Packing Heat

Move over, Domino.

I have a confession to make. When I first bought Rogue, I pulled all of the Protection cards out of the pack along with Moira MacTaggert and a couple of X-Genes and I threw her in a box. I didn't find anything about her interesting. "Traits?", I thought. "Those are for people who know how the rules actually work and play Team-Building Exercise. Not Gamora-playing meatheads like me". And there she sat for a long time, in a box with all the other complex heroes that I can't be bothered with.

But then lately I've been taking a closer look at the Aggression cards that came in the Iceman pack. I thought that maybe I could make them work with Valkyrie - it was okay, but Death-Glow is just sooo clunky to use. There had to be a better way. Maybe a hero who had a built-in upgrade they could throw on enemies... maybe for free... maybe... oh snap.

How it Plays

It's pretty simple (Gamora, remember?). Touched is going to stay on the villain most of the time for the sweet, sweet retaliate, and the ability hit the villain with Take That! and get the stun from Southern Cross. You might occasionally throw it on a minion that you need to use Surprise Move to clear off the board, or even on an ally to make the most of Superpower Adaptation (Take That! is an obvious target if you can throw it on one of the Aggression allies). These cases are the exception, though.

Mostly you're just smashing face. Rogue's swings for 2 innately, and this can become 3 with her jacket out and 4 with Combat Training. She's even up to six if you use Surprise Move. Can we make it better, though?

But wait, there's more.

Yes - the guns. Rogue swings yet additional 2 with Hand Cannon, plus her attacks gain overkill. You can even keep Touched on the villain - it's great! What's she going to do with that free hand, though? Why grab another gun of course! Plasma Pistol is there to help offset one of the headaches this deck was giving me - toughness on the bad guys. Pinging with Plasma Pistol lets us line up the big hits from our girl. Now that player side schemes are a thing, we're throwing in Lock and Load - you can leave it on the table until you decide you're ready for a Hand Cannon or Plasma Pistol, then just thwart for two and it's yours. Who do we know who has 2 thwart built in? Oh yeah, Rogue.

There's not much more to speak of. Cheap allies are here to supplement your damage and chump block for you, 4 confuses per deck rotation with[Professor X and your Goin' Rogues, and Crew Quarters to bring her measly 3 recovery up to a more respectable 5 in those instances when you do have to flip down.

That's it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go clear my head with a nice relaxing game of Gamora versus Klaw.