"AERIAL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

Can you handle 20 damage a turn?

Sam Wilson here.

Cap has some big shoes to fill. But I have something Steve Rogers doesn't.

Damn right. I CAN FLY. You know who else can fly? Another guy named...

Yep. Two Flying Sams on this team. I even put up with Cannonball rapping...

Cannonball specifically wanted to join MY team above any other hero, since I have the most Aerial cards of any current Avenger Hero in their hero kit. Take that Spectrum. And being on an Avenger's team benefits that no damn mutants can provide. Take that Angel.

My whole team and card draw is based around making Cannonball the strongest one out there. And he does that with the help of another flyer Aero. (Yeah, don't feel too bad, I had to look her up on Wikipedia too.) Aero is going to add +1 to Sam's attacks.

PLAN A

Get Cannonball on the board and pump him with everything you got. I have a Make the Call in case you missed him the first time.

Reinforced Suit Inspired Sidearm

Get Honorary Avenger (one extra hit point) on him so you can put on Cannonball Sky Cycle (ready) and Power Gloves (extra damage every action).

Get out Soaring Acrobatics to get a +1 on one of the attacks/thwarts..

Meanwhile, get Aero down with the Honorary Avenger/Sky Cycle.

You have to go through one deck pass to get these out, and a full load may not happen until the end of the second deck pass. But guess what, I've built a very low-cost deck and always prioritize Cannonball's upgrades over all other cards except. I'll show my priorities below.

At the beginning, as you're building up Cannonball, I am protecting the team. I'm defending so you can build up. So you will likely need Cannonball to do one thwart.

Analyze the situation and see how many Aerial cards I put out. If I have two you are golden. If I have one, you can probably do one thwart/attack, but not two.

If everything is golden, here's what you can do. Health (5 HP) 2 + 1 (Honorary Avenger + 2 (Reinforced Suit) Thwart: 6 Thwart (2 + 1 from Inspired plus use Sky Cycle, to do this twice. Don't forget the +1/+1 damage from Power Gloves. Attack: Use Aero to chose Cannonball, do it again by using Sky Cycle on #aero. So that's +2. So you have 5 (3 from Cannonball, +2 from Aero, if you need it the +1 from Soaring Acrobatics plus the +1/+1 damage from Power Gloves, for a grand total of 10-11 DAMAGE a turn just from Cannonball, but we're just getting started.

MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES

Being an Avenger means lots of great things can happen. That's where Redwing comes in. Get him on the table and keep him there along with Stinger. (Hey, I know this team says "Aerial Avengers" and she doesn't say "Aerial", but there are wings on Stinger, so don't @me. Because Stinger doesn't count, we have all 4 allies out at a time.

Use Earth's Mightiest Heroes to exhaust either Stinger or Redwing, to get that thwart or attack from Cannonball. (And if I need it, I guess you can ready me, if I need to go to Alter-ego.

And we can use United We Stand to heal Cannonball, me, or one of the other allies for free.

United We Stand will heal up to 3 allies on expert. Put it on Cannonball, and then

So use those cards or the 2 Get Ready to make Cannonball hit 2-3-4 times. Can you handle 20 damage a turn?

And if you need to use Redwing or Stinger as a meat shield, we can easily get them back, especially with Make the Call.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...

Once you do all of your Cannonball damage, and you no longer need to use the Aerial cards to save him from consequential damage, we still have cards in our hands. Why not use your Air Supremacy and our 4 Aerial Avengers to hit up to 4 enemies for 3 damage each.

TAKE THESE CARDS WHEN YOU CAN

Team-Building Exercise to make the most of your cards cheaper, either Avenger or Aerial.

Down Time This really helps with my recovery. I'm staying up most of the time, but it will make me more efficient.

Defense Help:

Vibranium Microweave since I'm defending almost every turn, this card really helps with my defense and small damage.

Soaring Acrobatics if you didn't already take for Cannonball, take for me. Since you usually know what the villain will hit for, you may not need to use this card on me and can add one more damage with Cannonball.

Battlefield Awareness to use for defense.

These 3 cards together will give me at least a 4 defense, possibly up to 6.

Aerial Recon so you know what nastiness you are getting into.

Falcon's Flock Team-Building Exercise is better. But this is good.

Aerial Evacuation is necessary just in case a villain is about to kill Cannonball

Soup Kitchen Soup is good food.

Draw Their Fire just in case you are minion-swarmed.

Talon Line just in case.

FINAL WORDS

This strategy works great if you are playing solo. Because of the number of flying allies, it will work great in two players using Air Supremacy. I had an earlier itteration of the team with Cloud 9, but that means you need one more Honorary Avenger and Sky Cycle, you can do that for more thwarting, but this team is leaner.

If you read this whole write-up and are still asking "What does Falcon do?" The answer is: I TAKE THE HITS AND I LEAD THE GODDMAN TEAM.

P.S. Bucky can suck it.

If you like this deck, check out Maria Hill (She/Her), DEI Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. or the RFAF (Ready for a Fight) Series.