The Devil Is in the Details

Matt Murdock spends his days building cases.

Daredevil spends his nights closing them.

And this deck wants to do both. Constantly.

It's a tempo/control Justice deck built around confuse, a touch of stun, and plenty of side-scheme shenanigans. Daredevil's Senses already make him an exceptionally well-rounded hero, giving him reliable access to threat removal, damage, and utility, so Justice doesn't need to patch any glaring weakness. Instead, we can focus on what makes him particularly interesting: constantly moving between Hero and Alter-Ego, extracting value from both sides of his identity while using side schemes as fuel for the engine.

So rather than treating Alter-Ego as somewhere we reluctantly go to heal, Daredevil's own kit already gives us more than enough reason to spend time as Matt. Between Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Sister Maggie, and Nelson and Murdock, Alter-Ego becomes an active part of our game plan. Combined with Daredevil's Alter-Ego thwarting tools, they let Matt keep cleaning schemes while confusing the villain.

That confuse is what makes the whole loop possible. It gives us the breathing room to safely flip back down, extract more value from Matt's side of the identity, and then return as Daredevil to deal with the next problem.

Testing & Update

Before getting into the deck in more detail, a quick note on testing: this list has beaten Expert Klaw (1/1), the full Fear No Evil Expert campaign, Expert Ronan (2/2), and Expert Magneto (1/1). Obviously, that doesn't prove the deck is optimized, but it has performed consistently against several demanding encounters and different kinds of pressure.

Update

After more games, I ended up cutting Ghost Rider. He makes sense if you want to push the deck harder toward a dedicated confuse-lock strategy, but in this more balanced version I rarely felt he was doing enough for the cost.

I replaced him with Stick, which has been much more useful in practice. The flexible stat boost helps with exact side-scheme clears, Stealth Training triggers, extra damage, or even an emergency defense.

With Ghost Rider gone, Lay the Trap was already the weakest player side scheme in the list and has we have more than enough side schemes, it was an easy cut. But in some cases the dmg is still relevant. I would rather replace it with Heroic Conditioning—or Endurance if you don't have it. The extra health helps daredevil a lot, has he has very good REC with Maggie.

If you want to keep tuning the list, the best additions I've tested after those are Sonic Rifle, Mockingbird, and the third basic double resource.

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Two Sides of the Same Man

The fundamental game plan is simple:

You should be looking for opportunities to flip almost every round.

Once build up, Daredevil gets so much value from both sides of his identity that staying permanently in Hero form means leaving part of his kit unused.

The trick, of course, is making Alter-Ego safe.

That's where the control package comes in.

The new ally Blindspot is a fantastic addition for this playstyle that actually made me build around it. To support him and make confusion more consistent we also have Ghost Rider and Upside the Head as well as Nelson and Murdock . Under Surveillance also helps a lot with flipping on solo (is one of the most broken cards in my opinion). Another great addition would be Sonic Rifle, but I wanted to give a try to Ghost Rider.

Against most villains, you can establish a very comfortable rhythm and consistent flipping thanks to all these cards.

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I Smell a Side Scheme

Side schemes aren't a problem.

They're opportunities.

Ideally, Daredevil's Senses should be helping you clear roughly one side scheme per round . That turns all the little incentives we've packed around defeating schemes into a steady stream of value.

One Way or Another is excellent for this strategy, especially because Daredevil really appreciates the card draw his own kit is somewhat lacking. That said, I prefer running only two copies. In some encounters it can whiff or simply have poor targets, and with six player side schemes plus Daredevil's recurring one, Focus the Senses, we usually don't need it just to enable our "defeat a side scheme" payoffs. Most of the time, we'll already have a better side scheme of our own to play and exploit.

Of course we have Skilled Investigator as common staple on justice rewarding us with one card after cleaning a side scheme. Again, reinforcement on daredevil's economy and lack of drawing.

Then Stealth Training is a very good new addition which also inspired the deck, as it allows us to stun an enemy (yes, the villain as well), when thwarting and exactly defeating a side scheme. Daredevil's kit already as a lot of thwarting being you the actor so you can trigger it very reliably. In addition, If you run Stick it is way easier.

And finally there is Chance Encounter.

This card can technically miss if there is no side scheme in play, but in practice we have enough of them (althogether with the encounter deck) that there are plenty of opportunities to plant it somewhere. Think of it less as a normal upgrade and more as additional virtual copies of whichever ally matters most right now:

• You do not have Blindspot and can pay for it? Find Blindspot.
• Got a double in hand and Blindspot is already on the table or you need a defense ally? Find Nick Fury and draw 3 cards.
• Need side schemes? Go get Manifold.
• Not a lot of resources and need a cheap ally? Ironheart for the rescue.
• Same but the villain is confused? You might prefer to bring Cypher.

But well, you have many different scenarios where some of those allies will always come in hand. Specially Ironheart is always great (or Nick if you can afford it).

