Magik Protectors

Magik Protectors

I designed this deck to defend the table in multiplayer and I plan to take it to the MC/DC Con. It did well in two-handed solo but I haven't tested it at higher player counts. The deck takes its name from Mutant Protectors.

The deck mostly uses the 1-cost events (costing 0 off the top of the deck), allowing me to either become the defender or mitigate damage for everyone. Almost everything I've added has an icon for a couple reasons:

• Nightcrawler likes that resource!
• Having an icon on top of the deck makes Magic Barrier and Mystical Armor better!
• That said, you get great value playing those events off the top of your deck for free, but think about what you have in hand too, rather than getting stuck in an "I HAVE to play the one off the top of the deck" mindset (I.E. with Preemptive Strike on top () and Mystical Armor in play, play the Magic Barrier from hand rather than the Preemptive from the top).

Using your allies wisely...

Utopia only cares about X-MEN entering play (rather than being played), so you could get a ready off of Mutant Protectors. Sometimes I'll ready an ally which actually survived an attack, because:

• they had a Tough, OR
• I cancelled the boost icons with Northstar, OR
• I played Subdue - which isn't a DEFENSE card, so it doesn't make you the defender - allowing the ally to defend!

The allies:

• Armor can defend twice because of her tough
• Colossus can too, but he does it better because he basically has a better version of Mutant Protectors printed on his card
• Forge tutors Utopia or X-Mansion on his way in and takes a hit to the face.
• Whether or not Gambit hits a "big" card when he enters play, you'll know how many boost icons are on the top of the encounter deck.
• Iceman can slow incoming minions down long enough for someone to take care of then, and he can contribute to their demise a couple times too before defending.
• Jocasta is my only non-X-MEN ally, for obvious reasons. She can thwart for two and THEN defend for someone (get her out of play quickly because she "turns off" Utopia's ally limit increase).
• Nightcrawler - even when put into play with Mutant Protectors - can Defend and when he would take damage you spend an and return him to your hand and negate the damage.
• Northstar is Preemptive Strike on legs. The single copy of Protective Training is for him, and he'll also get healing from Med Team.
• Polaris is interesting because she has two "modes":
  • If I play her I'll give Magik the tough.
  • If I put her into play with Mutant Protectors she'll get the tough instead and stick around to defend again, hopefully after making a couple attacks.
• Triage will heal Northstar unless I'm in dire need of healing.

There are 8 cards in the deck which cost 3, and 7 of them are allies. Try to play these from the top of the deck so they only cost 2, or put them into play with Mutant Protectors.

X-Men Instruction

X-Men Instruction fits nicely in this deck because it has an resource and gets the allies back into your deck. But if things are going well, you'll rarely need to flip down to alter-ego to recover. Magik has a good-enough alter-ego Interrupt to make it worth flipping down though.

Of course it pairs nicely with X-Mansion too, but you don't have to have that in play to get value out of the flip down. On that subject, it's really important to keep Northstar alive, so use Mansion to heal 1 from him on the way down, and 1 more before flipping up!

50 CARDS?!

It was hard to get this one pared down to 40 because everything has a purpose, and I still have cards I'd like to include:

• Riposte
• Energy Barrier
• Energy Shield
• Cell Phone

Once you get The Sorcerer Supreme in play you're drawing 6 every turn, so it'll be alright! More than half of the cards in the deck are events anyway, so there's not a whole lot of setup.

I want to get the following down on the first deck pass:

• All four Supports
• Mystical Armor
• The Sorcerer Supreme

The only one that's vital is The Sorcerer Supreme imo