Hear me out: what if Sliding Shot, but even more? Now it's possible thanks to our good friend Warpath!

He's definitely on the phone with Warpath, right?

Surprise sliding shot from the sky

Star-Lord's core mechanic is taking on extra encounter cards for a short term benefit. This deck aims to allow Star-Lord to "double dip" on that benefit by sneaking in an extra Sliding Shot or Gutsy Move during the villain phase using Warpath's response ability.

Another fun new card is IPAC, which can sneak Star-Lord 1 more encounter card. We can sneak it into play using Build Support since Star-Lord is not an X-force member. I choose to believe Warpath is letting him borrow it.

The combo

In an ideal world here's what happens:

• 2-3x Daring Escape for 2-3 encounter cards
• IPAC for 1 more encounter card
• "What could go wrong" Hero ability to play sliding shot (or something else) and get 1 more encounter card

Now your sliding shots hit for 15-17 damage, and you've drawn 4-5 cards in addition to your starting hand to find one.

We also have Gamora, Nick Fury, Ironheart, Knowhere and Avengers Mansion to dig for more cards. We haven't included any events other than the ones in Star-Lord's kit, so Gamora will be able to hit something that interacts with encounter cards every time (or cause a deck-out, which gives an encounter card!)

The follow-up hit

After the turn is over, if Star-Lord's Helmet is out, you have an 8 card hand size to try to get another sliding shot. Or you can save one in your hand if you couldn't afford to play it last turn. Also, maybe you deck out when drawing those cards and get 1 more encounter card!

Now Star Lord needs to weather an attack from the villain, and have Warpath defend against a minion's attack and survive. Or, if Warpath still has his tough status, the villain can attack him. If you can pull this off, you get one more window to play a fully juiced up Sliding Shot or Gutsy Move before those encounter cards get revealed

Setting up

First things first, you have to get Element Gun on the table. Just one is fine, but you can't sliding sot without it.

You want Warpath on the table of course, and a minion to punch warpath. This deck includes Pinned Down so that you can hopefully keep a minion with 0 attack around for this purpose. In some scenarios this may not be that easy, and you have to worry about guard and other effects on the minion. But for many villain decks it's very doable. Most minions in the game have 2 or less attack.

You will want to set up Star-Lord's Helmet and Jet Boots before going for a huge turn.Superpower Training can help find these earlier. There is also a large suite of basic supports to help with economy and card draw. Get what you can down, but you don't need every single one. The deck also includes Render Medical Aid and Med Team to help keep Warpath and/or Gamora on the table a little longer.

You cannot play IPAC unless you cheat it in through Build Support, so make sure you choose that one, or else it's a dead card

The aftermath

after pulling off those big hits or thwarts, you probably don't want to lose to all those encounter cards. Reaping is such a blast, how come sowing sucks do bad? There are 2 basic survival strategies:

Chump army

There are a lot of allies in the deck. If you need to weather 5-6 encounter cards, make sure you are fully stacked with chump blockers. Since every Star-Lord ally gains the guardian trait, you can always go 4 deep with Knowhere. Jet Boots and Endurance also help with survivability. But make sure you use those jet boots while there are cards in front of you. It's no good if the last encounter card is an assault.

Don't even worry about it, just win

If the math works out right, you might be able to kill the villain with the Sliding Shot triggered by Warpath. in which case, no problem! we win! In True solo, the villain's second phase may be less than what a fully powered sliding shot can do. Mutagen formula is particularly fun for this, since Green goblin kindly gives you some more encounter cards for flipping him

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This is not an easy deck to pilot. It takes some getting used to when to go for the big hit and when to hold off and build. But when the combo goes off it's always a ton of fun. I hope you have a good time with this deck. Let me know if you have any fun games or good substitutions!