For the Player Side Schemes I generally recommend the following:

Build Support will usually fetch Helicarrier, which will have a use every turn (we can always use it for senses) and it is our most expensive support. If not, Foggy and Maggie are very good options as well an not as cheap as the others.

Superpower Training usually grabs The Man Without Fear. It isn't quite as absurd on Daredevil as it is on some other heroes with a 3 cost, but that's fine. It is cheap, feeds our side-scheme game plan, has an Energy resource for Ghost Rider, and can always fetch one of Daredevil's Billy Club instead. It is never dead. You can always use the action on the Clubs, use it as a resource and bring it back after cleaning the scheme.

Specialized Training is fantastic on Daredevil because you can simply grab whichever upgrade the encounter calls for. Combat Specialist is usually my favorite to help close the game, while Surveillance Specialist is great for lining up odd-threat side schemes and triggering Stealth Training. Front Line Specialist is also useful against heavy-hitting villains; I rarely recommend the defense option.

Show of Empathy turns a minion into a temporary ally that can activate and eventually block for us. You don't even need to remove all 6 threat if defeating the attached minion clears the scheme instead. This may miss Stealth Training, but Daredevil's Senses still trigger because the side scheme was defeated, making it another very efficient way to cash in on our side-scheme engine.

Lay the Trap the lest relevant of the side schemes (you can remove it if you want) but helps with more dmg to the villain and has a energy resource for Ghost Rider.

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Trust Your Senses

A huge part of Daredevil's gameplay revolves around his Sense deck, and you should be looking to use it every single turn. Learning which Sense to play, where to attach it, and in what order to trigger them is probably the most important part of piloting him well.

My rough priority is:

Enhanced Olfaction → Acute Tactility → Superior Taste → Radar Sense → Heightened Hearing

Enhanced Olfaction and Acute Tactility are the real workhorses. If you have a side scheme you can clear with a single basic activation, attaching one of these first is almost always worth it: you get the Sense effect, defeat the scheme, and immediately keep the Sense engine moving.

Superior Taste is my preferred tool for side schemes, while Radar Sense usually goes on minions. If you need Radar Sense out just to keep cycling the rest of the deck, don't be afraid to put it on the villain—you can always cash it in with an attack later.

Heightened Hearing, on the other hand, is often worth leaving on the villain for as long as possible. That keeps it available while you repeatedly cycle the Senses you care about most, particularly Olfaction and Tactility.

The sequencing matters a lot. Remember that Senses trigger not only when you remove the last threat yourself, but whenever the attached side scheme is defeated, regardless of how that happens. Effects such as Show of Empathy can therefore trigger them without actually thwarting the scheme down to zero.

And don't forget that Senses work in both Hero and Alter-Ego. For example, Acute Tactility can ready Matt after using Deposition, allowing you to immediately use his basic REC afterward.

Once you start thinking of every side scheme and enemy as a place to park, trigger, and recycle your Senses, Daredevil's turns become much more fluid—and much stronger.

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...Hit Like Daredevil

One reason we can invest so heavily into control is that Daredevil simply doesn't need much help elsewhere.

Only with his senses deck, his identity kit provides an excellent mixture of:

• threat removal,
• damage,
• sustain,
• card/resource efficiency,
• and burst.

That's what I like most about him. There isn't an obvious hole that Justice desperately needs to patch. Instead, Justice gets to make the things Daredevil already wants to do safer and more consistent building.

So don't feel pressured to race the villain early. Establish the board, manage threat, build your economy and let the damage accumulate naturally.

Once Daredevil is set up, he can suddenly hit with a high burst with all of his readies, a villain with 4 senses attached attacked by a Cross-Examination and specially a Raising Hell + aerial from Daredevil's Billy Club. Only the latter deals 12 dmg for 3ER and the former 7 dmg for 2ER ( not counting the +3 from Radar Sense). Sum that to all your basic attacks (at least twice if not more with sense readies and The Man Without Fear) hitting for 4 with billy club and Combat Specialist on the table. That is 23 dmg only with Raising Hell in hand.

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In, Out, Block

The ally package follows a very simple philosophy:

I like allies that arrive, immediately do something useful, activate once, and then defend.

Nick Fury and Ironheart are here because they're simply excellent at that job. They generate immediate value without requiring us to build around them, which is exactly what this deck wants.

Blindspot is so strong with daredevil. Practically is the aggression Psylocke ally but with the potential of getting 3 confuses. And you do not need to hit the villain, only thwart (which we really want to do to clear side schemes). Attach Heightened Hearing to the villain and enjoy the confuse per turn.

Manifold is for me the last "core" ally in the deck. It helps so much to find the suited side scheme if we do not have one, thwart for 2 and then defend for 4 ER. It does more than efficiency, as is probable that we might have a hand with a lot of side schemes and we can't play them all (and should not). Manifold can bring them back, and we could do this several times with Chance Encounter.

