Banner's Laboratory

All but 1 of Hulk’s cards are only playable in Hero form, so generating 1 resource in Alter Ego will not win you games.

An Avengers Tower will do more, so will a Team-Building Exercise, as it will be a resource accessible in the form you will be in. +2 REC is kind of nice, but when we got Down Time for 1 that adds +2 REC. Having 5 REC can be cool, as it can heal most of the damage of 1 undefended attack, but at the cost of another turn to recover. Maybe one day there will be a REC-based archetype that will love those 2 extra points, but as of now, it doesn’t exist yet.

batman · 4
Angel's Aerie

In a way, this is like another copy of Armored Vest because for each time you defend you eventually heal (instead of prevent) 1 damage. With Aerie, though, you count Defense events too, not just basic defenses. This makes it better in the Flow Like Water archetype or any multiplayer deck that plans on defending for multiple players.

The other really interesting thing about this card is that you can save up all the counters for one or two bursts of healing in Alter-Ego during the game. Decks built around defending a lot usually want to stay in hero form as much as possible since you generally have no way to defend in Alger-Ego. That makes this a preferable healing option to Crew Quarters or Down Time, for example, since you don't need to plan on flipping down as often as possible.

These types of strategies work much better in multiplayer than in solo, but the Aerie is definitely worth an inclusion in the defend-a-lot decks for a huge burst of healing at fairly low cost.

Stretch22 · 349
IPAC

At first glance, this looks like any other engine building card (Deft focus, Helicarrier, Avengers Mansion etc.) You trade an encounter card for extra card draw. But that tradeoff is something that sets this card apart, to the point that it completely changes how it should be viewed.

The general idea with a lot of engine building cards is that they are really strong early game plays (because you benefit from them for the rest of the game) and they get progressively worse to play as the game goes on. For instance, Avengers Mansion is a great first turn play, because it will let you draw a card for the rest of the game. But on the other hand, it is a terrible end game play. You really don't want to invest 5 resources for only 1 or 2 cards.

IPAC does not follow this rule. Technically, you draw more cards the earlier you play it, but you are also getting an encounter card. Drawing an encounter card in the early game (before you get all of your supports and upgrades out) is usually a lot worse than drawing an encounter card late in the game. If you use this on the first turn to draw 2 cards, on the second turn you may need 2 or more cards worth of resources to deal with that encounter card. But if you use it late in the game, when your damage, thwart, and resource engines are all chugging along, its less of an issue. If you are only a few turns from winning, you may be able to just ignore whatever that encounter card is and push through to victory. And finally, on the last turn, that encounter card will never even get to be revealed. You can actually just play this on the last turn, spending 2 effective resources to draw 2 cards, essentially just cycling cards for something to close out the game!

Aerial Intervention

This is the key protection Aerial event that will allow you to trigger Angel’s draw in the villain phase. You should obviously plan on exhausting an ally to use this, as if you exhaust your hero you could have just defended or recovered for about the same amount of damage prevented and not wasted a card. Outside of Angel’s pack, some of the best Aerial allies you might want to pick up are Starhawk, Vivian, or Snowguard. For heroes besides Angel, it’s still ok, but it’s awkward that it’s not a defense, which many protection decks would prefer, and without those synergies stunning and ally blocking is usually a better way to protect your hero.

Stretch22 · 349
Float Like a Butterfly

The wording is the same as Warrior Skill. So would this cause attacks with multiple instances to have each instance increased? Something like Melee can only target the enemy once (so 4 damage to a confused enemy and 3 damage to another). Buy Gambit's Royal Flush could hit the same enemy three times ans each instance would get plus one, right?

I think this card has a lot of value in multiplayer where one player can confuse and then other players can just pile on the damage. In solo, you can get more out of it by staying in hero mode.

Scotobot · 115
Yes, that is correct. Each instance increased by 1. And be careful in multiplayer - this can only increase the damage from the player who controls it — Stretch22 · 349