Card draw simulator
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
journeyman2 · 25222
Rocket Raccoon, Floating Out Up Here Alone
Waaaaay back in April 2021, Rocket pretty quickly fell to my bottom 5 heroes with quotes such as "his kit is split, he's good at thwarting and bad at triggering his hero ability". When Honed Technique and No Quarter released, I fell in love with him. Later, Repurpose revitalized his Protection build. Now, Float Like a Butterfly is doing the same for Justice!!
Float Like a Butterfly immediately triggered alarm bells in me blaring "put this in Rocket, put this in Rocket!" Not one to ignore my intuition, I whipped something up on article day and ran it that night and boy it has held up over repeat plays, with only minor changes like Superpower Training's addition. I'm excited to share it with you!
What Makes Float Like a Butterfly a Great Card for Rocket Raccoon
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Rocket has permanent confuse access thanks to Sonic Rifle + Battery Pack. This turns the condition for Float on every turn, primarily for the villain. However, the thing that sets Rocket apart from other Float users:
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Float helps Rocket deal excess damage to minions that he otherwise wouldn't! Some of my earliest criticisms of Rocket were his inability to trigger his ability with a measly 1-2 ATK and guns that only dealt 2-4 damage. This was especially true in the heyday of GMW and big beefy minions. Float gives Rocket more access to his unlimited card draw!
- Consider Particle Cannon that is now dealing 5 damage, and overkilling any minions of 4 or less, versus previously only overkilling minions of 3 or less. There are a lot of 4 health minions let me tell you. A card search will show that the number of minions he can deal excess damage to doubles with just that 1 extra point of damage! There are a lot of really fun sequencing puzzles to figure out how to confuse and deal excess damage to minions!
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee
Villain Can't Hit, What Their Eyes Can't See
Ok, Maybe Not So Alone
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The secret sauce to making a lot of this work is Banshee! Keeping Banshee around gives a minion confuse every turn, meaning that in conjunction with Float, we will be hitting the extra draw fairly regularly. X-Mansion can be played and triggered, even if you aren't a Mutant or X-Men! The last sentence's clause is permissive, not restrictive. A little benefit when playing multiplayer with a player with a Mutant identity or X-Men allies! Mission Training helps Banshee get to a critical 3 THW, meaning that he will be deleting a side scheme (player or otherwise) in solo AND confusing a minion. So much just works because of Banshee!
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Dazzler is the other X-Men ally here, included over Professor X because she can target minions for her confuse, is a good secondary Mission Training target, and along with Banshee has a vital 2 ATK (3 with Float!) that can set up some excess damage draws in a pinch!
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Eros is an incredible ally here, confusing 1-2 minions (or more in Stryfe!) and setting up big "Murdered You!" draws. Great for multiplayer and when played off a Salvage or Ingenuity!
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Spider-Woman has been an overlooked card for her entire existence, but Float decks that incentivize confusing many enemies are breathing new life into her! There are so many turns where Sonic Rifle+Banshee/Eros will lead to a 0-cost Spider-Woman!! Sequencing to maximize her cost effectiveness is fun and rewarding! Even with just one confuse on the villain, she can hit similar efficiency to Eros and Quake, thwarting for 2 and a block or attacking for 2 and a block
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Gamora and Drax are excellent in general, with the former providing excellent card draw and the latter dealing big chunks of villain damage with Float. A lot of the end-game looks like Drax swinging for 4 ATK four times!
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Moon Girl needs no introduction, but she is perfect with Salvage, giving us even more card draw! Moon Girl and Ingenuity are easier plays in this Rocket deck than most thanks to the abundance of confuse!
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Cypher is yet more card advantage, this time coming in the form of a 1 ATK (or 2 ATK) body. Just note, the enemy must take damage for him to get his draw, so no pinging off toughs with him!
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I saved the best for last with Wolfsbane! Wolfsbane ends up entirely refunding her cost, usually in the form of "spend Salvage for a C.I.T.T. ready or Eros play, put a tech on top of your deck, call upgrade with Wolfsbane". We will be drawing through the deck so quickly, we will usually see Salvage multiple times before Wolfsbane runs out of hp. This combo is SO MUCH FUN!
Whoops, wrong fuzzy mascot with a penchant for oversized guns and rocket boots
Rocket, Bomaye!
