The Inside Job

Nebula has returned to her villainous ways! ...Or so she would have you think.

This daughter of Thanos is using her stellar street cred to go deep undercover and undermine the villain's schemes and networks from within. This deck is designed to be played entirely in alter-ego, save for a spectacular last turn.

Anyone going deep undercover needs a solid plan to survive. So let's go over ours.

Nebula's Mission Nebula will spend most of the game in alter-ego, but she'll be close to the villain, keeping them Under Surveillance. She can directly sabotage the villain's plans once she's disguised her intentions and fully gained their trust. These two cards buy you a lot of time in a deck that needs to stall, so I recommend using your mulligan for at least one of them.

From there, it's all about using Nebula's fantastic AE card draw to play big upgrades and safely set up future turns. Her Cybernetic Upgrades let you see more cards each turn you play one of her signature technique upgrades, helping you fish for big impactful cards like Avengers Mansion or a key ally. While Nebula's technique won't immediately affect the board, you'll want to play them. In addition to the card draw, they also thin your deck and give you target's for Gamora's ability, which triggers even in AE. They will also set up your end game.

This deck has three side schemes to help you get set and to provide consistent targets for Chance Encounter. Speaking of which, that brings us to our allies.

The Crew Nebula will need some outside help if she's going to succeed in her mission. This deck has 12 allies, but they really fall into a few different pots.

• The Accelerators: Nick Fury, Manifold, and Agent Coulson are Nebula's key points of contact with the rest of the team, giving her key resources when she needs them. Coulson is especially valuable for his ability to recur Counterintelligence and Informant.
• The Flexible Fixers: Gamora, Grant Ward, and Daredevil have flexible stats allowing them to put out multiple fires at once. Ward's experience as a double agent makes him an asset and a threat, but at least we don't need to worry about his inability to block.
• The Distractions: Give the villain something flashy or migraine-inducing to look at so they have less time to worry about what we're doing. Eros, Dazzler, and the Professor should fill the roles nicely.
• The Muscle: We'll need brawn working in tandem with brains to hold the villain's forces at bay Hawkeye, Quasar, and Sentry will help with that. Sentry can help us fish for a villain side scheme, giving us more targets for Chance Encounter. If that fizzle's, Coulson can help us with a tutored Counterintelligence to reduce threat added to the main scheme. I almost cut Quasar, but his ability to thwart every scheme upon entering play is valuable in a deck with multiple PSS.

10 of our 12 allies have at least 2 THW (and Quasar gets extra threat removal as he comes in), 7 of them at least 2 ATK (with Hawkeye having some extra damage). We'll be supplementing their basic abilities with Command Center and The Raft to provide extra damage, threat removal, and minion control. Together, they should give us a solid early and mid-game as we continue to build out.

Springing the Trap This deck has a total of 23 support, upgrade, and player side scheme cards. On paper, that's a lot of build-up. In practice, 8 of those are card draw-generating technique upgrades, 1 PSS gets a key support in play, and 3 other upgrades lead to allies on the board. This deck gets lean quickly. Once everything is on the board, you can start fishing for Lethal Intent to play the final turn. Use Lay the Trap to push the villain to their final phase and then use one or more Lethal Intents to throw big damage on the villain. Evasive Maneuvering lets Nebula ignore guard and Cutthroat Ambition gives her piercing, meaning Lethal Intent Weapons Master will can target the villain regardless of the board state. One Lethal Intent can deal 8 damage for 3 ER, with another 8 coming on the following turn. 2 Lethal Intents bump that to 16 for 6 ER (very doable with this setup), with 8 more damage coming the following turn, plus your hero and ally activation. With the right allies in play, 30+ damage is very doable within one full turn of you flipping up to hero.

Stay close to the villain, gain their trust, and build up your strength while undermining them. Choose the right moment and you can bring their whole operation down in a single, sudden, blow. Good luck!

I hope you enjoy this sneaky and thematic deck!