Along Came a Spider (SOLO/EXPERT)

Along Came a Spider

Wins (Expert): Rhino / Klaw / Ultron / Crossbones

Spiderwoman has probably the best of each aspect and at the lowest cost in her deck. For DEFENSE she has Contaminant Immunity, for LEADERSHIP she has perhaps the best card in the game, Pheromones, for JUSTICE she has Inconspicuous, and for AGGRESSION she uses Venom Blast. That is to say, since she has two copies of each of them, eight of his fifteen cards (more than half) are extraordinarily good.

(The best Marvel Champions card. If you get both of them in a row... use one and try to keep the other in hand!)

To top it off, Jessica's Drew's Apartment will allow you in your Alter Ego form to easily choose and draw a card, since ¾ parts of this deck are ASPECT cards. And finally, with her two Finesse she can generate any two resources each turn.

(Whenever you can, try to start the game with this card in hand.... it's your robbery insurance!)

But her abilities are also impressive. For each ASPECT card of a different type played in her turn, her three BASIC STATISTICS of ATTACK/INTERVENTION/DEFENSE increase by 1 unit. That is, if she plays one card of the four ASPECTS available, this heroine can reach 5/5/5. Although most likely, given that another of Spiderwoman's characteristics is to be able to complete her deck with cards of two different ASPECTS (in the same proportion), is that she usually becomes 3/3/3.

Wait, we're not done yet! Her alter ego is able to see the top card of any deck, so she can predict the value of the next card of the Villain's increase, or know what is the type of resource of the first card of her deck. This makes it the most solid option to have Hulk as an ally, since, for a very low cost, it will not only protect you from attacks with its 5 health, but it will also be able to eliminate small minions or damage an enemy by 5 in a safe way.

( Thanks to Spiderwoman... Hulk no longer behaves like an idiot... randomly!)

In short, all of her cards, with the exception of the decent Self-Propelled Glide, are incredible. Therefore, when it comes to the STARTING HAND we should look to at least have a copy of Pheromones, Jessica's Drew's Apartment, or Finesse.

So, how to complement her spectacular deck? Best to start by helping her with a bunch of low-cost allies with a good attack, since, unfortunately, due to its high cost, her ally Captain Marvel, which can deal 6 damage or remove 6 threat, as well as draw three cards, probably won't see play. For example, Marvel Boy (which can avoid TOUGH status and RETALIATE, Tigra (which can remove small MINIONS without losing life), Valkyrie (which removes a small MINION as soon as it enters) or Quake (which can stay on the table to take down small MINIONS).

( It is better to have less famous and less expensive allies than Captain Marvel)

Then providing her with upgrades and supports such as the weapon Jarnbjorn so that she can do additional damage after a direct attack/event, or as Under Surveillance, to keep the Main Scheme under control.

RULE: Can Finesse generate a resource to pay for an aspect card’s ability (such as Jarnbjorn)?

Yes. As long as the resource generated by Finesse is spent on an aspect card (its resource cost or a cost within that aspect card’s ability), Finesse can be used.

https://hallofheroeslcg.com/official-ffg-rulings/#spiderwoman

Therefore, Finesse serves to pay the cost of cards such as Jarnbjorn, Marvel Boy, Valkyrie, Concussive Blow and For Justice!.

(Will there be enough Finesse for everyone?)

And finally, filling the deck with ATTACK events for each ASPECT (AGGRESSION and INTERVENTION). Such as Browbeat, Piercing Strike, Stealth Strike or Concussive Blow, and such as For Justice!. Since EVENTS make up half of the deck, it will be easy to get one that fits the circumstances, or serves as a resource, when you make use of Jessica's Drew's Apartment.

( If you think there are better events than these.... you're right!... please read the section on FINAL THOUGHTS.)

As for what's bad about this character, if you're playing SOLO, when her OBLIGATION appears it will always be much easier to exhaust her Alter Ego than to raise the Main Scheme three points (unless you count on how to deal with it). But the real challenge lies in her ARCHENEMY The Viper. If it appears, you will only have one turn to deal with it and its 5 life points. Otherwise you can give the game up for lost (staying with only one card in hand in a deck with such a limited draw mechanic is synonymous of sure defeat). The rest of its negative cards are easy to counter unless you find yourself playing against Legions of Hydra module, where a card like Hail Hydra! can be a real problem at the most inopportune moment.

( With enemies like these... who needs friends!)

In short, if you want to know firsthand what the words versatility and flexibility mean, don't hesitate, Spiderwoman is the perfect girl.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I have the bad habit of wanting to have closed decks so I don't swap cards every time I want to play with them. For this reason, having several being part of other heroes, I've included the debatable Browbeat for Press the Advantage, Piercing Strike replacing Drop Kick, and Valkyrie for Spider-Girl.

(I remember them so much... especially when I lose...)

SOLO CONFRONTATIONS IN EXPERT MODE:

RHINO:

1. Make sure you have a copy of Inconspicuous or For Justice! in your starting hand. Otherwise, you must be able to play two different ASPECTS cards to be able to intervene with Spiderwoman. In either case, the first thing you must do is get rid of the Secondary Scheme Breakin '& Takin'.

2. The second thing you must do is to play whenever you can a Pheromones, or a Contaminant Immunity, or a Concussive Blow. If not, try to always have an ally on the table, such as Hulk or Tigra. You have to prevent Rhino from attacking you in any way, either with your TOUGH status, leaving him STUNNED, staying in your Alter Ego form while he is CONFUSED, or blocking him with an Ally. Depending on the ENCOUNTER cards he gets, he can attack twice in the same turn, and if you don't protect yourself or don't have full health, it may be the end of the adventure.

