diesel · 164
Objective
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The idea here is one that many people have had before: turn Cap into the super-defender that we all envision him as.
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I don't want to say this is an advanced deck - I'm not capable of that - but there is more nuance than you might expect from a deck that just wants to defend a bunch. Many turns you'll be working with a smaller hand size after playing events during the villain phase, you'll almost never be at full health, and you'll have to use your "I Can Do This All Day!" ability wisely to deal with threat and minions.
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This deck can get overwhelmed by minions. Shield Toss helps, but it can be difficult to find enough cards to discard after using one or two in the villain phase, and needing to pay to get Captain America's Shield back on the table.
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When you can set up and find a groove, this deck is super fun. I've had turns where Cap absorbed three villain attacks and took zero damage. It feels great!
Strategy
Mulligan
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As with most decks, you're looking for your engine cards. Go hard for Helicarrier and Super-Soldier Serum.
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Armored Vest and Unflappable are big parts of the deck, but if you have to discard them to find an engine card, do it. That's why there are two of each in the deck!
Early Game
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Depending on the scenario, you might want to consider taking an extra turn in Alter-Ego to help you setup. For example, this seems to work pretty well with Green Goblin's Mutagen Formula. Keep in mind, once you flip to Cap you might not see Steve the rest of the game.
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As always, the priority is getting your engine cards going. I would recommend this order: (1) Super-Soldier Serum, (2) Helicarrier, (3) Unflappable.
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While you might normally consider Steve's Apartment a type of engine card, with this deck you will almost never have an opportunity use it.
Mid Game
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Once you've got a two or three of your Super-Soldier Serum and/or Helicarrier, it's time to start building your board.
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Next priority is Unflappable and Armored Vest, followed by The Night Nurse, and a mix of Indomitable and Energy Barrier.
Staying In The Fight As Long As Possible
- The goal is to be defending as much as possible, but how you get there is important. I try to stick to this order to be maximally efficient:
- Shield Block when the villain attacks you (so you don't have to exhaust).
- Desperate Defense if you are defending for another player (aka: exhausting), OR if the villain is attacking you and you don't have Shield Block
- Standard defense when the above are not possible, but only use Indomitable to ready if (1) you need to use your basic attack or thwart next turn, OR (2) there are remaining encounter cards to reveal that could cause additional villain attacks.
- Energy Barrier is there to soak up damage that gets through and would prevent you from triggering the readying on Desperate Defense or the card draw from Unflappable.
Cards
- Soaking up 1 damage each attack across 1-3 attacks each turn adds up quickly. 2-of to get it out as early as possible.
- A quasi-engine card, as there is a really good chance that you'll be able to trigger the card draw at least once each villain phase. 2-of to get it out early.
Desperate Defense and Indomitable
- Critical to keeping Cap defending all day. Be thoughtful about how to utilize each card - you will run out if you aren't careful! If you skipped it early, take a look at the Strategy section to see what I think is most optimal.
- Just an incredible card and a Protection mainstay. It serves two purposes in this deck: (1) keeping Cap clean of "extra" damage from the villain so you can trigger the readying on Desperate Defense or the card draw from Unflappable, OR (2) shrugging off the minions that the encounter deck kicks out.
- In this deck a cost of 2 can be a tough play at times, but Momentum Shift is the main source of healing and minion-directed damage.
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You will often come out of the villain phase exhausted and down a card or two from your hand. Intelligent use of you basic attack and thwart is going to be important. Wasting a card to use your "I Can Do This All Day!" ability to clear a Stun or Confused and not use Cap to attack or thwart is a problem. The Night Nurse solves that.
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If the encounter deck isn't dishing out a bunch of status cards, don't be shy about spending counters for the one health heal. You won't be flipping often (if ever) and it can be the difference.
Iron Fist and Mockingbird
- As great as these cards are, spending three and four resources in this deck is a tall order, so I can definitely see a day when they get dropped. However, the Stuns can be helpful when you just aren't setup enough with Indomitable or get a bad draw with no Shield Block or Desperate Defense.
- A low priority card in this deck. I've played entire games without flipping back to Alter-Ego.
Other Considerations
- As I mentioned before, four-cost cards are a difficult sell in this deck. You really don't need a ton of extra card draw, so the cheaper Helicarrier wins out.
- I really wish Counter-Punch worked on undefended attacks - it would be an amazing way to chip minions off the board.
- Get Behind Me! was included in the first couple of iterations, but I was never able to play it.
- Because I almost never flipped to Alter-Ego, Down Time just doesn't make sense. You will lean heavily on Energy Barrier to prevent damage and Momentum Shift and The Night Nurse to heal it off slowly over time.
- I had originally included Preemptive Strike, but eventually opted for more copies of the more versatile Energy Barrier to ensure "clean" turns to trigger Unflappable.
- I did include Defensive Stance in an early iteration as a "safety net" card, but I never needed it!
- I'm not a big fan of this card in general, but you don't want to be Stun heavy. The goal is to defend, retaliate, and trigger Unflappable for card draw. Tackle becomes superfluous with Cap's Heroic Strike.
Check out my other decks!
Wakandan Fury [Black Panther Aggression]
Gone in 60 Seconds [Captain Marvel Leadership]
Star-Spangled Beatdown [Captain America Aggression]
I borrowed (stole) this format from Brian-V. Hopefully you don't mind :)