This deck is all about pushing hand size to the upper limit!

The basic gist is to store x3 Assess the Situation under George Stacy while you have Ticket to the Multiverse in play as an upgrade. Pop all 3 Assess for +3 hand size, pop Ticket to redraw up to your hand size (including the boosts from Assess) and go wild.

I first awed at this combo in Stand-Up Gwen, by the legendary dr00.

We are building upon it with Live Dangerously, giving us another +2 hand size on our Ticket turn! Add in Symbiote Suit for another +1 and you can see where this goes off the wall!

Gameplay Video vs Expert On the Run + Extreme Measures + Personal Nightmare!

Stacy, can I come over after school? (After school)

We can hang around by the pool (by the 'POOL)

Ghost-Spider 'Pool is very interesting and has been well-explored elsewhere, so I'm going to try and be as brief as I can (I can see you all roll your eyes through the screen!)

• Rock, Paper, Scissors deserves to be at the start of this section because it has been the surprise MVP. 1-cost has lead to it being out very early in almost every game and with 3 wilds (one of which we can keep cycling in our deck), it hits often. But mostly I use it to fish for specific cards. Do I have the whole combo set up except for Live Dangerously? Show and try and top deck it! Even if you miss, the card is discarded, which increases the odds of drawing your target on your next draw effect (like Web of Life and Destiny)! The discard can even load something for Across the Spider-Verse. I often start turns with Rock, Paper, Scissors to try and plan ahead as much as possible, but you can also use the other draw effects as a way to make a more educated guess. Showing to hit for Stick-To-Itiveness is a play to keep in your back pocket. Keeping track of our discard is very important here to play the odds, and you can peruse the accompanying charts here. I've been playing the deck with my phone pulled up to this page so I can track what is left!

• Self Confidence + Self Control The triple/double resources are very handy here because Gwen has so many 2-cost cards! The triples don't help with Spider-Man or Web of Life and Destiny, but they do help with Laser Swords, Healing Factor, and Symbiote Suit, important combo pieces. If we pass on grabbing Ticket to the Multiverse with Superpower Training, these triples can help drop it on the combo turn. When running 7 resources in the deck I was running into some dead hands, so we are not running Self Preservation or Energy, because they do not help with for Stick-To-Itiveness or for Web Binding. 5 double/triple resources is plenty, especially since we can shuffle back Ticket!

• Healing Factor has been a key card. I've been doing a lot of defending with this deck, and usually 1-2 damage slips through. Even if we completely defend a villain attack, it allows us to shrug off a minion! This has been very helpful against teamwork minions that sneak through. While getting Laser Swords and Symbiote Suit are not early priorities, staying in double or triple range for Self Confidence and Self Control, help to drop them and win same turn in the late game. Don't forget you can trigger this in alter-ego too!

• Stick-To-Itiveness is a great card for Gwen. Getting exhausted or statused can prevent her from triggering Dizzying Reflexes, so being able to ready on the spot can solve this issue. Stacking her huge attack with readies from Stick, Spider-Man, and Dizzying Reflexes is a key part of our endgame. Unfortunately, is our least common resource type...enter Enhanced Physique! This card has paid off in spades for me, either triggering Stick on turns where I haven't drawn a , or supplementing our economy. You can even use it in a pinch on Tic-Tac-Toe! Sure you could just run Build Support+Quincarrier, but I've enjoyed the faster tempo of Enhanced, while not requiring 2 deck spots and a dead card.

• Tic-Tac-Toe is primarily here to keep Spider-Man alive and readying us! It doesn't hurt to have some spot minion removal or a Caught Off Guard target either

• Laser Swords + Live Dangerously are the crux of the classic 'Pool combo. We are adding it to Ghost-Spider who takes advantage of the +2 hand size on Live Dangerously better than any hero!

• Get Rage-y is amazing for a lot of the Web-Warriors. Getting an extra ready out of Spider-Man on the combo turn is very nice, but it also can help us bounce SP//dr same turn! We can refund Get Rage-y itself by offing allies like Spider-Man and Spider-Man and drawing from Web of Life and Destiny. These plays will also trigger Warrior of the Great Web, sometimes for the second time in a turn! Nice little utility card to be aware of.

