Panther Patience

Minimalist Matchups

The goal is to create a series of decks meant to be accessible to players who don't have access to all of the content. It can be tough to find decks that feel strong and work in a limited collection. So this series will be heroes built to take on the toughest villains using only the Core Set, Villain's Campaign Box (if applicable), and Hero Pack (if applicable). This means each deck will only require 2 or 3 packs.

Recommend a Match-up? I'd love recommendations if anyone is struggling or curious about a match up. Fill out this form to send me suggestions.

Minimalist Matchup Decks:

• Spider-Man (Peter) Justice Against Ronan the Accuser
• Captain Marvel Leadership Against Red Skull
• Cyclops Aggression Against Magneto
• Black Panther Leadership Against Loki

Let's Work on a Team

Loki hates it when people patiently work together. So that's exactly what we're going to do. Patiently build your team and engine. Then, we go all out, and as long as Loki doesn't have Retaliate, he'll fall quickly.

Build Your Engines

This deck has three engines to build to create the downfall to Loki. (Each listed in order of importance)

1. Economy Engine - The Golden City, Avengers Mansion, and Helicarrier
2. Ally Engine - Avengers Tower, Blade, Major Victory, Shuri, and The Triskelion
3. The Suit - Vibranium Suit, Tactical Genius, Panther Claws, Energy Daggers

It takes the patience of a panther to wait till the right moment to go all out with allies and every Wakanda Forever! To start, try to get your economy engine and your ally engine going first. It's okay to pass and use your upgrades as resources. The second pass through the deck can be getting your upgrades out.

Find Space to Flip Down

Do your best to get the threat below 4 on the main scheme (as long as your have Loki with base SCH less than 3) and flip down to be able to use The Golden City. In fact, in set up, do your best to find a play The Golden City. Two cards is a huge tempo change. Play an ally to help reduce the scheme.

As you get more economy and allies going, you'll get able to start using your allies for thwart and attack, play a Wakanda Forever!, and put out another ally.

Rarely Chump Block

The First Aids are for Black Panther because he'll be defending to take advantage of that Retaliate 1. This means that he'll likely take some hits, and that's okay. The time to use a chump blocker is if they have a stat less than Black Panther where you need it (like Kaluu if you need to thwart), or if you are getting ready to shuffle the deck and need to get powerful "enters play" effects back into your deck (like Maria Hill).

Otherwise, try to use your allies for their activations and resourcing with Band Together. Band Together will appear useless in the first two turns, but it'll definitely be useful as more "permanent" allies like Blade come out.

T'Challa Can't Be Seduced

If the Enchantress comes out and puts a Seduced on you, don't worry. You're defending with Black Panther, and this deck has no Attack events. So this card does nothing. Leave it attached unless you want to start using your basic attack, but the beauty of Black Panther is that Secuded doesn't have an effect on you.

Manage Loki

There's very little you can do to manage which Loki you have, but try to be patient on when to flip Loki. If you have a side scheme out that will trade out Loki, wait till The Trickster forces you to change Loki, then get out the side scheme so you can get a better Loki.

Endgame

Once you have your three engines built, find space to do one last flip down. Use all your draw power to get as many allies or Wakanda Forever! Then flip up and do as much of an assault as you can. Do that two or three times and Loki will go down shortly after. Once he's under control, it becomes a waiting game.

Patience

Every time I've been patient in building the three engines, I've won. Every time I lose my patience (especially with the ally engine), I get caught off guard by The Trickster or an Advance.

Other Matchups and Customizing for You

While this deck is tuned for Loki, you can absolutely take this up against other encounters (that's true for all of these decks). You don't have to be patient or get your engines fully going to be able to finish them out. Replace Vision with White Tiger. Her card draw is powerful in expert where a villain’s stages are 2 and 3.

Allies are the most powerful card types. The allies are up to you for what you have in your set. If you have other Avengers like Black Knight or Stinger, they'll only enhance the power of this deck and can replace the Guardian or S.H.I.E.L.D. allies.

Either way, enjoy taking out Loki, and Wakanda Forever!