Negasonic Teenage Warhead

If you happen to be facing a villain with a lot of treachery cards, like Thanos—-this ally can potentially shut down a villain’s entire encounter phase for 1 turn(assuming you drew 2 treachery cards and took 2 damage to Negasonic both times). It’s not a forced interrupt so it lets you choose how much treachery you’re willing to tolerate. That extra encounter card is not worth it though if you’re not setup first, but then again at 4 cost you wouldn’t be playing her otherwise.

You can avoid chump blocking with her since playing the Pool’ aspect means you’re going to have access to health regeneration and then can ready with the upgrade Sticktoitivness. Just defend, heal the 2 damage(assuming you take any if you have a hero with a naturally high defense), ready up and then you’re good to go. It’s an interesting pseudo-protection strategy.

Side Note: In fact, I had great success implementing it with heroes who have access to the aerial keyword, like Thor. With the player side-scheme Superpower Specialization and Soaring Acrobatics you can get +2 basic defense without ever having to “go green” which is pretty amazing actually. Imagine running Limitless Stamina(x3), in a deck with +2 defense and an upgrade that also lets you ready. At that point you’ll never have to flip down and just be punishing the competition then after turn.

lightninlad · 11
Mutant Protectors

Can you resolve bamf after resolving this card? If not why not? According to 1.6 can this card even resolve itself?

From 1.6 Defense:

• • A hero can use their basic defense power to defend against an enemy attack. A hero must exhaust to use this power. The amount of damage dealt by the attack is reduced by the hero’s DEF value, and any remaining damage is dealt to that hero. While a hero is defending against an attack, other friendly characters cannot defend against that attack.

When a card ability says to “declare [a hero] the defender” of an attack, that hero is considered to be making a basic defense.

• • An ally can exhaust to defend against an enemy attack. Damage from the attack is dealt to that ally. While an ally is defending against an attack, other friendly characters cannot defend against that attack.

When a card ability says to “declare [an ally] the defender” of an attack, that ally becomes the defender of the attack.

When a player initiates a triggered ability labeled as a defense—such as “Hero Interrupt (defense)”— during an enemy attack, that player’s identity becomes the defender and is considered to have defended the attack if there is not already a defender.

The player’s identity is considered to be the defender as soon as the defense-labeled ability begins resolving. Abilities that trigger “when your hero defends against an attack” can be triggered when resolving a defense-labeled ability.


Based on the above Either declaring a defender overrides the rule that no other friendly may defend against an attack that is already defended or this card cannot resolve itself - as soon as it is played the Hero should become the defender per 1.6 then the ally cannot defend against the attack.

dcjoker · 1
If declaring overrides the rule that no other friendly character may defend against an already defended attack the. You should be able to bamf after resolving this card. — dcjoker · 1
Surprise Move

I can see this being extremely useful against villains like Thanos, who will always have the Infinity Gauntlet attached(or any villain with a permanent attachment). It might work best with the Honed Technique Upgrade since that card requires 2 intellect resources in order to even play it. The fact that Surprise Move stacks the intellect resources in your deck is good synergy.

lightninlad · 11
I could be wrong, but I don't think villain attachments count as upgrades — erikw1984 · 8
Ever Vigilant

I've so far used this in a Doctor Strange deck and am quite liking it. Once you have Cloak of Levitation in play you can cast 3+ spells in a single round, which feels amazing (especially when you manage to pop off Crimson Bands of Cyttorak twice). The added threat removal is the cherry on top.

But ... both threat removal and readying isn't really an issue with Doctor Strange and the cost of 2 could be invested into something else. So far it stays in the deck, but I can see myself swapping it in the future.

Magnetic Bubble

I love this card so much. I think it is really fricking good, though I realise I have emotional bias, and if I was to give a more level headed opinion, I would say the card is average. It costs 3 (which is a lot) so it is pricy. What it will do on average however is negate two attacks and deal 1 damage through retaliate. From what I understand, the damage that bursts the bubble will not trigger the retaliate. Paying 3 to negate 2 villian attacks and retaliate 1 is honestly pretty decent value in my opinion, it’s just that, it’s harder to appreciate when you think about what other 3 costing cards can do – dealing big damage for example, is going to be more recognisably good, than Magnetic Bubble.

Another interesting thing to note about Magnetic Bubble is that it prevents any amount of damage, and the nature of the damage does not matter, nor does it matter which form Magneto is in. Depending on the situation, these factors could be significant.

Magnetic Bubble pairs well with the Protection Aspect with cards like Dauntless, Desperate Defence, Come Get Me Bub, to basically defend multiple attacks while keeping Magnetic Bubble intact for the entire game. Interesting to note that Magnetic Bubble synergises excellently with Dauntless to help keep your HP at max, and it also synergises with Desperate Defence and other cards that gain benefits from taking 0 damage while defending.

I actually like Magnetic Bubble with the Aggression Aspect however with cards like Toe to Toe to force enemies into attacking and taking the retaliate damage. With Magnetic Bubble active, Toe to Toe becomes a 1 cost Attack which effectively deals 6 damage, if you include the retaliate from Magnetic Bubble; which will also negate the damage from the enemy attack, and therefore also bypass any pesky on damage effects those enemies may have. That is tremendous value. The great thing about Toe to Toe is that it allows you to systematically calculate the damage Magnetic Bubble will be taking (unless used against the villain), so depending on what enemies are in play, you should hopefully be able to take multiple hits with Magnetic Bubble before it bursts.

If my knowledge is correct, Magnetic Bubble can pair well with Weapon X. You must put the 1 damage from Weapon X onto Magnetic Bubble if it is active, but this can help you do the mathematics of getting maximum value out of the bubble. If the bubble has already sustained 5 damage, then breaking the bubble has no drawback, as the Retaliate effect would not have triggered anyway, though you lose the ability to soak a potential big hit, but that is your prerogative to assess the pros and cons depending on the situation you are in.

To summarise, I think Magnetic Bubble is a very good card that Magneto players should focus on making great use of.

Drakow · 10
It works with Weapon X because it doesn't actually prevent the damage - it just moves where the damage gets placed, so the cost isn't canceled. However, it doesn't synergize with Desperate Defence and similar cards for the same reason. It doesn't prevent the damage, just moves it. Another synergy for the bubble is Forcefield Generator, which DOES prevent damage and can be used to prolong the bubble and how much value you get out of its Retaliate. — Death by Chocolate · 4
Thanks for the clarification, super helpful. — Drakow · 10