R.A.D. Avengers [79 Damage or 60 Thwart Combo in One Turn!]

Cap's got a new band of Avengers, and they're certifiably R.A.D. (into Research And Development).

This deck is built around a specific set of allies, events, and upgrades/supports to give Cap access to a ton of card-drawing, resource-generating, and readying, with frequent stat-boosts from R&D Facility, all leading to one or more epic combos.

I've had a lot of fun playing with this deck. Every card has a specific function, and it feels great to be able to play them all as intended and string together relentless flurries of thwarts and attacks. If all goes as planned (ha!), the quintessential combo in this deck could deal up to 67 points of damage to the villain.

THE TEAM

Captain America: "I Can Do This All Day!" R&D Facility to stat boost, then ready, ready, ready. 'Nuff said.

Stinger: In this deck, allies are used as resources (Band Together), card draws (Strength In Numbers), and hero re-readies (Earth's Mightiest Heroes). At 1 cost (or effectively 0 with Steve Rogers’ Living Legend ability or Avengers Tower), Stinger does all of that at a premium and, with supports, allows your ally limit to go up to 6. The earlier you get her out, the higher her value throughout the game.

White Tiger: White Tiger is great to play at any point in the game, especially on expert, as she'll get you 2 or 3 cards whenever she enters play. That said, she is one of my favorite allies to get out early. It's always great if you can play her from your starting hand so that you can build out your board even quicker. I try to use Regroup with her whenever I can so that I can continue to play her from my hand throughout the game.

Kaluu: Over a third of the deck is made up of event cards, so Kaluu always has a good chance of finding you an event with his enters-play ability. As the game goes on and you build out your board, Kaluu becomes even more of a specialist, as the ratio of event cards in your deck increases. Kaluu is another great card to use with Regroup so you can continue to cash in on his ability. Also, he's got some weird chemistry with U.S. Agent that probably isn't worth exploring. https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/John_Kaluu_(Warp_World)_(Earth-616)

Agent 13: Agent 13 helps make any Cap deck a solid thwart option. You don't want to wait too long to get Agent 13 out, as she's the only ally without the Avenger title, which limits her usability with Avengers Tower. Honorary Avenger is in this deck specifically for her. With 4 HP and 2 THW, she's the only ally in this build that gets the green light to continue using her basic power. Try to keep her on the board, though, as it's a hassle to get her set up with Honorary Avenger a second time and, because of the lack of built-in Avenger title, she literally cannot be the last ally you play.

U.S. Agent: Here to remind Cap that other soldiers love their country too, U.S. Agent is the guy on the team that's a little too psyched to be here. We all saw what he did with Cap's shield on The Falcon & the Winter Soldier. It's important that we put him to good use so that things don't get froggy. Enter: Clarity of Purpose. Pay an effective cost of 2 (resource cost + card) to attach Clarity of Purpose, then use it to generate 4 wild resources throughout the game (assuming that you're keeping John Walker alive, which, hey, your call). On paper it doesn't sound like the biggest payout, but this combo has come in clutch for me when I need just one more resource to maximize my hand. Also, if you pay for Clarity of Purpose with an otherwise unused Super-Soldier Serum, then the economy only improves.

Black Panther: Leading from behind, Black Panther is here to rally the troops. He is a king, after all. The Avengers Assemble! and Strength In Numbers combo is essential to this deck, and Black Panther is key to making that combo happen. Those two cards are also the only ones eligible for Black Panther's ability. Ideally, you want to get Avengers Assemble! attached to Black Panther, then wait until you have Strength In Numbers in hand, use SiN to draw up to a bigger hand, play AA! then get to work with your whole squad ready. Black Panther is always best played later in your deck cycle, as you want a full discard pile to choose from when he enters play. That said, BP does work well with Regroup, so you can get him back in hand to play him at a more opportune time or to string together multiple big combos in one game.

THE STRATEGY

BUILD YOUR BOARD

This deck sings when you have all 6 allies out. You'll need Avengers Tower and The Triskelion to make that happen.

Avengers Mansion and Strength In Numbers will get you ample card draws.

Band Together gets you up to 3 resources per card. Along with Strength, Genius, Super-Soldier Serum, and Clarity of Purpose, you will have no shortage of resources.

Focus on putting down allies, supports, and upgrades, and you will be able to ramp up your build very quickly.

As you are building up your card and resource generators, get down as many copies of R&D Facility as you can so that you are prepared to buff up Cap when needed.

