Spectrum - She's green, but she's always ready!

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Spectrum - She's green, but she's always ready!(my version) 2 2 0 5.0
Spectrum -Green Energy- 2 2 0 1.0
Spectrum - ¡siempre preparada!/ Protección 0 0 0 1.0
Spectrum - ¡siempre preparada!/ Protección 0 0 0 2.0
Spectrum - ¡siempre preparada!/ Protección 0 0 0 3.0
Spectrum - ¡siempre preparada!/ Protección 1 1 0 4.0
Spectrum - ¡siempre preparada!/ Protección 0 0 0 5.0

InigoMontoya · 4063

When I build decks, I try to think of the character's natural strengths. Then, I build a deck to compliment what they already do well. So, where does Spectrum excel?

Spectrum's Wide Array of Strengths


1. -- She has relatively high hit points (11). Which makes her a solid fit for Protection.

2. -- Her Energy Forms make sure that one of her stats is always 3.

3. -- She's the only character who has the Aerial Trait right out of the deck. No need to spend resources. It's just there.

4. -- She can change Energy Forms as many times as her cards allow, and has 13 cards to do so.


Build Concept


So, number 3 and 4 on that list landed me on a Protection deck. Why? First, Ever Vigilant is an amazing card. Since she already is Aerial, this card works as soon as it comes up.

Second, there are 9 cards in Protection to use to ready Spectrum. Desperate Defense, Ever Vigilant and Leading Blow can all lead to a readied Spectrum in the right scenario. When combined with Ready to Rumble and Pulsar Shield, you have 14 cards that can ready.

Third, even though it's Protection, you have a high amount of thwarting. Ever Vigilant, True Grit, Photon Speed all provide good scheme reduction. Plus, there's 2 allies (Brother Voodoo and Blue Marvel) with 2 thwarting, and a third ally (Starhawk) that can be brought back into your hand.


Setup


Not much at all. You're gonna want Armored Vest and Deft Focus quickly, but they're not necessary to get this deck rolling.

Similarly, Energy Duplication and Quincarrier will help you get out more and more events, but you can still do major damage/defense/thwarting without them.


Deck use


You want to change forms as much as the cards allow. You'll also want to ready just as much. Your Gamma Blast, Photon Speed and Pulsar Shield are priority. The beauty here is that like Gamora, Spectrum is versatile. She'll be able to thwart, attack and defend sometimes all in the same round. The damage, healing and thwarting from changing forms really adds up.

I would advise ending in Pulsar form more often than not. But Armored Vest makes it so you'll still defend for a good amount even without it. Don't forget about Perseverance, it's pretty much a guaranteed tough status card whenever it comes up.


Alternate cards


For tougher, harder hitting villains like Ronan, Thanos, Loki and Hela, it might be smart to switch out Leading Blow and True Grit, with 2 Defensive Stance, 2 Expert Defense and 1 Energy Barrier.

Defensive Training is used to bring back Desperate Defense, Ever Vigilant and Perseverance into your deck. That should give this deck even more survivability.


Conclusion

Spectrum is a powerful, versatile and fun hero. She makes Protection fun. This deck doesn't feel the normal letdown after the villain turn. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

22 comments

Sep 22, 2021 josseroo · 470

Tried a game with this deck against Thanos and struggled to make use of Leading Blow. Thoughts on making use of this card or replacing it against encounter decks with lots of boost icons?

Sep 22, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@josseroo Thank you for playing the deck! Yeah, for villians like Thanos or Ronan with lots of boost icons, you may get very limited use out of Leading Blow. I think replacing it with Indomitable and 2 of Expert Defense, Counter-Punch or Never Back Down would work.

Were you able to win? If you had trouble keeping your hit points up, maybe useExpert Defense would work. If it was for lack of damage, then maybe Counter-Punch. If you saw opportunities to stun, then Never Back Down.

Sep 22, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

If you do add Expert Defense or Never Back Down in place of Leading Blow, the deck might be at the point where you'd take no damage a high enough % of the time to make Unflappable useful.

Sep 22, 2021 adsarf · 321

My first experiments with Spectrum were with a green deck, using Ever Vigilant. I found that I very often got stuck in the wrong energy form because although you have plenty of cards that let you change, only 4 of them let you change into the form you want (and one of those is quite expensive). I found the same issue with Ready to Rumble - the 'after you change form' timing window depends on having the right cards in hand to pull off.

Glad you found a way to do this deck better than I did!

Sep 22, 2021 josseroo · 470

@InigoMontoya I did not win. Because Thanos hits so hard, relying on hero defense doesn't seem reliable enough, even with enhanced stats and defensive events. That being said, I didn't find any of my resource generating upgrades in the early game.

Sep 22, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@josseroo That sucks. Solo Protection is such a tough play.

I might switch out the 3 Leading Blow for The Night Nurse, Preservation and Energy Barrier.

Those would help you get some hit points back without sacrificing a lot of card value.

Sep 22, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@adsarfBy the form you want, do you mean Pulsar? I would say I'm more inclined to use whatever form is there. If you're in Gamma, and can ready, do that 6 damage total, If you're in, Photon, and can ready, remove 6 threat if you can. Take what the cards give you.

