Black Panther - Retaliate Forever

Black Panther is a very versatile hero, and can successfully play every aspect but I think his best aspect is Protection. Why, you ask? While his stats are even across the board and his economy cards allow him to play any Aspect well, his Retaliate ability encourages him to take hits and his lack of any Alter Ego ability means you want to stay in hero mode for a long as possible. Protection provides the healing and enables multiple Defend actions which, combined with Retaliate, is why I think Protection Aspect is the best build for Black Panther in the Core Set.

By defending twice, you get the equivalent of a free attack (2 damage). That means Defending for another player and taking an attack yourself. Taking more attacks in a given turn just gives you further efficiency. Lets go through the cards.

Healing package: This deck is about staying in Hero mode and taking as many attacks as possible.

Vibranium Suit should be your starting upgrade and you should play it as your first action. This means each Wakanda Forever! is healing 2 damage = 10 health

3 x First Aid = 6 health

3 x Med Team = 18 health

That's 34 health for every pass through your deck. Sometimes that won't be enough, and so when you see Ancestral Knowledge, you can switch to Alter-Ego, restore and use The Golden City during the next two turns.

Defense package: Beyond the health you'll be healing, there is the damage you prevent.

Armored Vest help prevent damage and give you an easily replaceable upgrade to discard should an villain card require it.

Indomitable will let you defend twice in a turn which is the equivalent of an attack.

Luke Cage can take two Villain attacks (one with toughness and one with 1 health) while dealing 8 damage. That is great value.

Black Widow and Shuri can both eat Villain attacks once they are down to 1 health if necessary.

Mockingbird get you a stun and can defend a villain attack once they is down to 1 HP.

Economy Package: Black Panther has great signature economy with Vibranium and should be the designated remover of Villain upgrades if Spider-Man isn't on the team. This is a pretty low cost build (exactly half the deck is 0 or 1 cost) so I didn't bother with The Power of Protection since it only targets 5 cards in the deck. I also included only 1 copy of Avengers Mansion and Helicarrier since they are nice to have but not really needed for the deck to function.

Threat Management: Since you plan to be in Hero mode and defend teammates the majority of the time, threat will build up much more slowly than if Black Panther were using another aspect. Defending is probably going to be underrated, but every turn you end in Alter-Ego mode, you are accelerating the Villain's win condition.

You win the game by being in hero mode and dealing damage. This build focuses on that through lots of healing, defense and retaliation.