Ghost-Spider

NOTE: THIS DECK IS 43 CARDS AND RUNS 3 COPIES OF Surprise Move WHICH WAS NOT ALLOWING ME TO ALLOCATE IN THE EVENT LIST. I WILL BE ADDING THEM AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE.

This Ghost-Spider deck abuses the "Response" window to devastate Ultron. It would also work on other minion heavy scenarios. The play loop revolves around getting Hall of Heroes into play and smashing through minions in 2's and 3's to set up explosive turns off of your flip-down turn. Throughout this loop, Marked and Into the Fray should be prioritized for a nasty 3-for-1 combination on an Ultron Drone.

Ultron Drone: 1 ATK, 1 SCH, 1 HLTH. Attach Marked. Play Into the Fray and deal 6 damage to the drone. 5 damage spills onto Ultron, 5 threat is removed from the scheme. This saved me in both of my test games (Ultron, Standard 3 with Crazy Gang).

Other play lines include leaning into Skilled Strike and basic attacks to clear 2 minions and trigger all of your response windows. Keep in mind, unlike generic responses, the Ghost-Spider responses and interrupts have reminder text that only one can be played per triggering event. But, with Skilled Strike, Surprise Move, Chase Them Down, and each of the Ghost-Spider hero cards, it is possible to get 2, or even 3 attacks in a turn.

To get the elusive 3 attack turn, you need a minion (preferably a drone) with Marked or Gatekeeper attached. Then you play Surprise Move to defeat the minion and decline Ghost-Spider hero response. Surprise Move will untap you with its final line of text. This untap does not count towards your "once per phase" response. After that, play the turn as normal, activating cards inside the response window to untap for 2 additional basic powers that turn.

Ultron did pose a little bit of a challenge when my hand was full of Surprise Move and no upgrades attached. The flip-down turns are also a little awkward. It is best to flip-down after utilizing the response window for some extra damage or thwarting and standing up. Then you can take advantage of being ready and heal. It is also a good idea to keep an ally in your hand for when you flip if you are going to trigger Hall of Heroes.

Normally, Hall of Heroes should be triggered the turn you intend to flip back up. However, I found a couple of moments where I triggered it on the flip-down turn to draw resources for an impactful ally that was already in my hand. I do not recommend "fishing" with Hall of Heroes on the flip-down turn. Only use it if you have something you can play with the resources, if you will be flipping up, or if you have George Stacy on board to tuck some useful events away with.

By far, the most important card in the deck, for the Ultron scenario, when playing solo is Into the Fray. This card is a powerhouse! If you are playing in multi-player, I suggest that you coordinate with the other players to choose upgrades that can be attached to enemies from their respective aspects to give you a little more consistency. Right now, the card pool is limited with this style of upgrade being a relatively new addition to the game.

Distraction is good for 'Pool players and to lock down some of the higher health minions. Pinned Down performs a similar role, but is more widely useful. Probably the best out-of-aspect help that you can get is in the form of Coordinated Attack. This keeps Thor healthy for a 3rd attack and can help Tigra come back from the brink of death (-1 consequential, plus her response can bring her from 1 hp remaining to full hp in a couple of turns). Befuddle is not as good in this case, with the exception of making you a little more consistent, and before the Upgraded Drones condition comes into play, Ghost-Spider is still capable of defeating the drone minions with just her 1 thwart.

Please test this deck against Ultron and other scenarios and let me know how you do! I will be doing further testing with this, as I was lucky to get out Hall of Heroes by turn 3 in both games and set up a very quick loop of flipping down to draw cards just about every other turn. Without that consistency, I would have schemed out to Ultron in both games. I was able to barely scrape by with enough damage (exact damage in both games) on my final turn before he would have schemed out!