Captain Mayhem

Deck concept

Mutant Mayhem and Children of the Atom are interesting cards because neither of them requires you to be a mutant yourself, so they open up options for many different heroes. Here I wanted to use Captain Marvel so that Beast can reliably find a 3-resource card, for the powerful acceleration that offers.

Card choices

Children of the Atom means that we don't have to pair X-Force and X-Men allies to use Mutant Mayhem, but if we don't have a mix of both, then the deck won't work properly until Children of the Atom is in play. I therefore chose a mix of allies to reflect that. I also looked for powerful enter-play abilities (although Sunspot's won't work if he is played with Mutant Mayhem). The ideal pairing is Beast and Caliban, which will always give us an ally and the resources to play that ally - sometimes with something to spare thanks to Digging Deep.

Clarity of Purpose is essential with Captain Marvel because it can always power Rechannel.

Call for Backup gives an additional way to get Beast into play, and Rapid Response a failsafe way to keep him in play, so both of these cards seem worthwhile even though they are mental resources.

The deck could be rounded out with Command Team, but I chose a mix of Teamwork and Enhanced Reflexes because they need less set-up.

Playing the deck

Captain Marvel can draw a lot of cards, so hopefully we will be able to get Beast and Caliban into play quickly. Once they are in play, the rhythm of the deck is fairly straightforward. Mutant Mayhem will refresh them and put another ally into play, while still leaving at least a few cards for other purposes. With Quincarrier, Clarity of Purpose and Alpha Flight Station, perhaps enough for a second ally. Professor X and Spider-Woman also give scope to get to alter-ego at least once per deck pass (unless the villain is Stalwart).

Captain Marvel not only has plenty of resources, but she also has Energy Channel as an outlet for any odd cards left ver in her hand, so you will almost always be able to play out turns effectively.

How to lose with this deck

My theory is that with both Children of the Atom and a mix of X-Force/X-Factor allies, you shouldn't have to assemble too many different pieces before you can make effective use of Mutant Mayhem. Nevertheless, the best way to lose with this deck is early on, when you may be tempted to take a lot of hits to Captain Marvel to preserve your allies so that you can use Mutant Mayhem. I also managed to lose against Nebula by miscounting how much damage I could do on (what I thought was) the final turn. That was pretty dumb.

Conclusion

I tried really hard to make a version of this deck work with Hulk, using Limitless Strength and Strength In Numbers, but I just couldn't make it click. Captain Marvel is playing on easy mode by comparison. Ironheart and Stroke of Genius is next on my to-do list.