Butterfly Punches [Modern Budget]

"Modern Budget": I'm building decks for latecomers like me! If you're following along with the latest releases, but don't have an extensive collection yet, maybe this can help!

In this solo-focused deck, we're putting a Psylocke spin on She-Hulk—using Core, Red Skull, Psylocke, Venom, and X-23. (X-23 is somewhat optional, with only one card; but it's an unusually good card!)

[v2] Thanks to @adsarf's suggestions in the comments, I swapped out the 2 The Power of Justice (Core) for 1 Avengers Mansion and 1 Skilled Investigator (Red Skull), and it worked well—I recommend it! I brought this variant through the Expert Red Skull campaign and it went very smoothly. Thank you @adsarf!!

If you have tips for how to upgrade this deck as my collection grows, please let me know!

Motivation

She-Hulk has a lot of power, but to use it fully, we want to flip every turn—and not just for the 2 damage! A lot of her power and stability is wrapped up in Alter-Ego mode: 5 REC, a free thwart-1, Superhuman Law Division, and the improved hand size.

But it's dangerous to go into Alter-Ego mode as a low-THW hero, which can make She-Hulk hard to build for in solo.

So, here's the plan:

1. Stabilize: If the villain starts with minions or schemes, mulligan aggressively to draw immediate solutions, like allies for thwart! Once we're stable, we'll prioritize our draw upgrades and resource supports—but make sure to stabilize first, and toss them if you don't have a plan yet.
2. Confuse & Flip: Use Sonic Rifle (Venom) to confuse the villain constantly. This enables us to safely flip, heal, and draw constantly, too—with free damage every time we do. Continue setting up draw upgrades and resource supports, too.
3. Bulk Up: Set up Specialized Training (X-23) and Float Like a Butterfly (Psylocke) to increase She-Hulk's effective ATK to 5, chipping at the villain and keeping the board clear. The Specialized Training reward increases our card draw, too!
4. Finish It!: Punch with She-Hulk's 5 ATK multiple times per turn, with One-Two Punch (She-Hulk) and Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Red Skull). And let the allies help: Float Like a Butterfly (Psylocke) boosts their ATK damage too!

What's in the deck?

Avengers, starring Hellcat! (Red Skull)

First off, Hellcat (She-Hulk) is perhaps the strongest card in the deck. Prioritize her very highly, and try to keep her on your board forever. She-Hulk can't thwart, but Hellcat can—and while 3 resources to replay her might feel a bit steep, it's best to understand her action as "Spend 3 resources to fully heal and re-ready Hellcat", for 4 THW of value, at any time for the rest of the game. That's very strong!

Having Hellcat on the board forever is also what makes Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Red Skull) work, even in a deck with just 3 Avengers: you can always borrow Hellcat's turn if you need damage more than thwart, especially on turns when she's at 2 damage and you can't afford to heal her yet.

Same with Avengers Tower (Red Skull): we'll replay Hellcat very often, especially against high-thwart villains, which makes it a mini-Helicarrier that's easier get out early. (But if your playstyle or villain matchup doesn't feel right for it, you can try a different support!)

We also have War Machine (Red Skull) and Spider-Man (Red Skull) as two more Avengers. This is in part because they're the only yellow/basic Avengers I own! (budget moment!) But also, War Machine is just a solid card with a free block and flexible stats for whatever we need to do. And Spider-Man is a very strong first turn against villains like Klaw who start with side schemes with 3P threat—and later he can help us finish Specialized Training (X-23).

Confusion, starring guns! (Venom & Psylocke)

Sonic Rifle (Venom) is the all-star card that defines this deck. It gives us two confuses, and the flexibility to use them whenever we want—which both keeps us reliably safe in Alter-Ego, and activates our other bonus synergies. Banking a Sonic Rifle is always a good choice, even if you don't need it yet! And once you're in endgame, you can convert your rifles into direct damage, too.

We also have Upside the Head (Psylocke), a cheap reliable stun in Confuse decks, especially for heroes who prioritize punching like we do.

You don't need to worry about getting Float Like a Butterfly (Psylocke) out too early: for most of the game you'll be focused on clearing the board, and Butterfly doesn't boost attacks against minions. The value only kicks in once you're pivoting to endgame, and have resources to spare! (And the deck will be very thin by then.)

