War Machine - Chillin' every other day

Card draw simulator

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stilonxy · 4520

War Machine (W-M) has a really strong alter-ego ability, so what better way to capitalize on this than to run a justice deck?

The idea

The idea of this deck is very straightforward; alternate between hero form and A-E every single turn to reap the benefits of War Machine's alter-ego ability, Munitions Bunker and Upgraded Chassis.

Strategy

The aim of the game is to always have confuse on the villain so you can switch to A-E every second turn. But wait you say; only two Sonic Rifle? Is that really enough? Hear me out: The Sonic Rifle is a tech upgrade, and it thus synergize with a lot of stuff in his arsenal. One of them being Iron Man who will tutor a tech into your hand from either your discard pile or your deck. This means you will have access to at least three rifles each deck rotation. If you only use the counters to confuse the villain it’ll be more than enough alternate between hero and A-E form. Also, W-M’s alter ego ability lets him shuffle his hero specific cards back into his deck. How convenient! This allows for even more Iron Man plays and hence even more opportunities to fetch those rifles if needed.

So what cards are we looking for? Well, not only do you want Sonic Rifle asap, you will also be on the lookout for his Upgraded Chassis (note that it's cost is actually 3 and not 1). This upgrade is your life support, and since you’ll switch between forms every single turn you want this badass upgrade put into play the very first round. Hence, this upgrade is what you mulligan for. If you don’t find it the first round you’ll want to use Iron Man's ability to find it (given that you have the resources for it). Sonic Rifle is less important as you’ll switch to A-E the second round. Another card to look out for is Shoulder Cannon, it'll help you pump out that damage.

I feel like the rest is self explanatory as W-M’s cards are pretty straightforward. Get his upgrades out and do insane damage with his events.

The allies are mainly there to help you with threat and blocking when the villain activates more than once when you’re in hero form (or if the villain has piercing). Eros and Quake are there to support you when you sit in A-E.

Noteworthy cards

A justice deck without Turn the Tide?! Well, One Way or Another is just too insane to leave out. But since W-M has fairly weak thwart potential on his own I’ve decided to focus on thwart events and allies. His capability to do damage is already good.

Crew Quarters is, in my opinion, a must in any deck where you alternate between your forms. It'll heal you two every time you go into A-E without you having to exhaust your character. This is a perfect addition to W-M, as the tough card he get's from Upgraded Chassis will only block the villain attack and not potential minion attacks.

It’s maybe obvious to most, but since Counterintelligence is not forced, you’ll want to save it in play as an extra backup for those times when you either don’t have a confuse up on the villain or when he activates twice when you’re in A-E form.

Considerations

Two Against the World might look good at first glance since you can rotate Iron Man back into your deck. I find it too unreliable however, and the only tech upgrade you will rotate is Sonic Rifle and Iron Man will already tutor that card for you. This card is thus only really useful early game when you don't have any upgrades out. If you want to go for it anyway you can drop a multitasking I guess.

Under Surveillance could be a nice addition, especially for solo, but I haven't had any issues with the threat level. If you have trouble with threat I'd instead drop one Clear the Area and one Multitasking and add two For Justice!.

What about Vigilante Training? In my opinion, the toolkit to clear threat is already good enough, and you will only bloat your deck with thwart events by using this support.

Feats of strength

I’ll keep this updated. Right now I’ve played plenty of expert scenarios and it’s doing really good. Mutagen Formula, Kang, Klaaw to name a few.

Any feedback is appreciated. Cheers!

19 comments

Nov 05, 2021 niolty · 168

This looks really promising! I can't wait to try this deck once I've received War Machine.

Nov 06, 2021 NotePadd · 1

I'm on the fence about Two Against the World, but it's probably worth mentioning that it doesn't add a tech upgrade to hand - it puts one into play. So you don't have to worry about paying for the upgrade.

Nov 06, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@niolty I hope you'll enjoy it!

@NotePadd oh what an oversight. Thanks! I still find it too unreliable however. Iron Man is already tutoring Sonic Rifle for us. And the rest of the upgrades wont cycle in and out of play, so Two Against the World is only really usable early game. Being able to ready isn't really worth it for this deck.

Nov 06, 2021 amustoe · 25

Great concept and excellent write up!

Nov 06, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@amustoe thanks for the kind words! I hope you'll enjoy it :)

Nov 06, 2021 neothechosen · 9806

Just saw your deck, I've been thinking pretty much the same! I went with The Power in All of Us/ basics route, but still the concept is similar. Good job, great deck!

Nov 07, 2021 Scientiavore · 12

This is pretty similar to what I've been thinking of running with him once I get him, for the reasons you mentioned. Out of curiosity, have you tried lay down the law? Seems like it would be good due to how often he flips. Is avengers mansion any good here? I've always found the card to be slow. I'm surprised shoulder cannon wasn't mentioned, I would've thought for sure that would be priority number one to ensure you can reliably utilize all of your ammo. I haven't played him yet so I can be way off mark here though.

