Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a GAU8 Avenger Autocannon

Requisition Order 8-39j:

Per:

• Col. James Rupert 'Rhodey' Rhodes, United States Marine Corps
  

Psylocke is here! Which means many people will be posting Psylocke decks. She's a lot of fun, but I'm more interested in one card in particular: Float Like a Butterfly--absolute game-changer for Justice. No longer are you stuck just thwarting side schemes for value. In fact, this deck has no Player Side Schemes, which, why wouldn't I? Well, you just aren't going to be thwarting all that much.

Mission Statement

The general strategy is to get Float Like a Butterfly down as quickly as possible so that all of your attack damage is +1 against confused enemies. Also get your Munitions Bunker down as quickly as possible and make repeated trips to Alter-Ego and load up on munitions. Once you are ready, you can launch everything with Shoulder Cannon, which now does 2 damage on every use. Almost everything else is also boosted, but remember it's just +1, not double. You get a lot of mileage out of Shoulder Cannon simply because it does 1. However, your Missile Launcher and attack events are also really strong value for their ammo cost. Ideally, you want to use those first and then dump your remaining ammo into your Shoulder Cannon before flipping down.

Seven Swans a-Swimmin'

The first order of business, as in any deck, is setup. Your setup pieces include resource generation and ramp tools like Enhanced Awareness, Helicarrier, Quincarrier, and Gauntlet Guns, with a further complement of many double resources

But once you have some economy, your win condition setup pieces are simple: Float Like a Butterfly, Shoulder Cannon, and Munitions Bunker. Get Float Like a Butterfly and Munitions Bunker down as quickly as possible, and thankfully you won't need Shoulder Cannon until later. Once you're ready, Two Against the World is a good tutor for it.

Alright big guy, let's dance.

A Ballet of a Thousand lbs. of Corrugated Steel

While you wait for your Shoulder Cannon, there are plenty of ways to confuse: Banshee (any enemy, every time he thwarts), Dazzler (any enemy, when she enters play), Eros (only minions, 1 for each you use to pay for him), Professor X (villain only, when he enters play), Sonic Rifle (up to 2 per Rifle), and the new card: Upside the Head, which pulls double duty by confusing on basic attacks or stunning if the enemy is already confused.

With all of that confusion, you will have plenty of opportunity to flip to Alter-Ego. Munitions Bunker is really valuable, and you can requisition more ammo every round, then dump it all in a game-winning crescendo of glory. Also Upgraded Chassis will help keep you alive with repeated Tough status cards. Just make sure to dump all your ammo before flipping down, because you're going to lose it all anyway. And finally, don't forget about James Rhodes' ability to shuffle in War Machine cards back into your deck (remember that it's received an erratum to be just once per round now). Shuffle back in plenty of your great events and any important upgrades you lose from Caught Off Guard.

BOOM, you lookin' for this?

**

Float Like a Butterfly is a great card but does have a little nuance. It triggers when 'a character you control attacks a confused enemy'.

So what is a character attacking? Do events and upgrades work? Yes. Does that make sense? Well, that's up to you, but when you (not you you, but--you know what I mean) play an attack event or use the (attack) on an upgrade, it is considered to be that character the upgrade is attached to or your hero in all other cases that is attacking. For all intents and purposes for this deck, basic attacks from allies will trigger it, and all your attack events and upgrades with attacks, along with War Machine's basic attacks will trigger as if War Machine is attacking.

• Full Auto: only works on attacked enemies, so the overkill damage won't be increased like with Wild Wild Mojo, which increases all damage. You will still do 1 extra damage though, and if there's any overkill, that will be still applied to the villain. You just don't get to double-dip.
• Scorched Earth will not do increased damage. Although it is an event, and it is War Machine by extension performing that action, it is not an (attack) action.
• Similarly, Sonic Rifle will not do increased damage. Although it is an upgrade, and it is War Machine by extension doing the actions on the card, it is not an (attack) action.

And finally, for multiplayer, Float Like a Butterfly can be 'played under any player's control', and that player does not need to do any confusing to get the benefit. Again, all characters controlled by that player get the benefits, so Leadership with a lot of allies or Aggression with allies, events, or repeated readying and hero attacks will get a lot of extra value. A lot of Protections pinging effects aren't attacks though (but there are some good combos, depending on the deck). There are two copies in this deck to ensure you get one out as soon as possible, but don't sleep on the fact that you can give it to other players.