ASSAULT THEM FROM ALL SIDES

For me, a dream deck, the kind of deck I want to play over and over again, is a combination of two things. I want it to be strong enough to tackle anything I need it to do, and I want it to fire up my imagination when I think about it and play it.

My very favorite thing about Marvel Champions, above everything else, is just how many combinations of Hero and Aspect can hit both of these marks at once. This is one such deck where the game's narrative really pops off the board for me- picture the scene...

The city burns beneath the Green Goblin, finally stripped of the last of his humanity as his mutagen cloud transforms and terrorizes New York City. He is mere moments from total control of Manhattan, from being the true lord of this hellscape he created. The fires below gleam in his eyes, the screams of the mutating fill his ears as he begins to laugh- but his laugh is cut short by the zip of an untraceable rifle slug.

The bullet grazes his neck. He turns towards it, only to catch the gleam of a metal arm disappear behind a corner. From behind him, arrows begin to fly and pierce his armor, forcing him to dive for his Goblin Glider. As the Glider ascends into the air, he is met by a hail of pistol fire- the winged Falcon was waiting for him in the sky. The Glider, smoking and disabled, crashes onto another rooftop, the Green Goblin assaulted and ambushed on all sides. He crawls away from the wreckage, only to find himself staring down the twin barrels of Natasha Romanoff. Falcon, Hawkeye, and the Winter Soldier form up behind her, and the Goblin understands that she was the architect of his demise. He closes his wicked eyes, awaiting the sudden, sharp sound of his defeat.

Black Widow leading an Avengers strike team to ambush and finish off Champions' most fearsome villains? Bring it on. This I can get behind! And handily, Black Widow is fantastic in Leadership, her powerful deck hinging on exactly the card you think it does...

EXPEDITIOUS REPLY

You know it, you love it, it's Rapid Response, the borderline busted Leadership card that everyone is running at 3x right now. It's so generically good that for a couple of weeks I basically forgot that it was a Preparation card. Maybe you did too.

We shouldn't forget that though. Recurring a pricy ally to trigger it's play-effect and keep it on the board is excellent. Potentially getting a card back for playing it as Natasha, and then doing a ping damage for triggering it as Black Widow? Completely over the top.

Furthermore, RR is one of the only Preparations that can reliably trigger during the player turn, which means Widow gets to use Synth-Suit more reliably. This potential for readying combines with the next cornerstone of this deck- good old Avengers Assemble!

THE ULTIMATE AMBUSH

Avengers Assemble! just works here. First off, it's versatile. Your ideal board consists of Falcon, Hawkeye, and Winter Soldier, with a floating spot for the smaller allies thanks to The Triskelion. What's amazing about AA in this build in that situation is that Falcon, Winter Soldier, and Widow herself all have balanced stats. This means AA can dish out a ton of damage, or remove a ton of thwart, depending on the situation. It is a great finisher for Black Widow, who desperately needs proactive tools to balance out her mostly reactive Hero cards.

AA is also very affordable thanks to Espionage and Strength In Numbers. It's amazing how playable it is in this deck, and how much it rounds out your kit.

ASSEMBLING THE PIECES

Safe House #29 is completely essential. My roughest game with this deck came when two passes through my deck each saw Safe House ripped from my hands as an Ultron drone. Recurring RR is important for setting up AA turns and turning on Strength In Numbers. Speaking of SiN, it's the correct play more often than you might think. Any turn where you don't need your allies to get the board under control, you should be using them to feed Widow cards and keep building up a massive board of Preparations.

The dream Avengers Assemble! turn looks like this- use Widow and your allies, then throw out AA to ready and boost. Use Widow again, then use an ally with only one health left, immediately triggering Rapid Response to get them back on the board. Synth-Suit then readies Widow for her third activation of the turn, two of which were boosted by AA.

Is this SUPER combo-wombo? Of course. Is it awesome? Can you pull it off? Is it almost a guaranteed win when you do? Yes, yes, and yes.

Cards 41 and 42 are probably the two copies of Honorary Avenger. I can't bring myself to cut them- they often keep Winter Soldier or Falcon on the board at a very convenient time, and the deck has so many other ways to keep itself consistent that the extra thickness hasn't felt bad at all.

TACTICAL EFFICIENCY

Black Widow is a capable, hilariously fun character that does just fine on her own. But just as she learned in the MCU and in multiple comic storylines, her life is enriched by having friends. It's always good to have someone to watch your back, or in this case, to surround the villain on all sides and make them fear your tactical superiority.

Happy hunting.

ADJUSTMENTS:

-2 Honorary Avenger

-1 Nick Fury

-1 Rapid Response

+1 War Machine

+1 Team Training