Gamora - The Deadliest Woman In The Whole Galaxy

"I go by many names, Earthian, but I'm sure the one that most know me by is Gamora, the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy." - Gamora: Guardians of the Galaxy

As Gamora takes advantage of playing attack and thwart events, there are loads of decks out there built around stun-lock the villain, and I have built such a deck myself several times. Here is the thing, stun-lock is not as effective anymore. With Standart II encounter set and Stalwart introduced to the game, stun-lock the villain is either much more complicated or impossible. Therefore, why bother doing things the hard way, when there is an easier way?

The main problem with Gamora is the inability to draw more cards. I have tried to fix this in the past with a minions-oriented deck and "Bring It!", but as Gamora does not have a built-in mechanism to take advantage of minions, more often than not, the minions I get in exchange to draw more cards usually ended up being that berried of me winning the game. So, I decided to take a different approach and built a deck that could stand against the strong with confidence and no need for constantly taking chances and hoping I wouldn't kill myself with the next move (regardless of how fun this is).

Allies

• Drax is here to deal some damage to the villain and Rocket Raccoon to take care of minions.
• Nebula is a cheap and powerful ally with a great ability to add an event card to your hand, help control the board, and take a chunk of damage if needed (In addition, if you want to combine it with Daughters of Thanos Nebula will overpay for herself, but the play is situational and not easy to achieve).

Events

Thanks to Gamora's abilities Finesse and Precision, every event an additional threat removal from a scheme or further damage to an enemy. And this is why there are 22 events in the deck, 22 of which are attack, thwart or both.

The events also solve two more problems.

• Cards draw
  • Clear the Area combined with Precision with more often than not results in clearing the last threat of the scheme and drawing a card.
  • Drop Kick combined with one Keen Instincts will always result in 4 damage and drawing a card, plus stun the enemy when rules allow.
• Heal
  • Momentum Shift is perfect for this deck to deal 2 damage, health for 2 and remove one threat thanks to Precision.
• Protection
  • Crosscounter is a great defensive card. It will reduce the damage Gamora takes by 2, and will remove 1 threat and deal 1 damage (chipping out a tough status card, dealing with a minion, or simply chipping off the villain hit points) during the villain phase. Plus Finesse and Precision, that's 2 threat and 2 damage spread any way you want.

In addition to those

• Clobber is a great card for the deck, as after it is played it can be used as a resource and allows Forward Momentum to be played at its full potential, which in turn, allows Decisive Blow to be played at its full potential.

Supports & Upgrades

• Avengers Mansion is helping with the cards draw.
• Knowhere is another occasional provider of an extra card draw.
• Keen Instincts, Helicarrier and Martial Prowess are helping with all those events to be played.
• Gamora is not the biggest fan of flipping to Alter-Ego, but Down Time, Conditioning Room and Crew Quarters makes it worth the flip once in a while.
• Gamora's Sword combined with all the attack events brings even more versatility to control the board and kill all minions and the villain.

--Side Note--

I have considered adding Press the Advantage and it is a great addition as long as you do not play with Standard II encounter set or a villain with Steady or Stalward.

Clear the Area can be swapped with Impede as it works in the same way as Clobber. I find Clear the Area more useful than the two, mainly due to its cost. Multitasking is another viable option, but the resource condition could hinder the benefits of the card.

For scenarios that are heavily infested by minions, Precision Strike is an excellent substitution for Drop Kick or Clobber.

I also hesitated a lot between Knowhere and Daughters of Thanos. I decided Knowhere is the better option for the two of them as Nebula is an ally that wants to be recycled quickly due to her ability.

Another card to consider is Symbiote Suit in exchange for Knowhere, but the inability of Gamora to deal with treachery cards can be irritating in most cases and deadly in some.