She-Hulk: confusing legalese

Sonic Rifle is a fantastic card which is already seeing a lot of use in the decklists that have been published since Venom came out. It is a particularly great fit for solo players and for heroes that like to flip often because you need to be in hero form to fire it, and in alter ego to enjoy the benefits. Paired up with Under Surveillance it means that a flip with Advance still in the deck no longer needs to be a calculated risk.

Compared to Concussive Blow you have the benefit of an upgrade that can be played in either hero or alter ego form and will remain in play until it is needed, as well as the option to take two status cards rather than the card and 3 damage (and the two cards are almost always the better option until practically the last turn of the game). Compared to Counterintelligence you are paying only one more resource to prevent double (or more than double) the threat being placed, without the inconvenience of 'max 1 per player'.

So it's clear that Sonic Rifle is a great card. What is the best way to use it? In this deck, my aim is to use the time it buys to build a really strong board and a really thin deck. Once the supports and upgrades are down, She-Hulk can expect to draw through this deck in a couple of turns, meaning you will probably get Gamma Slam off twice in the last three turns of the game. This is all that you need to finish off pretty much any villain.

To get to the end game you need

• to draw and play Sonic Rifle regularly;
• to clear side schemes as they arise (with all the confusion, the main scheme shouldn't be too much of an issue); and
• to clear out minions quickly.

So that is what the card choices here aim to achieve. Firstly the ally choices. She-Hulk has Superhuman Law Division to keep the main scheme under control, but she doesn't have burst thwarting to deal with side-schemes reliably in the turn they enter play. Allies like Hellcat, Speed, and War Machine can provide that, and they can sit on the bench until needed for that purpose because She-Hulk rarely needs allies to chump block for her when she can get into alter-ego so easily.

As they are Avengers, the allies can also power Earth's Mightiest Heroes (particularly Speed who can thwart and then ready in the same turn). That and One-Two Punch allows She-Hulk to clear quite a few minions. Quake can help wrap up any that survive into the villain phase.

Finally we have card draw from Assess the Situation and Skilled Investigator, as well as Avengers Mansion and Focused Rage. Once all these are down, nine card hands are perfectly routine. Sonic Rifle buys us the time to get so many upgrades into play.

This is a difficult deck for any villain to beat. Once settled into a rhythm with at least one ally on the bench and at least one Sonic Rifle in play it is almost impossible to lose. But it can take a little while to get everything into play and be ready to close out the game so it may not be the ideal deck to start with if you need persuading that She-Hulk can be fun.

Some other cards to think about are:

• Crew Quarters, which is better than Down Time in every way, so could be substituted for or added to it. I left it out from a vague sense that it is unthematic for She-Hulk;
• Spider-Man is affordable for this deck mid- to late-game but too expensive to be useful in the early game where you are most at risk of actually losing. A cheaper basic ally (maybe Mockingbird) would probably be better value for the resources, even if not an Avenger;
• Attack events could provide some more damage channels, but it's difficult to know what could make room.Turn the Tide won't get used because She Hulk rarely thwarts. Stealth Strike is too expensive for She-Hulk. Scare Tactic has the same impact as Earth's Mightiest Heroes for twice the price and Swift Retribution is completely antithetical to the deck strategy because it burns confuse cards for mediocre rewards.