To Infinity, and Beyond!

Sam Wilson is HERE to boldly go... wait, that's a different reference. Second star to the right? Wait, hold on, I have this. Let me check my notes, right: He's a child's playth- wait wait, hold on, don't gooo...

The Deck

This deck is all about encounter deck manipulation and requires a bit of forward thinking and sequencing. You can get some really satisfying turns out of him if you manage to prepare and plan accordingly. One thing to keep in mind is that Falcon's cards count all kinds of icons in a card's boost area, the boost icon triskelions and the star boost reminders.

The Squad

Almost every ally here has some form of encounter deck manipulation to get the most out of Falcon's kit. Aerial cards can trigger his Eagle-Eyed hero ability to discard the top card

• Banshee: Aerial. helps confuse vulnerable minions. Great for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; also aerial. Really important.
• Captain Britain: Aerial too! Also thwarts and attacks for THREE. takes only 1 consequential when hitting minions or side schemes. He's great.
• Cosmo: Resets the top card of the encounter deck and takes no consequential when doing so. Such a good boy.
• Gambit: stack the deck to get those sweet 3 boost cards or just get rid of something you really don't want to see. He gets a lot of value here.
• Melinda May: Similar to Cosmo; a little more expensive, twice as much power, and you can use her without having to discard anything. Like two sides of an encounter-deck-discarding coin. If they make those.
• Nick Fury: Lets. Draw. Some. Cards! Do you need another reason?
• Redwing: The goodest boy. Don't underestimate that Hero Action ability of his with Falcon's Flock, but more on that later.
• Wiccan: Gone are the days of thwarting for 1 and dealing 0 damage. With Falcon's hero ability to constantly see the top of the encounter deck, you can hit those 3s all day long.

Bird's-Eye View

See, the puns write themselves around here. Sam's events benefit from hitting the top card of the deck with the largest boosts possible: Bird of Prey and Bird's-Eye View do more thwarting or damage with higher boost cards on top of the deck.

However, Up, Up, and Away is a double-edged sword that can draw you extra cards by taking a larger boost card. This is always worth it though because you generally take less damage throughout the game with your other encounter manipulation, and once you have the Soup Kitchen out, healing is no problem at all.

In addition, Infiltration lets you thwart for up to 5 if you need it at the low low cost of maybe hitting a minion. if you just want to discard the top card, it's 2 resources to thwart for 1 and spin the wheel for something better, knowing you won't get a minion. Or maybe you can see the minion on top isn't so bad, so go all in. One Way or Another is another great card that accelerates your game plan by drawing you cards, but also shuffling the encounter deck if you don't like what's on top. And getting a side scheme? That's not a penalty. Face the Past also lets you draw cards and manipulate the encounter deck. Sam's nemesis minion, Viper has quickstrike and discards the top 5 cards of the encounter deck, so the turn you play Face the Past lets you draw 3 cards, ready, and reset the top card of the encounter deck.

Schemes on Schemes

Classic Build Support. Even if you have played all your supports, Falcon's Flock gets used up eventually, and thwarting for 3 isn't so bad to getting it back out. In general though, go for Soup Kitchen or Quincarrier though.

Money, Money, Money!

Basic standard doubles are here, but also:

• Falcon's Flock: costs 3 resources for 5; that's a great return on investment. Generates an for an aerial card (one per card, so you can't go dumping all your counters), but there are 13 other aerial cards in the deck, and ol' Redwing is great for a rapidfire combo turn.
• Quincarrier: Old Reliable. Just does what it says on the tin or your money back.
• Soup Kitchen: What a great card. Requires Sam to exhaust, but hey, you're good for it right? Between Face the Past, Justice Served, Draw Their Fire, and Talon Line, he's got plenty of turns where he can leave himself up to get the most out of it. Wiccan for 0 sounds pretty good. Nick Fury for 2? Banshee for ONE with Team-Building Exercise? Seriously flip often and use this card as much as possible. Take a lot of damage undefended and just heal it up doing extra shifts at the kitchen.
• Team-Building Exercise: Remember that you can't use more than one on the same card, but there are so many cards you can use this on: there's 4 Aerial and/or Avengers allies (4), 6 Aerial events (10), 1 Aerial support (11), 1 Avengers support (12), and 4 Aerial upgrades (16); what's more, 2 of his upgrades discard themselves to get used, so there are so many targets. You will definitely get to use both on most of your turns. If you're finding it's a little too much, try another The Power in All of Us.

Falling With Style

Four Aerial upgrades:

• Aerial Evacuation: Great for setting up a huge turn with Soup Kitchen, allowing you to heal and play your next ally/support cheaper. Also a preparation.
• Aerial Recon: Quite situational, but you generally get to know which card you'll have to deal with, and it lets you spin the wheel to get a better card on top to discard. Save it for a rainy day to buy yourself a turn when you really need it, but mostly isn't a priority.
• Battlefield Awareness: Great card. I love basic thwarting, attacking, or defending for FIVE. Also doesn't go away like most of his others.
• Draw Their Fire: Man, what a baller card. Why isn't this a Protection card? Maybe I'll make a Protection deck around it, but for now, it says 'take no damage from pretty much anything for the rest of the turn and still be ready next turn; just don't draw Exhaustion). Also a preparation.
• Justice Served: ready after thwarting the last threat from a scheme. Won't come up that often, but great when you need it. There's only one copy, but save it for that turn you need to defend or just do a liiiiiittle more damage to something, clear a side scheme with Bird's-Eye View or Infiltration, flip to Alter-Ego, and go put in some work at the Soup Kitchen.
• Practiced Plan: Get back Aerial Evacuation! Or Battlefield Awareness! Only one copy cos it doesn't came up that often, but it's a great card to get more uses out of these great preparations you have.
• Skilled Investigator: Defeat schemes, draw cards, it's the Justice way of things.
• Talon Line: Oh what a great card. Stun a bunch of enemies. Readies a bunch of friendlies. Do a bit of both! The sky's the limit. Sadly it discards, but it's such a great card. Think of it like a one-time event that you can save until just the right moment.
• Vibranium Microwave: Weirdest microwave I've ever seen. Must have gotten it from a Wakandan Soup Kitchen. Puts in a lot of work though.

Ol' Redwing Boogaloo

Redwing is one of the best allies in the game, and you're probably wondering why. Imagine if you will, in the theatre of your mind, the following scenario:

Falcon starts his turn in Alter-Ego, is ready, has a Soup Kitchen and his Flock in play, a Quincarrier fueling up in the hangar, and a couple Team-Building Exercises just queued up and ready to go. He has 6 cards in hand, none of them are Redwing. Welp, that's it, maybe next turOHWAIT. Birds of a Feather? I can discard ANY CARD from my hand to get a single birb, any one I want, from my deck OR discard pile? Yeah, let's do that. Then hit up the Soup Kitchen to reduce his cost by 2.

Play Redwing, and you could attack or thwart for a measly 1 OR simply return him to your hand to discard the top card of the encounter deck for 2 or even 3 instead. Then play him again, using a counter from the Flock and Quincarrier, Team-Building Exercise or any of the other 5 cards in your hand. Don't have a good card on top? Discard it with Cosmo or Melinda May; they don't care about how many boost cards are on that card. Still not hitting anything good? Give it a shuffle with One Way or Another or discard deeper into the deck with Infiltration.

It's quite easy to get 10 or 15 in a single turn of just Redwing activations in which you can split it up as you will between thwarting or damage that gets passed Patrol, Guard, Stun, etc.

Special thanks to SC0E for helping me to see the light on the glory that is Redwing.