Phoenix: From Ashes to Fire!

I totally humiliated the Mutant Genesis campaign (normal mode) using this deck.

Here are the results:

Sabertooth: I won easily on my fifth turn, ending the game with 8 hp, No minions left. 2 wounds on Robert Kelly. (Mystique and Blob were in play at the same time, but still...)

Centinel: I totally crushed him in 3 turns. Not a single ally was captured (except for the set up one, of course). No minions left. 8 hp.

Master Mold: 3 turns. Main scheme didn't advance. No minions (of course). Full hp.

Mansion Attack: Blob was the first villain. Gone in my second turn. Pyro shows... Just to be defeated in my next (third) turn. Main scheme didn't advance. No minions at the end. 3 hp (this was the only downside, but I could have ended with full hp easily)

Magneto: Defeated on my sixth turn. Main scheme didn't advance. No minions. 9 hp.

Key justice cards:

• Concussive Blow
• Justice Served
• Dazzler
• Blindfold
• One Way or Another

Key basic cards:

• X-Mansion
• Cerebro
• X-Men Instruction
• Mutant Education
• X-Gene
• Moira MacTaggert
• Professor X

• Utopia

Card-choices justification:

• Jean's THW is unstoppable against most side schemes (at least in solo). Add Justice Served to the mix and this becomes insane.
• Easy to confuse and return to alter-ego constantly,thanks to Concussive Blow, Professor X and Dazzler. So...
• Put X-Gene into play is very easy.
• Exploit X-Mansion and White Hot Room constantly (HP to the top and/or adding counters on Phoenix Force).
• Use Mutant Education and X-Men Instruction to constantly retrieve Telekinetic Attack, Telepathic Trickery, Psychic Blast, etc., and key allies back to the deck.
• Exploit Cerebro to always retrieve Professor, Dazzler, etc.
• Moira MacTaggert giving cards each time flipping to hero. (With this and the draw from Utopia and from Mutant Education and X-men Instruction, turns with 7, 8 or even 9 cards in hand as hero are pretty frequent!)
• Forge is here to help getting X-Mansion, Moira MacTaggert, Cerebro and Utopia to the table.
• Utopia complements the card drawing and helps increasing the ally limit, which is crucial in... [SPOILER ALERT]

• Mission Training in conjuction with Command Center will help with dealing damage or quitting though statuses, prolonging the live of key allies as #Bishop. Finally, Skilled Investigator in conjunction with One Way or Another and Followed are meant to round up the card drawing as well as the damage output.

How is this deck meant to work?

The key is to take advantage from Phoenix Force's resources, until setting up the table (all key supports and upgrades, prioritizing: Cerebro, Justice Served and X-Mansion, then Moria, Utopia and X-Gene, then crucial allies like Bishop and signature cards like White Room and Rise From the Ashes).

Then you can "unleash the beast" by turn 4 (although it can happen before by using Phoenix Firebird. The key is to become unleashed as fast as possible, but having played as many as possible of the supports and upgrades listed above, and having defeated those nasty side schemes before.

Once unleashed, Phoenix have incredible destructive power and can confuse/stun constantly. Plus, Telekinetic Shield and Rise from the Ashes makes her almost indestructible (more so if you can heal up to 6 HP for free each time you flip to alter-ego with both X-Mansion and White Room in play).

All of this is so easy to do having so many confusing effects at disposal!

The rest is a piece of cake, as drawing so many cards with all the Mansion+Education+Instruction +McTaggert+Utopia combo, plus One Way or Another and with the extra resources from X-Gene and/or Phoenix Force, playing a minimum of two 3+ cost cards each turn becomes second nature.

That's it. Enjoy!

*Note: 1 or 2 copies of The Power of Justice may be useful for paying some cards, although I don't see them as necessary for this deck. Also, if there aren't "convenient" side schemes on the encounter deck, I'd remove 2x One Way or Another replacing them with another Mission Training and maybe one Surprise Attack.