Shadowcat - Ready for justice!

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet

stilonxy · 4897

This is my take on Shadowcat. A jolly fun deck that is packed with nice synergies and you can get a lot done during the villain phase given it's a justice deck. Short write up down below.

The Idea

The idea is to always start the villain phase in Phased form, negating the villain's first attack.

Sit in hero form for most game and exhaust defend vs the villain in Phased form, clear threat with Lay Down the Law, hit the villain and clear minions with Turn the Tide, draw a card with Skilled Investigator, ready with Ready to Rumble or Justice Served, so you can exhaust attack during the hero phase to end up in Phased form again with ease. Rinse and repeat.

During the hero phase you want to end up in Phased form eventually, the deck is therefore packed with ready cards since this deck doesn't have that many attack events, and you'll thus want that exhaust attack.

The Strategy

So yeah, the above section pretty much sums up the strategy. The deck is played as a control deck. Take your time, clear minions and threat while chipping away hp from the villain. You will of course take some damage from minions, and there will be cases when you can't end your turn in Phased form. But fret not, we're in luck. Phased and Confused+Professor X will give us plenty of room to flip and heal.

The deck provides you with plenty of forward planning, because ending up in Phased form is essential. Should you attack or thwart with your hero exhaust? If you play Turn the Tide will it force you back in Solid form?

I should also clarify that, if you're in phased form and you're able to defend > clear a scheme with Lay Down the Law into Turn the Tide > Ready to Rumble/Justice Served, you'll end up in phased again and be ready for another villain attack right away in case you draw an activation encounter card. This is simply bonkers.

Also, I wanna mention that holy hell, Overwatch is designed to be in a Shadowcat deck. Put it on the main scheme, play One Way or Another, pick up a nasty side scheme with the crisis icon and completely obliterate the side scheme with a chunky thwart on the main scheme, triggering Intangible Interference as well.

Justice Served is there to give you more flexibility, and help you end the turn in phased form.

If you care for it, you could include Dazzler but I've found him redundant.

If you want more damage, let's say in a solo scenario I'd drop one Lay Down the Law for another Turn the Tide.

Final thoughts

It fairs pretty well on expert level. Not much else to say, I enjoy this deck quite a lot. Hope you do as well. Cheers!

9 comments

Jun 12, 2023 dr00 · 40129

i really love Justice Shadowcat and think her ability to bypass crisis is seriously overlooked. i love the pattern of thwarting and defending in phased, then lumping multiple attacks together in the player phase to ensure that you're in phased form; it's great that you've identified that.

btw, have you tried X-Gene yet or do you find that you don't player her events that often and instead rely more on things like Ready to Rumble?

Jun 12, 2023 stilonxy · 4897

@dr00 I know right, she works extremely well with One Way or Another because of that.

I've tried X-Gene, and while most of the damage in this deck comes from her events (along with basic attack), it's a rather awkward card to get on the board given that it requires you to be in A-E, and this deck is not designed to switch that often. Furthermore, the cost curve is pretty forgiving in this deck, and you draw plenty of cards so I've rarely felt resource starved.

You could include it and hard mulligan for it I guess :)

Jun 12, 2023 Munegu · 8

I guess Angel and Blindfold arent key cards right ? Because i dont have Cyclop yet, what cards could replace them ? Cheers :)

Jun 12, 2023 stilonxy · 4897

@Munegu while Blindfold is in no way a key card, it's probably one of the best justice allies out there in my humble opinion. It's a great addition to this deck since it'll let you plan a head.

That being said, any cheap X-Men ally will do it, since Utopia plays a fairly big role in your damage output and damage mitigation. Either that or go for staples like Wiccan and Ironheart, and then replace Utopia with something like X-Gene

Jun 12, 2023 journeyman2 · 20979

This is very similar to my Shadowcat Justice build, except I run her without allies and added in some additional events and maxed out others. Very underrated aspect for her.

One of the best things is being able to play Lay Down the Law and Turn the Tide in the villain phase if you need to get back to Phased for a second defense!

Jun 12, 2023 stilonxy · 4897

@journeyman2 Idd. Shadowcat Justice is extremely versatile in my opinion. It's actually bonkers how sturdy she is. Being able to completely neglect two attacks from the villain back to back insane.

Jun 15, 2023 dr00 · 40129

@stilonxy yeah, i have found that too. having to play it in alter-ego does kind of make it difficult to play at times. if you get it in your opening hand though, it's amazing haha. then other games it's at the bottom of your deck, and you're sad lol

Oct 12, 2023 morscordis · 1

@journeyman2 is there a link to this build? I'm looking to try this on sabertooth tonight in a 4p game. I don't think I need allies for chumping, though they might come in handy.

Oct 14, 2023 Schnautza · 46

I just ran this two handed with Angel and ended up replacing the Angel ally with Bishop. He was a great fit for a Shadowcat deck as he could charge up while she took no damage and then make big burst attacks.