• Not my Responsibility is here mostly for solo play, as it's the only way to guarantee a flip down. Store this bad boy under George Stacy, then flip, and cancel either the initial scheme or hold it as insurance against Advance. In multiplayer, this is a way to trigger Dizzying Reflexes cheaper than Ghost Kick, and even turning into a plus since you can draw off Web of Life and Destiny and Web-Bracelet!

Fountains of Gwen

Surprisingly, this deck plays different pieces of her kit than I typically focus on with Gwen! Playing cards like Web Binding and Pirouette and Punch over Ghost Kick was not something I expected before testing this deck out!

• Web-Bracelet is usually a priority in most Ghost-Spider decks, but here I've found that we aren't usually triggering both each turn, much less 4 times on the Ticket turn. Saturation of resources means we can get one or both out, but not a priority to do so. We have a cheap trigger in Not my Responsibility at least!

• Web Binding and Pirouette and Punch have proven surprisingly useful here. With a combo deck, sometimes you just need to pass a villain phase when you don't have the combo yet, and being able to cancel a villain activation with either card is incredibly useful, particularly in difficult scenarios. You can even cancel a scheme with Web Binding in multiplayer! Sometimes I defend the villain attack and Web Binding a minion before it activates, readying and drawing a card. Thanks to Self Control, Genius, and Ticket to the Multiverse, we have more opportunity for Web Binding than in most other Ghost-Spider decks!

• Phantom Flip is perfect for clearing Specialized Training. In solo, I'll pick Surveillance Specialist for the extra THW, but in multiplayer I'll grab Combat Specialist for the higher ceiling on the combo turn. Getting the extra draw is huge to set up the combo, but also makes our huge hand size turn even more potent! Don't forget that if you draw into Ghost Kick or Phantom Flip off a Specialist, those cards are immediately playable! You are still in the response window for using a basic power. Likewise with Web-Bracelet. There is some great sequencing with the Specialist upgrade, Web-Bracelet, and these events!

• George Stacy, the man, the myth, the legend. This absolute DILF is helping us get our pieces in play. Storing 3 Assess under him, or 2 and drawing into a 3rd, helps set up our combo turn. While setting up, he can store Get Rage-y, Not my Responsibility, and Across the Spider-Verse for big swings. Even storing Web Binding when we have Self Control coming up in the deck is huge. I love the very underrated Parental Guidance, letting us get a second use of Across the Spider-Verse in a deck pass or stacking multiple Assess in a turn (one from hand, one from discard). If you're lucky, you can set up the combo in one turn by readying him with Gwen's alter-ego action.

• Ticket to the Multiverse is such a fun card! Keep spending it and shuffling it back throughout the game, then tutor it out with Superpower Training once the combo is coming together. Try and spend your cards and use your basic power and Web-Bracelets before popping it, and when you do, don't forget that it readies Ghost-Spider herself as well!

This is so unhinged, I apologize

Across the Stacy-Verse

The Stacy Cinematic Universe is expanding!

• Across the Spider-Verse is a great card in conjunction with the 'Pool resources. Play it, exhausting Web of Life and Destiny, grabbing Spider-Man from your discard. Target yourself for the repeat, exhausting Ghost-Spider, and spend Self Confidence or Self Control counting as all 3 resources for the cost! Getting Hobie is nice for some thwart or SP//dr to get the loop going. Even though it won't trigger Otto's effect, he can off himself right away with double consequential to cycle a card and boost your ATK, which can be a niche play to accelerate the combo. Be sure to ready yourself with Spider-Man or Stick-To-Itiveness afterward!

• Spider-Man is a play from hand ally, and even though Web-Bracelet isn't as likely to be exhausted in this deck, he can ready Stick-To-Itiveness and Rock, Paper, Scissors! One of the coolest plays, is that once you have a Surveillance Specialist or Combat Specialist, Otto can ready those! This gives you another guaranteed card draw if you have another basic power. Be aware that when you draw Ghost Kick/Phantom Flip off a Specialist, you can immediately play it, ready, then play Otto for another basic power+draw!

