Rocket Marvel: Burning Out Her Fuse Up Here Alone

Suit up, avengers!

The Guardians have called for aid, and the avengers are ready to answer. Now that Justice has been injected with a healthy dose of avengers allies, it's time for Carol to show everyone in the cosmos just who the strongest avenger is.

This is primarily a strong solo deck that can perform in multiplayer with a few modifications, but the THW potential is a bit low to carry a full team. However, her attacking power is extremely high for a justice build, which is why it performs so well at lower player counts.

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Meet the Team

All of the members of our 6-person crew have the avengers trait and are tasked with a 5-turn mission to explore the galaxy and defend earth from the universe' most dangerous threats. Carol Danvers, the Commander of this flight, brings some great tools on this mission, including great card draw and sustained healing. Many of the cards here are used to allow her to flip repeatedly and burn through her deck as quickly as possible, finding her most powerful cards as quickly as possible and finally throwing giant tactical nukes at the villain.

Each member of the rest of the crew bring something meaningful to the table. Normally, 2-cost allies like Quake and Wiccan are sacrificial lambs, usually activating once and jumping in front of attacks, but these are two great powerhouses for your plans. Quake can synergise well with repeated swaps to Alter-Ego and fueling Earth's Mightiest Heroes, while Wiccan can pump out some decent (albeit inconsistent) damage with this thwarting. Spider-Woman's 3 cost may seem steep, but remember she's just one Energy Absorption away from confusing the villain and allowing Carol another swap to Alter-ego. Speed and War Machine may also look expensive at 4, but they bring a lot of value: the former able to THW and be a battery for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and the latter being the perfect battery on the turn he enters play, since you won't want to throw that tough away on a simple activation.

The Tools

Every rocket ship needs fuel, and Carol runs a tight ship. Energy Absorption, Energy Genius, Strength, and The Power of Justice all provide some wonderful burst economy to push yourself out to the far reaches of space. Alpha Flight Station, Avengers Mansion, Quincarrier, and Skilled Investigator provide refueling opportunities to go even further than before. What's more, the wonderful burst economy can help pay for your sustained economy without having an eventful turn. The Avengers Mansion is chosen to help dig through your deck more quickly and really supercharge all the drawing Carol is doing. Quincarrier is chosen over Helicarrier for a few reasons: since it generates a , it can be a for Concussive Blow, a for For Justice!, or can be dumped into Energy Channel if you don't end up needing the resource for anything else that turn.

Additionally, with 25 resources, this deck can build for impactful turns with full-charged Energy Channels and sustained flight times with repeated Rechannels and cheaper Photonic Blasts.

Daily Duties

The priority of play is getting Heroic Intuition on Carol so that she can start thwarting for 3 with every activation. This is an important number for solo especially, since many side schemes begin play with 3 threat on them (although her own nemesis set does begin with 4 in solo play). Thankfully, her allies can THW to pick up the slack, both Quake and Wiccan thwarting for 1, and Speed, Spider-Woman, and War Machine thwarting for 2; Speed can even thwart for 4(!) if you really need the extra push. To help supplement this along with offering more , For Justice! can burst for 3-4 thwart. Defeating side schemes can help Carol advance her own plan with Skilled Investigator. And lastly, there is Crisis Interdiction, but this will primarily be used to power other abilities with its . Rounding out threat management is Concussive Blow, but that's mainly for our next duty: rest and relaxation.

Long space flights require that crew members focus on their mental and physical health, taking repeated breaks for rest and relaxation or team building. Repeated flips to alter-ego allow the crew to join Carol on these excursions, like eating together in the mess hall, or Commanding combat exercises at Alpha Flight Station. One flip to alter-ego can often provide up to 4 additional cards, and thankfully Quincarrier and Energy Channel can be used while in alter-ego. Spider-Woman and Concussive Blow can confuse the villain, so everyone can enjoy their leisure time uninterrupted. Additionally, any troublesome minions can be whittled away by Quake.

Once all the fires have been put out and citizens saved, you can start to shoot back. Carol has a few wonderful options. First of all, her own 2 ATK is solid, as well as War Machine's Ranged missiles that allow him to avoid retaliate. Although the remaining allies can't deal as much damage (or at least consistently), they can help her in other ways: first, they can forgo their own action so that Carol can take another with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Additionally, they could bring a scheme down to a low enough level that Carol can thwart the rest with her own THW or an event and play Turn the Tide, dealing 3 damage to an enemy for a cost of 0. If perhaps you are already on top of threat or can't quite pull everything from a scheme, it can be used for Photonic Blast, punching for 5 and drawing a card if you spend any . Or, perhaps it can be fuel for Energy Channel. On your turns, when you have spent the rest of your resources, dump any excess into Energy Channel and build up for some satisfying turns to help close out the game.

Modifications

Even in single player, there are a few ways to modify where you want to go with this deck. For example, For Justice! was chosen for its and burst thwart potential. Clear the Area is a wonderful alternative, drawing you a card if you can clear the last bit of threat from a scheme and still able to trigger Turn the Tide. Additionally, a Galactic Beat Cop or two can help you with some sustained threat management and completely delete a troublesome minion in the late game.

In multiplayer, you should shift more to a role of dealing with more threat and putting less of a priority on damage. Don't skip out on Energy Channel though; it's still extremely great, and it's something can simply build towards after you've handled everything else. But for multiplayer, try some of the following changes:

There are a few cards that are less useful in multiplayer. For example, you can often remove Concussive Blow completely or at least run fewer copies. It's possible that someone else may want Quincarrier, or other heroes are going to confuse as well. Since Concussive Blow is an attack, it's less useful, even though confusion is a powerful ability. Additionally, since we're shifting tactics away from confusion of the enemy, you shouldn't swap as often to alter-ego. Thankfully Carol has many tools for sustained time in hero form with Rechannel and Cosmic Flight. Turn the Tide is less useful if you have a dedicated damage-dealer, so you can remove it completely or simply go down to 2 copies.

On the other hand, there are a few cards that are more powerful in multiplayer. One example is Skilled Investigator, which can be given to other players. Spider-Man is also a strong ally in even 2 player games, but especially in 3-4. Additionally, you should try to run more thwarting events, especially Crisis Averted to help keep the main scheme under control, Clear the Area to help draw more cards as well, or Multitasking to replace your own Crisis Interdiction. After doing this, a single Sense of Justice might prove invaluable for the additional resources as well as the it generates.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed crafting this deck, and I hope that you enjoy playing it. So get out there and fight evil where you may find it. The biggest threats in the galaxy won't know what hit them.