Don't Worry, Darling. I Have Everything Under Control.

Stay tuned for a more serious take on the Scarlet Witch.

If you've ever secretly wanted to be the villain of Marvel Champions, now's your chance. Scarlet Witch offers a unique experience to players of our beloved LCG. No other hero in the game to date has the ability to make the lives of her fellow players as miserable as the aptly named mistress of chaos magic. The aim of this deck is to take on the role of secret puppet master, aiding the villain in their endeavors for world domination. Now before I go on, I'm not seriously advocating for a player to adopt this mind set or to play in such a fashion, but if it's something your play group wants to try, then go for it. Here's how you turn the screws on your "friends";

• Use Scarlet Witch's signature cards, Heimdall, and Black Widow to discard the encounter deck at a rapid rate adding Acceleration tokens to the Main Scheme.
• Use Chaos Control (Scarlet Witch's Hero ability) and her Crest to increase the amount of damage and threat resulting from Villain activations.
• Use Hex Bolt to Stun or Confuse your "teammates".
• Use Magic Shield to effectively cancel any ability that requires a teammate to take damage as a cost to activate.
• Use The Night Nurse to remove Tough from other heroes.
• Use Scarlet Witch's natural ability to cycle through your deck in combination with the other card draw effects to deal out extra encounter cards. (The riskiest part as they get dealt to you).
• Race to get your copy of Quincarrier in play before anyone else can.
• Use Black Widow's ability to discard favourable encounter cards for other players in search of more nasty affairs.
• Use Heimdall to make the top of the encounter deck more deadly.
• Use First Aid to heal the villain.

And remember if your having fun, that's all that matters (I almost kept a straight face typing that). And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

A Study In Scarlet

Wanda Maximoff: 3 REC, Hand Size 6, and Hit Points 10 all add up to make Scarlet Witch’s alter ego decidedly average. She has no major weaknesses in this form, but none of her stats boast any major strengths either. Her alter ego ability however, Super Powered Siblings, is fantastic. Like her brother Pietro Maximoff, Wanda can filter the cards in your hand maintaining card parity whilst improving your turn. Unlike Pietro, who will be searching for combo pieces, Wanda will either be searching for the right tool for the job, ramp, or allies. Speaking of her brother, this action gets decidedly better if he is present providing filter and draw. The consistency of being able to meet the requirement for the draw is dependent upon on the number of players (or identities in the game). In solo, Quicksilver ally will meet the requirement but is a low play priority in all but a few niche circumstances, I tend to only play him when I have no other options. Two player games involving Sacrlet Witch and Quicksilver are a different matter, a rhythm of alternating turns in alter ego can easily be established provided the first player changes to alter ego before their turn ends. In 3-4 player games, this same routine can be followed but is easily disrupted by other players needing to take a turn in alter ego. Not that this is much of a problem as using the action without meeting the draw requirement is still great. The combination of Super Powered Siblings and no major weaknesses make Wanda a very consistent alter ego.

Scarlet Witch: Another decidedly average set of stats, weighing in at 2THW, 1ATK, 2DEF and Hand Size 5. I do much prefer the combination of 2THW and 1ATK to the opposite present on Spider-Man or Thor, as Attack effects are costed more favourably than Thwart ones, making it an easier Power to compensate for. Chaos Control however might just be a contender for the best Hero ability in the game. For its most simple use you are going to reduce the amount of a damage a hero suffers from the Villain attacking or reduce the amount of threat placed on the Main Scheme when they scheme against a teammate. As a rule of thumb if the boost card has 2 or more icons on it you should use this power (particularly in solo) as the odds of getting a worse card are slim. I need to revisit some old number crunching as knowing the statistical breakdown of boost icons in a given encounter can vastly increase your performance with the Witch. The ability also combines with her signature set to make Hex Bolt and Molecular Decay much more potent, and the once per phase Limit prevents this from impacting her ability to control the Villain’s turn. Cards that combo with her ability that you can include when deckbuilding include Wiccan, Preemptive Strike, Counterattack, "You'll Pay for That!" and all of the cards that give the villain an activation during the player phase (Toe to Toe, Bait and Switch, and Swift Retribution). Chaos Control isn’t quite finished there though and interacts with a number of encounter cards and villains to offer a niche level of control. Here’s a list of those effects;

• Damage caused by Taskmaster.
• Luminousand Chaos Manipulation from Scarlet Witch’s Nemesis set.
• Ritual Combat, if playing alongside a Black Panther player.
• Hit Squad, if playing alongside a Captain America player.
• Almost every card in the Power Drain modular set.
• Crossbones' Machine Gun (my personal favourite), Cornered Staff, and Full Auto against Crossbones.

