Combined Arms Formation - Armor

Here's my offering for boomguy's Winning Hand challenge to build a deck that includes Joining Forces.

Episode 69 - Joining Forces

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Since these Avenger/Guardian Alliance cards work best at Multiplayer, I've created 4 decks that support one another with synergistic team-ups, hence the title Combined Arms Formation (the designation given to military units comprised of multiple different types of forces working in concert). The other parts of the formation can be found here:

Combined Arms Formation - Air Support (Star-Lord)

Combined Arms Formation - Infantry (Rogue)

Combined Arms Formation - Logistics (Bishop)

How This Deck Works

This deck gets the title of "Armor" because it defends for the table with allies and Cap himself (his Shield is a great starting tool for this). This deck includes Armored Vest, but doesn't include the X-man ally Armor.

Captain America is a great defensive hero, and his Super-Soldier Serum makes him a pretty rich one too. His role here is to run a team of protectors who can take hits for the team, with a side of damage from his basic activation, Heroic Strike., and retaliate. Jocasta is a fantastic friend to Cap, since she can grab his Shield Block and hold it till he needs it.

Team-Ups

• Lots of Avengers and Guardians for Joining Forces, and don't be afraid to block with them.
• Groot has been well known as a blocker by this point, and his blocking ability can be augmented by Shake it Off. You can get him into play with Joining Forces or if Star-Lord gives you Honorary Guardian
• Hangar Bay can ready Groot or Charlie-27 or best yet Martyr when they take a hit.
• Med Team is more of a later-game play, but can keep key allies in play around the table (great targets are Drax, Martyr, and Giant-Man)
• Martyr gets a tough card whens he kills a minion, and this is even easier for her if she gets an Energy Spear and/or Boot Camp.
• Shake it Off can help keep Star-Lord alive, but can target any guardian or honorary guardian who takes attack damage.
• Fearless Determination and "I Can Do This All Day!" can be called on out of turn to boost up Captain America's thwart stat and ready him, making him a good early-game target for Problem Solvers.
• This is especially true if you have side schemes on the board.
• Cap's deck has the most side-schemes, and you should play them out ASAP so that Star-Lord can thwart them down for free with Problem Solvers and Even the Odds.
• Bishop is the primary payor of the Alliance cards, but once Cap has Super-Soldier Serum and Quincarrier, he can easily afford to contribute to team-plays.
• Dauntless is for Rogue, because if she can stay healthy, having passive Retaliate makes her own events stun and confuse. Cap should have it if you're facing a steady/stalwart Villain.

• Originally I included Stand Together, but found that there was enough defense at the table (with toughs and defense events) that it was not cost effective. It is the least impressive Avenger/Guardian Alliance event, and unless you're going against a high-attack villain with piercing, I wouldn't advise including it.

And that's the deck! And that's how it works! If you have any thoughts or changes, or things that should be cut or included, let me know in the comments! Hope to see some of you at Gen-Con '25 to beat up on Loki/Enchantress for the first time!