Cable the Diplomat (10+ damage AND 10+ thwart consistently)

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Cable the Diplomat (10+ damage AND 10+ thwart consistently) 0 0 0 1.0

KCC · 164

I run an online store for Marvel Champions singles and sealed products. Check it out at kingdomcomecards.com


Gunboat Diplomacy is the most potential value of a card that I have yet seen from the game (Feel free to prove me wrong in the comments!). Of course, it needs several other things set up before you can fully capitalize on that value, but I don't think it is that hard to set it up, especially not in this deck. And the pay off is incredible.

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THE FULL SET UP

Gambit with a 3-boost icon card beneath him and Mission Training attached. Cable with Technovirus Purge in the victory display, Heroic Intuition attached, and Surveillance Specialist in play through Specialized Training.

Now Gunboat Diplomacy, by exhausting each of these souped-up studs, is dealing 9 damage and removing 9 threat, both of which are FROM AMONG enemies/schemes in play for 2 effective resources. You can divvy up all of it however you need to!

If you can't get Gambit specifically, the other X-Men allies work in the process. Mission Training makes all of them 3 THW machines.

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10+ DAMAGE AND 10+ THWART CONSISTENTLY?

  • With 2 allies in play and all your upgrades/supports/side schemes in play or in the victory display, you now have a deck of 20 cards. 5 cards per turn + Skilled Investigator + Surveillance Specialist + 2 One Way or Another + potentially 2 more from Cerebro = 2 turns to go through the deck. You will consistently be playing Gunboat Diplomacy every turn. With 30 cards still in the deck, you would still likely be playing gunboat every other turn.
  • Even if you don't have everything set up and that Gunboat Diplomacy does only 5 thwart and damage (which is pretty easy to get to with 1 ally and 1 THW buff), Cable will probably ready to do 4-5 more thwart and Plasma Rifle will do 4 damage. That is 10 damage and 10 thwart, and you may still have 4-8 cards in hand to do a lot more with if Gunboat Diplomacy was the first card you played!

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MULLIGAN PRIORITIES

1) Heroic Intuition / Specialized Training / Technovirus Purge - Remember, Cable's Soldier X ability can grab one of these side scheme at the beginning of the game. If you already get one of these 3 in your opening hand, Cable will very likely have 4 thwart by turn 2.

2) For Justice! / Mind Scan - these make it easy to knock out Technovirus Purge or Specialized Training (in solo) on turn 1.

3) An X-Men ally / Mission Training - Getting these out early will get Gunboat Diplomacy online. As soon as it is, you will easily be able to build your board and deal with the scenario. With that being the case, if you draw one of the cards in Priority #1 in your opening hand, it's not a bad play to choose Call for Backup as your side scheme to start in play.

10 comments

Oct 20, 2024 MitchMarvel · 21

Gunboat Diplomacy is great and Cable is a great hero to play it with.

Oct 20, 2024 andyr · 7942

I love the idea of Cable with Gunboat and his love of getting side schemes. Can’t wait to play this. Also, thank you for the store! It’s nice to know if I ever miss a card or want another, I have somewhere I can go!

Oct 20, 2024 Slowen · 25

Hi!, Awesome deck. Did you think in add another X-Force to have more options to use Gunboat Diplomacy? I think it could be a good option to do while you are mounting all your upgrades to do the "10 + 10" combo. I was thinking in Pete Wisdom. It is 3 THW and he will stay alive many tunrs.

Oct 20, 2024 KCC · 164

I did consider it, and Pete Wisdom is a great choice for that, but I ended up deciding that since you ready Cable after defeating a side scheme that it was better to just go in for the X-Men allies. Mission Training only attaches to them anyways. I will have to try it a few times with Pete Wisdom though and see! Thanks for the suggestion!

Oct 23, 2024 Dayspring · 9

You built a VERY similar deck to this for me on a custom Cable Justice order! I had coincidentally been work shopping my own Gunboat deck, so timing was perfect. Anyways, Saw this deck after I posted mine. I still have not tried Mission Training, but it does seem like a perfect fit for gunboat. Wondering why you didn't use Bishop? Especially if you are going to be putting a training on an ally, you plan for them to stick around for a while. Might as well rack up some big hits for later.

Oct 23, 2024 KCC · 164

@Dayspring Indeed I did! Good to hear from you! As I was building the deck on the site I had Bishop selected and in the deck, then I took him out for Marvel Girl. Looking back I think you are right to leave him in. I think my decision was made based off of The Power of the Mind (which was in the original versions of the build) and Cerebro. Since I took The Power of the Mind out for the consistent double resources, I should have put Bishop back in over Marvel Girl.

Oct 23, 2024 Dayspring · 9

@KCC, Truthfully, I ditched Bishop too. With cards like Cerebro, Professor, and Professor X i find myself switching to AE often. This slowed down Bishop's token gain and made me not like him. I also got stuffed twice on a Gambit with 0 and 1 from boost.

My preferred version right now leans into Psionic allies and tutoring Professor X back to the table. I do like Marvel Girl's ability. On those turns you just didn't manage to get a gunboat, it is at least functional. Knocking her cost down with The Power of the Mind is a great bonus.

Oct 23, 2024 KCC · 164

@Dayspring Thanks for the insights. I look forward to trying these different options. I like the idea of leaning into Professor X. I honestly didn't think much about using him for gunboat since he doesn't stick around long enough to make attaching Mission Training to him, but since he already has 3 threat that's definitely good enough!

Nov 06, 2024 esarsanedas · 1

@KCC, While you haven't cleaned all secondary plans... what do you think about Jessica Jones ? It is also very interesting to play Live Dangerously at the beginning of the game in multiplayer.

Nov 06, 2024 KCC · 164

@esarsanedas I like the idea of Jessica Jones, but I think you would need to build more particularly around her rather than seeing her as a secondary plan. Her THW can get higher than Gambit's, but you would need Honorary X-Men or X-Force Recruit, and Honorary X-Men would have to be played by a different player. If you use X-Force Recruit, then you still cannot attach Mission Training to Jessica Jones, nor can she team up with Cable when using Gunboat Diplomacy, which is really what maximizes the card. She is definitely a cool idea, but a lot of things have to change or you have to be playing multiplayer.

Live Dangerously does seem like fun to start the game. It is important to note that it would not increase your opening hand because set up effects happen after you finish the draw and mulligan steps. You would need to keep it around for a turn to get anything out of it. Having everyone at the table draw 2 extra cards at the end of their first couple turns does sound awesome for multiplayer, but it also makes the first couple villain phases crazy too. It's a toss up in my mind, just depending on how much chaos the table likes to play with.