Repurposed Preparations

Deck concept

This deck has a very simple concept, but one I haven't seen used elsewhere on MarvelCDB. Two of Black Widow's preparations are Tech upgrades (Widow's Bite and Grappling Hook) which can be used with Repurpose. If you use a Grappling Hook for Repurpose then the base cost is 4 resources for an additional basic thwart of 4, which isn't fantastic; but if you can then flip into alter ego and use Safe House #29, Black Widow's Gauntlets and Mission Prep to put that original Grappling Hook back into play and draw another card, then a basic thwart for free starts to look like much better value. The concept is to use Repurpose to give easy access to alter ego, and to use Black Widow's strong card draw in alter ego to accelerate the set-up of a fairly standard Unflappable deck. Once fully set up, Repurpose helps accelerate Black Widow's somewhat underwhelming damage output, whilst still enabling access to alter ego if she needs to recover or to get a key card like Attacrobatics out of the discard pile.

Card choices

Repurpose and What Doesn't Kill Me are obvious here, as are Unflappable and the cards that go with it such as Electrostatic Armor. Avengers Mansion might be controversial because it is so costly, but this deck has a lot of draw power and can therefore afford to get it down.

Espionage provides valuable acceleration when setting up, and can lead to some great turns when you start with a dozen (or even more) cards in hand. It is possible that you might prefer Assess the Situation though, because as with any upgrade-heavy deck it is really early-game acceleration that you need most and Assess the Situation gives you a pay-off as soon as you play it.

The allies perform a number of different roles. Once set up, you will want to take almost all hits on Black Widow herself, but early in the game she can be vulnerable so Clea, Nick Fury. and Ironheart are great blockers. Nick Fury and Ironheart also provide useful acceleration when setting up. Starhawk can also be used as a blocker, but I think finds his best use in mid-late game helping to control threat so that Black Widow can concentrate on doing as much damage as possible.

I did experiment with Bait and Switch, but my experience was that by the time I was ready to use it the game was effectively won, so a card that contributed more in the early game (for instance Espionage) was more valuable.

The two Hard to Ignores are probably the cards I would lose first. With so many higher-priority upgrades they rarely get down until quite late in the game and they can play a role counteracting an acceleration icon or two, but they have never made the difference between victory and defeat for me. If you want to work in Bait and Switch, Assess the Situation, or maybe a more damage-oriented card such as Leading Blow, that's where I would start. Just be confident you still have enough for What Doesn't Kill Me.

Playing the deck

There are a lot of moving parts in this deck. I would prioritise Safe House #29 and both Black Widow's Gauntlets first because they set up the synergies with Repurpose which allow you to switch constantly between hero and alter ego, and get full benefit from the larger hand size, Safe House #29, and Mission Prep. Synth-Suit, Armored Vest and Attacrobatics are the trinity which allow you to defend against almost any villain so they are the next priority. Attacrobatics is an attack so you can't play it when stunned, nor when there is a guard minion in play, so Defensive Stance is a very valuable back-up.

Provided it is reasonably safe to do so, I aim to finish every other turn in alter ego. The advantages of that are not just the accelerated set-up, but also it slows down the rate at which you use your preparations, helping to ensure that you have Attacrobatics in play when the villain attacks, and Widow's Bite or Grappling Hook available when you want to use Repurpose. In the early game, that means using most Repurpose and What Doesn't Kill Me for additional thwarting.

With 22 upgrades and supports, and the scope to draw 15 or more cards in a single turn, you will soon be burning through your deck which means you will see enough Dance of Death, Repurpose and What Doesn't Kill Me to deal quite a lot of damage. I therefore don't worry if I'm not getting any damage on the villain earlier in the game. The focus then has to be on controlling minions and getting set up

How to lose with this deck

Like many other solo green decks, this one takes a little time to set up. Against villains who start strongly the deck can struggle more. Playing on Standard or Expert 2 also helps this deck to lose because Covert Ops is suddenly much less useful.

Conclusion

This isn't the classic use of Repurpose because the tech upgrades that are repurposed haven't given any other benefit first, as a partly-used Energy Barrier could. Against that, Black Widow offers great economy playing her preparations in the first place, and the reliability of always having one in hand through Safe House #29. In the past when I've seen a combination that no-one else has published here it's been because I didn't read the rules properly, but this time I think I might actually have gotten it right...