This card is best played early on, but it can still bring value when played in the mid to late game. Some players only consider playing this card if they get to use it 4+ times. It's expensive for sure, but focusing solely having a card that "pay for itself" is misguided. Playing this card in the late game just might give you a card draw the following round that allows you to win the game. At that point, will you care that it didn't draw enough cards to pay for itself? Nope.

Granted, most of the time you'll have better cards to play, but it's not useless either late game. I found myself in a late game situation with She-Hulk where I drew a relatively bad hand, except for Avengers Mansion. I played it, and sure enough, on the next round, it allowed me to draw a Gamma Slam instantly win. You certainly don't want to rely on the hope of a lucky card draw to win, but sometimes playing this is a good option when you can't do much else.

Ahh Avengers Mansion… If you don't love your opening hand already, this could be worth mulliganing for. But uhff, that 4 cost! Unless you can generate a resource with an identity’s ability and/or play a resource generator (e.g. Peter Parker + Web Shooter), that's pretty much your opening hand gone. I might not include Avengers Mansion in every deck, and it might be a Basic card but I always consider including it when deck-building, something I cannot say for many cards. That early game card draw every round really is so tempting. So how do you play efficiently?

If you’re an Avenger, you’re in luck. With Team-Building Exercise you can play Avengers Mansion one cheaper, bringing it to a more affordable cost of 3. But you would ideally have to get Team-Building Exercise in play before. Definitely worth it in an Avenger allies heavy deck and TBE even lowers the cost of the Quincarrier and Avengers Tower too. So thematically, Avengers Mansion is paying off, potentially in spades. And when you consider that some Avengers have smaller hand-sizes (Hulk, She-Hulk, Thor and Vision in AE), Avengers Mansion can help get the most out of them. But how do other decks not based around Avengers benefit from it?

For other small hand-sized heroes, such as Drax, SP//dr, Colossus and Ironheart (early game), the extra card is most welcome, especially in Hero form. However, playing it might be difficult in the early game. In multiplayer, having more than one Avengers Mansion can help smooth costs between players, making these heroes more tempting when teaming up. It can also be fun to strategise around whose needs are the greatest, while building and maintaining comradery, especially in tough times when a plan (and a bit of luck) pays off.

The Power In All Of Us can help bring Avengers Mansion out easier in a Basic focused deck (allies, upgrades etc..) and Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Rocket, Gambit, Domino and Hulk, to name a few, have built in high resource cards in their hero repertoire. In Leadership, using Band Together to pay for Avengers Mansion could be risky and nigh on impossible early game without a dedicated strategy. However, Avengers Mansion is also so much more than all that. There’s a reason I think it’s a valuable card, despite its high cost. The focus on card draw.

An obvious cop-out, I know. It says it right there on the card. But each and every round, there is one thing I look forward to. Drawing up my hand after the player phase and seeing what wacky combination my deck has given me to mess around with. There’s a reason card draw is considered to be so good. It gives you potential. And in essence, to me, Avengers Mansion tests the efficiency of my deck and how steam-lined it is. But what do I mean by that? When I consider including Avengers Mansion in my deck, it makes me think about which card I would want to draw. I might be looking for upgrades and supports early on, sure. But what about when it’s mid to late game and things are heating up? What is the ace up my Avengers Mansion sleeve? Sometimes all it takes is that one card to turn the tide. Whether that card’s an extra resource (or two with the double Basics), or an opportunity to give another player a chance to clear the board. It simply helps the game flow better and can quite literally bring out the best aspects of the game.