Late-Stage Capitalism Unleashed

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex.

Let Them Eat Cake

Do you like drawing cards, playing cards, and just being super filthy stinking rich? Well, thankfully you can live out your wildest Scrooge McDuck dreams and dive into a giant pile of money.

This deck is extremely versatile, able to push out massive amounts of damage or thwart, and there are plenty of expendable workers noble ally sacrifices and healing.

Essential Workers

There are many allies in the deck to help fuel the strategy and keep the backbone of this country going.

• Adam Warlock gets a lot of extra value from his activations, ~36% equally for extra thwart or healing, ~28% for extra damage, and ~8% of your choice. Remember that his response triggers before consequential damage, so you get the benefit on the last use. You can use Command Team to use him up quickly if you just want to dump cards from your hand.
• Cannonball easily thwarts or attacks with no consequential damage every round with 19 total Aerial cards in the deck and Worthington Industries constantly shuffling them back in. He'll be able to stick around for a long time.
• Cloud 9 is easily your strongest worker. Promote her to assistant manager as soon as possible and save her for turns where you can use multiple Command Teams and boost the THW of your board by an insane amount. On other turns, she can work from home with some extra card draw with Strength In Numbers.
• Falcon, Sunspot, and Vivian each have useful enter play effects, so don't feel bad about letting them work double shifts. You have enough funding to keep hiring new workers.
• Psylocke won't be played that often as she doesn't synergise with The Power of Flight (but does work with Team-Building Exercise).
• Snowguard will be a very solid thwarter at 3 base THW and Aerial to get further support from Cloud 9. Just remember that she won't have Aerial until she gets onto the board, so she can't work with The Power of Flight, Team-Building Exercise, or Worthington Industries. She's the perfect tatget for Call for Backup, however, if you have Cloud 9 and/or Cannonball already in play. Also remember that occasionally, it's worth it to go for +3 ATK and overkill or +5 hitpoints and retaliate 1. Again, very versatile ally.

Golden Parachute

There are 12 Aerial events and 2 additional events. Remember that you can trigger both Angel (draw a card) and Archangel (deal damage equal to its printed cost) once each round. Try to swap between the two forms as much as possible and play one event in each form to get the most value. At the start, you should be assembling your workforce as much as possible though, but once they're all set up, this deck truly soars.

• Adaptive Plummage perfectly embodies this deck's strengths because it's so versatile. It can thwart for 3, confuse any enemy, and draw a card or deal 4 damage to an enemy and stun it, then deal 3 damage to any enemy (the attacked enemy or another enemy).
• Aerial Agility is a great defensive tool to let the CEO take the brunt of pesky government oversight and protect your workers. Remember that you can keep the tough if you make a basic defense, but you cannot also defend with an ally since playing the card makes you the defender. This is helpful because you can use it to protect other players as well. Also keep in mind that Angel's hero abilities trigger once per phase, so you'll do some bonus damage or draw a card (depending on your form).
• Flying Formation costs a whopping 4, but it's a solid finisher. When it reads 'thwart for 10+ and deal 4 damage', you'll understand. Once Cloud 9 has buffed everything, and if you play it in Archangel, it really overperforms.
• Metamorphosis: remember that Angel's hero abilities trigger after playing the card, so it will draw a card after you change to Alter-Ego, remove 2 threat and draw a card as Angel, or deal 5 total damage after you change to Archangel (3 and then 2 damage, both non-attack, so gets past guard and retaliate).
• Natural Flight looks deceptive as a hero version of For Justice! that can bypass crisis, but also draws a card as Angel or deals 2 damage as Archangel.
• Razor Dive deals 6 and draws a card or 6 damage with overkill and piercing, plus an extra 3 damage. Remember that the overkill and piercing still works even if you've played multiple Aerial events as Archangel, which can be helpful depending on the situation.
• Strength In Numbers isn't Aerial, but allows the deck to continue to working through those lockdowns. There are many allies you won't always use most of your allies every round,

Diversified Portfolio

With massive amounts of thwarting potential, there's a lot of opportunity to capitalise on Player Side Schemes.

• Build Support: the best options are generally: Worthington Industries, The Triskelion / one Team-Building Exercise, Command Teams/second copy of Team-Building Exercise.
• Call for Backup is great for getting Cloud 9 into play as soon as possible to start boosting your team, or Cannonball for some guilt-free activations, or Snowguard (who synergies well with Cloud 9, but not many other Aerial cards since she won't have Aerial until after she enters play, and only if you give her 2 counters).
• Superpower Training only has one target, but helps your fellow players each get an upgrade, and you can easily find the THW to help clear it. If you find it before Techno-Organic Wings, you can cheat it into play. Otherwise, it's still helpful for others or for situations where you lose it to an untimely Caught Off Guard. Remember as a good philanthropist, it's always good to give back.

Avocado Toast

Staples Energy, Genius, and Strength are included, and Angel also packs Avian Anatomy, which is great for getting both hero triggers in the same turn. The Power of Flight also helps pay for about half the deck.

Be the CEOs First-born Son

With the help of a $100 million loan from your parents at age 21, you too can be a CEO worth $20 million. You'll grow into a true professional, owning and operating a large fleet of businesses.

• Command Team adds a lot of extra value to Cloud 9's THW boosting ability, but don't get lost in the sauce. It has a lot of great benefits. Draw extra cards with Strength In Numbers, get extra Cannonball or Adam Warlock activations, or let your other allies use their activations quickly and leave play. With Worthington Industries, you can shuffle them back into your deck. Keep an eye on the math too. At certain points, it might be more beneficial to ready another ally, even when Cloud 9 is boosting everyone.
• Team-Building Exercise has 2 copies, so you should be able to see it super early. Also, half the deck is either Aerial or X-Force, and you'll likely want to aim for triggering Angel's two hero abilities every round anyway. At a certain point, both will be useful. Just remember that you can't use them both on the same card (since it plays the card as its effect). It can combine with Techno-Organic Wings, however.
• The Triskelion is useful for extra card draws with Strength In Numbers, but its main use is for giving more targets with Cloud 9 and allowing more board space since two of your allies (Cloud 9 and Cannonball) will likely stay in play all game.
• Worthington Industries is honestly one of the best cards in the deck. On turns where you swap to Alter-Ego and heal, you can also get an extra card (making Metamorphosis work as a draw 2 and heal 1, possibly REC for 3), but even on turns where you don't go into Alter-Ego, you can still shuffle in an Aerial card. Shuffle back in your strongest events, your allies who have left play or had to be spent as resources to set up. Use it every round. It's not immediate value, but when you keep drawing Adaptive Plummage all game, you'll thank yourself for investing in your 401k early.

Profitable Business

So that's the business plan. There are many pathways and decisions to make. This deck won't seem super obvious at first, but it'll grow like a well-managed mutual fund.