And Cypher (Psylocke) is just a nice helpful lil guy: against the villain, he does 2 damage (ideally 4 with Butterfly!) for a net resource cost of 1; and you can choose when to activate him, to get the extra draw exactly when you need it.

And everything else!

• Captain Britain (Psylocke) is just a strong unit! It's not hard at all to focus his actions on minions and side schemes (especially with a Player Side Scheme in the mix), and being able to deal 3 instead of 2 can make the difference surprisingly often.
• Jessica Jones (Core) is a stronger card than she looks. Her THW only really matters if there's side schemes, so I think of her as 2/2+/3 for 3, which is just solid stats—and good cheap ATK is especially high-value for us in a Butterfly deck.
• Nick Fury (Core) is just one of the strongest allies a budget player has access to: he helps you dig for the cards you need, and ATK/THWs for 2, and blocks a villain attack, for 2 net resource cost. And every block is a REC we don't need to do, which is a punch we can toss out later when we need it!
• Specialized Training (X-23) is the only X-23 card in the deck, but gosh is it good: you pay 1 and thwart 5, to get Combat Specialist: a Combat Training and an Avengers Mansion combined. Extremely good in a punchy Justice deck, where this is one of the few sources of +ATK and we can absolutely do the thwart! That said, don't prioritize it too early: it's a waste of resources until we're stable and can afford 5 THW.
• The Power of Justice (Core): There's only 8 cards in the deck that can benefit from The Power of Justice, but they're some of your most important cards: Sonic Rifle (Venom), half your allies, and Float Like a Butterfly (Psylocke). In the worst case, this is a wild resource like any other; but it often helps you squeeze out a little bit more value, especially in late game with a large hand size.
• Crew Quarters (Venom) is a very strong staple card for heroes that constantly flip: if you're going to be in Alter-Ego mode at the start or end of every turn, then Crew Quarters heals you for 1 every turn, for the rest of the game. Convenient that it's in the same set as Sonic Rifle!
• Helicarrier (Core) is just a bit of extra oomph, to help us build to a strong endgame resource count, alongside our two Focused Rage. (Also, Pro Budget Tip: for Avenger heroes, I pretend my Helicarrier is a Quincarrier, a better card I don't own. It helps a lot for Superhuman Law Division, and for villains like Klaw that demand certain resources as surprises!)
• Interrogation Room (Core): In most Justice decks I've tried, where allies often secure the kills, this card is unimpressive; but it's very strong here, where She-Hulk is one of our main sources of damage. Value it as a free 1 THW for nearly every minion that comes out this game. (Note that the damage from flipping counts too!)

Upgrades to consider

There's always more you can do with a bigger collection! Here's some thoughts that come to mind—untested, in some cases because I wanted to focus on this budget build; and in some cases because I don't own them yet!

The tough part is always deciding what to take out! Decide what cards are underperforming for your playstyle, and try swapping in what feels right. (Personally, I think Jessica Jones, Nick Fury, Cypher, 1 Upside the Head, and 1–2 The Power of Justice are some of the less-essential cards, depending on what you're putting in.)

If you try some of these, let me know what you think!

• If you own Black Widow, consider Quake: She's cheap, she's an Avenger, she has good ATK, but most importantly: she can punish minions every time we enter Alter-Ego mode.
• If you own Black Widow/Wasp/War Machine, consider Quincarrier: Though again, see my Helicarrier note above: it's dead-easy to just pretend :D
• If you own Cyclops, consider Blindfold: In addition to burning a card, it's unusually strong to know the next 4 encounter cards in solo Stun/Confuse decks—because often that will be the next whole four rounds! (You can even choose not to confuse/stun the villain, in order to force a nasty card like Shadow of the Past to be burned as a boost instead.)

Some others to look at: Team-Building Exercise (Ant-Man), Speed (Scarlet Witch), Wiccan (Scarlet Witch), Blade (Mad Titan), Limitless Stamina (SP//dr), Unshakable (SP//dr), Banshee (Phoenix), Down Time (Phoenix/Ms. Marvel), Build Support (NeXt), Superpower Training (NeXt). (@adsarf suggested some of these, thank you!!)

Asking for advice

That said, those are just the upgrades I know to consider. I don't know the full collection very well! What would you put in the deck? What would you take out? If you leave tips in the comments, I'd appreciate it—it can help me choose what packs to consider next!

Thanks for reading, and be well! Good luck out there! —Matchu