5 Card Stud

Edit: publishing a second version as the first one had a couple of incorrect cards and amendments to the deck that needed making, and as there’s no way to delete published decks…

At long last! My favourite superhero enters the Champions arena. Gambit, the Ragin’ Cajun, and all-round stud is here! I havn't been this excited for a character in a long time. What has struck me most is that Gambit’s deck doesn’t do just one thing, and it sort of pulls in a few different directions; I could easily see myself playing him in Protection, Justice or Aggression. It’s the later that I’ve decided to focus on.

Deck basis and hero cards:

Having seen his hero kit, with his Charge de Card ability, and other means of adding card charges to him I thought he would be akin to Ms Marvel in that he wants to play multi-attack events to capitalise on this ability. There are several ways of gaining these charges, through his Hero action, Molecular Acceleration resource card and Natural Agility (this particular card playing well with Gambit's Guild Armor to let him defend with his naturally high Defence and potentially ready up for another defence). Amassing these also makes his ally Rogue cheaper, and pound for pound, she’s one of the best allies in the game (decent stats, Toughness and being able to be played for free? Yowzah).

Charged Card and Royal Flush also play off these charges, and the later’s multi-attack is where we will lean further into the Aspect cards.

Aggression:

The first cards added were One by One and Melee. Both have been fantastic in Ms Marvel, and work well here with Remy’s charges. The next, and obvious, cards to add are Warrior Skill and Honed Technique. Both add extra damage to these multi-damage events, and being able to trigger both at once can lead to some incredibly powerful attacks.

To add to this, I’ve forgone the usual The Power of Aggression and added Aggressive Energy instead, as this deals extra damage when paying for Aggression events.

Now, this deck works wonderfully with minion heavy decks, but it’s not always a sure fire thing. I’ve added Angela and a couple of copies of Looking for Trouble in for some insurance. Gambit can struggle a bit with resources, so getting a free ally out who also fuels the deck is perfect! Looking for trouble does the same thing in digging out those minions but also helps us keep that threat down on the main scheme. As we’re also trying to keep the threat on the main scheme down whilst also pounding minions, Into the Fray is a no-brainer. Being able to increase the damage dealt to much higher proportions can lead to some great turns removing as much as 10+ threat off the main scheme.

Finally, adding in Hall of Heroes then lets us capitalise on killing minions with some much needed card draw. Psylocke is there to give some much-needed relief in Alter-ego turns. The last ally spot is a bit of a flex, as Sunfire only costs 2, has 2 Attack and can chump block, but also has a real handy ability for some of those more annoying villains (looking at you, Sabretooth). You could easily swap him out for whatever the scenario calls for.

Basic:

There’s not too much in the way of basic aspect cards in the deck. The X-Jet helps provide resources for those turns we want to fuel Honed Technique. Professor X is there to again provide some AE relief, but also help keep threat down and throw himself under the bus as needed.

Sure, this deck plays very similarly to Ms Marvel. But I like that he’s a wee bit more flexible in that he can defend well for himself, and there’s a slightly higher ceiling for his charges to do more damage than Embiggen!, or for you to spread them out over multiple event cards in a turn. I’ve had a lot of fun with this deck, and it can work in multiplayer or solo. I’ve played it in 3 player games (usually with Cyclops Leadership and Shadowcat Justice) where there’s usually plenty of minions. When playing solo, I tend to take out at least one copy of Melee and swap it for another of Into The Fray, and maybe even squeeze in a couple of copies of Chase Them Down.

This deck is far from perfect, and I’m still honing it as I speak. It’s a little bit slower for setting up Honed Technique etc as opposed to the Aggression deck that plays more off Gambit’s signature events. That said, I’m having immense fun. Any suggestions, let me know!