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Saturday, September 12, 2020

The Rise of the Red Skull: Crossbones (Solo Expert)

 


I've been trying to get Spidey to work to my liking since the day this game started. Justice just didn't do it for me, mostly because it was too simple: thwart and Web Kick. I tried Protection, but found that I just don't have a very good handle on Protection yet. My deckbuilding for that aspect was really good (trust me, I checked!) but the cardpool for Protection just isn't quite where I want it for Spider-Man, not yet. Hint FFG: make a card that lets you use a character's Defense for an Attack and you'll get me back to that aspect with Spidey. When I saw all the raw draw power of the character cards in Spider-Woman's deck a lightbulb went off in my head, and I drafted the following deck. For those of you who are wondering, I do not have the ability to access online deck databases while writing; firewalls are evil. So this is what I got. Hope you don't mind.

Spider-Blitz

Allies

Brawn
Valkyrie
Black Cat
Spider-Girl

Support

Aunt May
Helicarrier
Hall of Heroes
Avenger's Mansion

Upgrades

Spider-Tracer x2
Web-Shooter x2
Webbed Up x2
Downtime
Martial Prowess

Events

Press the Advantage x2
Drop Kick x2
Enhanced Spider-Sense x2
Backflip x2
You'll Pay For That! x3
Toe to Toe x3
Relentless Assault x2
Swinging Web Kick x3

Resources

The Power of Aggression x2
Energy
Strength
Genius

So the idea around this deck is to go out on an all-out offensive, almost all the time, with some backups in case that is denied. Webbed Up gives you freedom from two attacks and also plays into Press the Advantage (get a card for hitting a stunned foe). You just keep drawing and drawing, looking for Spinning Web Kicks to eat through hit points. If somehow you don't murder the opponent within three or four turns the fact that so many of the cards are permanents will help you cycle through the deck faster the second time around, hopefully landing you on those big power shots.

Crossbones

Crossbones himself becomes a bit of a pain. Starting out with a machine gun looked fearsome, but we'll get to that in a minute. Most of Crossbones doesn't change that much from his Basic form, and his stage three (deal out out another experimental weapon) doesn't scare me with Spider-Man all that much. That being said, the increased hit points, however slight, is still a speed bump that has to be handled.

I immediately got a Webbed Up along with an Avengers Mansion and got the Webbed Up out, reasoning that would keep me alive for two turns while I got everything together. Turns out I was right. What proceeded was a very speedy set up. I literally did two Toe to Toes in the same turn, defending against one of them, which about destroyed Crossbones, especially when he was coming out of stun. I almost always blew out my hand, while drawing into all my energy support cards (Web Shooters and Martial Prowess), which let me nova almost half the game. 

Also, forgive me if I'm wrong, but the way that the machine is worded it sounds like Backflip avoids all that damage, which includes the indirect damage. That meant that Spidey could (and did in my case) render the machine gun useless. I mean, it says all damage. Even if that's not true it would have only added a turn or two, I think.

By the time I was done, four turns later, Crossbones was a broken man. The one thing I was afraid of- minions- hardly came out, and I found that my deck was well-suited to getting through Crossbone's low hit points. But it wasn't all positive: I ended at 4 hit points, which means that I will be taken an obligation card to reset my health. I'll need to be a bit more respectful of that in the future, but for a first outing? I'm really happy with the deck and had a blast exploiting Crossbone's weakness as fully as I could.

EDIT: One of my intrepid readers has convinced me to start against Absorbing Man with 4 hp, no Obligation. I think he made a good case for it. Should this not be the case I will be blaming him the rest of the campaign! W00T FOR DEFERRING RESPONSIBILITY!!! THAT'S SO SPIDER-MAN!


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