67 DAMAGE COMBO

OK, so the game doesn't always go as planned, right? But if we can't dare to dream our fullest dream, then what reason do we have to don our red, white, and blue spandex? Why endeavor to be a Winghead at all? At least, I think that's what the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan would say. So, what follows is the absolute ideal situation for you to achieve maximum damage with this deck. You can do slightly more damage when playing in multiplayer, so that's what we're gonna do. All damage dealt will go to the villain. You could technically deal more than 67 damage if you use Shield Toss to hit multiple minions (bringing the max damage dealt to a total of 79), but I would assume that if 67 points of damage could be helpful, then you're looking to finish the villain off.

This combo really starts in the villain phase. For optimal results, you're in alter-ego form to have a bigger hand size, and the villain is in stage III.

Setup: Every ally, support, and upgrade is in play, including Regroup, which would have been played during the prior hero phase. Avengers Assemble! is attached to Black Panther. Allow White Tiger and Kaluu to get defeated by enemy attacks that they take for your teammates. They both return to your hand, and Regroup gets discarded. Let's say that it's the only card in your discard pile.

Your hand shouldn't matter too much, because you're going to be doing a lot of card drawing on your turn, but let's say that you have Strength In Numbers, Genius, and Strength, one copy of Fearless Determination, one copy of Heroic Strike, and one copy of Band Together, plus White Tiger and Kaluu, for a total of 8 cards. (Hand: 8 cards. Deck: 13 cards.)

1st & 2nd Moves: Exhaust Steve's Apartment and Avengers Mansion to draw 2 cards. (Hand: 10. Deck: 11.)

3rd Move: Exhaust Avengers Tower and use Steve Rogers' Living Legend ability to play Kaluu. Search the top 5 cards of your deck for an event (this is guaranteed) and add it to your hand. Shuffle your deck. (Hand: 10. Deck: 10.)

4th Move: Exhaust both copies of Super-Soldier Serum and use U.S. Agent's Clarity of Purpose to pay for White Tiger. Draw 3 cards. (Hand: 12. Deck: 7.)

5th Move: Play Strength In Numbers. Exhaust all of your allies to draw 6 cards. (Hand: 17. Deck: 1.)

6th Move: Switch to hero form. Use Band Together to pay for Heroic Strike to deal 6 damage and Stun. (Hand: 15. Deck: 1. Damage dealt: 6.)

7th Move: Play Fearless Determination. Draw 1 card. Shuffle your discard pile. Deal yourself an encounter card. At this point, your hand will include the following cards: 2 Band Together, 1 Genius, 3 Earth's Mightiest Heroes, 1 Fearless Determination, 2 Heroic Strike, 2 Shield Block, 2 Shield Toss, 1 Strength, 1 Strength In Numbers. (Hand: 15. Deck: 5. Damage dealt: 6.) [Cap's stats: 3 THW, 2 ATK]

8th Move: Exhaust all three copies of R&D Facility to boost Captain America's stats by +3 THW and +3 ATK. Make a basic attack with Captain America to deal 5 damage. (Hand: 15. Deck: 5. Damage dealt: 11.) [Cap's stats: 6 THW, 5 ATK]

9th Move: Use Strength and Genius to pay for Avengers Assemble!. Ready all of your friendly characters and give them each a boost of +1THW and +1 ATK. (Hand: 13. Deck: 5. Damage dealt: 11.) [Cap's stats: 7 THW, 6 ATK]

10th Move: Play Fearless Determination. Draw 1 card. (Hand: 13. Deck: 4. Damage dealt: 11.) [Cap's stats: 8 THW, 6 ATK]

11th Move: Play Strength In Numbers. Exhaust any 3 of your allies to draw 3 cards. (Hand: 15. Deck: 1. Damage dealt: 11.) [Cap's stats: 8 THW, 6 ATK]

12th Move: Ideally you would have just drawn another copy of Fearless Determination. If so, play Fearless Determination. Draw 1 card. Shuffle your discard pile. Deal yourself an encounter card. If you didn't draw Fearless Determination on the last move, you're still going to be able to do a ton of damage; just skip this step. Either way, your hand will include the following cards at this point: 3 Band Together, 3 Earth's Mightiest Heroes, 3 Heroic Strike, 1 Regroup, 2 Shield Block, 2 Shield Toss, 1 Strength In Numbers. (Hand: 15. Deck: 6. Damage dealt: 11.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

13th-15th Moves: No more drawing cards. Damage Time! Use Band Together to pay for Heroic Strike. Do this 3 times to dish out 18 damage and up to 3 Stuns. (Hand: 9. Damage dealt: 29.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

16th Move: Make a basic attack with Captain America to deal 6 damage. (Hand: 9. Damage dealt: 35.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

