Groot Justice - Ronan Killer

Inspired from "The Best of Growth Worlds", these are the tweaks I had to make to finally beat Ronan. It took me four tries, but I tweaked things every time. I think I'd have better luck with the deck as it is now.

Two main issues I ran into:

1. I could basically never afford to switch to alter ego, which is crucial to success with Justice Groot. You get 4 (to 6 if you have fertile ground) growth counters, 1 (to 3 if you have fertile ground) extra cards, and the opportunity to recover over 2 turns of switching back and forth. When I couldn't switch I just wasn't effective enough and my health would slowly trickle down.

2. Getting the power stone back in Scheme 2. Groot has 6 cards for this (Vine Spikes, 2x I. AM. GROOT!, 3x Root Stomp) and you absolutely need them at the right time or you need more options. My first 3 games, I never had them at the right time. You also have to protect your growth counters for I. AM. GROOT! to be of any use.

Key changes from the inspired deck:

• Concussive Blow is a game changer. The confuse is the key to switching to alter ego and solve problem 1. The 3 damage kicker can solve problem 2 if Kree Combat Armor isn't up (though it often is). Could definitely see upping this to 3x. NOTE: absolutely take Wing It earlier in the campaign if you can as another source of confuse, I did not and took Grapple. Both are very worth it though and also good at clearing tough.
• Turn the tide is another potential 3 damage attack to possibly take the stone, and just another source of damage in general which I found was needed.
• Avenger's Mansion is highly preferred over Helicarrier (though take Helicarrier if you need to), you need to cycle cards. Maybe I got unlucky but I just couldn't get out what I needed quick enough (Fertile Ground/Vine Spikes/milano upgrades were often near the end). Having the Mansion out got me what I needed much quicker. Better card cycling = more consistency = higher win rate.

Removals from inspired deck were (sadly) Rocket/Flora and Fauna. I found it too inconsistent for Ronan. The minions are much higher health so overkill isn't really useful and Rocket feels out of place. Flora and Fauna isn't enough to be worth playing him when he'll probably die quickly even if you put him out. Sense of Justice also didn't make the cut because it doesn't work on attack events.