Storm - Call Lightning

"The elements marshal their infinite might at my beckoning! Power seethes in the roiling clouds! Now, at my command -- STRIKE!"

Hello again, my friends! Storm has to be one of my all time favorite heroes in multiplayer. No matter what aspect she brings, she can play a supporting role that feels very rewarding. I remember when she first came out, one of the first decks I played was focused on Team Strike because of the synergy with Boot Camp and Thunderstorm, but it always felt a little incomplete.

Changing the weather in multiplayer can be tricky and, in some cases, potentially hinder your allies. Fast forward a few years, and I think we now have a way to reduce the negative impact of Storm's ever-changing weather.

Storm Cell

The main difference here from a Mutant Genesis wave Team Strike build is the invention of the Cell Phone. This tech lets us be even more of a team player by allowing players to activate heroes or allies out of turn, making it easier to choose when to switch the weather.

Normally this isn't a huge deal because you can Call for Action to use Weather Control out of turn either at the beginning or end of the round. But if you've played Storm, you've probably experienced those turns where you have to flip down to alter-ego (or are forced to ~ thanks to Claustrophobia) and you are unable to change the weather until it's your turn.

With Cell Phone, one or two of your friends can sit tight during their turn and not activate their hero or ally during a Blizzard or Hurricane and instead wait until you flip up and bring on the Thunderstorm. The difference from Blizzard to a Thunderstorm Cell Phone activation is 3 damage, which isn't a lot, but it adds up! It also feels better to not completely mess up your teammate's turns.

Strike Team

As mentioned above, Team Strike + Boot Camp + Thunderstorm is the core of this deck.

Deploy allies with solid ATK values for bigger strikes like Colossus and Wolverine with a mix of cheaper allies like Forge and Tempus that are great to set up some blocks to stay in Hero form as long as possible.

Generate resources with X-Gene, Deft Focus, Storm's Crown, and The X-Jet to consistently play allies and events each round.

Speaking of consistency, you may notice that I haven't included the full Attack Training and Game Time package. While Attack Training boosts our Team Strikes and the number of ally activations, I feel it's just too much to keep up with and I didn't want to ignore Storm's events.

The 10-Day Forecast

It's important to look ahead to find out what your teammates are bringing to the table.

• Remove extra copies of Boot Camp if our teammates aren't running ally-heavy decks.

• If another player's deck and strategy depends on the generated from The X-Jet, you can swap yours out for a Helicarrier, because you likely don't need it more.

• Similar to the above point, if Utopia is a critical asset for a teammate's strategy, you can drop yours or trade it out for another Cell Phone.

• If you drop either The X-Jet or Utopia, I also recommend removing Forge because he has fewer targets.

• If your scenario requires you to pull more weight in the area of threat removal, you've got Professor X, Shadowcat, and White Queen to replace some of your allies (I recommend the 1-Attack ones first). Psylocke can also be a good addition here.

I've had fun with this deck so far, so let me know what you think about this slight variation on a classic deck. If you try it in multiplayer, let me know how it went!

Peace.