Welcome back to Precon Recon, where today we're excited to share one of our new favorite decks, featuring Black Widow! For those who aren't familiar with our series, check out our article talking about Black Widow over here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2761650/1-2-punchboards-precon-recon-black-widow-revised

EDIT: This deck has been updated with a new edition; you can either check out the changes with the link to the new deck (in the Inspiration For section) or you can see the sparknotes of the changes at the end of this description.

From the Shadows

Black Widow excels at operating from Alter-Ego, and that's what this deck is all about; making the villain wait while you gear up for the fight. With many villains, Covert Ops is going to be a great tool to accomplish this, but for those who are Steady or Stalwart, your endless supply of allies will do some of the legwork as well.

Opening hand priorities are a little wonky this time around, but generally speaking, the components of a solid hand are some combination of the following:

• At least 1 Prep card.
• A copy of Black Widow's Gauntlet.
• Safe House #29.
• Nick Fury and Sneak Attack.
• Covert Ops.

You'll play Safe House #29 with your Prep card, bringing it back to your hand, then use Sneak Attack to play Nick Fury for a cool 2 cards, thus drawing 3 cards and letting you afford to get your gauntlet in play and possibly Covert Ops.

Let's talk about Sneak Attack briefly, while we're here. Of all the heroes in the game, Black Widow is one of the best heroes to wield it, able to bring SHIELD operatives and Spies into play for cheap from her Alter-Ego, as well as Avengers when in hero form. Is it always an amazing option? No, Black Widow does want to have board presence with her team, but this is a great way to play Nick Fury, spending 3 cards to draw 3 cards and deal 2 ATK or THW, letting you sift through your deck and get a free activation. Even better, if Command Team is in play, you can activate Fury again for even more value.

Other allies that shine when Sneak Attacked into play:

• Falcon for the free threat removal and info on the encounter deck.
• Goliath for up to 10 attack on a turn, assuming Command Team is in play.
• Mockingbird for the Stun.

When you aren't Sneak Attacking, you are generating a massive amount of cards to afford your friends. Between 3 copies of Espionage and 3 copies of Assess the Situation, you will find yourself flush with cards more often than not. Most of your allies still trigger when in Alter-Ego, like Hawkeye's arrows, and U.S. Agent and War Machine are here to help protect you and your buddies from attacks when you do pop out to unleash your cavalcade of Prep cards.

There's really nothing quite like it out there, and I'd highly recommend giving it a shot. Here's to hoping we get some more great SHIELD allies in the future to help bolster this deck even more. As always, let us know your thoughts down below, and we'll see you next time!

2/15 Edits Made:

Removed Cards:

• 2 copies of The Power of Leadership: These have been replaced by Meditation, a theoretically better resource generator for Black Widow, assuming she doesn't draw too many in the same hand.
• 2 copies of Sneak Attack: These haven't gotten too much mileage in this deck, though it is helpful on occasion. It often feels like this deck is searching for permanent allies anyway. Regardless, Sneak Attack has been co-opted for a different deck (coming soon to a Precon Recon article near you).
• Command Team: I don't think that I've ever really played this card and gotten much use out of it, and with Sneak Attack also leaving, this card just feels unnecessary.

Added Cards:

• 3 copies of Meditation: This is by far the character that will get the most mileage out of it, seeing as she wants to spend multiple turns in Alter-Ego, meaning she can be exhausted for some benefit to the player when she's at full health. Whether she needs all 3 or not may require more testing, but for now this feels like a natural addition.
• 1 copy of Regroup: While not always helpful, this card can get Black Widow some serious card draw on the right turn. Not to mention, you can play Nick Fury (for a discounted cost with Meditation), then play this, and then chump him and return him to your hand for the following turn.
• 1 copy of Quinjet: Likely the weakest card in this deck, Quinjet can still be a cheap, long-term option to get one of the more expensive allies into play.