Nov 07, 2021 journeyman2 · 18707

Agile Flight should be worth a consideration here, especially since it combos so well with One Way or Another

Nov 07, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@neothechosen thanks man! I thought about making a gray deck as well, but ended up with a more justice focused deck since I wanted the allies, and The Power of Justice goes really well with recycling the Sonic Rifle. Your deck looks like a really solid deck! I'll definitely give it a spinn!

@Scientiavore Lay Down the Law is really awkward to use together with One Way or Another which is why I left it out. In theory it would be a great addition however since you alternate between forms a lot! Avengers Mansion is mainly a late game card, and you can usually play it after drawing three cards with One Way or Another. Shoulder Cannon is indeed an upgrade you want asap, but you can always get it with Iron Man. I've simply found Upgraded Chassis to be more important early game, especially vs expert. You can pretty much mitigate the entire villain activation with that one and thus save your allies for thwarting/dmg. Thanks for the feedback :)

@journeyman2 I've found it to be too expensive for what it is, as well as to situational. W-M's resource generators can only be used for his hero specific events which makes a 3 cost justice event very costly. Might be worth it in a mp game? But then again, I'd much rather throw in a few For Justice!. Thanks for the feedback :)

Nov 07, 2021 Saan · 3518

I kinda want a Sense of Justice in here, but I don't really know what to take out. I might drop Avenger's Mansion, since gaining a resource from Sense is similar to drawing a card from the Mansion, and it's a good deal easier to play at 2 cost, rather than 4 cost (plus you already have 2 Power of Justice to help alleviate that cost as well, which can't hit the Mansion). The down side is that if you ever can play the Mansion, one card every turn is better than 1 resource some turns.

Nov 08, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@Saan Yeah I've been debating with myself whether to include Sense of Justice or not, but I guess you have to make a cut somewhere. I've felt like Avengers Mansion, despite it's cost, is fairly easy to get to the table given that you draw 6 every second turn in A-E, with the possibility to draw another 3 cards with One Way or Another. I think Sense of Justice would've made the cut if we decided to include For Justice!.

Nov 08, 2021 dr00 · 38773

really fun deck! like iron man, i think justice is probably war machine's best solo aspect (until he gets some crazy synergy like Energy Barrier was for tony)

i've also found Sonic Rifle to be pretty decent for allowing him to flip, though i prefer flipping every couple of turns instead of every turn. i like flipping to alter-ego, storing ammo on Munitions Bunker, then storing more ammo the next turn before flipping back (so it ends up with 4 but exhausted). on the turn after that, you can get a lot of ammo back which lets you stay up a little longer in hero form instead of just swapping every turn and having to deal with threat on the main or sweat every time you might draw an Advance

i also think Under Surveillance is a highly valuable card for him. it and Counterintelligence give you so much breathing room when you flip down.

@Saan i think Quincarrier is doing the work of Sense of Justice anyway, and you have his gauntlets for targeted strike. if i were to get rid of anything, it might be Avengers Mansion, but drawing a card is a bit more valuable to me, so the extra cost is probably worth it. there seem to be a lot of mental cards in the deck so far that getting the match for Multitasking doesn't seem so difficult.

Nov 08, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@dr00 thanks for the kind words man! I really like the idea of staying in alter-ego for another turn. It also makes much more sense to use Under Surveillance with that kind of strategy. I had it in my deck at first but I never felt like I needed it. What would you cut to make room for it? Avengers Mansion? Drawing up to 7 cards in alter-ego is so sweet tho :)

Nov 08, 2021 Vortilion · 187

Thanos laughs his ass off No, seriously, looks like a great deck, will give it a try! Thanks for it!

Nov 10, 2021 camsimps · 1

I recently saw a developer ruling saying that James Rhodes' alter ego ability was meant to be restricted to once per phase. I'm not sure when they'll get around to issuing an official errata, but something to keep in mind going forward.

Nov 10, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@camsimps yeah I was aware of that when I crafted this deck. Thanks for the heads up anyway :) You'll want to prioritize Iron Man for Sonic Rifle.

Nov 18, 2021 raddoc10 · 2

Love this deck! I did swap out Avengers mansion for Sense of Justice as someone mentioned above, and it works great-there are 8 cards in the deck it can pay for, I was using it pretty much every turn, plus it gives you the mental resource to get the full use out of multitasking

Nov 18, 2021 stilonxy · 4520

@raddoc10 Really glad you like it! Swapping Avengers Mansion for Sense of Justice is totally reasonable. I feel like Quincarrier does the job already. I guess it comes down to preference :)

Dec 15, 2022 Nocturnal duck · 89

Agent 13 for his munitions bunker is another A-E option