Star "Lord of Spiders"

INTRO:

The galaxy is at stake and a multiversal web of Spider-people has arrived to help, but who should lead them against the many threats they face? Someone from among them? No! They need a born leader, full of bravado and daring… They need a Hero of galactic repute… they need… Star-Lord?

Yes! Star-Lord is joining the Web of Life and Destiny and taking an array of Spider-persons on a galactic adventure as honorary Guardians of the Galaxy. He may even take on a Sssspidery persona himself with a little help from a symbiote friend.

OVERVIEW:

Star-Lord’s key cards are still very important. You’ll need at least one element gun on the board and I recommend prioritizing the Symbiote Suit. You might think the extra encounter card isn’t worth it, but the bonus health really helps push Star-Lord through villain turns with more than one attack, giving him more time to survive, build, and pull off his big turns with daring escape and sliding shot. You’re going to have encounter cards going into the villain phase most turns, so the helmet is a sure value play as well.

The main flow of the deck, however, comes from Knowhere and Web of Life and Destiny. The goal is to play at least one Web-warrior every turn. Each Web-warrior you play gives you a card when you play them (if you’re in Hero mode, or have your honorary guardian in play on Star-Lord) and when they leave play. Web of Life and Destiny also gives you a Web-warrior card so you can play all those spider-people who require the trait to be played. If you haven’t found Web of Life and Destiny, prioritize playing Silk,Spider-UK, or Miles Morales, as they don’t require you to control a Web-Warrior card, and once you control them, you can bring in the other Web-Warriors.

Once your key cards are out, you can oscillate between playing Web-Warriors (who will help protect you from all your encounter cards) and slamming damage. With Symbiote Suit, your Daring Escapes and What Doesn’t Kill Mes are all 3 thwart or 3 damage - add in a shot or two from your guns and a Sliding Shot and you can output a Villain’s HP in a single turn very reliably (at least in solo). With the Symbiote Suit and your Helmet, you’ll often have a hand size of 8 or 9 at the end of the turn, fully capable of doing over 40 total damage in a single turn - you just have to survive the villain phase (again, lots of allies that generate additional cards and the boosted health make this doable).

This deck plays best in Solo, I think, because it dishes out damage quickly (as Star-Lord is wont to do). It will play in Multiplayer ok, but I recommend pairing him with a hero who can help with the encounter cards you are going to be getting. Star-Lord needs to be able to play to his strengths and big turns without always putting out his own fires, so the other heroes need to be fairly independent and have a decent early game capability (more events and less build needed).

Notable Inclusions: Venom: Venom might seem like a terrible idea - both Venom and Symbiote Suite are giving you encounter cards, but you don't get them during your turn, so its all bad with no benefit. And you'd be pretty right - do not throw him out early. He's here to push damage and finish off a villain. If you've got 5 encounter cards, that's five chances to deal a damage to venom and deal 2 or three damage to the villain. After his initial attack, Venom can very easily be 10 or 11 damage on the turn he's played.

Ghost-Spider gets you a hero-specific card when she leaves play, which is a great way to ensure you can pick up a Sliding Shot on a turn when you need it.

Otto Octavius can ready your Element Gun and draw you a card, plus the card from Knowhere makes it two - so he is almost always going to be a solid play.

I found this a very fun deck to play. The Web-Warriors are incredibly strong, as I think we all know, and Star-Lord is hard to beat when it comes to taking advantage of multiple tribals (with his ability to make all allies guardians). The deck is also pretty versatile all things considered, so I found myself able to deal with a lot of curveballs from the villains, whether a slew of schemes or minions with guard or a need to push heavy damage. I hope you like it if you decide to give it a spin! Let me know what you think in the comments!