Captain Marvel on Cloud 9

Introduction

In my time on this site I have not seen mention of a strategy that I've recently discovered and found to greatly enjoy (I'm sure someone has, but I just haven't seen it or looked that hard). I affectionately dub it "Team Voltron". The essence is to build a board of multiple allies that never leave play, activating every turn while your hero does the dirty work of tanking the villain. Let me explain how it works in this trusty deck which took me successfully through Expert Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Vision

When building these decks, I find it helps to start at the end. What's the board state we want to have in the late game?

1. The all-star, Cloud 9, with Honorary Avenger and Sky Cycle.
   
2. Not to be undersold, Adam Warlock, with Honorary Avenger and Reinforced Suit.
   
3. The aerial roleplayer, Falcon, with Reinforced Suit.

The second sky cycle goes on whichever of Adam and Falcon makes sense in that scenario+draw. The main takeaway from the end state is that you can't attach honorary avenger to anything other than Cloud 9 and Adam Warlock, or else you won't be able to keep Mighty Avengers active. Keep in mind where you want your attachments, as they can't be reattached unless you let the ally die, which is a big setback.

How do you keep your allies healthy?

You keep them topped up with cards like First Aid, Reinforced Suit, and Rally the Troops. These cards should just be healing consequential damage while you face tank the villain, or sometimes throw a Stinger or Spider-Woman in the way.

So how do I get there?

Your priority in the early game is to get your economy set up. In the first deck pass you want to play at least 3 of Clarity of Purpose, Helicarrier, Quincarrier, and Avengers Mansion. Depending on the scenario and board state, you might also play Mission Leader, but it's not critical. Build Support can help with this, but I usually use it to put Mighty Avengers into play later in the game.

After economy, you want to become aerial with Cosmic Flight. Captain Marvel's Helmet is nice, but I often find it hard to squeeze in; there are only so many inefficient cards you can play in a game (even more so on Expert). Usually it's more efficient to just thwart with your hero and heal up with Adam Warlock (maybe twice with Sky Cycle?) and Endurance. In a pinch you can also First Aid yourself. Also don't forget you have two copies of Cosmic Flight so you can spend the first for economy and play the second.

Lastly, you want to get some allies into play. Don't fret if you can't set up much in the first pass, but usually you can get at least one into play. Although Cloud 9 is the most powerful one when fully Voltron'd, she's not great on her own. Adam Warlock, on the other hand, does everything on his own. Games where you get Adam out early are your easiest. Then, you want to get Honorary Avenger on both Adam and Cloud 9, but it can wait until the second deck pass if the cards come in the wrong order. As much as you can, you want to spend all your resources every turn (Adam helps on the odd resource turns). The combo will assemble itself in time, so you don't need to hold cards to force it. Falcon can come into play later, preferably through Call for Backup.

Unmentioned card(s)

• Face the Past: This card is great in our deck because Yon-Rogg is generally a weak nemesis, but also lines up so well with our Photonic Blast. Don't play it if you don't have the immediate means to kill him though; 3 attack is no joke.
• Just Energy? Yes. I know it's strange, but it works really well in this deck. In the early game Captain Marvel already has good econ, and in the late game you run out of good double targets because you want to be playing 1-cost attachments, discarding to Adam, or paying for Energy Channel and Photonic Blast.

Honorable mentions/last cuts

• Other allies like Ronin or Giant-Man: I played a bit with Ronin, but none with Giant-man. They might be good, but the fact that Adam and Falcon are both already aerial without Sky Cycle means that your setup needs one fewer card to get rolling. I found this ally suite to feel the most consistently powerful.
• Team Training: With all the healing, Team Training isn't really doing much you can't already do. Plus, which allies are you impacting? Stinger and Spider-woman want to sacrifice themselves quickly, Cloud 9 almost never takes basic actions, and you don't get both Falcon and Adam set up until very late game. Mighty Avengers is more powerful in that late game situation, so it gets the nod.
• Other attachments like Power Gloves and Inspired: Honestly I think these are closest to making the cut, but I don't know what I'd cut for them. The second Reinforced Suit, the second Sky Cycle, and Face the Past are possible cuts, but the redundant copies and card draw offer consistency that voltron decks often lack, hence the given decklist. Plus, the two attachments in the deck have as their resource, which makes them that extra bit better.

If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the write-up, and happy "Team Voltron"-ing!