Take Your Best Shot...If You Dare!

Gambit has one of the best defense interactions in the game, that being Gambit's Guild Armor and Natural Agility. These two cards were all it took to convince me that playing him in Protection is the best aspect for him, despite strong arguments for Justice and Aggression.

With a DEF of 3, and a free ready afterwards if no damage was taken, we want to try and perfect defend every turn; that means Armored Vest to bring his DEF to 4, and Unflappable which essentially gives Gambit a 6-card hand. Hard to Ignore is...well, hard to ignore as well, given that Gambit's Hero side has almost no thwarting to speak of, a sad casualty of his one thwart being an Alter-Ego event. Electrostatic Armor pairs well with Gambit's Staff, meaning that you get a free attack's worth of damage with each defend as well.

That leaves just enough room for a few copies of your +2 Defense event of choice; Never Back Down is a great option in multiplayer, though solo would likely shy away from it because Gambit actually wants to be attacked every single turn. Not Today! probably works better in those cases for thwarting, and also in any setup that requires more thwart or has a stun-resistant villain. Desperate Defense is unnecessary in my opinion, as Gambit's Guild Armor comes with a free ready as it is, but it can help defend even more in a high player count game, or perhaps a minion-heavy scenario. Expert Defense is also unnecessary in my experience, though there are cases where more defense is always welcome, such as Ronan or Thanos.

We're also playing a Mutant Peacekeepers package, as Gambit's economy isn't the greatest, and allies can help to even out the power curve for him in the early and mid game. Armor, Polaris, and his signature Rogue ally all carry Toughness, meaning they can take almost any hit for free and then stick on the board afterwards with Mutant Peacekeepers. Iceman gives him time to set up in case minions start swarming the field, and Forge searches for The X-Jet to help him set up as well. Professor X gives us a confuse, a THW of 3, and a chump block all in one.

As far as techs go, this deck has a few. Most of these could probably be swapped for one another, or for more defense events, but this set gives the deck a well-rounded toolbox.

Firstly, some extra attacks, as Gambit can boost even the weakest attacks to respectable damage numbers; with this, First Hit clears most minions before they get to activate against you, while Hard Knocks does very solid damage and usually results in a tough if played right. Beauty and the Thief's damage can be boosted as well, making it gravy for the cost.

Containment Strategy pairs nicely with Hard to Ignore, serving as a way to get rid of side schemes without having to rely on allies.

Lastly, Judoka Skill helps to secure a perfect defend against bigger hits. Even 1 damage over your defense threshold will turn off most of your kickers, and simply having this out as a precaution usually pays off.

Here is the link to my blog post discussing Gambit!