Gamora - Five Finger Death (Counter) Punch

The purpose of this deck was to maximize the efficiency of Gamora's "Finesse" and "Precision" abilities. Since they can trigger once per PHASE, I have decided to use six cards from Protection that trigger on the villain's turn, for a total of eight cards that will trigger at least one of her abilities "off turn". What this build turned into was a glorious use of Counter-Punch.

Permanent Priorities: 1 - Keen Instincts/Martial Prowess, 2 - Gamora's Sword, 3 - Conditioning Room/Crew Quarters, 4 - Helicarrier/Combat Training/Brute Force.

Hero Phase - Play a combo of a thwart/attack events for maximum efficiency. For example, play a 0 cost thwart and then Gamora's big attack, or vice versa. If this option isn't available to you, then Hit and Run is always a good option, as it will trigger both "Finesse" and "Precision".

Villain Phase - Defend with Counter-Punch if you have it, or True Grit. This will trigger Gamora's passive abilities, and Counter-Punch will trigger Gamora's Sword. Crosscounter is always a solid choice as it will trigger both abilities. If you have multiple Brute Force cards in play, go with Counter-Punch. Otherwise, choose what suits your current situation.

Why Brute Force? It is cheaper than Combat Training AND you can stack them. Yes, it will discard once you basic attack, but Gamora isn't doing a lot of basic attacking here. She is either defending for a big Counter-Punch or True Grit or using THW. By the way, Counter-Punch deals damage equal to your current ATK value. The Dream Defense - with three Brute Force in play, and one Combat Training, that's a Counter-Punch of 6 damage, plus a free one threat removal for her passive ability, PLUS one more damage to deal out for Gamora's Sword.

C.I.T.T - once you run through your deck a time or two, you will be drawing double resource cards that are more or less useless, because you will be playing your events with Keen Instincts/Martial Prowess/Helicarrier. Use the double resource cards to ready your hero after a DEF action, and make a basic THW or flip and REC.

Allies - Tigra will basically be able to kill any minion that comes along especially after Gamora pings them for whatever damage needed to get them down to three HP. Tigra will just hang around killing one minion per turn and healing up from each defeated minion. Groot is there for that turn when you didn't draw a Counter-Punch/True Grit/Crosscounter. I'm not totally sold on Groot here, but I like having three allies. Hulk is a solid replacement. He's cheaper and can defend for a couple attacks.

Crew Quarters - I like this card because when you combine it with Conditioning Room, you can heal for 2 HP when you flip, and then heal for 2 more on your next turn before you flip back. Nothing against Down Time, but I feel like I get the same total effect (I rarely flip to alter-ego to heal and then heal AGAIN on my next turn), plus it does not require me to exhaust Gamora.

Clobber - pretty much any Aggression attack cards can go here. I would not use Drop Kick unless playing multiplayer. You want the villain to attack you so that you can use Counter-Punch/True Grit/Crosscounter. Tune these three cards to the villain you are playing against. Relentless Assault, Piercing Strike, Into the Fray, Uppercut, Melee, all seem like fine choices depending on what you need to get done.

This deck sounds a bit "gimmicky" - Yes, a little. The Five Finger Death Counter-Punch doesn't land all the time, but it does land. And when it does, it is glorious. And the longer the game goes, it gains potency, and lands more often. BUT, that is not all this deck is. At it's heart, it is strictly an attempt to trigger Gamora's fabulous passive abilities as often as possible. And that is enough. The Five Finger Death Counter-Punch is just the cherry on top.