Close-Up Magic

"Close-up magic... I learned that." —Scott Lang

I have always really enjoyed Ant-Man in Justice — playing the value game with access to clutch cards like Lay Down the Law, Skilled Investigator, One Way or Another, and Under Surveillance. A few recent additions to the card pool, however, have added even more for him in this aspect.

Specifically, the player side schemes are GREAT for him. Not only does Superpower Training get him the absolute must-have Ant-Man's Helmet, Build Support gets him Quincarrier so you always have a wild resource for Wrist Gauntlets. And he can knock these down with a quick flip and activation in Tiny form (removing 1 then 2 threat).

Additionally, Manifold can now summon a player side scheme for you, so it's like you have 3x Ant-Man's Helmet in the deck! He's also another Avenger in Justice, meaning you will easily have a target for Earth's Mightiest Heroes to ready Ant-Man, and you will easily get more value out of any specialization from Specialized Training.

But not only can Ant-Man easily pivot to thwart a player side scheme, he can also easily pivot to defeat a player-summoned minion from Infiltration or Face the Past (potentially even killing minions without a basic activation, just using Army of Ants and a flip to Giant form).

With Infiltration and Hive Mind, Overwatch also now has a better chance of removing not just 4 threat from Lay Down the Law but possibly 5 threat, meaning you could clear the main scheme (with a higher threshold due to Under Surveillance) and Specialized Training in one go.

Chance Encounter is almost like a 4th copy of Ant-Man's Helmet, since you can use it to summon Manifold who summons Superpower Training which summons Ant-Man's Helmet. Cool! Also, Chance Encounter is a great card for getting Wasp back on the table so you keep access to Swarm Tactics.

The only adjustments for player count include possibly additional copies of Skilled Investigator if you're feeling generous in multiplayer (though the deck is singletons, and it is fun to keep it that way), and possibly exchanging Spider-Man for Wiccan in solo (since he's also an Avenger for EMH, though I think you may find you actually have the resources to splurge on Spider-Man in solo even if the value proposition is a little strained).

Have fun! Play hard and fast. Get the helmet out and roll.

"How'd you do it, Scott?" —Jimmy Woo