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Because our allies are thwarting so much (and we want them to be thwarting and not running out of threat, so we can trigger Banshee or Wolfsbane), Thruster Boots and I've Got a Plan are much lower priority than most Rocket decks. Now of course, they are still great player side scheme tools, but because Rocket doesn't need to thwart as much, this frees up his basic activation to be attacking, or in some instances recovering. Utilizing his REC means he can take some hits for his allies, rope-a-doping the villain, and his ATK can always soften up some minions for excess damage (and he can hit for a nice 3 once Cybernetic Skeleton and Float are down); but the big boon is Upside the Head access! Rocket sets down his guns and starts throwing haymakers, uppercuts, and jabs!
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Not only can Upside provide another way to confuse an enemy in a pinch, but it can help stun the villain, saving Rocket from having to tank or chump, leaving his valuable allies alive. For example, Cypher would usually be inferior to Ironheart, but because he doesn't need to chump he ends up drawing an extra card over her! While the villain is confused, Gamora is not only swinging for 3, but can pull Upside to get a second status on them! Between tanking, stunning, and regular flips to alter-ego, Rocket's 9hp can go pretty far before needing the hp boost from Cybernetic Skeleton or recovering.
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C.I.T.T. is here to ready Rocket for the variety of options he has with his basic activation, great to dump one of the five double resources into. It can even ready Gamora for a card, or a boosted Drax when accelerating for game!
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Helicarrier and Ingenuity just provide extra economy, getting into play off of our extra double resources, and paying it forward to help Rocket afford all of the cards he draws!
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Superpower Training grabs Particle Cannon or Rocket Launcher depending on the situation, or even a Battery Pack or Cybernetic Skeleton if needed. Side Holster allows Rocket an extra restricted item slot. Which is a good time to let all new Rocket players know that since Rocket's upgrades lack the (Uses) keyword, they do not discard when they run out of counters! This makes empty Battery Pack and Rocket's Pistol perfect to discard for Tinkering, continuing the draw. A turn 1 Pistol can be an extra 2 "mulligan" after your normal mulligan!
I AM The Greatest NOT a Raccoon
Go out there and set up your own Rumble in the Jungle or Thrilla in Manila matchup! You may just discover the Fight of the Century!
| 10 comments |
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Sep 22, 2023 |
Sep 22, 2023I should play Rocket again! Upside the Head should launch a lot of decks and Rocket by Journeyman2 is as good as any launching point. |
Sep 22, 2023Love the Drax + Float and Wolfsbane combos |
Sep 22, 2023I like seeing interesting Rocket decks outside of Aggression. This looks like a blast! |
Sep 23, 2023I'm surprised "Think Fast!" isn't here. It's one of the best Confusion cards in the game, only limited by the fact that only Guardians can use it... Which Rocket is! It's good in place of either Sonic Rifle (expensive and takes up Rocket's crowded Restricted slots) or Up Side The Head (Rocket is much better at thwarting than he is at punching). |
Sep 24, 2023Thank you
Sonic Rifle also doesn’t really waste a restricted slot, because we tinker our guns away so quickly, we have Side Holster, and you can always overwrite Restricted slots! I think this deck solves a major problem I’ve had with Rocket-J in the past, his thwarting being tied to his basic action is a huge drawback on Expert and higher where exhaust and confuse shuts down I've Got a Plan and his basic thwart, which is brutal for his old J decks. No thwart events is a bit of a weakness, but in this deck we get soooo much thwarting out of allies, Rocket doesn’t need to thwart at all! Check out the game play videos! I’ll try and upload some more in the future |
Sep 24, 2023A better way to put it might be Sonic Rifle + Battery pack = 4 confuses, but for the same cost all 3 Think Fasts in one cycle is only 3 confuses and locked to the villain. We can also set Sonic Rifle up with Salvage+Wolfsbane |
Oct 20, 2023Took this deck for a quick spin vs Crossbones and had a good time. Good fun! Can recommend. |
Oct 26, 2023
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Feb 05, 2024Nice deck. A question here, in my understanding X-mansion can be used by someone who has an alter-ego trait Mutant. Rocket does not have Mutant trait, so won't be able to use X-mansion. |
LOL was hoping to see an Ali picture here. This is absolutely gonna make me break out Rocket again.