icons).

This deck was also covered in my video Wasp 'Pool Deck Discussion | Close Encounters of the Deadpool Kind if anyone wants to see a video explanation of the deck.

VILLAINS TESTED AGAINST (once in standard and expert for each villain): Klaw, Sabretooth, and Magneto. All were victories, except for the standard play against Magneto (and I really just played too risky at the end when I could have continued to control the game). When playing in Standard, the battles were over quickly enough that Live Dangerously didn't make it into play; however, it did in expert play against the first villains, remaining in play for 2 rounds in both cases. I played one additional game against Magneto after adding Laser Swords to the deck and defeated Magneto again.

Note that this deck was built for @andyr and @boomguy with the intent to create a 'Pool deck with a decent degree of the riskier elements of 'Pool, as they requested of the Marvel Champions community in their video Exploring Community Decks in Marvel Champions (All Hands on Decks #9)

NOTABLE ELEMENTS OF PLAY:

Overarching Strategy: Controlled Risk Management.

3 Elements of Risk: The elements of risk in this deck are Live Dangerously, Deadpool Corps Ship, and the 4 'Pool allies. That risk comes in the form of the aforementioned icons in the first paragraph of this description, the most dangerous being the extra encounter card in the case of the hazard icon; plus, Deadpool Corps Ship adds an extra encounter card outright with its action, which can be used in hero or alter-ego form to put a 'Pool ally into play from one's hand.

First Priorities: Initially, one wants to control the board and set up the kit, which consists of Quincarrier, Helicarrier, and Ingenuity. Other upgrades and the Deadpool Corps Ship or considered "bonus," though Healing Factor and Stick-To-Itiveness are also relatively high priorities. They have a tendency to appear sooner or later anyway once the resource generator supports are in play. Once the kit is set up, one can consider whether the time is right to Live Dangerously.

Live Dangerously without Responsibility: Not my Responsibility is the key to being able to Live Dangerously, along with regular doses of confusion supplied by Professor X. Wasp's G.I.R.L. ability in Alter-Ego form allows one to regularly add Moon Girl or Nick Fury and Genius or Self Control back into the deck for regular card draw and mental resource availability, which in turn allows one to also recycle Professor X and Not my Responsibility into the deck to hinder the villain's schemes. A regular supply of Pinpoint Strike and Wasp Sting also help with minion control, as well as with destroying the villain in the final push.

Note that Live Dangerously's "danger" can never last for long since one must defeat it in one or two rounds to make certain one can clear the main scheme of threat. This is relatively easy to do with the combination of the deck's card draw and the extra-large hand size created by Live Dangerously itself.

Tracking the 2 Advance cards in the villain's encounter discard pile is crucial to knowing how much risk can be mitigated, as well as any equivalent cards the villain's encounter deck may have.

A Past That's Not So Hard to Face: Face the Past is a nice inclusion in Wasp decks since her nemesis minion, Beetle, is relatively easy to defeat and does little damage and scheming besides. In addition, she goes back into the villain encounter deck when defeated, often giving one a reprieve from more threatening encounter cards later on.

Conclusion: I had a surprising amount of fun with this deck, which is able to handle the riskier elements of a 'Pool build effectively to truly take advantage of them. Wasp's alter-ego ability makes her uniquely equipped to mitigate that danger effectively and consistently. I recommend trying it out (if I do say so myself -- LOL). If you do, I'd love to hear the results!