"X-men, Welcome to Protect"

Magneto is my favorite character in Marvel and one of my favorite characters in fiction. As soon as he was formally announced, and we got a glimpse at his kit, I began theory crafting. I was checking out leaks and trying to figure out the best options for him. He's one of those characters that has such a strong, and kind of insular, kit that he can work a ton of different ways. This deck started as a joke between a friend and I about Magneto using tech cards by bunching them up into tiny balls and slinging them around, but the more I played with it, the more dominating it became.

Early Strategy

This deck has one main goal to start out, and that's getting Magneto's cape into play. Magneto's hero ability makes this easy already, but we have added in Superpower Training for a little added effort here. Once that card is out, Magneto builds up his armory of metal...I mean tech that he can throw at enemies and allow him to ready through Repurpose. Electrostatic Armor, Energy Barrier, and Forcefield Generator all add to his durability while in place, especially with Magnetic Bubble as an option, as well. But that's not what those cards are here for. They're here to give Magneto +1, +2, and +3 to one of his powers and become fodder to help him ready. Speaking of...

Are You Ready?

With Magneto's Cape in play, Magneto can ready every turn. Thanks to Repurpose and Ever Vigilant, he has 6 more options to help him ready. Combine with Repurpose and Magneto's Armor, Magneto can regularly thwart or attack for 4-6 up to three times around.

Resource Options

Magneto has an effective handsize of 6 with his hero ability. He also has two double resources built into his kit. The basic double resource cards often feel like overkill and also often get cycled through with his hero ability. Digging Deep gives us a little insurance on missing extra energy.

Alternative Options

Magneto would obviously benefit from the cards that every X-men character would benefit from. Professor X, Angel, Colossus all make good allies. Truthfully, Professor X works better than Rogue in shoring up Magneto's weaknesses, but I couldn't resist throwing Rogue in there. Stepford Cuckoos can help him deal with the extra encounter cards as well. I'd honestly consider dropping a copy of Digging Deep to make room for other options. Magneto rarely has resource issues.

Summary

This deck does a little bit of everything and can do it multiple times a round. Magneto's kit let's him control the board while building out his arsenal to make room for the big swings. The added defensive options also mean you can choose when to flip down to AE to recover his cards instead of feeling forced to as often. Go live your best life. Hurl a Forcefield Generator at a Sentinel and feel alive.