Dark Reign: The New Avengers

What's this deck about?

A theme‑first deck inspired by Bendis' New Avengers comics during the Dark Reign era, built to pair with my Dark Reign: Rise of the Iron Patriot campaign.

I'm a thematic deckbuilder at heart. So when this theme deck came together perfectly, and it was fun to play, too? I just knew I had to share it.

With Cameo letting me fetch Wolverine from Jubilee's set, I'm able to reconstruct the exact lineup from New Avengers issue 50, the very start of the Dark Reign era.

Just who are these guys?

Even though they were selected for thematic reasons initially, every one of the allies has a role to play in this deck; none of them feel like filler. Between the HP boosts like Honorary Avenger and Reinforced Suit and easy access to healing via Med Team, the allies tend to stick around for a long time in this deck.

Each game feels different based on what order the cards come out; I'm not digging for any one particular card. Instead, I live in the moment, lean into the variety, and play with whatever I'm dealt based on what I end up needing.

Tanks

Luke Cage and Captain America take hits to spare my HP pool, and their good stats help me clear whatever obstacles are building up. Cap is usually pretty expensive in a deck where not every ally is an Avenger, but between Honorary Avenger and Recruitment Drive there are enough ways to get him for cheap that I frequently see him hit the table anyway. Both allies can get some use out of Hangar Bay.

Sidekicks

Both Captain Marvel and Wolverine are valid targets for Sidekick. Wolvie has his own built-in way to keep his health up, so when I manage to get both him and sidekick Carol out at the same time I have two super high value allies that I can keep alive forever.

Stunlockers

Iron Fist and Mockingbird both augment Spider-Woman's already formidable stun capabilities to help keep the villain locked down. Unlike all the other allies in the deck, these two have to cycle out to keep doing their thing, so they usually get an activation or two before I throw them under a bus to free up the ally slot.

Workhorses

Ronin has lots of attachment options in the deck to pump his stats. He's a great target to load up on attachments, keep healed, and just go to town. Spider-Man is more niche, both because he's hard to play and he requires Warrior of the Great Web on Spider-Woman to be really effective. I've had him put in a lot of work readying a fully buffed Spider-Woman to keep using her amazing stats over and over, though, so I've come to appreciate what he brings to the deck.

Give it a try!

If you want a deck that feels like the New Avengers—scrappy, coordinated, and always ready to punch above its weight—this list captures that spirit while still performing cleanly at the table. Each game you get a different ally mix which keeps it interesting play after play.

And if you want something thematic to play it against, you could give my custom campaign, Dark Reign: Rise of the Iron Patriot, a try too!