November 04, 2008

Lightning Strikes Twice

As promised, here's the listing for my SHIELD Ultimates deck. I'll post up the cards first and then address how it's supposed to work.

Lightning Strikes Twice

Characters:
3x MUN-094 Hank Pym <> Yellowjacket (1)
4X MUN-051 Beetle <> Mach (2)
3x MUL-019 Clint Barton <> Hawkeye (2)
4x MUL-020 Nick Fury (3)
2x MUN-064 Radioactive Man (3)
4x MUN-062 Lady Deathstrike (4)
1x MUL-005 Natasha Romanoff <> Black Widow (4)
1x MUL-030 Jean Grey (4)
4x MUL-008 Iron-Man (5)
1x MUN-118 Wonder Man (5)
1x MUL-029 Cyclops (5)
2x MUL-004 Captain America (6)
1x MUN-084 Ares (6)
4x MUN-101 Mar-Vell <> Captain Marvel (6)
1x MUN-096 Iron Man (7)
2x MUN-088 Carol Danvers <> Ms. Marvel (7)
1x MUL-018 Thor (7)
1x MUL-007 Hulk (8)
Total = 40

Locations:
2x MUL-006 Subterranea
2x MUN-127 Stark Armory
1x MUL-021 The Triskelion
Total = 5

Equipment:
1x MUN-121 Hulkbuster Armor
1x MAV-035 Mjolnir
3x MUN-120 Extremis Upgrade
Total = 5

Plot Twists:
2x MUN-137 You're Under Arrest
2x MUN-134 Scarlet Spiders
2x DCL-262 Heroic Effort
4x MUN-314 Losing the Argument
4x MUL-017 Liberation Day
Total = 14

It seems like recently 66 cards has been the magic number of cards in the decks I've been building. With this deck having a few extra cards isn't actually a bad thing, since we're trying to remove around half of them by turn 7. The idea is to get Nick Fury, Jean Grey and Iron Man out by turn 5. If I can hit an Extremis Upgrade as well I'm likely able to keep all two of my characters going into turn 6. Being a burn strategy Mar-vell is my 6-drop of choice, and Thor my turn 7.

If I have the initiative I'm hoping to have at least 1 copy of Lady Deathstrike. Recruit Thor, activate to burn, sub in Deathstrike for Iron Man, bounce to ready Thor. Burn then ready him by subbing Deathstrike in for Mar-Vell. Leave him ready, and possibly equip him with Mjolnir and attack with him once. If it comes to turn 8, Hulk is a lot of fun to drop on the board. I've had him gain an extra +15/+15 in one game!

The deck is really character heavy. I'm very likely going to pull out the 1-drop Yellowjackets. I have never been able to recruit him, and he's not Ultimates so I can't search for him or use him to pay for Liberation Day. Hawkeye is there more as a plot twist, so that's fine. Radioactive Man almost never sees play because I want to get Nick in to start removing cards. Maybe Mr. Fantastic would be a better option. I might also need to swap the ratio of 4s around but I only have 2 copies of Jean. And lastly...only having 1 copy of The Triskelion is a huge gamble. If I end up removing it or a character card from the game, I can put myself into serious trouble.

It's certainly not a perfect deck, but it's been fun to play so far. I'm going to keep it as is until I can play it in a tourney and then see if my initial criticisms should be acted on.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's a really good idea substitute Lady Deathstrike and use her to ready Thor. I've always liked her ability but there was much better 4 drop options... but with substitute... OUCH!

Obsidian3D said...

Only once have I been able to ready Thor more than one time. But...it was actually three that game. Burn twice for something like 60 endurance, and then attack with him once for that final demoralizing shot to the nuts.