Spider-Woman: Global Pulse

Deck concept

The concept of this deck is to use Global Logistics in two ways at the same time. Firstly, it can be used to put weak cards onto the top of the encounter deck setting up a safe turn in alter ego; secondly it can be used to put strong cards on top of the deck to make Pulse Grenade into a powerful card. The rest of the deck flows from that. Mean Swing and Fusillade benefit from Pulse Grenade while it is in play, Monica Chang and her Surveillance Teams power Global Logistics, you know the drill.

Card choices

I think possibly the most controversial thing in this deck is the omission of any basic resource cards. As Spider Woman has good resource generators in Deft Focus and Finesse, and prefers low-cost cards, I find that the double resource cards can be difficult to use after the first few turns. Assess the Situation always provides a benefit so I find it is more useful through the game as a whole.

I also avoided any thwart events in this deck (other than Inconspicuous), which is possibly an unusual choice for a deck that aims to spend a lot of time in alter ego. Monica Chang and the Surveillance Teams provide a lot of thwarting, though, and because Monica Chang can keep topping up the snoop counters they are very cost-effective. Spider-Woman herself has good basic thwarting when needed. The deck has enough for most situations.

Playing the deck

Until you have a Pulse Grenade in play, the Mean Swings and Fusillades in this deck are unplayable. In itself, that isn't a big deal because they can always be pitched as resources, but they do make it harder to maximise Superhuman Agility. That means the deck doesn't really come into its own until Deft Focus, Finesse and Pulse Grenade are all in play, and these should be mulligan targets. In many scenarios, Under Surveillance also offers a lot of security in accessing alter ego.

The package of Crew Quarters, Hall of Heroes, Quake and Jessica Drew's Apartment provide the most benefit from going to alter ego, so I regard them as the next priorities.

You will need to manage the snoop counters on your Surveillance Teams to ensure that you always have one ready to go into the discard pile if you need it. Monica Chang is much more questionable value when all three are in play.

How to lose with this deck

I don't think there are any real complexities here. This deck is definitely weaker against stalwart and steady villains who deny you the benefit of Pheromones.

Conclusion

I used Spider-Woman for this deck because she can pick up the Aggression cards that benefit from the 'weapon' keyword on Pulse Grenade, but I think the same approach could be used with another hero who benefits more from alter ego - maybe Black Widow or Ms Marvel. Might be worth some further investigation.