Playing Poker With The Avengers

The avengers are getting together again and it’s time to play some poker. Thankfully the avengers have unrestricted access to avengers facilities and can bring six players to the table. They have to be careful though, the mob boss and his card-sharks are on the move and trying to stop the game.

Natasha Romanoff was put in charge with setting up this years game and did not disappoint. Using Safe House #29 and Black Widow's Gauntlet she is able to keep Rapid Response up and ready for when players need to buy back in. She also comes well prepared and with her experience in Covert Ops enabling her to fend off the mob boss’ schemes until the players are ready to go all in.

The first thing is understanding all the players.

• Black Widow : Allows for the players to buy back in cheaply and efficiently
• Stinger : Is able to play at the table without taking any seats
• Winter Soldier : Easily joins the table after you prepare the board
• Falcon: Delays the mob boss’ scheme when he joins the table
• Black Panther : Comes to the table with a card up his sleeve, ready for whenever it’s time to go all in
• Hawkeye : Sits at the table and passively takes out any card-sharks trying to join the game
• Captain Marvel : Is the biggest spender at the table and will be buying back in as often as possible

The second thing to understand is where the game is played.

• Avengers Tower : Let’s all Avengers buy into the game cheaper, and even adds a seat at the table
• The Triskelion : Adds an additional seat to the table

The third thing to understand is what allows the game to go move smoothly.

• Quincarrier : Picks up the players, getting them to the table quicker
• Safe House #29 : Makes it possible for players to buy back in whenever they want
• Quinjet : Picks up the big spenders and gets them to the table easily
• Surveillance Team : Keeps an eye on the game and makes sure all players can play whenever necessary
• Mighty Avengers : When so many avengers get in a room together it means they are armed and ready as soon as it is time to go all in

The most important thing to understand is that all of the players want to be able to go all in and end the game with one big statement. This means that sending off your ally’s to fend off the mob boss isn’t a great idea.

The thing is even though Natasha is an avenger she is seen more as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent when she isn’t in her Black Widow suit. This means that declaring her an Honorary Avenger early into the game allows for players like Captain Marvel to benefit from Mighty Avengers even when Natasha doesn’t have her suit on.

Captain Marvel is a big spender and therefore using her to keep the mob boss’ scheme from progressing provides the most value. Don’t worry about her high buy in Rapid Response is always there to help her buy back in, and Sneak Attack can even get her to the table quickly. Of course be wary of trying to Sneak Attack if your Rapid Response isn’t up and ready.

Black Panther bends the rules a little by coming to the table with a card up his sleeve. Little does the mob boss know Black Panther is holding on to an Avengers Assemble! and will use it when everyone is ready to go all in.

Natasha provides great value as the host of this event because her Synth-Suit makes sure she can defend herself and be ready to go at a moments notice. This pairs nicely with the fact that all she needs to do after a player buys back in is flip to Alter-Ego form and utilize Safe House #29 and Black Widow's Gauntlet to get Rapid Response ready to go for free.

Natasha’s ability to hold the mob boss at bay and keep all the other players at the table provides tremendous value when the players are ready to go all in. Once Natasha plays two copies of Lead from the Front the avengers are ready to go all in, using the card Black Panther has kept up his sleeve the Avengers can play twice and are able to take out the mob boss in one quick move.

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This deck allows Black Widow to play off her strengths very well and even cover a few of her weaknesses. With good base defense that gets even better with Synth-Suit she is able to defend herself instead of throwing out Allie’s to block. This really comes in handy when the idea of the deck is one big surge of ally attacks.

The idea of the deck is to setup all of your allies and supports to allow for 6 allies on board and an Avengers Assemble! attached to Black Panther for whenever it’s go time. Just take advantage of cards like Strength In Numbers to setup and ideal hand and play two copies of Lead from the Front and attacking with all of your allies before using Avengers Assemble! before attacking again, this can set you up for an extremely high damage turn.

• Black Widow : Attacks for 5 and then 6
• Stinger : Attacks for 4 and then 5
• Winter Soldier : Attacks for 5 and then 6
• Falcon: Attacks for 5 and then 6
• Black Panther : Attacks for 5 and then 6
• Hawkeye : Attacks for 4 and then 5
• Captain Marvel : Attacks for 5 and then 6

This totals out to an insane max damage of 72 in one turn.

Obviously this deck requires a lot of setup so having an friend play a justice character allows for an easier time setting up; however constantly using Captain Marvel to thwart until it’s go time should hold off the main scheme. Just don’t let side schemes outpace you.

Also the lack of resources in this deck could be a problem, this is the main reason for cards like Sneak Attack and Quinjet which allow you to get allies on the board for extremely cheap

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Special thanks to dr00 the creator of the “Going Knowhere Fast: Disco Death Race 2000” Star Lord deck and to IlEmperatore the creator of the “Playing poker with Natasha Romanoff deck. They completely changed the way I look at building decks in this game and gave me most of the ideas for this deck and themed write up.

Check out dr00’s decks here : https://marvelcdb.com/user/profile/5/dr00 Check out IlEmperatore‘s decks here : https://marvelcdb.com/user/profile/6910/IlEmperatore Check out IlEmperatore‘s YouTube here : https://www.youtube.com/ilemperatore