Nebula is the Dispatcher

Introduction

"The Phoenix Program is a project for rehabilitated villains to reform by using their skills and powers for society's benefit, while receiving guidance and mentorship from a heroic dispatcher. The lesser known Nebula Program gives established heroes a formerly villainous dispatcher and advisor. This advisor will offer the heroes insight to the villain's mindset. Thinking like a villain means saving the day faster and it means more heroes home safely sooner."

I recently finished my first playthrough of Dispatch. Like many, I fell in love with it's odd genre mash-up of strategy, visual novel, and what I can only describe as "middle-management simulator." I also found its cast of occasionally goofy, occasionally serious heroes and villains to be a load of fun. The game's super hero team-up theming also reminded me of Marvel Champions. This deck seeks to recreate Dispatch' feel, and much of its cast, in Marvel Champions. Though this time, Nebula is subbing in Robert. Man's earned a day off. This deck's goal is theming, first and foremost, but I think we can make that effective and have some fun creatively interpreting ally cards. With that said, let's meet our surprisingly capable Z-Team! And some SDN members are joining, too. One fight, one team and all that.

The Z-Team (mostly)

• Beef: Everyone loves Beef
• Blonde Blazer: Your boss. 2 ATK! 2 THW! Card draw! A hero even a villain can admire.
• Chase: Blink and you'll miss him
• Coupe: She's a wonderful team member, just make sure you stay on the same side
• Flambe: Here to start real fires and (occasionally) put the metaphorical ones out. Mostly the former
• Invisigal: A lot of potential, but that word can haunt you. Chase doesn't seem to trust her for some reason. (Them both being SHIELD wasn't intended when crafting the deck, but I love it now)
• Malevola: A connection to hell apparently helps keep you in the fight longer
• Mandy: She's wants you to succeed. Have a card!
• Phenomaman: This weird alien is powerful, if a bit unreliable. Is he doing alright?
• Punch-Up: Has a way of squeezing into missions. Uppercuts hit dangerously low. Probably washes his hands less often than he should.
• Prism: If you play her once, she'll temporarily stun a villain. But if you recur her, she can stun them forever.
• Royd: A big guy, a genius, and surprisingly capable in a fight. That's Royd!
• Sonar: Which version are you getting today? The intellectual one...or the other one? Perhaps a bit too technology, but what are you gonna do.
• Waterboy: Seems low-powered, but maybe just needs the right mentoring

Golem is sitting this one. He's at the bar again? Bah! Honestly, I just had trouble finding an ally that that thematically matched him and this silly deck is already at 50 cards. Let me know if you're more clever than I am. Multiple Man would be perfect here except for the whole aspect thing.

Meet your Dispatcher

Those of you that have made it this far are probably wondering why I chose Nebula to be the Dispatcher. Iron Man is a much more straightforward analogue for Robert Robertson; Cyclops' whole thing is leading teams of allies while in AE; Adam Warlock arguably has more flexible ally options; Cap gets discounts on allies in AE (and can be a decent Robert analogue); and Star Lord gets flexible allied upgrades.

And I agree with all of that. The thing is none of them have mechanics that play like hacking mini-games. Nebula's technique upgrades are the hacking mini-games. They encourage you stick in AE (because a dispatcher doesn't get in the middle of the fight), provide little bursts of card draw when you play them in AE, and tempo when you flip to hero form and activate your video game-y hacks! Thematically, they're great. Them being upgrades makes their forced hero activations feel more indirect, much like how the hacking games can help with situational awareness or thwart a villain remotely.

Sure, Summers is the better trainer and tactician. But you're their dispatcher and mentor, not their drill sergeant. Push them to do their best and ensure they're ready for whatever they meet while on call. Be an example and a compass when they need guidance. Dispatchers don't get the glory like the heroes do. Some of your own team may think you're merely an Honorary Guardian. But they don't have like you or be impressed by your credentials. They just have to trust you. Lead them well and they'll be confident that you'll be making the right the call.

Closing Thoughts

Like I said at the beginning, this particular deck list is for theming first and foremost. I have played with it in multiplayer a few times and it held it's own. Ally recursion and re-readying is quite strong in this game, even with a 50-card deck. I think firing a member of Z-team would be disastrous for morale but if I was playing this deck more seriously, I would drop Honorary Guardian, Clarity of Purpose, Cosmo, Martinex, a copy of Inspired, and either Rocket or Sunspot. Mockingbird is also out if the villain has steady or stalwart. That leaves us with 9-10 allies in a leaner 43-44 card deck. That might make for better metrics in the short-term, but I have confidence everyone on this team can contribute to making the city safer. :)

I hope you enjoy this silly deck, whether it's playing the "full" version, the leaner one, or just reading this write-up! I had a lot of fun making it, thinking about which MC characters would work best as Dispatch counter-parts, and it was fun taking this version of the Z-team out on another mission.

Playing Dispatch has given me a newfound appreciation for the Leadership aspect and the type of story-telling-in-gameplay it allows. I enjoy super hero team-ups well enough, but I previously found the aspect's ally-focus diluted how it felt playing as the hero and that diminished the game for me. The hero is the main character, so why are these 7-10 other people getting all the spotlight? Dispatch is a story explicitly about that. Robert is the story's protagonist and hero, specifically because of how he leads his team, even if they're doing the flashy field work. I'll stop now before this turns into a bad college literature essay, so I will close by saying I enjoyed the game a lot and am grateful for it leading me to a newfound enjoyment in Marvel Champions.