Endsong

Phoenix leadership is an absolute force and one of the strongest decks I’ve built and played, but my biggest issue with my From the Ashes deck was…

It wasn’t thematic.

Yes, that also plays a part in my enjoyment for the game! So, with that in mind, I present my new favorite Phoenix deck, one that has gone toe to toe with the top Expert Villains (Ronan, Magneto, VG) and not only took them down a peg, but also was super fun and thematic.

While restrained, and how Phoenix begins the game, is with a strong economy and a phenomenal base 3 thwart. This allows her to manage the board state and has the resources needed to get upgrades, supports, and allies into play. In solo, she one-shots any of the Player Side Schemes and can handle them at any player count. Utopia early on means that Phoenix can quickly thwart for 6 once she gets an ally onto the board. This will later (if you decide to Unleash) become a quick 6 damage for little effort.

With Build Support I usually try to snag either Uncanny X-Men or The X-Jet, preferring the former, personally. Forge can always get the jet when he shows up for 1 cost, or even multiple attempts with Rapid Response.

Call for Backup will depend on when you get it to the table, but you have great choices between Professor X, Beast, Cyclops, and even the aforementioned Forge.

Team-Building Exercise is essentially Phoenix's 16 hero card, but I think her 17th is Psimitar (maybe 18th thanks to Cerebro). Those who find her retrained events subpar now can enjoy the +2 damage once a turn, which will most likely pop off every single turn. When Unleashed, her above curve events get even better. Even Psychic Kicker somehow got better with Psimitar out.

The Cyke! Combos

• Pay for Cyclops with your last power counter, go unleashed, and now you have 2 power counters to play with!
• Any build can do the above. This build gets an even better one. Cyclops and Rapid Response can result in a constant positive two Power Counters. How it works is you use the 2 power counters you get when Scott enters, then you Rapid Response him back in to keep counting the counters
• You could also add Make the Call or Regroup to further using this silly combo. I would prefer Regroup over MtC as that route benefits from Uncanny X-Men.

Burn It Down

Phoenix can be a little tricky to learn, particularly when she wants to stay Retrained or Unleash. The interesting balancing act for Phoenix is that there isn't a clear cut answer for that. On average I'm usually restrained/unleashed 60/40% of the time, but it really depends on the scenario. For a low Side Scheme/Threat scenario, you can pretty much speed run to Unleash. Constant threat scenarios (like VG) may have you Restrained until you are about to burn the villain down in the final stages.

A general rule of thumb with this deck is that once you have your board built and allies are swarming the table, you can unleash the beast. Allies will still be able to manage threat in an emergency or keep the damage up.

Other notes

• Make sure to pay for any X-Men prior to using Mind Control, as you will lose out on the cost reduction from Uncanny X-Men. MC minions usually gain top priority for Psychic Kicker and chump blocking to get UXm back up and benefitting you
• Rapid Response can trigger the response from Utopia. Don't be afraid to force an ally out to consequential as it can massively benefit you with additional cards in hand, readying you or another ally