Quicksilver: Quicksilver is a mediocre ally and arguable the worst card in Scarlet Witch’s signature set. Paying 5 resources (including the card itself) for a 1THW, 2ATK, 4 Hit Point frame is very unimpressive. He does give you the ability to deal 6 damage over 2 rounds before defending, but then so does a full cost Wasp ally for 1 resource cheaper and damage isn’t something that Wanda’s set is missing. Quicksilver is always the lowest play priority every turn for me. As stated previously in solo, or games without a Quicksilver this ally will allow you to trigger the card draw on Superpowered Siblings, but I don’t think it’s worth the 5 resource investment and ally slot to do so. It does feel fun to make zipping noises as you ready Pietro and place damage tokens in multiple places on the board though. I can also see there being a fun deck built around boosting Pietro with upgrades and healing and readying him in Leadership.

Chaos Magic: Now this is the way to make an interesting and unique resource card! Those of you that have spent any time playing Captain Marvel will know how impactful having a 3 icon resource card in hand can be. Well, Chaos Magic threatens to dial that effect up to 11 (or 6 at least). Whilst it’s tempting to stock up on high cost cards when deckbuilding it’s important to remember that the set only contains one copy, so I would advise adding cards that you intend to play the non-arcane way (sorry Hercules). Some great value targets include: Avengers Mansion, most 4 cost allies, Giant-Man, and Spider-Man. But my personal favourite is Nick Fury, getting a 3 card return, 4 damage or 2 thwart on top of Nick’s activation and a defender is tremendous value for 2 cards. There are a couple of additional things to talk about concerning this card. The first is that you play the card and resolve any effects from it before carrying on to the next sentence on Chaos Magic and discarding cards from the top of the encounter deck. This means that whilst it’s tempting to use it to play Heimdallor Falcon, you will lose the knowledge gained about cards on top of the encounter deck as they will be discarded by Chaos Magic. The second is the perceived penalty of increasing your pace towards Acceleration tokens, whilst this can seem scary in solo all my games have ended with the villain only having 1 acceleration token (Klaw and Kang usually get 2), and I’m pretty liberal with my use of “Chaos Magic” type effects. In multiplayer you will see more tokens, but their effects are less impactful. Discarding cards from the encounter deck also has the subtly beneficial effects of both cancelling the effects of those cards (especially if doing so reduces the number of times you will cycle through the deck) and provides valuable information about which cards remain to blight your progress. All in all, Chaos Magic is an effective, “feels good” resource card that you are as happy to play for 2 resources as for 6.

Hex Bolt: FFG provided a not so subtle hint for her brother to “Always Be Running”, but neglected to offer the similar advice for Wanda. So I’ll do it for them, “Always be Hex Bolting”! Hex Bolt has to be the most fun hero card to play since Split Personality. It may not give you exactly what you want when you want it, but you will never be sorry that you played it. Again, I need to revisit some research but 2 damage and draw a card will be the most common effects gained through this card. Likewise, removing 2 threat and placing a status card will be the least frequent (scenario dependent). Whilst it may appear to be gambling at first glance, Scarlet Witch’s ability to manipulate probabilities through Chaos Control and her Crest offer you the capability to stack the odds in your favour. Also in your favour is the tremendous value offered by any of the 64 possible combination of effects offered. You are certainly getting a discount for the random element of this event. Careful planning and playing this card at the start of your turn (after drawing additional cards) will inform the rest of your turn greatly and in some circumstances offer new options. There will be times when you get effects you can’t use, but they will be few and far between. I think it would be possible to write indefinitely about the nuance of this card as its uses are entirely dependent upon context, but as with Scarlet Witch’s set overall Hex Bolt offers a very high ceiling to the effectiveness of each of your turns.

Molecular Decay: The combination of 4 Hex Bolts, Quicksilver, and 3 Molecular decay makes Scarlet Witch a very aggressive hero. Considering Chaos Control and her Crest, this card will deal approximately 8 damage on average. Although the outcomes of this card can be random one thing I can guarantee is that you will remember the times you deal 12 damage with a single copy. Molecular decay is an incredible finisher and big minion killer, and can sometimes end games out of nowhere!