Switch forms as often as you can to heal/thwart/damage. I didn't really intend this deck to never flip to alter ego, but more one that minimizes flipping to AE, and can keep threat down if you do. :)

Sep 23, 2021 dr00 · 38765

except for leading blow, this is very close to what i've been trying out of green with spectrum. she's such a great versatile hero though, and i love her in green. for me, i tend to avoid Pulsar as much and instead rely on defense events, energy barrier, and tough from Perseverance. i pretty much only play Pulsar Shield if i also have another event in hand to let me change forms so i can actually use that ready i got out of it

Sep 23, 2021 Daringhour7 · 65

Nice deck! After trying her leadership pre-con once, I immediately went green because her 3 DEF and ability to profit from using cards that I hadn’t used much until now (namely Ever Vigilant and Perseverance). I found myself slotting in Expert Defense x3 for those times that I had to go for that big THW or ATK. I play mostly two-handed and seem to always have a Protection hero as one of the two. With the current card pool, I really enjoy the versatility of the Protection aspect over the other aspects. As much as I’ve been enjoying Spectrum, I still prefer the simplicity of an event-based Spider-Man deck centered on Nerves of Steel and Unflappable. As an aside, I built a Justice deck for Spectrum and she just THW’d too hard…there was just nothing left to THW anymore.

Sep 23, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@dr00 Thanks for commenting and check out this deck! Your write-ups are always top-notch!

I think I may edit this deck to take out Leading Blow, and add in Expert Defense and an Energy Barrier. With the idea of trying to stay on Gamma and Photon for the most part, and using Armored Vest, Allies, and the defense events to stay alive.

Sep 23, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@Daringhour7 Thanks for checking out the deck!

I really like Protection. I do gravitate towards the high defense, Unflappable, Nova, Dauntless make the villain punch himself in the face decks. But with this I was trying to see if Spectrum could just start crushing things right out of the gate. Without the set-up those decks need.

I also wanted to side step the Side Step/Subdue damage avoidance decks. I like decks that allow me to use my hero power more than once.

You're so right. Protection is now so versatile. There are so many ways to play it.

Sep 23, 2021 Daringhour7 · 65

Too bad Blue Marvel doesn’t have text that said “Exhaust Blue Marvel, change energy forms.” But then Spectrum would be Dr. Strange-level strong. At least she is aerial from the start without any upgrade needed, that’s a really big boon.

I think Deft Focus is an auto-include for her (11 superpower targets in her kit). I also put Down Time in any of her builds to stay in hero longer.

Sep 29, 2021 wehehe · 129

I like the ideas in this deck, but the inclusion of True Grit intrigues me.

How are you using it? If you are in Pulsar form it is just a 1 THW card, and when you are in Photon... it does not seem worth to exhaust your hero to defend for 1 DEF... I am missing something? Are they really better than Hard to Ignore ?

Sep 29, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@wehehe Thanks for checking it out.

I use it in conjunction with Photon, Armored Vest, and either Desperate Defense or Never Back Down. In those scenarios, you'd defend for 4, thwart for 3, and either be readied again or stunned the villain (if you take no damage).

Without the +2 to defense, it's still a 2 defense with Armored Vest, and 3 thwart.

Sep 29, 2021 wehehe · 129

Got it, that's what I supposed but just want to be sure. A little too dependent on other cards for my playstile, I think I'd would go with Hard to Ignore, in a more straightforward way.

I really love how Ever Vigilant works with Spectrum, probably is with the current card pool, the hero which can get a better use of it. I'll have to give this deck a try !

Sep 29, 2021 InigoMontoya · 4063

@wehehe Hard to Ignore is even tougher to pull off with this deck. If you're not in Pulsar form, it's gonna be tough to take no damage from an attack. Even if you pull i off, it's just 1 thwart. Unless you're putting in 3 Hard to Ignore cards, but that goes against this deck's concept of little to no set up.

With True Grit, you're getting a guaranteed 1 thwart in whatever form you're in, and 3 in Photon. All you have to do is defend.

Mar 21, 2022 zebramatt · 1

Just built this deck and it's an absolute blast!

One thing I wanted to note is in your Alternate cards section you mention Defensive Stance but I think you mean Defensive Training. I can see both being useful, but the latter will allow you to bring back the Protection Events you mention.

Lovely work as always!

Mar 27, 2022 InigoMontoya · 4063

@zebramatt Thanks! I changed the write-up. :)

Apr 17, 2022 Raftman · 7

Hey man, love this deck! I just built it but I switched out the three Leading Blow for two What Doesn't Kill Me from the new Sinister Motives and The Night Nurse. It’s really working out!

Apr 27, 2022 InigoMontoya · 4063

@Raftman Yeah, What Doesn't Kill Me is a great card for her in Protection. It's a great add to this deck!

May 14, 2022 teamcanadahockey2002 · 6591

I'm trying this deck out again with Symbiote Suit for the 4 ATK or THW. With What Doesnt Kill Me, Ever Vigilant and Ready to Rumble she can ready an extra 9 times per deck cycle so thats a significant number of +1 buffs from the Symbiote.

Also using Multiple Men and Iron Fist to give a few more blocks. Thats 4 blocks and 2 Stuns to go with 3 Toughs from Perseverance per deck cycle too.

Symbiote Suit sure is an interesting card... can't wait to see the Go All Out decks that come out next week that attack for 12+

May 14, 2022 InigoMontoya · 4063

@teamcanadahockey2002 Those are all great ideas for this deck. I think I'd put Jocasta in to be able to switch to Pulsar if needed. This deck needs updating!