Riding The Iliad to Victory!

Overview

This Maria Hill Justice deck is all about going wide with S.H.I.E.L.D. supports to maintain threat control and build up for explosive late-game turns. By stacking all-purpose counters on The Iliad and utilizing repeat activations with Agent 13, we can shift between thwarting, burst damage, and healing as needed. The deck thrives on a slow, methodical setup while maintaining board control, culminating in an explosive endgame.

Key Cards & Interactions

• The Iliad – The deck’s main powerhouse, allowing us to remove 4 threat, deal 5 damage, or heal 3 damage per counter. The goal is to build up as many counters as possible to fuel multiple activations when needed and get. Its flexibility allows us to remove large chunks of threat in emergency situations or to throw out big bursts of damage when we're set up to finish off the villain.
• Agent 13 – Every time she activates, we can ready a S.H.I.E.L.D. support—most notably The Iliad for back-to-back activations. With help from Command Team and Med Team (thanks to Maria Hill’s special deckbuilding rules), we can keep her in play longer and trigger her effect multiple times per turn.
• The Circe – Our third off-aspect include, helping us get expensive allies (Agent 13 & Dum Dum Dugan into play. While not always necessary, it smooths out awkward hands and accelerates our engine.
• All-Points Bulletin (APB) – An incredibly powerful event that scales with our S.H.I.E.L.D. board presence. In the early game, it provides efficient thwarting and chip damage, but in the late game, it becomes a massive board clear or threat removal bomb.
• Monica Chang & Surveillance Team – Monica helps us tutor out Surveillance Teams while extending their lifespan. Early on, they help with consistent thwarting, but late-game they become critical for powering APB.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Director – A must-have for fueling The Iliad and other S.H.I.E.L.D. supports. The sooner we get this in play, the faster we can ramp up our counter engine.

Playstyle Tips

• Stay in Alter-Ego as much as possible. Maria Hill’s ability to tutor a S.H.I.E.L.D. support every turn means we get an extra card in hand, effectively making it a 7-card hand size in AE. With Disguise and our strong thwarting, we can afford to stall before flipping.
• Prioritize playing The Iliad early. Even if it means dumping your whole hand, getting it down quickly sets the foundation for the deck’s power turns later.
• Be mindful of counter management. Try to avoid using the last counter on any S.H.I.E.L.D. support unless absolutely necessary. More supports in play mean stronger APB plays and a buffed-up Dum Dum Dugan when needed.
• Look for key moments to flip up. While we want to stay in AE, Maria Hill’s Hero action lets us move all-purpose counters between supports. If we need to shift resources onto The Iliad for a game-ending turn, flipping up can be the right call.

Final Thoughts

This deck thrives on patience and careful setup, but once you hit the mid-game, it snowballs into a threat-removing, damage-dealing machine. With The Iliad and Agent 13 at full power, we can pivot between control and aggression, making Maria Hill the most flexible S.H.I.E.L.D. hero in the game. Have fun and let me know what you think!