Warp Reality: Hands down the best cancel event in the game, nuff said! This card can cancel any encounter card in the game and unlike other cancels with this ability it does not replace that encounter card, no surge, no incite, “No more game text!” Unlike most other cancels, if I’m in hero form with this card in my hand, I have to come up with a good reason not to play it rather than considering whether cancelling the encounter card is worth the costs. But for 2 resources, defeating a minion or side scheme, as well as cancelling any and all of that cards effects is insane value.

Agatha Harkness: I wanted so desperately to discuss Agatha when talking about the Wanda Maximoff alter ego earlier. When paired with Quicksilver Hero, Scarlet Witch is likely to flip back and forth and Agatha is a good incentive to do so. Even when not in this pairing, I’ve found the low price of Agatha’s ramp in the early game makes me want to adopt this playstyle. Late game she can provide you with new options when you are looking to deal with a particular threat or looking for an end game finisher. Agatha’s ability to stack the bottom of your deck gives you the ability to set up powerful turns and keep key cards in your deck when you know you don’t need them right now but do need a resource.

Magic Shield: At first glance I wasn’t impressed with this card, but after my first 15 or so plays it became clear that there is so much more to this very simple card. Firstly, Magic Shield is cost more aggressively than similar cards such as Defensive Stance or Cosmic Flight at an impressive 1 resource discount. This discount is enough to let Magic Shield smooth out your turns and get played more often than the previously mentioned cards. The damage prevention afforded by playing this card is often the equivalent of playing an ally to defend with and can keep you ticking along in hero form as needed. Secondly, Magic Shield’s triggered ability is not a (Defense) which means that the Scarlet Witch player does not have to be the target of an attack to trigger this upgrade nor does the source of the damage have to be an attack. Also the phrasing of Magic Shield is such that it can prevent damage to any friendly character, this includes other heroes, alter egos, and allies. As such Magic Shield primary function is preventing damage to identities from attacks, but its ceiling is so much higher than that. Here is a list of things that Magic Shield can be used for:

• Direct damage from effects like Green Goblin.
• Indirect damage from effects like the aforementioned Crossbone’s Machine Gun.
• Consequential damage to allies after they use a basic power.
• Damage from retaliate, particularly to allies.
• Damage from overkill when you have defended with an ally.
• Although it is true of any damage prevention effects it can prevent effects triggered by a card or an attack dealing damage, such as Stampedeor Tombstone.
• I’ve personally used it to keep an ally on the board knowing that it meant that I could let The Wrecker’s Side Scheme, Day of Reckoning, break without any serious consequences.
• Some encounter cards require you to make choice between suffering damage and an alternative effect, such as Wicked Ambitions and Under Attack. Magic Shield defeats a minion and thwarts for 3 under these circumstances respectively.

Although not an exhaustive list it is clear to see that there will be an ever expanding number of niche and creative uses for Magic Shield going forward.

Scarlet Witch's Crest: This is a high priority upgrade for Scarlet Witch. It has the same triggering condition as Chaos Control so has a lot of the same uses as her Hero ability. It combines with Molecular Decay to deal an extra point of damage or improve it chances of defeating a Minion in one attack. It gives you far greater control over your Hex Bolts, allowing you to choose thwart or damage and vastly increasing your chances of dealing out status cards (which is the strongest effect on the list). One more important thing to point out is that the ability is an Interrupt with no form specified which means that it can be used to reduce the amount of threat placed from the Villain scheming as a result of you being in Alter Ego form.

Obligation and Nemesis: I’m not going to talk too much about these cards individually, but I will say that I absolutely love the design choices made for them. Most of these cards both help and hinder Wanda or place the ability to control tantalizingly within your grasp. The inclusion of two 3 boost icon Obligations means that Wanda has an increased chance of greater feats of magic, but is at a far greater risk of losing control of those powers. Very cool narrative choices at work here.

Final Thoughts: Overall, Scarlet Witch is a powerful and fun Hero, and really a marvel of Champions LCG design. She offers all the right tools to solve all of the most challenging problems in the game if only you have the foresight to seek opportunities as they are presented or are willing to take risks in pursuit of great rewards. She plays well into each of the aspects, even in spite of not having any particularly strong synergies with any of them. But most of all the designers have managed to capture the essence of the comic book character and bring her to life in cardboard form.