Wasp and the Multiple Man Bi(cycle)

When Wasp and Ant-Man were released, Ant-Man immediately became one of my favorite characters. His flexibility, staying power and flippy-flippy game play won me over. Wasp, not so much. She seemed a shadow of Ant-Man, not possessing his flexibility, his staying power, or even the immense satisfaction of his flippy-flippy gameplay. She got put on a shelf and stayed that way.

Until I searched for a way to use Multiple Man, that is. I underestimated Wasp's Alter-Ego ability and I was poorer for it, but now I have seen the light.

The Deck

• Like the title suggests, I just really wanted to use Multiple Man, and man I did not expect Wasp to be the hero that makes these multiples of men shine. After using Multiple Man to chump block for three turns, use her Alter-Ego ability to cycle them all back into your deck to do it again. This gives Wasp a lot of staying power and time to set up all her upgrades and supports.

• Ingenuity and Moon Girl give Wasp a healthy boost of resources and an additional chump to block with.

• Ever Vigilant is great once you have your Bio-Synthetic Wings, and can be shuffled back in with your Alter-Ego ability to keep ever vigilant even longer than usual. It, along with Ready to Rumble, lets Wasp take advantage of her higher-than-most stats and her Giant form's ability to spread attack and thwart around.

• Perseverance, long with your many chump blocks, lets Wasp barely take any damage and gives you flexibility over who the villain really attacks. Along with Dauntless and Red Room Training, when the villain does actually attack Wasp, they'll be met with Retaliate 1 in Tiny form and Retaliate 2 in Giant form.

• The Night Nurse is a staple here and also sports a to boot. Endurance helps Dauntless work longer on the off chance Wasp actually takes damage. Crew Quarters helps you heal whatever little damage you take when you flip to use your Alter-Ego ability without actually having to exhaust to recover. Thinning with all of these cheap upgrades also lets you find your juicy events faster later on.

• We have to discuss the last 4 card slots in the deck, Fighting Fit and Tackle. Neither are cards I'm ecstatic about, but I'm not sure what would go in their place. I find Fighting Fit underwhelming with all of its restrictions amounting to just 5 damage for 2. Tackle is a little better, giving you access to Stun and even more flexibility on how Wasp gets attacked, but it also needs to be played with the resources from Quincarrier and Pym Particles. Before these two cards, I tried Repurpose and Energy Barrier, but found them hard to play and activate with all of the other upgrades, Tough, and chump blocking the deck has. As it stands, Tackle and Fighting Fit help you knock down the boss once Wasp is set up.

The Strategy

The aim of the game is simple, set up all of your upgrades and supports, use Multiple Man and Perseverance to never take damage, then use Wasp's Retaliate and big damage cards to knock the villain over. Good night everybody.

Okay, a few more tips. Other than cycling Multiple Man back into your deck forever with your Alter-Ego ability, you can use it to cycle back Crew Quarters, Quincarrier, The Night Nurse, and Ingenuity on the off chance you had to spend them. Getting back Genius is genius, getting back Moon Girl is awesome, Perseverance if you need to Toughen up and Ever Vigilant if you need some thwart. Most of Wasp's events have resources too, letting you put back some big damage cards.

Once your deck is running dry, you can be sure that you'll find whatever you put back almost instantly. Just pick what you need or what you're out of to keep the game going smooth. Be careful to choose the right moment to shuffle all three copies of Multiple Man back into your deck, as you really only want to draw one copy. If you shuffle all three back into a deck about to shuffle, you might just draw multiples of men.

Don't underestimate the value of readying with Ever Vigilant and Ready to Rumble. Wasp's Giant form has impressive stats, and her ability to perfectly spread damage and thwart makes readying more than once really efficient and satisfying. Combined with the piercing Red Room Training gives her Tiny form, your basic actions can be ultra efficient.

Final Notes

Wasp's Alter-Ego ability will make her just get stronger with time. Every new card with a resource is an opportunity to make the most of Wasp's unique niche. Moon Girl and Ingenuity were big boosts for her, and I'm excited for any new Protection cards that could make this deck even stronger.