Task-Widow, Friends wtih Benefits

So when I way playing around with all the new preparation cards from Nick Fury, I came across this combo and realized that this is probably part of the reason we're getting a "current" and "legacy" environment.

Then I realized that KCC actually realized this combo about a month before I did: https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/47268/taskmaster-redeemed-1.0

This is not a great solo deck, but is a powerful multiplayer deck. Natasha will flip to hero form once, and remain Alter-ego for the remainder of the game. So your friends will deal the majority of the damage to the villain while you're responsible for alter-ego clearing the main scheme. If you want to try playing it solo, I think Husk and Followed and Lay the Trap will eventually get you to the finish line, but it will be a long game. I have been playing this two-handed alongside X-23 Southern Honey by D.M. Tip (https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/46076/x-23-southern-honey-1.0) and having a great time smashing through Expert villains from the Sinister Motives box.

The Spy Who Loved Her Nemesis

Natasha can do explosions and car chases. It was part of her training in the Red Room. But she also knows how to work an asset, and her old nemesis Taskmaster knows everything the Villain has been planning from the start. All we need is a little creative leverage, and we can get ourselves an Informant.

Here's the combo: Play out Safe House #29 as soon as you get it (Mulligan hard for this and Face the Past) You'll need one copy of Informant as well, but with 3 copies you should see it by turn 3 at least. In a pinch Agent Coulson can find it for you. Then, once you have these things (and Face the Past in hand), you flip up and block/take the Villain's one and only attack against you. On the following turn, use Face the Past to make contact with your nemesis-turned-best friend, Taskmaster, then flip down to Alter-ego again.

Now you're settled. Taskmaster gets additional scheme for every upgrade you control, which will continue to stack up (since you're not in Hero form, you're no longer using most of your preparation cards). This would normally be a game-ending problem for you, Taskmaster scheming against you with a scheme equaling the number of upgrades you control... But that's where Informant comes in. You discard it, and now Taskmaster, the best informant ever, thwarts from the main scheme equal to the number of upgrades you control.

On the following turn, use Safe House #29 to get Informant back in your hand. Use the free Black Widow's Gauntlet resource to play Informant back out and get ready for the next turn.

Additional Fun

• You can thwart side schemes with your allies.
• You can block for other players at the table using your allies
• You can "thwart" using [Disguise](/card/47013) (it's not actually a thwart action, just "removing threat")
• You can give away your [Helicarrier](/card/01092).
• You can play out side schemes [Lay the Trap](/card/41016) and [Specialized Training](/card/43021) to give other players the stats and card draw they crave. [Build Support](/card/40027) can put [Quincarrier](/card/08023) into play for you so you don't have to go back up to hero form to play it.
• You'll always get [Winter Soldier](/card/08002) for free.
• Don't forget that [Under Surveillance](/card/06031) and [Followed](/card/03032) upgrades under your control, despite being attached to schemes on the board. [Sidearm](/card/23035) is an upgrade you control, even though it's attached to [Husk](/card/47012)
• Speaking of [Husk](/card/47012), she can be a good resource sink for you to do a little damage each turn to the villain. [Quincarrier](/card/08023) can activate one of her 3 kickers, and you can use cards from your hand to hit the others if you can. Because this deck doesn't have a way to heal allies, prioritize Mental resource healing her, or you'll eventually discard her and have to wait for her to come back around. While boosting her attack stat is nice, [Sidearm](/card/23035) is primarily included to allow her to ignore retaliate from some villains.
• Only two cards (2x[Dance of Death](/card/08004) and [Face the Past](/card/49022)) cannot be played in Alter-ego. You can use [Covert Ops](/card/08003) for some additional thwarting and a confuse, and it's always a fun turn when an encounter card surges and Taskmaster liberates 6 additional cards for you from 3x [Espionage](/card/08033) (which can trigger even in alter-ego).
• Although you start with a lot of cards, by the third deck pass, it's getting pretty thin. This allows you to loop allies, events, and a couple key upgrades (for me [Espionage](/card/08033) and [Followed](/card/03032)) pretty reliably.
• You don't have to worry too much about minions in front of you. Feels very Vision-esque, but you get to decide the order of minions activating against you. Just have Taskmaster activate last, and his betrayal will wipe away all their efforts. Additionally, [Quake](/card/08012) will slowly sap them until they are defeated.
• [Fitz](/card/50056)-[Simmons](/card/50055) can tutor and play your [Gauntlet](/card/08007)s, but otherwise wait for you to draw [Homeland Intervention](/card/27042), for which they can both be exhausted to boost it's power. [Vigilante Training](/card/23033) can shuffle [Homeland Intervention](/card/27042) back in

Honorable Mentions

• [Intelligence](/card/50051) is a good card for controlling who gets what encounter cards, but I found that it didn't really *matter* what encounter cards everyone got. We had what we needed to deal with the encounter cards, and Task-Widow's deck is already on the larger side.
• [Global Logistics](/card/27043) is a good card to control the encounter deck, and it can be recurred with [Vigilante Training](/card/23033), but I dropped it for the same reason.
• As soon as Shuri's pack is released, I'll be including The Raft, pretty great utility card to lock away minions (or deal them back out to Thor and Valkyrie).
• I originally played with 3x [Practiced Plan](/card/50058). This card is great for hero-Widow, but Task-Widow doesn't make much use of it. You can use it to recur [Informant](/card/50050), but you can already do that with [Safe House #29](/card/08005). Recurring Practiced Plan with Safe House was just more runaround, and it added to deck bloat.