Thor - FINALLY! 2 - Even more final

Original description below

Not long ago I submitted a Thor deck - Finally! - that I thought had potential. Thanks to everyone who got an interest in it! Here's a second take on the list.

While it had cool ideas, I felt like it needed a bit of work. Expert Rhino, for instance, still felt hard to control, especially if you had bad draws (not having Moment of Triumph or "You'll Pay for That!" when needed puts you in awkward situations). Furthermore, Earth's Mightiest Heroes most often feels like a waste or inefficient.

Tried a thing or two (Chase Them Down, more copies of "You'll Pay for That!", Skilled Strike, Mean Swing) that weren't much better.

Then I came down with this pretty close list, with just a few more allies. Heimdall (who can benefit from Team-Building Exercise), War Machine, Nick Fury and Mockingbird. They all bring a lot of relief without changing the original vision of the deck, help you thwart, block attacks... Mockingbird's stun then block is a huge weight off your shoulders.

To make room, I sacrificed Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Spider-Girl, but I think you won't miss them so much. I tried a version where I cut Assess the Situation instead but... don't!

The rest is the same, and the plan is the same: get set up with resources cards, key upgrades, keep in control with "You'll Pay for That!" and make up for it with Moment of Triumph. Except now, you get more THW with allies and more helpful blocks. If you worry about the curve getting too high, I found it doesn't matter much if you get your resource cards in play.

After those changes, Rhino really hit the mat!

Have fun!

Going through a Thor phase - I feel like some of the newer cards really fix some problems he's been having. I tried some of those cards in a Leadership deck recently with satisfying results. However I feel that, applied to aggression, I FINALLY managed to get Thor where I want. This deck features nice combos that really make him shine.

What new cards?

• I've come to realize that Team-Building Exercise is really cool as Thor, your "ASGARD" cards (God of Thunder, Mjolnir, Thor's Helmet, Asgard, Lady Sif) as well as your AVENGERS cards (every other ally) benefit from it.

• Assess the Situation helps mitigating the small hand size of Thor and can result in awesome turns.

• Moment of Triumph is absolutely INCREDIBLE when you can pair it with Hammer Throw. Throw Mjolnir, defeat a 2hp minion (also damaging the villain), use Moment of Triumph to heal 6.

Sample awesome turn:

I managed to get installed pretty well - Asgard, Combat Training, Mjolnir, Battle Fury, God of Thunder twice, Hulk.

Starting as Odinson (6 cards). Flip to Thor, use Defender of the Nine Realms, draw two cards (7 in hand). Attack the villain, use Earth's Mightiest Heroes (6 in hand) targeting Hulk and myself; attack the villain again.

Play Hammer Throw (2 cards in hand), defeat the minion, ready from Battle Fury, use Moment of Triumph to heal 6. Attack the villain a 3rd time for a total of 18 DMG dealt, 6 life gained.

Of course this requires some setup and some luck, but gives you an idea how it can work.

Priorities:

Build an economy - you'll have time for attacks later. so, God of Thunder, Avengers Mansion, [Team-Building Exercise], Asgard(/card/12024).

Prepare for the goodness - Combat Training, Mjolnir, Battle Fury, allies to fuel Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Get rid of side schemes! - Defender of the Nine Realms works wonders for this. Use Sentry, Lady Sif to help TWH.

Keep control - use "You'll Pay for That!" while face-tanking to keep in control of the main scheme. Use Moment of Triumph to gain back your life and stay in hero form longer, preventing the villain from scheming.

Odinson - revert to Odinson when you've remove threaths using "You'll Pay for That!". This will give you the opportuniy to recover, draw an extra card, recall Mjolnir.

All in all the interaction between these cards are really cool and work as a whole to make the most out of aggro Thor. I really feel that we're getting somewhere with him.

FINALLY!