Bounty Hunting... The Other Arm of Justice

When I first opened up Rocket, immediately two things jumped out at me... 2 thwart, and I've Got a Plan. My initial reaction was... how can we abuse Rocket's genius and thwart like a madman? Then I continued to look through his cards and saw Thruster Boots... ok, now we're talkin'!

Rocket Justice began to take form! Rocket is a mad thwarting genius the likes of Iron Man Justice, he's silly good at it! His hero form ability is almost a nice to have compared to his alt-ego form ability. When you can get his basic Thwart up to 4 with Heroic Intuition and Thruster Boots... and then double up a thwart for 9 with I've Got a Plan... you're really controlling board state. The cost curve for everything in the deck is hyper low and the Sense of Justice just pushes that economy even further. Rocket will have no problems effectively using Clear the Area. Booster Boots are more in here for a pay 1, draw 2 card with Tinkering, but in a pinch can hit the table for a little extra help.

Rocket's bevy of weapons, the Followed, Turn the Tide, Quake and Skilled Strike give you enough punch to still get benefit out of his "Murdered You!" ability when minions hit the table.

Groot really shines as an ally and is able to soak up a lot of damage before he utters "We Are Groot" and hits the discard pile. Wiccan also contributes in a big way towards making Clear the Area and Murdered You! effective.

Ideally you want to flip almost every turn to take full advantage of Tinkering, knowing that when you come back the threat can be pretty well wiped clean. If you've played my I Too Like to Live Dangerously Black Widow deck, or you're run ChaosTheory's Just Anger She-Hulk Deck you have a pretty decent idea of the play through spending much of your time in Alt mode. Lots of board control, using Counter Intelligence to pad your alt sides and then clearing the board on your turn. Obviously Widow having Covert Ops makes her the unmitigated champion of control, but Rocket is no slouch here and his weapons make him fun in different ways. :)

Spider-Man gives you a little extra punch or a timely additional thwart and is just an all around great card.

It's important to remember that you can pitch both Tech cards in hand or on the table to power Tinkering and don't be afraid to toss some Tech early to get setup, getting out Heroic Intuition and Sense of Justice early sets Rocket up for his mid and late game table control. The 48 card size of the deck really isn't a problem either because he draws cards like crazy.

Venom's Sonic Rifle is going to be a huge boost to this deck down the road being both a Tech Weapon as well as having the ability to confuse the villain so your flip down can be even more effective. I can't wait for that card to come out!

So far I've tested this deck against Expert Rhino, Expert Claw and Expert Crossbones and was able to beat them all. Rocket doesn't have the big boom cards like Gamma Slam, Repulsor Blast, Supersonic Punch or Swinging Web Kick so solo games are a bit of a long play, but his ability to control threat and keep the board in check allows him to keep kicking the villain in the shins long enough to win... plus when you combo up Reload and Particle Cannon he can deal out some nice damage... afterall he has a plan :)

Multiplayer on the other hand (or two handed solo) is where this deck really shines. You can basically handle your own villain attacks phases, clear almost all threat, and let your teammates pummel the villain to a pulp! Pair him up with Groot and you're in for a hell of a good time! (Probably sub out your Groot ally for Mockingbird)

Now, if only they had given us a planet destroying Hadron Enforcer!