Captain Marvel Protection "Try to Keep Up!" Energy to Burn M

Introduction:

I wanted to build a deck that cycled fast, giving me lots of cards and options to play with, and felt like it could do a bit of everything. Captain Marvel Protection seemed perfectly suited for what I wanted to achieve with this deck build. I hope you enjoy it.

Overview:

"Try to Keep Up!" - Captain Marvel

Cards are king, and Captain Marvel is the queen of the card draw. This deck cycles pretty fast. Between both her hero and alter-ego powers, 3 X Photonic Blast, Alpha Flight Station, Brother Voodoo, Unflappable, Ironheart, and Avengers Mansion, this deck is a card drawing machine. Not only will you have a steady flow of great cards, but you'll have ample resources to play them, and Energy to burn, making the villain's head spin while you stun him into submission. The first thing you'll probably notice is that this deck is maxed out at 50 cards, breaking away from the traditional 40 card minimum decks. That's mainly because of the deck's speed, but there are a few other reasons why we are using a max deck here.

"I'm kind of done with you telling me what I can't do." - Captain Marvel

Who says you can't build a 50 card deck? Captain Marvel is breaking down barriers, and trashing villain's while she's at it. This deck cycles fast, and you're going to want a lot of Energy resources to 'burn' once you get your cheap defensive upgrades on your board. If it's too thin, not only will you be short of Energy, but you'll face too many extra encounter cards from cycling your deck too fast. Eventually you could get overwhelmed, especially playing solo.

This deck has a total of 21 Upgrades & Supports, many of which should be on your board permanently once they're played. The strategy is to get these out early and often, so it will gradually thin your deck to an amount you want for your mid and end game strategy.

I understand the argument for a 40 card deck is that it synergizes better and you would play your best cards more often, but this deck does synergize well, and every card has it's place. The variety allows for it to play a bit differently each time, depending on the situation and draw of the deck of course. In my play testing I've found that the deck has enough thwart, attack, defense, and heal to manage any situation.

The other reason to play a 50 card deck is that it's just pure fun. Lot's of variety and options. The deck can do a bit of everything. And it just has a nice heavy feel to it. Trust me, 50 sleeved cards feels like Mjolnir compared to a 40 card deck. :)

Strategy:

Stay in Hero Form & Stun

You want to stay in hero form for the most part, stunning the enemy as much as possible. The idea here is that the villain schemes as little as possible. When the enemy isn't stunned, you should instead have the upgrades in place to help defend against those attacks. Eventually you may need to switch to alter ego form to recover health, or want to take advantage of a confused villain, or the extra cards that come with your alter ego form, using Carol Danvers Commander action. Additionally, you get a nice boost from Alpha Flight Station when in alter ego form. I'll just caution you that this deck is a little light on thwart, especially if you're not Aerial, so be careful about letting the villain scheme too much.

Card Draw

Higher, further, faster, baby." - Carol Danvers

Depending on your form, you should be using Carol Danvers Commander ability, and Captain Marvel Rechannel ability every turn. Rechannel is extremely valuable at keeping your hero healed up, as well as for drawing key cards when you need them. It's good practice to use the Rechannel ability as the first action you take when you start your turn in hero form. Using these abilities along with your bevy of other card drawing abilities will allow you to overpower your foe with cards and the resources to play them.

Mulligan & Early Game Strategy

Other than what you might need depending on the villain's setup, for your opening hand you want to keep resources, Avengers Mansion, Helicarrier, and any copy of Enhanced Reflexes. For Allies, Iron Fist, Brother Voodoo, and Ironheart can be helpful early on. If you're lucky, you'll pull a copy of Energy Absorption for your starting hand (or maybe 2), and then you're really off to the races. If the situation allows for it, you may also want to consider keeping a copy of Cosmic Flight to play early on. It's extremely important when it comes to your ability to thwart, as you need Aerial to play Ever Vigilant, and get a much needed bonus from Crisis Interdiction. You may find that you have to take some undefended attacks early on to deal with difficult villain setups, but there's enough healing and defense in the deck to bounce back easily.

Mid Game Strategy

"I've been fighting with one arm tied behind my back. What happens when I'm finally set free?" - Captain Marvel

As you begin to work your way through your deck for a 2nd time, you should have several upgrades and perhaps a couple of allies on the board. You will hopefully have at least 2 copies of Enhanced Reflexes in play, with the goal of getting your 3rd out once you draw it. You should also focus on getting a copy of Energy Channel into play if you haven't already. Keep building your board and chipping away at the villain.

Late Game Strategy - Energy to Burn!

"I'm not gonna fight your war, I'm going to end it." - Captain Marvel

By the time you've gone through your deck twice, you should have enough allies, upgrades, and supports to keep the villain at bay. Now you can 'burn' your extra Energy resources, placing them on Energy Channel, and hitting the villain (or minions) for up to 10-20 damage or more on a turn.

In summary, the basic strategy with this deck is to stay in your hero form for the most part, while also stunning often. You want to get some key Upgrades and Supports out early, while using your stable of allies to keep the villain at bay early on. Eventually you'll be hitting the villain with massive blasts from Energy Channel and other attack abilities, ending their plans in a flash.

Deck Customization:

This deck obviously has room for lots of customization. You can always swap different cards in and out depending on the villain you're facing or the other heroes you're teamed up with.

Play Testing:

Solo

Rhino Expert - Trashed 1st attempt

Klaw Expert - 2nd attempt. Felt a bit lucky on the win. Very difficult to beat with this deck.

Ultron Expert - Trashed 1st attempt

Green Goblin Mutagen Expert - Trashed 1st attempt. Had 2 full Energy Channels waiting for Green Goblin to hit stage 3. When he did, I hit him with 20 damage, instantly wiping him out, and avoided having to face any of the 4 encounter cards waiting for me. Edit: I realize I played this wrong, as you can only have 1 Energy Channel in play at a time. However, the deck is still super effective, and this maneuver is still possible if you have 1 fully loaded Energy Channel ready (or near ready) when your turn starts.

Ronan Standard - 1st attempt. He got me down to 2 HPs pretty quick, but I got lucky getting both copies of my Channel Energy out early again and wiped him out. I had not cycled through my deck once before defeating him. Also of note, I was only able to stun him once due to stalwart.

Nebula Expert - 3rd attempt. Felt a bit unlucky the first 2 goes. Nebula is tough for this deck, as she makes you spend a lot of resources. I had to absorb a couple of early blows until I got my stuns and defenses going.

2-handed (Paired with Black Widow Justice)

The Collector (Escape The Museum) Expert - 1st attempt. It was pretty tight.

Drang Expert - 1st attempt. It was pretty tight early on, but was able to turn it around pretty quick.