“Hit Me Baby One More Time”

Spider-Woman S.H.I.E.L.D. Sidekick Engine

This deck was created after a randomizer assignment: M.O.D.O.K. (Standard) with Personal Nightmare and Sci-Fi, pairing Spider-Woman with Black Panther (Leadership, The Wakanda Shuffle).

When I first read the assignment, I wasn’t too excited. Black Panther isn’t my favorite hero to play because he leans heavily on his upgrades… and that’s pretty much his whole thing. As for Spider-Woman—I hadn’t played her much, and I couldn’t really remember ever truly enjoying her.

But this deck completely changed how I think about Spider-Woman.

First and foremost: get Captain Marvel into play as Spider-Woman’s Sidekick. Every time Captain Marvel activates, you draw a card. Alongside that, the goal is to build out your S.H.I.E.L.D. support package and stack upgrades onto Captain Marvel.

Once the key pieces are on the table—Captain Marvel, Sidekick, Deft Focus, and two copies of Finesse—the deck can shift gears. From that point on, the focus is on playing events and supports that keep Captain Marvel alive and ready, activating her as often as possible.

Why Two Copies of Make the Call?

I can already hear you asking: Did you include two copies of Make the Call just for those few allies?

No, I did not.

The accompanying Black Panther deck provides plenty of targets for Make the Call. To get your own ally (Captain Marvel into play, this deck leans on #Suit Up or simply drawing her naturally. I would mulligan aggressively for one of those cards.

While you’re building up your Sidekick engine, try to play zero or maybe one event per turn. This keeps enough resources available to get Deft Focus into play (which has plenty of triggers with Spider-Woman’s events) as well as both copies of Finesse.

Other Cards

Command Team – Gets you an additional activation from Captain Marvel… and draws you a card.

Side-by-Side – Another activation from Captain Marvel, who now has +1 THW and +1 ATK. You draw a card and ready Spider-Woman. Alternatively, you can heal 1 damage from both characters—but then you don’t get the +1 THW and +1 ATK boost.

Homeland Intervention – A great way to use S.H.I.E.L.D. supports you might not otherwise need that turn. When you really need to remove threat, you can exhaust those S.H.I.E.L.D. cards to do exactly that—at zero cost.

Field Agent – Ensures Captain Marvel can keep activating and, therefore, keep drawing you cards. She activates often, so preventing consequential damage adds up quickly.

Sky-Destroyer – Since you’re already playing S.H.I.E.L.D. cards, this provides consistent extra damage. If you get this into play, I highly recommend playing Agent 13 as well.

Surveillance Team – Comes with Monica Chang. I usually only play the support if I have the resources to spare; otherwise, I prefer playing Monica Chang and getting a “free” copy of Surveillance Team.

Team Training – Gives all your allies +1 hit point. That extra health often translates into another activation for Captain Marvel.

The Raft – Lock those minions away! It’s also a useful S.H.I.E.L.D. card to exhaust for additional value.

Clarity of Purpose – Another resource generator to help get everything into play and keep your events flowing.

Under Surveillance – Helps you control the pace of the game and buy yourself more time.

Pairing with Black Panther Leadership (Or others leadership hero with the right cards)

This deck is designed to pair with a Black Panther deck (The Wakanda Shuffle).

That deck includes an additional copy of Team Training. If Black Panther gets it into play before Spider-Woman does, that’s perfect—and Spider-Woman can always return the favor later.

It also runs a copy of Mighty Avengers, which is ideally played on Spider-Woman’s side of the table. Just keep in mind that all allies in play need to have the Avenger trait to benefit from it. If you plan to keep non-Avenger allies around for multiple turns, they should receive an Honorary Avenger upgrade—which conveniently also comes in the Black Panther deck.

Finally, the Black Panther deck includes a copy of Power Gloves, which is fantastic on Captain Marvel. Every time she activates, it deals 1 damage to an enemy—adding even more value to her frequent activations.

Thanks for checking out the deck, and feel free to share your experiences or suggestions—I’d love to keep tuning it together with the community.