Beat to the Punch

Bad Reputation

Facing off against Nebula is a tough time.

While the special abilities on her technique cards are rough, some of the static bonuses are even worse. Gaining stalwart, reducing and limiting damage taken and retaliate make your attacks feel like they just aren't doing much to the villain and you're slowly losing despite your best efforts.

Let's recreate that for the villains facing off against Nebula.

Art Credit: Kev Walker - Guardians of the Galaxy (2023)

Jumping the Gun

So you don't like Nebula.

Not having on-board solutions to problems can be a rough time. But it's not all bad.

• She has a great resource generator and an incredibly cheap kit, cheap enough to justify not using the doubles
• The alter-ego economy from Cybernetic Upgrades is fantastic and the card draw lets you draw into Lethal Intent more easily to get on-board solutions
• Between status from Evasive Maneuvering and encounter deck knowledge from Wide Stance, you can safely flip to alter-ego more than most heroes
• All of the technique upgrades have interesting passive effects ranging from stalwart to piercing and overkill that allow for neat combos

That said, it's difficult to try and work out a deck that takes advantage of all of the passive effects on her technique upgrades.

What kind of a deck can take advantage of retaliate, piercing, overkill, tough status cards and reduction of damage, all typically at their most effective in the middle of the villain phase when they can combo with each other?

When you put it like that, it seems kind of obvious.

Beat to the Punch (Deck Strategy)

This deck turns perfect defense on its head, using an offensive approach to deal plenty of damage in the villain phase and enable turns with lots of card draw. The defense events here combo with the passive effects Nebula receives from technique upgrades to not only enable perfect defense, but also deal with on-board threats and keep the scenario moving forward.

While setting up, you'll use Wide Stance and Evasive Maneuvering to safely flip and get key cards into play, using all the defense cards as resources when needed. After that, you'll be able to safely stay in hero form more often and dish out damage consistently during the villain phase to close out the game.

Counter-Strike

The best defense is a good offense, right? That's the idea.

• Whether you are making a Preemptive Strike, a Powerful Punch or a Riposte, you'll be able to put counters on Angel's Aerie and trigger Unflappable if you didn't take any damage.
• Most minions will struggle with the combo of retaliate and Powerful Punch, letting you save Weapons Master for the villain. Some "defense", huh?

What if you're dealing with a tough guy?

• If you're a Weapons Master, play Riposte. Deal 4 damage to the enemy, letting retaliate trigger first
• Do you have Cutthroat Ambition? Make a Powerful Punch towards an enemy, blasting through any tough status cards first and overkilling onto the villain

What if I have to take multiple hits?

• Take a Wide Stance to help reduce what you'll take
• Feel free to let Brother Voodoo, Jocasta, or Ironheart take a hit to cycle them back more quickly - sometimes it's better to get the guaranteed perfect defense from a minion's activation anyways

What am I getting from all this?

• You're taking advantage of retaliate, damage reduction and tough status cards that you wouldn't be otherwise
  • You might even get to keep that Tough status card if your DEF blocks all the damage
• You'll get the card draw from Unflappable, Defense Specialist and Defensive Energy in the same turn and you'll have 3 more cards to play with (if you basic defend)
• You're getting counters on Angel's Aerie to help you heal when you do flip down
• You're dealing tons of damage to the villain and able to stack events easily to close out games

Silver Lining

I can sense your concern - 8 defense events with a hero that likes to go to alter-ego.

What can you do with these cards in alter-ego?

• Use them as resources, saving Assess the Situation as your "dead card" to enable a larger hand for the next turn
• Let Machine Man take them to get extra value out of his activations
• Play any number of allies (just not Rocket Raccoon), your most expensive cards here
• Play a technique card for more card draw for something you won't be sitting on

If I'm "perfectly defending", why do I have so much healing?

• Minions and extra activations exist, unfortunately and you'll take some hits
• Render Medical Aid is not only good for healing you in a pinch, but also Rocket Raccoon and Machine Man, both who benefit greatly from staying on board

When I'm starting in alter-ego, can I trigger Unflappable or Defense Specialist? Can I put Taunt in?

No, but with card draw so high in this deck, you won't even notice the inefficiency. The card draw from perfect defense works to supplement the poor card draw in hero form. When you're in alter-ego, you don't run into that problem.

Other Card Considerations

After a lot of testing, I landed here and I wouldn't recommend any changes. Most of the cards below made the deck less effective and more complex. A simpler deck is a better deck.

• Change of Fortune was better in theory than practice. Minions are a big problem for a hero without on board ways to deal with problems, even if "Come Get Me, Bub!" can help with survivability early on
  • The 2 card draw wasn't nearly as consistent as as the card draw from a perfect defense build
  • I was wasting Rocket Raccoon's best ability to kill minions
  • Centering any build around one of the techniques is a bad idea, and Weapons Master is no exception
• Desperate Defense and Not Today! were cards that helped solve problems on the board without helping progress the actual scenario. Every defense event here does damage, and you'll need it!
• Electrostatic Armor was my 40th card for a bit but was easily the least impactful card, being more of a nice to have.
• Helicarrier and Nerves of Steel both had unique problems - I couldn't use Helicarrier in the villain phase and Nerves of Steel was often a dead card. The card draw focus beat out needing to have additional economy

Results

Tons of fun! Guardians are super underrated. Deck gets a massive buff in multiplayer because you can trigger Lethal Intent out of turn, but it's still a very strong deck in solo.

Play Galaxy's Most Wanted!