3. Use since you can Under Surveillance on his Main Scheme.

4. If you change form at the right time, and once you have Jessica's Drew's Apartment and the two Finesse, you should have the game under control.

5. Remember: Use Jessica's Drew's Apartment to search for EVENTS or other ASPECT cards that are helpful to you (you can use them as extra resources), attack with Hulk after you've checked that the first card in your deck has a fist as a resource, and in case you have to get rid of an UPGRADE or SUPPORT, if possible, do it first with your weapon Jarnbjorn and then Jessica's Drew's Apartment, but try to always keep the Finesse.

KLAW:

Let's not fool ourselves, Klaw in expert can be a real nightmare if you have not designed a deck to fight specifically against him, and cards in our possession as Browbeat, are not especially helpful against his multiple minions, but also against the Villain himself if one of these minions plays GUARD. So be prepared to lose on several occasions. However, everything will go better if you follow the following tips as far as possible:

1. Since it starts with two secondary schemes and a minion it is advisable to start with a low cost intervention like Inconspicuous and an ally. The most important thing of this first turn is to eliminate the minion and the secondary scheme that accelerates the threat.

2. As Klaw increases in his turn the main scheme by 3 (at least), and because this scheme only has two phases, we must only stay in Alter Ego form when the Villain is confused, or when our health does not allow us to continue as Hero.

3. On the other hand, every time he attacks he discards two cards from his deck, so to avoid this we will have to try to stun him as many times as possible.

4. Klaw has 9 MINIONS in his deck, a third of which has more than 5 life and another third that appears with TOUGH status. This forces us to take all our low cost allies to the table, and to keep them to deal with them. Do not hesitate to use your three copies of Piercing Strike against the three Armored Guard in order to eliminate them with a single attack.

5. As always, our deck is aggressive, so we will have to continuously attack the Villain. The problem is that Klaw has a lot of life in any of his appearances. If in our second turn we still have not managed to damage him, things are not going very well. Therefore we must try to have the maximum number of cards in hand and play as many of them as possible, so it is almost mandatory to have Finesse and Jessica's Drew's Apartment on the table. This is even more important than the indispensable Pheromones.

ULTRON:

1. With this Villain it is convenient to have the table clean of DRONES for several factors that in the long run play in our favor: The damage they cause us is lowered, the ability to advance the plan is reduced, Ultron's ability to heal or to appear as a threat in secondary plans is decreased, and we will know the cards in our deck that we do not have after being discarded because they have been converted into DRONS. In addition, we need to empty the table of DRONES before the Villain appears in his next stage, since in the latter stage the DRONES become much more dangerous (fortunately, when this happens, the DRONES will be generated only by ENCOUNTERS and not when Ultron attacks).

2. To combat the first phase of ULTRON a good option is to have Hulk and use it when you make sure, in your Alter Ego form, that you have a lightning bolt or a fist as a resource in the first card of your deck.

3. Without Hulk we are condemned to depend on Pheromones to defeat Ultron's first stage (his phase II), since while he is stunned he cannot activate his attack, and therefore, he does not execute his Forced Interrupt, having "only" to deal with his ENCOUNTER cards, his high HP, and his considerable basic ATTACK/PLANNING stats. Keep in mind that if he attacks on his first turn because he is not stunned, between him and his drones he can generate up to 9 damage (depending on the value of the INCREASE and whether we have eliminated the first DRON that comes into play due to the PLAN).

4. In the second stage of the Villain (phase III), our allies will be the ones who will help us to get rid of his multitudinous DRONES. Especially Tigra, which is able to eliminate them and heal itself at the same time. A very good alternative is to use Self-Propelled Glide whenever possible to clear DRONES.

CROSSBONES:

1. This combat becomes very complicated, if not impossible, depending on the randomness of the ENCOUNTER cards, especially if the Secondary Scheme Legions of Hydra appears. For this reason, the best strategy is to focus on aggression and not on plan intervention.

2. Don't spend resources on eliminating his weapons or removing threats from the main schemes unless you have nothing better to do. Focus on hurting him. However, you should remove secondary schemes that cause you to discard more encounter cards, and remove threats only for the purpose of boosting your basic attack or gaining a turn in time.

3. Try starting with Jessica's Drew's Apartment, some of the Pheromones, a low-cost ally like Hulk to defend yourself, with Under Surveillance, or with a Finesse. The latter is essential to use in some turns to maximize the use of cards. It is almost impossible to beat the game without having used Finesse at least once, but it is possible to win without using Pheromones or Jessica's Drew's Apartment.

4. If none of this adds up, then you really need to focus on having the resources that will allow you to take out his experimental weapons. All of them, except for his Laser Rifle, can cause you problems, but especially the Power Gauntlets.

5. While you shouldn't spend too much effort keeping his Main Scheme at bay, try to make good use of Under Under Surveillance in one of his three phases to give yourself an extra turn of time.

6. With the limited card draw of this deck, you should take advantage of both Pheromones to alternate to forms where their activation is useless due to being Confused or Stunned.

7. This is not a game that can be won in the long run. If the turns go by without being able to lower the Villain's life level, you will be sentencing yourself to a sure defeat, so try to risk as much as possible.