Flow Like Water · MarvelCDB

Flow Like Water is a great card that was released at the right time, as Protection now offers a number of events that are usable.

At the time of my writing of this review, the following events are usable with Flow Like Water:

Defiance (0 cost)

Desperate Defense (0 cost)

Expert Defense (0 cost)

Never Back Down (1 cost)

Preemptive Strike (1 cost)

Shield Spell (o cost)

Sidestep (1 cost)

Flow Like Water is an important card as it supports both of the major Protection Archetypes that I enjoy: Defender (wants to actively defend every turn and trigger upgrades) and Dodger (plays cards to reduce damage without actively defending). It also addresses one of the key issues with Protection: damage. This card provides a very useful ping, as extra sources of damage are always welcome, removing those annoying Tough cards wihtout wasting damage.

It's still not a perfect card. Defenders don't usually take Expert Defense since they want Desperate Defense's ready. It doesn't trigger off if Indomitable, a defender staple. It gets into the way of playing the set of Upgrades you need to get on the table (Unflappable, Armored Vest, Electrostatic Armor, Hard to Ignore), A couple Dodge staples (Deflection and Subdue) don't work either, as they are missing the (defense) tag.

Still, an early Flow Like Water will probably mean 8 or 10 easy damage throughout the game, boosting every (defense) card in your deck. It requires some thoughfulness for inclusion, but if you have the Events it will always pay off. You were going to play those Events anyways, right? But now every card does a little extra.

My rating is a B : Effective in a range of builds

2/9/22

Judicator82 · 134

Are you discussing this in terms of solo or multiplayer? The more you build around this card, the harder a time you will have answering side schemes and minions, which makes it seem poor in Solo — Stretch22 · 715 2/9/22

I consider cards from a solo or two-handed solo perspective. In solo I wouldn't include more than a one-off for this. It won't help with Side Schemes (a perennial weakness of Protection anyways), but this will help ping minions while defending anyways. — Judicator82 · 134 2/15/22

There are also plenty of heroes that have good Defense events that work with Flow Like Water. And Flow also boosts the marginal Warning up to being a pretty decent include. — Fry · 254 2/19/22

Errr, disregard the comment about Warning, since that has received errata to no longer be a Defense event. Still, plenty of hero-specific Defense cards that are great. — Fry · 254 2/19/22

Does Flow Like Water offer an advantage over Electrostatic Armor? If playing (defense) Events count as defending in addition to the basic power, then it seems like the main benefit here is the ability to stack them, since Electrostatic Armor has an easier time triggering and is cheaper. — Astroking112 · 1 2/21/22

Electrostatic Armor is always on, available whenever you actively Defend. Flow Like Water only comes up when you play the card. They do stack, as you mentioned, but I like the "static" nature (hah!) of the Armor. — Judicator82 · 134 3/3/22

The timing on Electrostatic Armor is different than the timing of Flow Like Water. In some cases, Flow may be able to help you pre-empt an attack. For example, Flow + Powerful Punch is five damage to an attacker, BEFORE their attack lands. If that five damage defeats the attacker, the hit will never land! — Fry · 254 12/24/22

This is a much needed card for solo Protection. Not for every deck and hero mind you, but it is a card that allows you to do what protection does best, but still pursue the victory condition of beating the villain.

Team this up with cards like Preemptive Strike and Side Step to get consistent pings to chip Villains down to nothing.

2/5/22

Earth Dragon · 1515

I am sorry to be a downer, but I would honestly rather play Haymaker. The two biggest problems with Pro, at least in solo, are side schemes and minions. I'd like to be proven wrong as this is cool design, but I don't think a deck built around defending cuts it in solo. Multiplayer, maybe — Stretch22 · 715 2/7/22