• Spider-Man is generically useful for his 2 THW and chump block. Timing the chump so that his interrupt can ping a tough is very useful, since for some reason Laser Swords doesn't have piercing! Nice 3-cost target for the Self resources

• Spider-Man is the most crucial ally for Ghost-Spider and should pretty much be in every deck. Ticket to the Multiverse, Across the Spider-Verse, and Enhanced Physique can help get him in play and Tic-Tac-Toe should keep him there.

• SP//dr is just great spot damage and thwart that helps us draw deeper, occasionally helping her play an extra 2-cost card from her hand bounce and Web draw

• Symbiote Suit is amazing in 'Pool, where it can be played for cheap with the Self resources, resulting in less of a tempo hit. The extra stats (including REC!) all come in handy, while the hand size is part of our combo. The hit points can help us survive longer, though unfortunately the Self resources still trigger off damage taken, not total hp. So even if you're at 15/20 hp, the Self resources are still turned off.

And I know that you think it's just a FANTASY

• What is the typical ATK we can reach with this deck?

  2 Base + 1 Combat Specialist +1 Symbiote Suit + 4 Laser Swords + 1-4 Warrior of the Great Web = 9-12 ATK

• How many times can we ready with 10 ATK?

  Base + Dizzying Reflexes + Stick + Peter + Get Rage-y + Ticket = 6 readies (potentially 7 if you draw and play Otto to ready Stick, bonus for triggering Warrior of the Great Web again)

• What is the typical hand size we can reach in the end game?

  Base 5/6 + 3 Assess + 2 Live Dangerously + 1 Symbiote Suit + 0-3 more Assess = 11-15 hand size

I have hit 15 hand size against Venom. After the Ticket reshuffle I drew all 3 Assess again and 0 Ghost Kicks lol. Flipped down just to say I did it and won next turn after drawing a 15 card hand! I have not calculated the theoretical max turn damage, since there are so many variables such as what Hobie hits, if you draw into Otto after Ticketing, and if Tic-Tac-Toe is maxed; but I believe it is over 100. Of course in solo, you can win with much less and don't need the full combo! But it is fun :) I usually end solo games with around 30 damage turns, and multiplayer games with around 45 damage turns. Even if you don't hit these numbers, your 10-15 card hand next turn should wrap things up nicely!

• Now what is the theoretical max hand size in the game?

This is something I was inspired to put a little research into. Assuming our 15 hand size from before, we can add in:

• A Game of Mojo's for +1 (Fantasy!)
• Tempo for +1
• Fool's Paradise for +2
• Left to Your Fate for +2

Allowing us to hit 21 hand size!! Considering we might only have 20 cards in our deck at that point, we can draw our entire deck in a single End of Player Phase "draw up to your hand size" step. Pretty cool if you ask me. I haven't pulled it off, but let me know if you do! When going for it against Stryfe, watch out for his Forced Response that deals damage equal to the most frequent card type in your hand!

(NoteThe Sorcerer Supreme, playable in NeXt Evolution campaign only, does not work because it does not increase our hand size in alter-ego like the other options)

You're not the girl for me

• Plot Convenience who needs this when we've got an absolute ZADDY in George Stacy?

• Mulligan funny on the combo turn, but not super useful otherwise

• Get in Front of Me! still suffers from the problem that most of the cards I want to cancel are attacks and we have Web Binding. This is technically cheaper than Pirouette and Punch since you completely replace the cost with Web-Bracelet, but we are lacking good chump allies. I never cancel Ghost-Spider's Shadow of the Past either, as she has one of the easiest nemeses in the game!

• Blackout is pretty good for non-Stalwart scenarios! Kind of slow for the confuse, but the threat is a bonus. I ended up liking Not my Responsibility a little better as our flip guarantee, especially since you can cycle it with Web-Bracelet from hero form. Tic-Tac-Toe and George Stacy are more important resource dumps

• What to cut as the 41st card? That's going to be personal preference/matchup dependent! If you don't like Symbiote Suit you've still got a solid 40 here. You could probably make do with only 2 Assess, but what's the fun in that? Superpower Training probably isn't super necessary, but I do like leaving it out to tutor Ticket for whenever we draw into Live Dangerously.

Gameplay Video vs Expert On the Run + Extreme Measures + Personal Nightmare!