Fight the Future!

The future is now; chaos is its name. What better way to fight back chaos than with a healthy dose of your own?

Like with any Adam Warlock deck, the #1 priorities are the 2 Mystic Senses. The Sorcerer Supreme and Soul World are also high on this list- the former 3 being his main draw engine, the latter being the recovery. Warlock's Cape is important as well for multiple activations, as are the resource generators, chiefly Karmic Staff and Clarity of Purpose. After that, chaos ensues, and the search for the truth begins.

We will have many options turn to turn in our quest for the truth, but that's the name of this game. We specialize in chaos, be it either from the extra encounter card from Symbiote Suit, the extra encounter card from deck out, or the attacks you will withstand as you slog it out in Hero form.

The Fight

Fortunately, Adam's kit seems made to fight back against this dark future, as he has competent thwart and attack events coupled with the ability to play literally every aspect card in the game (albeit at 1 copy). This, to me, makes him ideally situated to take advantage of as many low-cost cards as possible, leading to a different kind of consistency. With only 3 cards in this deck costing 3 or more (2 of which are allies playable with Summoning Spell), you will usually find something productive to do with most of the cards in your hand. And considering we have a focus on colors over basics, Battle Mage gets more value, Cosmic Awareness becomes a 2 cost for ~5 threat, and Karmic Blast a 2 for ~6 damage, often even higher than those averages. And when the cards you are discarding are easy to play, Quantum Magic becomes that much better as well. Considering we are often starting with a 7 card hand and an extra 2 with the MSs, obviously this can add up quickly.

For individual card choices, we look at what can get the most benefit for the least cost. What this amounts to regarding each aspect:

• Aggression: 2 resources- 1 of which eats toughs and the other pays by itself for two upgrades (Combat Training and Martial Prowess), as well as a 1 cost 1-5 damage (Magic Attack).

• Justice: A 1 cost confuse ("Think Fast!"), a 0 cost permanent draw (Skilled Investigator), a 0 cost -side scheme notwithstanding- draw 3 (One Way or Another), a 1 cost 2-4 threat removal (Multitasking), and a 1 cost 1-4 threat removal (Zone of Silence)

• Leadership: A 1 cost permanent resource generator (Clarity of Purpose), a 2 cost Nick Fury or Beast (Summoning Spell) a 2 cost way to instantly recur them (Rapid Response), and the resource needed to play these bigger cards more efficiently.

• Protection: A 0 cost permanent minion removal-esque (Pinned Down), a 1 cost permanent retaliate in Dauntless (with Symbiote Suit), a 1 cost status clearer (The Night Nurse), a 1 cost -villain attack notwithstanding- treachery cancel (Get Behind Me!), and a 0 cost prevent all damage (Shield Spell)

With all the upgrades out, and with how easy it is to get them out, it's easy to see the majority of your deck in only a turn or two once you get set up, especially with all the card discarding you are doing. We minimize the number of greens in deck as that is the color that gets the least value off the Battle Mage ability.

Other considerations:

Kaluu and Brother Voodoo are both excellent allies for any deck that can run them. The problem I find with this deck in particular is that they just don't do enough on paper for me to include them. You want to hit Nick Fury or Beast with Summoning Spell pretty much 10 out of 10 times over either of those, since drawing cards and getting resources do more for setup and longevity than a single event, as, in my experience, the deck has no shortage of things you can usually do in a turn, apart from extending or needing resources to do them. I could see BV being brought in over something like Dauntless, which feels like filler most of the time; more games might make me see the light.

Deft Focus is a card I so badly want to play in here. With 7 superpower cards it seems like a natural fit. But with already 3 resource generators it just missed the cut. I'm sure you could throw it in here for 41 cards; I just elected not to.

Closing Thoughts

I will say this Adam Warlock build is most definitely not a beginner's friend - you really need to know what you're doing and weigh each turn carefully in order to not be overrun by nasty encounter cards/villain activations. Symbiote Suit could very easily prove to be your undoing if you play it before your team is prepared to deal with the extra encounters, or if you're playing against a particularly difficult scenario. A leadership teammate with many blockers is always nice to have.

All said, there are likely other/better options I simply overlooked. A deck like this lends itself to quite a bit of personal preference and individual tinkering and tweaking from game to game; not to mention personal cardpool availability (14 packs seems like a ton).

My first impression with AW precon was not great, it just didn’t seem to click for me. But I gave it another try, and I've had a blast with it so far; try AW out if you're looking for something different, fun, and chaotic to bring to the table!

The future is bleak, but we fight nonetheless. The truth is out there...