You’ll have to catch me first!

This is my own Nightcrawler Protection deck, built around getting Nightcrawler’s DEF as high as possible and then letting most of the damage happen during the villain phase.

The main priority is simple: get your defense set up as quickly as possible. The damage will come in time.

Once Kurt's Cutlasses, Armored Vest and Defensive Conditioning are on the table, Nightcrawler can reach 6 DEF, which is a crazy amount. At that point you’re incredibly difficult to damage, Unflappable is almost guaranteed to give you an extra card every turn, and you can concentrate on controlling the board rather than worrying about your own health.

I almost never need to switch back to Alter-Ego. And when I do have to, it’s really not the end of the world.

Defending and hitting back

Riposte is one of my favorite cards in the deck.

It works particularly well with Prehensile Tail, and because Riposte itself isn’t an attack, its damage gets around Retaliate. Together with Bamf!, you’ve already got 5 DEF available when needed, so triggering Riposte isn’t particularly difficult.

Then there’s Preemptive Strike, which gives Nightcrawler even more flexibility.

You turn over the boost card first and then decide whether you want to use it. Three boost icons? Great… cancel those icons and throw that damage straight back at the villain.

It also just feels extremely thematic for Nightcrawler: seeing the attack coming and suddenly turning it against the enemy. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy playing this card so much.

Powerful Punch gives you another option during an enemy attack. Four damage can be particularly useful against a 4-HP minion: when its attack is initiated, you can simply eliminate it before it actually gets to damage you. No need to defend against something that’s no longer there.

Retaliate and passive damage

Once Electrostatic Armor and Kurt's Cutlasses are both on the table, defending lets you retaliate for 2 damage.

It doesn’t sound spectacular on its own, but that damage keeps adding up throughout the game, especially because this deck expects to defend constantly.

That’s also where Under Control comes in. It really does get those minions under control. Combined with your retaliate effects, you can potentially put 6 damage into a minion while dealing with its attack.

A lot of this deck’s damage doesn’t happen during your own turn at all. The villain phase becomes your offensive phase.

Energy Barrier

Energy Barrier is just nice to have around and gives you another way of handling smaller attacks without committing your basic defense.

For example, imagine a minion attacks you for 1. You don’t really want to waste your defense on it, so Energy Barrier cancels that damage and deals 1 damage back.

If both copies are out, you have even more room to manipulate incoming damage and ping enemies in return.

It’s also useful against stronger minions simply as damage mitigation. You have other ways to deal with those enemies, so sometimes shaving a point or two off an attack is all you need.

One important distinction: Electrostatic Armor requires you to actually defend, so you won’t trigger it just because Energy Barrier prevented damage.

Change of Fortune

Change of Fortune doesn’t work every single turn, but when it does trigger it’s a very nice bonus.

Because so much of this deck’s damage happens during the villain phase, there’s a decent chance you’ll defeat enemies outside your own turn. If you can get Change of Fortune onto the table early, it can give you quite a bit of mileage over the course of a game.

I see it as a bonus rather than something the deck absolutely needs to function.

Once you’ve built Nightcrawler up to 5 or 6 DEF, Unflappable becomes extremely reliable. You’re already planning to defend anyway, and with that much DEF you’re very unlikely to take damage.

So most turns it basically reads: defend like you were going to do anyway, then draw another card.

Thwarting and The Night Nurse

Nightcrawler’s basic activation has mostly been used for thwarting in my games.

That’s another reason I really like The Night Nurse here. Getting confused can be surprisingly annoying when you’re relying on Nightcrawler himself to keep threat under control, so having an easy way to remove that status is extremely handy.

Scout Ahead gives the deck some additional scheme removal when you need a bigger burst of thwarting.

Overall, I’ve found the deck has a reasonable amount of natural threat control without needing to sacrifice what it’s actually trying to do.

Daytripper

No minion is required for Nightcrawler to make this deck work, and Daytripper has actually been a very good ally.

She gets you a Bamf!, can deal some damage, and can thwart twice for 2.

With the amount of defense Nightcrawler has, I basically never need to throw her in front of an attack. I’d much rather get the full value out of her activations while Nightcrawler handles the defending himself.

The X-Jet, a possible change

I have to admit that The X-Jet has felt a little lacking so far.

It’s certainly usable, but it’s probably the card I’m least attached to in the current version of the deck. I’m considering replacing it with a third copy of Under Control, which would lean even further into what the deck is already very good at: shutting down minions while defending.

That’s probably the first change I’ll experiment with.

How I play it

My priority is generally:

Build defense first. Damage second.

Get your defensive upgrades onto the table, especially the pieces that push Nightcrawler toward that 6 DEF ceiling. Once they’re established, the deck becomes very comfortable to pilot.

You defend constantly, avoid damage, draw from Unflappable, retaliate, use cards like Riposte and Preemptive Strike to turn enemy attacks into damage, and keep Nightcrawler’s own activation available for thwarting when possible.

The nice thing is that it doesn’t feel like a deck that simply sits there blocking.

You’re actively doing things while defending.

Enemy attacks become opportunities. Minions attacking you can end up hurting themselves or dying before they even connect. A nasty boost card can suddenly become damage against the villain. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler remains free to deal with threat during the hero phase.

That’s what I enjoy most about the deck.

So far… I’ve played this against Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Sabretooth, Rhino and The Sentinels, and so far it has felt great.

It’s relatively easy to play, feels extremely powerful once the defensive engine is established, and still has plenty of versatility.

Most importantly, it actually feels like Nightcrawler to me.

You’re difficult to hit, you’re constantly reacting to what the enemy does, and attacks that should be dangerous have a habit of turning into opportunities for you instead.

Bamf!