Valkyrie - Annabelle Airlines

This updated version preserves the spirit of the original deck while incorporating several years of card releases and deckbuilding experience. The result is a deck that focuses on establishing a powerful support engine around Annabelle Riggs while allowing Valkyrie to do what she does best—hunt minions, generate resources through Chooser of the Slain, and strike enemies down with Dragonfang and Have at Thee!.

Core Strategy

The deck revolves around transforming Annabelle Riggs from a simple support ally into the centerpiece of a value-generating engine.

The ideal setup includes:

Annabelle Riggs Sky Cycle Honorary Avenger Inspired Sidearm Reinforced Suit Command Team

Each piece contributes to increasing Annabelle's effectiveness and longevity. Sky Cycle allows additional activations. Command Team provides even more readying. Inspired improves her statistics, while Reinforced Suit and Sidearm help keep her alive long enough to generate value throughout the game.

Every time Annabelle activates, she helps dig through the deck looking for the cards Valkyrie needs most. The result is a hero that finds Dragonfang faster, assembles her upgrades earlier, and reaches her peak power level much more consistently.

Valkyrie's Role

Unlike many Leadership decks where the allies become the primary source of damage, Valkyrie remains the star of the show.

The ally package exists to:

Provide consistent thwarting Generate card advantage Control the board Buy time while Valkyrie assembles her kit

Once Dragonfang and Death-Glow are established, Valkyrie transitions into the primary damage dealer. Chooser of the Slain rewards her for defeating minions, allowing her to generate additional resources and maintain tempo throughout the game.

The allies handle the problems. Valkyrie handles the killing.

Leadership Package

Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Captain Marvel, Kaluu, and Falcon all contribute immediate value when they enter play. Combined with Make the Call and Valhalla, many of these allies can be recycled repeatedly over the course of a game.

Stinger provides a low-cost body that does not consume an ally slot, helping maintain board presence while preserving room for Annabelle and other key allies.

Cosmo offers additional card advantage when used carefully and rewards familiarity with the deck.

Command Team serves as one of the most important cards in the deck. While it can be used on any ally, it is most effective when dedicated to Annabelle. Multiple activations per round dramatically increase the speed at which the deck can find critical upgrades and events.

Strength In Numbers

One of the biggest upgrades over the original deck is the inclusion of Strength In Numbers.

As the board develops, Valkyrie frequently finds herself with multiple allies in play. Strength In Numbers converts those allies into a burst of card draw, helping the deck cycle quickly and locate important combo pieces.

While the deck is not a traditional ally swarm strategy, it generates enough board presence to make Strength In Numbers consistently valuable.

Playing the Deck Early Game

Focus on economy and setup.

Priority cards include:

Annabelle Riggs Sky Cycle Command Team Helicarrier Avengers Mansion

Do not worry about dealing large amounts of damage immediately. The early game should be spent establishing the infrastructure that will allow Valkyrie to dominate later turns.

Mid Game

Once Annabelle's engine is online, begin leveraging repeated activations and ally recursion.

Use Make the Call aggressively on Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and Captain Marvel. These allies provide immediate value and help maintain momentum.

Continue building Valkyrie's board while controlling threat through allies.

Late Game

By this stage, Valkyrie should have Dragonfang online and multiple upgrades in play.

Death-Glow and Chooser of the Slain become increasingly powerful as minions enter play. Resource generation from defeated minions helps fuel Valkyrie's expensive turns while allies continue handling threat and support duties.

At this point the deck shifts from setup mode into a relentless value engine capable of drawing cards, generating resources, controlling threat, and dealing substantial damage simultaneously.

Relationship to the Original Aerial Annabelle Deck

This deck is best viewed as a modernization rather than a redesign.

The original Aerial Annabelle deck sought to maximize Annabelle Riggs through Sky Cycle and ready effects. That philosophy remains unchanged. The deck still wins by creating an engine around Annabelle and allowing Valkyrie to benefit from the resulting card advantage.

What has changed is the efficiency of the surrounding package. Stronger Leadership allies, better ally upgrades, and cards like Strength In Numbers provide more value than many of the options available when Valkyrie was originally released.

In many ways, this deck represents what Aerial Annabelle might look like if it had been designed using the current Marvel Champions card pool while remaining faithful to the original vision.

Annabelle is still the engine.

Valkyrie is still the weapon.