Shuri - Luke Cage team-up #2: The Royal Upgrade

This is deck #2 of a two-deck pairing, built to be played alongside Luke Cage - Shuri team-up #1: Cage Against the Machine. Together, these decks focus on disrupting the villain and creating opportunities for Shuri and T'Challa to do what they do best.

This deck was initially built around confusing the villain. Shuri can do this with her Kimoyo Beads upgrade. To make the most of it, she needs to perform a basic action... or, of course, let T'Challa do that for her!

So, the plan is to get T'Challa into play and keep him there. On top of that, we want to activate him as often as possible. To achieve this, we make him our Sidekick and play Side-by-Side whenever we get the chance.

While playing this deck alongside Luke Cage, I discovered just how many cards this deck can draw, allowing her to get more upgrades into play. Once you've made your final activations, don't be afraid to discard upgrades that can stun or confuse the villain. With Aja-Adanna in play, getting those upgrades back is surprisingly easy. Simply flip down and shuffle the upgrade you want back into your deck. Maybe it turns up in your hand, maybe it doesn't. Next turn, use Shuri's ability to search your deck and put it straight into play for free! If the upgrade does turn up in your hand, you can use it to pay for another card, put it back into your deck with Aja-Adanna, and then retrieve it with your ability. Free upgrades are always nice!

I've played Shuri before, but I could never really enjoy her. It always felt bad to discard those upgrades. I'm over that now. I absolutely love the way this deck works!

To make the most of Shuri's Alter-Ego ability, the upgrades you're looking for need to be in your deck. So, if they're sitting in your discard pile, you'll want to get through your deck as quickly as possible. That's where Call for Aid comes in. As you discard cards from the top of your deck, Digging Deep goes into your hand and White Fox can enter play for free. Call for Aid then adds an Avenger ally to your hand. You might just end up with White Tiger. Play her and draw another two or three cards. Hey, there's Moon Girl! That's another three cards!

There's another way to draw cards while in Alter-Ego: The Elephant's Trunk. You want to get the full three cards from this support whenever possible. Queen Ramonda can help with that if you don't need her healing, and so can Dora Milaje. In fact, drawing cards is the only reason Dora Milaje is in this deck. You play her for free and draw cards. Simple!

Once T'Challa is up and running, you're very flexible. Early in the game, you might want to focus on confusing the villain. Perhaps a few minions show up that need dealing with instead. Shuri has a solution for just about everything. Just pick the upgrade you need and go with it!

Feel free to leave a comment. Tips, suggestions, and experiences with these decks are always much appreciated. I'd love to hear how they worked for you!