Poker Night at the Alpha Flight Station

At the Alpha Flight Station members of the Alpha Flight team scurry about. Some are setting up a snack bar while others begin pouring drinks. The clacking of poker chips ring out through the deck. The table is set and everyone is about ready to play...and Maria Hill makes an unannounced appearance. She wants to be dealt in, so Puck gets Maria a drink and shows her to the table. Maria has just one ask, part of the winnings get sent back to earth to help their fellow heroes and S.H.E.I.L.D. agents.

Let's start dealing

This deck is an homage to some of the early Black Widow decks where the deck had players running the deck mainly out of Alter Ego. I always liked that about Black Widow and I think Captain Marvel does this just as well. The biggest boon that Captain Marvel has is that she can really generate a lot of resources for other players. Commander turns her into an Avengers Mansion, she can play Helicarrier with ease, and Suit Up can help her go get Maria Hill turn one and in future turns with relative ease.

The goal here is that we are better served in Alter Ego passing as many resources to our other players as much as possible to help offset any threat added on by being in Alter Ego. Having played this several times now in high player count situations I can attest whatever output given up by staying in Alter Ego is made up by the output we are fueling into other players. Plus we are going to be guaranteed to have allies out most turns and can mitigate a lot of damage for our other players. Then we can use Regroup to bounce everyone back to hand and do it again!

Not another Maria Hill recursion deck in 2024!

I know there is some stigma to Maria Hill recursion and Nick Fury blah blah blah. I do think this is trying to do something unique with that though and keeping it within S.H.I.E.L.D. I think makes for a really thematic deck as well. Agent 13 strength in Captain Marvel decks has been fairly well documented, but she too is very important at giving another player 2-3 cost reduction on a card thanks to readying Helicarrier multiple times or using Alpha Flight Station multiple times.

The part that makes this sing is that we can play this entirely out of Alter Ego and things like Sky-Destroyer and allies with Command Team still keep the foot on the gas so we aren't just aiding other players but still moving the ball ourselves. However, we are really trying to fuel our teammates as much as possible at the start of every turn. Playing out of Alter Ego helps us be in position for that every turn. And because we are in Alter Ego things like Meditation is also extremely helpful.

Did you know?

Meditation is an Alter-Ego Action? This allows you to play an ally like Maria Hill, that perhaps came back to hand thanks to Regroup, out of turn! This is great to keep things moving for your teammates at the START of their turns and not have that dreaded last player with Maria Hill in hand syndrome.

From low orbit on the smokey deck of the Alpha Flight Station, Carol is able to Make the Call, Suit Up agents, and practice Meditation (that's her poker face technique haha) to ensure she and her crew are in the perfect position to aid our fellow heroes. Whoever wins at Alpha Flight Station, we win.

See ya at the Con of Heroes ‘24

I really look forward to playing with anyone attending CoH ‘24, and I will be there dishing out cards and passing Helicarrier! See ya soon!