Venom Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D(ft. Scarlet Witch)

Finally, my Sinister Motives box has arrived and for the last couple of weeks I've been trying out one of my favorite cards from the box Venom. In the end, I end up with two different decks, one more standard one(this), and a spicier one(which I'll need to adjust a bit more).

The main idea we're going is the perfect three-way synergy between the justice S.H.I.E.L.D cards, Scarlet Witch, and some payoffs.

Our main threats are Wiccan and Venom, they are both solid allies that provide a lot of value by staying on the field.

Our S.H.I.E.L.D cards provide a lot of utility and Field Agent, in particular, allows both Venom and Wiccan to stay in the field for longer. Let's do quick maths here: Venom without Field Agent on the field has a life expectancy of about 2.5 turns; however, with Field Agent, we can stay at a minimum of 3 turns and that's it double activating Venom's response every single turn while also using their basic actions.

Wiccan and Venom care about boost icons, so Scarlet Witch is a natural fit for this shell. Her mystic trait is also very relevant as it gives us a full playset of Spiritual Meditation, which helps us dig for our cards. Wanda's Alter Ego ability is also pretty nice and helps us in our first turn.

Card Choices

Threats

Wiccan: Wiccan is the lesser threat out of the two, but it's important to have a second one for when Venom gets into the discard after we've reshuffled our deck.

Venom: Venom is a beast! The extra card might seem too big of a downside, but we chew through minions and side schemes and we have some tools to avoid getting blown out by treacheries.

S.H.I.E.L.D package

Global Logistics: This card is one of the main reasons to build around S.H.I.E.L.D cards. It's great for both our threats and our hero cards, and even on its own, it provides a lot of control over the encounter deck. We have 7 possible targets for its cost, it's not all that many, but by our second reset, we probably have enough control to be able to consistently play it. ALWAYS USE IT ON THE ENCOUNTER DECK.

Field Agent: I've talked a bit about the value we get from this card, I do think that, even outside this type of shell, this card is very powerful.

Mockingbird: One of my favorite old allies(and one of the biggest draws to play The Power in All of Us), Mockingbird often doesn't make the cut because of her lack of power(she usually makes us lose slower instead of actually pulling us ahead), however, in this shell she actually shines! The stun is a great defensive tool and buys us one extra turn to see if we draw Global Logistics if we don't have it at the moment.

Nick Fury: Nick Fury is half in here because he's a S.H.I.E.L.D card and half because he's a great Chaos Magic target. The card draw that he provides is crucial for us to set up our S.H.I.E.L.D cards or even just to find Venom.

Helicarrier: Helicarrier occupies the slot that Quincarrier usually uses, the relevant trait more than makes up for the slight downgrade.

Government Liaison: This is an ok resource generator and can fuel 9 cards(6 plus 3 Global Logistics).

Mystic package

Spiritual Meditation: One of the best cards in the game. It really helps us set up and the extra digging is crucial to consistently have access to Venom.

The Sorcerer Supreme: Two costed quasi-Avengers Mansion? Count me in!

Misc

Clear the Area: Clear the Area is a solid tempo Thwart event that allows us to keep some sort of pressure while also clearing out threat.

Avengers Mansion: Avengers Mansion is a solid card, but it's mainly here as Chaos Magic target.

The Power in All of Us: This might be a hot take, but I think that Basic is the best aspect for Scarlet Witch. Whenever I build her, I tend to have a few expensive cards as value targets for Chaos Magic and basic has the best of them. Given that, having TPiAoU is a great backup option.

Scarlet Witch's cards

Scarlet Witch: Scarlet Witch's response is great for our main threats. Quicksilver: Quicksilver is a strong Field Agent secondary target and can be cheated into play with Chaos Magic.

Chaos Magic: One of the strongest cards in the game. Cheating expensive cards, like Avenger Mansion, early on can snowball the game pretty fast.

Hex Bolt: Hex Bolt is one of the most erratic effects in the whole game. Luckily for us, we have Global Logistics, our Hero Response, and Scarlet Witch's Crest to control the outcomes.

Molecular Decay: This is our main damage card. While Venom and Wiccan are great at poking at the Villain, this is the one that actually kills them. Everything that I said about Hex Bolt applies here.

Warp Reality: This is not a card that I used very often, but I'm always happy after I use it.

Agatha Harkness: I don't really like Agatha Harkness all that much. I know that she's good, but I find it a bit hard to have the time to flip to alter-ego and use her ability.

Magic Shield: A good defensive option for a deck that sometimes struggles with it.

Scarlet Witch's Crest: This is a great enabler for our threats and can be used as a defensive tool as well.

The Deck

This deck is fun. It gives us a lot of agency in our lines of play and rewards smart play. We also have a lot of power once we have a board established.

Our defense options are a bit all over the place: Hexbolts can stun, Mockingbird stuns and chumps, Nick Fury chumps, and Magic Shield prevents some damage. This is a bit of a gambit, but with the amount of draw that we get, it's fairly easy to find at least one of those options every other turn. The combination of basic defense and Scarlet Witch's ability cover us for everything else fails.

Minions control before getting Venom/Wiccan into play can also be a bit challenging. We do have a few tools to deal with them, like Hex Bolt and Molecular Decay, but we'd rather advance our board instead of having to do damage control.

Honorable Mentions

Heimdall: I like him a lot with Scarlet Witch, but given the number of slots filled with S.H.I.E.L.D cards and the Mystic package it fails to make the short list.

Monica Chang: Monica Chang competes with Mockingbird for the same slot and loses. For starts, she isn't a basic ally, which means that she's actually harder to play; Mockingbird also plays better with Global Logistics, her stun buys us an extra turn to find it.

Zone of Silence: I can see a one-one split between this and Clear the Area, I'm just a bit greedy.

The Power of Justice: While I prefer going TPiAU, going TPoJ can also be an alternative. In this case, I'd suggest adding Monica Chang over Mockingbird and maybe considering Daredevil as a possible threat(maybe even cutting Venom altogether).