Hawkeye - Pawns and Arrows (Project Post-con) [A]

This deck is part of Project Post-con: building a ready to use deck for each existing hero, just using the available card copies of buying each pack once. This does not only enable fast pick-and-play, but it also makes each deck feel unique, as not everyone is using the same powerhouse cards. Each deck is intended to be fun and usable in expert mode, but none will be the absolute strongest possible due to the card limitations. Looking for other decks? Search for the Post-con tag.

Project Post-con Build 1 (Cards up to a and including Valkyrie release)

Changes from V1.0: accidentally put in the wrong Thor. This deck should use Odinsson, not Jane. No additional changes were made.

Hawkeye is a peculiar hero, who didn't click with me at first. Now after a lot of deck iterations, he is one of my go-to heroes. He's a glass cannon (Low DEF and HP) with strong attack potential, but no thwart outside 2 arrows. His arrow mechanic, however, gives a lot of cheap, versatile options. A first option would be leadership, as his pre-con. This mitigates his thwart through allies and makes them chump as well. However, it did not sit right with me to not fully optimise his ATK potential. The result, a leadership inspired aggression deck. His signature ally Mockingbird, works as a personal bodyguard, continuing to soak his hits. How does that work? Let's dig into it.

RESOURCES

Most events added to this deck are cheap and his arrows have their own resources. This means only the few red allies he has could warrant a power of leadership. I however, did not choose that card, due to the limited amount of targets and as it dilutes the deck to dig for arrows. As a result, we only include the three basics.

ALLIES

Allies are a crucial part of Hawkeye's deck, functioning as bodyguards, additional attack and some thwart here and there.

• Mockingbird is the solution to Hawkeye's frail nature, repeatedly blocking villain attacks. Once set-up with Avengers Tower and Team-Building Exercise, you can return het to the board each turn. This helps flip as little as possible, as Hawkeye has little use for his alter-ego side.
• Hulk is a cheap chump block that can even block multiple minions or sometimes even two villain attacks when lucky. His attack is too risky, so better to use his HP for defence.
• Thor and Tigra are your minion attackers. The former hits hard, the latter stays on the board.
• Bug finally, as the only non-avenger ally is meant to stay on the field with Honorary Avenger, Energy Spear and Boot Camp. Alternatively, he is a cheap chump as well before you draw into Mockingbird.

UPGRADES

This deck has a strong balance between upgrades and events to have a fun build-up, but also feel very effective at the start.

• Hawkeye's Bow is his most important card, and you'll get it turn one. No need to explain the need of arrows and the benefit of +1 ATK. Hawkeye can shoot 2 arrows per turn, but you'll actually want to temper this and use your high base ATK as well, to have access to any arrow when you need it.
• Hawkeye's Quiver is almost just as critical and the single best card to mulligan for. It saves you arrows to use whenever you need them. Which is especially handy for the stun and confuse arrows. I found the best strategy to fire arrows from your hand, but to save the quiver arrows for when you need them (and thus use your base attack). This way, you'll always get the arrow you need after a while.
• Expert Marksman are his next best cards, to basically fire your arrow per turn for free.
• Combat Training further brings Hawkeye to a base 4 ATK, so you feel the good pay-off of actually using your ATK each turn.
• Endurance is a must to cover his frail nature, tough the allies help here too.
• Honorary Avenger and Energy Spear are both for Bug. This ensures a lot of aggressive power each turn and not to waste your increased ally limit from Avengers Tower.

SUPPORT

• Avengers Mansion is good to ensure you always have what you need due to the event-heavy deck. Remember to always first use your quiver to fetch an arrow to minimise the chance of drawing the arrows into your hand.
• Avengers Mansion helps play all allies in this deck cheaper (except Bug, who should remain on the field with honorary avenger). Combined with Team-Building Exercise, you can play then very cheap or even free. This combo rocks with recurring Mockingbird. Also remember that Teambuilding Exercise can be used to pay for Avenger's Tower and Mansion as well.
• Crew Quarters is here to ensure that when you need to heal, you don't stay in alter-ego too long, i.e. just the one turn you confused the villain with your Sonic Arrow.
• Boot Camp is a no-brainer with the strong presence of allies.

EVENTS

Hawkeye's events simple split into two parts: arrows and not arrows. Arrows are preferred to get into you quiver to allow flexibility to the situation.

Arrows:

• Electric Arrow helps further protect Hawkeye, while Sonic Arrow allows you to heals if really needed. Besides this, they are just generally powerful (and quite cheap) to control the villain phase.
• Vibranium Arrow is a decent attack event, but especially valuable for scenario's and modulars with a lot of tough.
• Cable Arrow you'll want to use a lot in solo, as it is your strongest thwart option at an efficient cost. In multiplayer, the importance depends on who you team-up with.

Not Arrows:

• Chase Them Down, Into the Fray and Looking for Trouble are all added to help Hawkeye with his poor thwarting options.
• First Aid and The Best Defense… are there to ensure you don't visit alter-ego for healing more than absolutely needed. Use the latter wisely, as you have to evaluate wether the defence is worth giving up one attack or arrow.

In conclusion, Hawkeye has an incredibly fun play style with a good balance between set-up and instant pay-off. Also, nothing is as comical as crushing Thanos, Hela and Kang with a guy that just shoots arrows.