17th-19th Moves: Play Earth's Mightiest Heroes to exhaust any ally and ready Captain America, then make a basic attack with Captain America to deal 6 damage. Do this 3 times to deal 18 damage. (Hand: 6. Damage dealt: 53.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

20th Move: Play Shield Toss, discarding Shield Block to deal 4 damage. Return Captain America's Shield to your hand. (Hand: 5. Damage dealt: 57.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

21st Move: Put Captain America's Shield into play by discarding Strength In Numbers. (Hand: 3. Damage dealt: 57.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

22nd Move: Play Shield Toss, discarding Shield Block to deal 4 damage. Return Captain America's Shield to your hand. (Hand: 2. Damage dealt: 61.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

23rd Move: Use Captain America's "I Can Do This All Day!" ability. Discard Regroup to ready Cap. Then make another basic attack to deal 6 more damage. (Hand: 1. Damage dealt: 67.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

That's it! It's tough to pull off the full combo in a real game, but I trust that over time, a True Believer will manage to do it.

For all the real sickos following along, I'll include some variants:

79 DAMAGE COMBO

So this begins with move 20, with a Shield Toss event that targets 5 enemies rather than just the villain. Picking up after move 19, here's where you're at: (Hand: 6. Damage dealt: 53.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

20th Move: Play Shield Toss, discarding all 5 cards from your hand to deal 4 damage to 5 enemies. Return Captain America's Shield to your hand. (Hand: 1. Villain damage dealt: 57. Total damage dealt: 73. Minions defeated: 4.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

21st Move: Use Captain America's "I Can Do This All Day!" ability. Discard Captain America's Shield to ready Cap. Then make another basic attack to deal 6 more damage. (Hand: 0. Villain damage dealt: 63. Total damage dealt: 79. Minions defeated: 4.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 5 ATK]

51 THWART & 32-44 DAMAGE COMBO

Simply subbing out all of Captain America's basic attacks for basic thwarts gets you 51 thwart and between 32-44 damage (depending on your Shield Toss strategy).

56 THWART COMBO

This one picks up with the 5th move from the main combo. Here's where you're at: (Hand: 17. Deck: 1.)

6th Move: Switch to hero form. Play Fearless Determination. Draw 1 card. Shuffle your discard pile. Deal yourself an encounter card. At this point, your hand will include the following cards: 3 Band Together, 1 Genius, 3 Earth's Mightiest Heroes, 1 Fearless Determination, 3 Heroic Strike, 2 Shield Block, 2 Shield Toss, 1 Strength, 1 Strength In Numbers. (Hand: 17. Deck: 3.) [Cap's stats: 3 THW, 2 ATK]

7th Move: Exhaust all three copies of R&D Facility to boost Captain America's stats by +3 THW and +3 ATK. Make a basic thwart with Captain America for 6 thwart. (Hand: 17. Deck: 3. Total thwart: 6.) [Cap's stats: 6 THW, 5 ATK]

8th Move: Use Strength and Genius to pay for Avengers Assemble!. Ready all of your friendly characters and give them each a boost of +1THW and +1 ATK. (Hand: 15. Deck: 3. Discard: 3. Total thwart: 6.) [Cap's stats: 7 THW, 6 ATK]

12th Move: Play Fearless Determination. Draw 1 card. (Hand: 15. Deck: 2. Total thwart: 6.) [Cap's stats: 8 THW, 6 ATK]

13th Move: Ideally you just drew another Fearless Determination. If so, play it. Draw 1 card. (Hand: 15. Deck: 1. Total thwart: 6.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

14th-16th Moves: No more drawing cards! Make a basic thwart with Captain America to thwart for 9. (Hand: 15. Total thwart: 15.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

17th-19th Moves: Play Earth's Mightiest Heroes to exhaust Stinger and ready Captain America, then make a basic thwart with Captain America for 9 thwart. Repeat this action with Kaluu and U.S. Agent for a total of 27 thwart. (Hand: 12. Total thwart: 42.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

20th Move: Thwart with Agent 13 (3 THW). (Hand: 12. Total thwart: 45.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

21st Move: Thwart with Black Panther (3 THW). (Hand: 15. Total thwart: 48.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

22nd Move: Thwart with White Tiger (3 THW). (Hand: 15. Total thwart: 51.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

23rd Move: Use Captain America's "I Can Do This All Day!" ability. Discard any non-attack/non-resource card to ready Cap. Then make another basic thwart. (Hand: 14. Total thwart: 60.) [Cap's stats: 9 THW, 6 ATK]

You'd almost never need to thwart for 60, but if you did, you could, and you'd still have 14 cards to do some damage with.