Shadowcat - Surprise, Surprise

"Next!" ~Shadowcat

Player Count/Type : 1-4p / Johnny/Spike
Power Level: Med
Complexity: Med
Key Cards: Shadowcat Surprise, Surprise Attack, Surprise Move

"Surprisingly, this high tempo deck comes out swinging with consistent damage, threat control, and a solid defense" ~D.M. Tip

Full of Surprises

To no one's surprise, Shadowcat is amazing in Protection, but I believe there are other aspects worth exploring too. Outside of Protection, she still has a solid personal defense against the villain if she can end her turn in Phased. All you need are some additional sources of readying and attacking, so she should be right at home in Aggression.

What also makes Shadowcat interesting is her ability to ignore key words, like guard, patrol, and crisis. Don't sleep on Acute Control and Intangible Interference. The cost curve in this deck is pretty low, so you can more easily afford to play these down, ideally using Deft Focus.

Spoiling the Surprise

We're packing 12 sources of readying and 8 attack events

1. Kitty's kit comes baked in with 3x Shadowcat Surprise, which give you both of what we're looking for outside of the Protection aspect. These can easily clear many minions as well as provide the flexibility to basic attack or thwart as needed.
2. Surprise Attack is the core beatstick of this deck and lets you easily flip right back to phased form, if you need, and efficiently uses Solid's generated resource.
3. Surprise Move is slightly more difficult to trigger, but is immensely helpful in providing a damage boost and ready when used. We've brought along 2x Caught in the Crossfire, 1x Marked, and 3x Gatekeeper to help with this. The more surprises, the better.
4. Spoiling for a Fight is a key card to ready us with no resource cost, which means we can always attack to get back to phased to avoid that big villain attack. Our included minion upgrades and multiple sources of damage mean the minion won't be too much trouble for long. It also provides a good target for other teammates in multiplayer, especially if their strategy involves hunting minions.
5. Ready to Rumble is a solid 1-cost ready that is almost always worth playing, especially if you've boosted your attack with Combat Training and Aggressive Conditioning. This is great to have in your back pocket to get you out of a Solid jam.
6. Phase Strike is not always needed for its kicker, so feel free to use it to flip to Phased in a pinch. It's nice utility to have and is decent damage once you get your resource generators online.

The Build Phase

In most games you'll want at least one or two resource generators, like Deft Focus and Martial Prowess. For multiplayer games, I'd prioritize at least one of either The X-Jet or Helicarrier on top of that. Either way, you'll want one or two early on to make the most out of your hand each turn. This is more important for Shadowcat than other heroes, because you can typically stay in hero form forever, without the need to flip to AE. You need to make the most out of your 5-card hand each turn.

Whenever you get Combat Training and Aggressive Conditioning, they'll synergize with all of your readies. However, these are less important in solo or in games where you'll need to be pitching in on thwarting with your basic action sometimes.

Strategy: Kitty's Basics

Here are a few basics to consider when playing Shadowcat.

• Remember that Solid is not a Forced Response, only a Response. This means that you can attack (or thwart) to your heart's content as long as your last attack of the turn triggers your optional form switch to Phased.
• While Phased, you do have a Forced Response when you defend or attack. You want to be Phased when the villain attacks you so that you can defend it and take zero damage. When you do this, you'll flip back to Solid.
• Protection Kitty wants to get back to Phased multiple times in the villain phase to defend for the table. You're not worried about that here. If the villain attacks you a second time, such as from a treachery, you're likely Solid and exhausted, so you'll just take the hit, or use one of your two allies to block the attack. In Multiplayer, there's usually plenty of allies and other players that could take the hit for you, if you get too low.
• Consider your options when using Surprise Attack. You can trigger this in the villain phase after basic defending the villain's attack, but you could also wait until your turn to do it. In multiplayer, it might make sense to defeat a minion engaged with you or another player before it can strike. Otherwise, you could hold it until your turn on the player phase, because you might need to use it against a minion if you are Spoiling for a Fight or need the extra damage to retire a Gatekeeper.
• Don't forget about Quick Shift. It's probably even better in Aggression than Protection. It's a net positive resource gain, gives you an opening to use Surprise Attack in the villain phase, and lets you defend without exhausting. This means an extra attack with the guarantee of getting back to Phased the following turn.

I was pleasantly surprised with how smooth this deck played. Maybe I was just getting lucky in my games, but I believe the low cost curve makes a huge difference. It also kicks off very quickly because the core concept of using Kitty's basic defense to stay alive is online from turn one. You can build out your board with upgrades, but can still get a lot done before they are out.

If you're looking for a Protection alternative for Kitty, I hope you give this deck a try. If so, let me know how it goes! Until next time...

~Peace!