Villain Phase? more like My Phase

Do you think Marvel Champions should be a fighting game? Do you want to instantly react to the villain and beat them up at the same time? Do you want to do nothing during the player phase? If you answered yes to each of those questions, then this is the deck for you.

Synopsis:

Ghost-Spider's Dizzying Reflexes works once per phase so you can use it during the villain phase as well as the player phase. This allows Ghost-Spider to ready after defending so that she can defend multiple times. The deck is very handy in solo and co-op play. The major aspect of the deck is that it is strong in the early/late game, and uses the midgame to setup.

I like to play this deck with a sideboard. I swap out the events/upgrades based on what I believe is better for a scenario.
Swap Jump Flip for:
-3x Desperate Defense
-3x Never Back Down
-3x Subdue
Swap Symbiote Suit and Team-Building Exercise for:
-2x Indomitable; and/or
-1x Young Love

DECK PILOTING STRATEGY

During the player phase, you will play your support, upgrade, and ally cards. During the Villain phase, you will advance the game state by thwarting and dealing damage with your identity cards and the (Defense) cards. Your basic action will be used to Defend primarily, and if you happen to be ready during the Player phase, then you get to attack or thwart for extra value.

Mulligan Priorities:
1x Web-Bracelet/Unflappable: You need one card draw during the Villain Phase for the hand economy to flow properly. Either Unflappable or Web-Bracelet is enough; preferably Web-Bracelet.
1x Armored Vest: 4 DEF protects you from most of the damage most villains output.
1x Ticket to the Multiverse: Ticket has been my key to finishing games or my "oh sh*t" card. I can end the game with a large combo into Ticket reset into large combo. Or use Ticket to undo the Villain's tempo.

Early Game:
Prioritize playing Armored Vest and Web-Bracelet. Otherwise, you want to have event cards in hand to stabilize the game. Ghost Kick and Preemptive Strike will take out minions and damage on the villain. Phantom Flip and Jump Flip will manage the threat level. Get Behind Me! and Pirouette and Punch will cancel Shadow of the Past and Caught Off Guard, and any other nasty encounter cards. The Villains can rarely hurt you in the early game because Dizzying Reflexes will ready you after you play an event. The Villain would have to attack three times to get a clean hit on you.

Mid Game:
Once the initial Villain tempo is managed, shift your priority. In the Mid Game, you want to building your board. Defend the Villain's attack, play a cheap protection event to ready, but hold onto cards in hand so that you can pay for support/upgrade/ally cards during the Player Phase. The Mid Game ends when you have
2x Web-Bracelet, Armored Vest, Electrostatic Armor, and Unflappable attached.

Late Game:
This part is very fun. You play your entire hand and deal most of your damage during the Villain Phase. Electrostatic Armor will deal at least one point of damage per turn. You will have the resource economy to play your Defense cards and multiple copies of Ghost Kick or clear all threat with Phantom Flip. Get Behind Me! will protect you from nasty encounter cards, but it also generates another attack which gives you another chance to defend for all of your effects.

Co-op Adjustments

In multiplayer, I like to go over the 40 card deck limit so that I can include multiple copies of Armored Vest. Getting to 4 Def is critical to the deck, and the extra copies go very well on your teammates; they will benefit from the extra Def point, and it will protect their other upgrades from encounter cards that target upgrades.

This deck shines in multiplayer because you can show off how many times you can defend. Jump Flip and Side Step can be swapped out for Desperate Defense or Never Back Down (I prefer to just add the cards flat out, but I don't care about going over 40 cards). You can protect your entire team during the Villain Phase. The Early game should be focused on taking all the attacks so that your allies can build up safely, then ask them to protect you during the mid game while you build up.

DECK NOTES

Defense Cards:
Jump Flip and Side Step: Defending can feel weird. Your defense stat is high enough that a basic defense is enough to avoid damage (especially once you equip Armored Vest. Jump Flip and Sidestep start to feel like wasted slots or very weak. I adjusted to taking attacks to the face, then use Jump Flip and Side Step to prevent the damage.

Desperate Defense and Never Back Down: Are side board cards because they don't net enough value in single player. You ready with Dizzying Reflexes so Desperate Def is anti-synergy. You want the Villain to attack so Never Back Down is anti-synergy too. I keep them at the ready for when playing multiplayer or for scenarios where the Villain attacks multiple times or has many minions.

George Stacy:
Worried Father feels like the most brutal obligation to me. Wait for Worried Father to reveal, pull George aside, then clear the obligation and put George in play for the late game. Or make sure Worried Father hits the Encounter Discard Pile before playing George.

George is played one of two ways depending on whether Worried Father is a threat.
1) If Worried Father is still in the Encounter Deck, then exhaust George to place an event you will use immediately in the Villain Phase. I usually put Preemptive Strike, Defiance, Ghost Kick, Phantom Flip, Pirouette and Punch. In this case, George effectively acts as a +1 to hand size.
2) If Worried Father is removed from game or in encounter discard pile, then exhaust George to hold events for specific situations. I will put Jump Flip, Side Step, First Aid,Get Behind Me!, Pirouette and Punch. Those cards remain there until it's best to use. The deck doesn't build up to a combo, because it consistently deals damage and thwart by defending.

Card Draw:
You effective hand size is at least 9 once you hit the late game; 5 card hand size, +1 card (at least) under George Stacy, +2 cards from Web-Bracelets, and +1 card from Unflappable. With Defensive Energy you can net another 1-2 card draws. Symbiote Suit increases your hand size by 1. Finally, Web of Life and Destiny and SP//dr loop nets another card draw. With max/perfect sequence, you will go through 15 cards per turn.

Stay in Hero:
Rarely do you need to flip to Alter Ego. Main reasons to flip down are to clear the Worried Father obligation. Otherwise, you can stay in hero form. You take very little damage from the Villain. The Villain has to attack 3+ times to put you in a spot where you must flip down to recover. First Aid will keep you healthy, and it's wonderful in co-op games to heal teammates or their ally cards. The Night Nurse heal and status card discard are huge too. Symbiote Suit also acts as a heal with the +10 HP.

SP//dr Loop:
Web of Life and Destiny and Team-Building Exercise effectively make SP//dr ally loop self-sustaining. Play SP//dr, attack, following turn thwart for excess damage, return SP//dr to hand with its own effect, trigger Web of Life and Destiny to draw a card, activate Team Building Exercise to reduce the cost of SP//dr to 1, pay for it with the card you drew from Web, repeat.