Self-Propelled Flapping | Protection/Justice (Solo)

Introduction:

I have really enjoyed what Spider-Woman has done for the 'meta' of solo play. Not only can you now play a hero that utilises a strong solo aspect like justice, but you can combine that with protection which has had more success in multiplayer (particularly for the defend archetype).

The big thing about Spider-Woman with protection is that you can pair it with justice to ensure the weakness of protection as an aspect (thwart) is covered appropriately. Therefore the focus of this deck is built around getting your stat line to a 3/3/3 during the hero phase via her superhuman agility ability. As a general rule a 3/3/3 stat line with a reset is better than going for 4/4/4 round to round. This deck can consistently achieve 3/3/3 rather effortlessly thanks to a low cost curve. From there the goal is to reset your hero with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Self-Propelled Glide or after defending with Indomitable as your trigger opportunity.

There's nothing exceptionally flashy about this cycle of getting to 3/3/3 and then attacking for 3 or thwarting for 3 with the occasional reset. However the large upside of this aspect combination is taking advantage of superhuman agility during the villain phase. Almost every turn you want to defend the attack where possible. This is because it prevents you taking additional damage and allows you in solo to sustain in hero form until you find Pheromones. Once the villain is confused you can more easily flip to alter-ego to utilise her apartment and larger hand size for resource advantage. Cards like Under Surveillance assist in this also.

To push this concept further I've included an Armored Vest to try and provide Spider-Woman with a 4 DEF each and every turn alongside 2 copies of Energy Barrier to stop additional damage. This is done so to help enable the Unflappable trigger for additional resource advantage in aspect. On expert often the villain will be attacking for 4, but occasionally they can be attacking for 5 so it's important to try and accommodate for that. Electrostatic Armor helps remove 4 hp minions (deal 3 in the player phase and defend the attack in the villain phase) alongside a small additional trigger to progress the win condition. The deck has 7 resets total so more often than not you can exhaust to defend and find a way to get back up to repeat the entire cycle the following turn.

Events:

Clear the Area can remove an appropriate amount of threat while hopefully cycling a card. In combination with skilled investigator 1-2 times a game you might even draw 2 cards off a thwart effect. Inconspicuous is already a great signature thwart card so it's nice in solo to prop it up with a 2 for 2 thwart which can also give Spider-Woman a trigger for superhuman agility.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Self-Propelled Glide help with the long term plan of resetting to start dealing 6 damage a turn, a split of 3 damage and 3 thwart or in emergencies 6 thwart. Can also get you out of a pinch if you exhausted to defend but didn't have indomitable down at the time.

The remaining events are all Spider-Woman aspect cards and all have a role to play in list. In particular you should prioritise playing both copies of Venom Blast each deck cycle where possible to close out the game in a timely fashion. This is because aside from the potential for a reset or choosing to run 1-2 copies of Stealth Strike there isn't much additional punching power to speak of here.

Allies:

Agent Coulson is good for an additional THW source + can get spycraft down for a bit of encounter deck control.

Jessica Jones provides a nice 2 ATK option to push the damage curve up slightly for the deck. She can also be swapped out for a copy of stealth strike as needed, though she was quite handy into Zola and Red Skull.

Quake is similar to Jessica but is also an Avenger for EMH and a 2 cost ally which can be used to block threatening attacks or played for free once both copies of Finesse are down.

Brother Voodoo is a really fun addition to a Spider-Woman deck. He provides a solid tutor effect for an additional aspect card that is hopefully not from protection (EMH is a great target). He is also an Avenger so can be a good target for EMH.

Captain Marvel is quite expensive to get down in solo play. I find in this particularly aspect combination that there are many other things I'd rather play on the first deck pass. If you find her early and can get her down, efficiency wise over the course of the game, she will do a lot of work for you. A single Med Team was added to try and take advantage of her been used to draw a card and then have the consequential damage healed off every second turn. However you could very easily switch the med team for a 3rd copy of Energy Barrier and not lose a lot of sleep.

Supports:

Interrogation Room is a nice way to trigger superhuman agility while providing some additional incentive to clear minions over the course of a game.

Jessica Drew's Apartment is a nice unique support to help tutor for meaningful plays on the turn you start in alter-ego and flip to hero form. Digging for Venom Blast, Pheromones or simply another aspect card which can be utilised makes for a more consistent game plan.

Upgades:

Skilled Investigator a nice little 0 cost card that can trigger her hero ability while also offering card draw a few times a game depending on encounter deck draws.

Under Surveillance is a staple justice card for solo players. Proactively increasing the threat threshold is a very powerful effect and often reduces the opportunity for the villain to progress very far into their main scheme game plan.

The other upgrades have been discussed but by keeping a low cost curve and prioritising getting Finesse into play the deck can curve out rather well in the mid-late game.

Enjoy the list and keep flipping those forms!

One final note:

For minion-dense scenarios such as Zola, Mutagen Formula and Ultron it might be advised to re-jumble the deck slightly to get 3 energy barrier and squeeze 2 stealth strikes in. (Generally I'd cut 1 indomitable or med team for the energy barrier and then jessica jones + 1 clear the area for 2 stealth strike).