Consistent Justice

"My client, based purely on the sanctity of the law which we've all sworn an oath to uphold, must be acquitted of these charges. Now, beyond that, beyond these walls he may well face a judgement of his own making."

-Matt Murdock

This is a true solo deck that I took through the Fear No Evil scenarios on Expert mode. The idea was to make a consistent deck that would excel particularly against non-steady/stalwart villains. Besides status-lock, other countermeasures in the deck further control the scenario. The result feels very thematic, apart from some allies whose legal justification is given below.

Setting Up

Daredevil has a lot of upgrades and supports he wants in play early, but I would say the two most important cards are:

• The Man Without Fear: Auto-ready, "resource generator," boosting our attack / thwart... this card does it all. You kind of have to play it to understand, but I was surprised how often I used this to do something other than ready.
• Karen Page: Recycles cards based on the situation and (assuming you flip every turn) draws a card on top of that. Amazing.

Three copies of One Way or Another, Manifold (tutorable via Chance Encounter), Superpower Training, and Build Support significantly increase our chances of finding and benefitting from these quickly. I will essentially always keeps a One Way or Another in the opening mulligan, as even if we just play it once on turn 1 or 2, it can make all the difference, and the other copies can be spent as resources / senses.

Besides these, I have found other important upgrades to be (in rough order):

• Stealth Training: As long as you know you're getting the first stun imminently, this will almost always pay off and more. Two copies for consistency, even if I don't always play the first.
• Deft Focus: Free sense upgrade off the top. Not "as good" as one might expect, since you don't always want to commit to a Sense upgrade in a particular place, but still very good.
• Sister Maggie: Daredevil takes a lot of damage off of The Man Without Fear, indirect damage from Fear No Evil scenarios, and (sometimes) vilain attacks. The burst healing off this is thus invaluable (and you can often afford the exhaust).
• Daredevil's Billy Club: Helps with minions and finishing off the villain.
• Foggy Nelson: I flip every turn basicaly, so this is so good, but thwart is easy to come by and this sometimes conflicts with Stealth Training.
• Crew Quarters: Offsets The Man Without Fear.

Allies

This is one of the strongest and most technical ally lineups I've ever played. In order from most to least important:

• Blindspot: Confuse-lock MVP that often makes Nelson and Murdock irrelevant. I'm usually trying to get Heightened Hearing on the villain so this abililty procs (and I have a Sense I know will be useful).
• Manifold: Assists setup and blocks. When we need him, he's amazing.
• Ghost Rider: I did not expect this card to be as good as he is, but he is the Vulnerable minion deleter. According to Rules Reference 1.8, allies like him and Iron Fist do not take consequential damage if an enemy is removed by their effect. So you can put him on the table and feel pretty confident that Vulnerable minions that come off the encounter deck will be a non-issue.
• Agent Coulson: High value both as an ally and a tutor for Preparations.
• Elektra: Crazy that she's this low on the list. She's great on paper but I would have liked more immediate upside. More of a closer than anything else.

Schemes of Our Own

With cards like Stealth Training, Nelson and Murdock, One Way or Another and Chance Encounter, it's clear we can turn our enemy's schemes against them. In addition, we bring our own schemes. Superpower Training and Buid Support help us set up. Going Undercover affords us knowledge and control over the encounter deck: very thematic whether you're thinking of it as literally going undercover or flavoring it as Daredevil's senses. This combos well with the stun-lock package (since more of the cards seen will be encounter cards as opposed to boosts) and a stack of Sense cards to plan out. Focus the Senses repositions Sense upgrades for our Raising Hell finisher.

Objection, Your Honor

Fear No Evil is full of scenarios with a single main scheme stage. Even with our excellent confuse access and thwarting, it can be tricky to be sure the main scheme will survive the villain phase. Counterintelligence and Informant, both tutorable via Agent Coulson, act as a safety net when we are drawing extra encounter cards or have high-scheme minions in play.

Informant is also one of our answers to minions when we don't have others on hand. My most memorable play with this was having Tracksuit Mafioso anti-scheme for me, then topdecking Ghost Rider next turn to "punish the wicked." So satisfying.

In Closing

Admittedly, when the Daredevil preview article came out, I was worried I wouldn't like him, and wanted more scrying. Now that I have played him, I am very pleased with how he turned out. The Sense deck is a bag of tricks and there is a significant degree of planning that goes into using it effectively. I think I prefer him in solo play so that you can be more measured with the Sense deck (less "sensory overload"), and his control is more valued. I honestly haven't played a lot of true solo since my eary days of Marvel Champions, and it has been nice to revisit with a hero I have been waiting so long for.