Finally, both Cypher and Ghost Rider are the less important additions. The former is a cheap ally that in this deck functions in many cases as a second ironheart (draw, +1 att or thw and def) or could even draw to cards (if we do not need to defend). Solid, but nothing we really need and situational with the confuses. Ghost Rider can really bring the confuse lock into play but after palying with him seems a little bit more expensive than other options (like sonic rifle). However, it also have that extra +2 dmg and can block and attack if needed (I always like to have 6- 7 allies on the deck).

What About Elektra?

Interestingly, Elektra isn't really important in this deck.

I suspect dedicated Voltron builds will make much better use of her.

That doesn't mean she's bad here. Far from it.

Daredevil has enough sustain that in certain matchups you can keep Elektra around for a very long time, and she will happily accumulate value while you control the game. But don't distort your entire game plan trying to preserve her.She is a great value tool but not the engine of the deck.

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Building the Devil

A few cards haven't really fit into the sections above, so this is the place for some final deckbuilding notes: economy, consistency, cards that didn't quite make the cut, and possible substitutions.

Economy

Daredevil's Enhanced Olfaction smooths resources more than it might seem at first, but he isn't exactly swimming in card draw or resource generation. That's why I consider Helicarrier and Deft Focus almost automatic inclusions.

Both can help pay for Daredevil's Senses, so you will virtually always have a use for them. Helicarrier usually comes from Build Support, while Deft Focus is cheap enough that I simply play it whenever I see it.

I also prefer The Power of Justice over the third basic double resource. We don't have that many expensive Basic cards, while several important Justice cards can still benefit from it—most notably Blindspot.

Once Helicarrier and Deft Focus are down, the deck's economy is actually very comfortable. The genuinely expensive plays are mostly Nick Fury, Blindspot, and occasionally Manifold, so I rarely miss the extra basic double.

Consistency

The deck does have one small weakness: several important upgrades are only single copies:

• Deft Focus
• Skilled Investigator
• Under Surveillance
• Stealth Training

Normally I'm not a huge fan of relying on one-of upgrades, but here it has worked surprisingly well. They're cheap enough that you can usually play them immediately when drawn, while our player side schemes and Karen's recursion help us find or recycle many of the other pieces we care about.

Still, if you value consistency over the heavier control package, I could absolutely see running two copies of some of these upgrades and trimming a few confuse cards.

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Mulligan & Early Game

Your first turns should generally be about building the machine while cleaning a side scheme.

Look aggressively for permanent economy and cards that generate recurring value.

Broadly, I value:

Helicarrier / Build Support Deft Focus The Man Without Fear / Superpower Training Stealth Training Skilled Investigator

The exact priority obviously depends on your opening hand and scenario.

Don't force every setup piece onto the table immediately, either. Daredevil is functional before his board is complete thanks to it's sense deck. If the encounter starts applying pressure, deal with the board first and benefit from his readies. Also the priority of which upgrades to play first really depend on the ecounter and villain. In some cases, Karen is better, other Foggy others Maggie etc Nelson is important but not so much as the others I mentioned. You have enough ways of confusing that are easier to trigger. But if you have a fully alter ego hand (nelson, foggy or deposition and a side scheme) you could think about staying in alter ego a whole turn.

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Steady & Stalwart

There is one obvious caveat. This deck likes status effects.

Against Steady, the plan becomes less efficient because each stun/confuse requires additional investment.

Against Stalwart, a substantial part of the control package simply stops functioning.

Daredevil himself is strong and well-rounded enough that the deck can still play the game, but these are absolutely the matchups where I would modify the list.

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Make It Your Own

Daredevil's kit is so consistent that Justice has an enormous number of viable cards you can substitute without breaking the deck.

Some particularly easy additions are:

Turn the Tide — more damage. Clear the Area — efficient thwarting and card draw. Making an Entrance — threat removal plus sustain. Overwatch — excellent when leaning harder into side schemes. Sonic Rifle ---- Excelent on demand confusion Professor X — extremely strong for the Alter-Ego plan. Mockingbird — another fantastic tempo ally. Dazzler — very similar to Ghost Rider but with immediate impact instead of multiple confuses for more resources. Hawkeye --- Amazing ally for dealing with minions Sentry ---- Great value ally with a downside we can easily handle Stick --- Flexible stat boost on Daredevil Float Like a Butterfly --- Extra dmg on confused enemies. Can add up to some serious amounts!

If you do change for more basic cards I would suggest swapping * The Powe of Justice** for another double resource.

And if you find yourself wanting a little more durability, Heroic Conditioning or Endurance are never a bad inclusions.

With so many upgrades leaving the deck once played, going to 41-44 cards isn't something I'd be particularly worried about.

The nice thing about Daredevil is that the core engine doesn't need much help. Most of these choices aren't fixing the deck—they're simply deciding which part of an already well-rounded hero you want to push a little further.

I deliberately left out Face the Past

Daredevil's nemesis set is nasty enough that I don't particularly feel like inviting it over for dinner.

But if that kind of thing brings you joy, who am I to stop you? A ready and 3 card draw is fantastic for him