Into the Sp//dr-verse

Peni Parker is one of the most unique heroes in the game, sporting essentially two identity cards and the smallest hand size in the game at 4/3, compared to the usual 6/5. She comes with a few quirks to make up for this: two identity cards means exhausting in alter-ego does not exhaust her hero form, and vice versa. She also comes with four Interface upgrades, each of which can be exhausted via her hero ability to generate a resource. Best of all, the hero side of her alter-ego card acts as a fifth Interface, meaning she starts with a wild resource generator right out of the gate!

First up are the allies. Despite being in Protection, this deck relies heavily on the other Web-Warriors. Peni's amazing resource generation makes paying for them easier than you would think, and once Web of Life and Destiny is in play, they pay part of their cost back later as well. Otto Octavius is the freest of them all, as three of our five Interfaces are Tech, and readying them gives you a resource back as well as drawing a card. He can even swing in for 2 damage and die immediately to generate another card on the same turn (with the Web). Ghost-Spider is another auto-include for Peni, as she will search All Systems Go! upon being defeated, and then immediately draw you an extra card off the Web to pay for it if need be. As I'll explain later, All Systems Go! is Peni's best singular card by far, so having a tutor for it is invaluable. Peter Parker rounds out the basic allies, and other than being the best Web-Warrior ally in terms of raw stat advantage through his extra ready, and also being extremely easy to play in this deck due to the plethora of resource generators to help pay for his specific resource cost, he doesn't do anything else exceptional here. He can refund the cost of playing him, though, as he readies the Sp//dr Suit after his own activation, after which you can flip to Peni and exhaust the Suit to draw 2.

Miles Morales is expensive, but he is more than worth it against a villain susceptible to status. Remember, the Web counts as a Web-Warrior card as well, so it's not hard to fulfill his kicker. Spider-UK has the best retaliate effect in the game, and with Hangar Bay can defend against low damage minions all day. Even if he has to defend against the villain once or twice, he still pays for his cost in damage, which is 3 even with just Sp//dr and the Web in play. Finally, Spider-Man Noir is probably the one flex slot here, and could theoretically be swapped, but he fits alongside VEN#M as a late-game ally capable of producing great damage or thwart numbers. Additionally, Across the Spider-Verse can play back any of these allies from the discard pile, which just helps the engine along that much better.

The rest of the deck is just an engine to help manage the board and fuel Peni's own cards and the Spider-Men. Taunt is a beautiful card here; Sp//dr has 14 HP that she doesn't know what to do with and a hand size of 3. All you have to do is hit an All Systems Go! or an Interface with it, and it probably pays itself back. It also pairs nicely with Ejection Protocol if you're low on HP, allowing you to heal back up and potentially even draw 2 more cards with Maintenance in alter-ego before suiting back up. Thwip! Thwip! helps control the field even more, pairing nicely with Web-Trap and Miles Morales for a ton of field control. It can also help you draw a card a turn earlier from an ally off the Web. What Doesn't Kill Me is always a great option, helping her recover some of her massive 14 HP and giving her another ready.

We're also playing quite a few side schemes here, as Peni's thwarting is above average and it helps give her more options on a future turn when you hand is usually so limited. Render Medical Aid helps give VEN#M, Spider-UK, and Spider-Man Noir even more value, while Specialized Training helps offset her low hand size even more, and helps the other players too! Superpower Training can also play an Interface straight out of the deck for us, making it even more effective than All Systems Go! at getting your resource engine online.

Finally, a few techs to help round out the deck. Defensive Training helps put your Taunts, Thwip! Thwip!s, and What Doesn't Kill Mes back after using them to pay for Interfaces, or after milling them with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Hangar Bay is here for the synergy with Spider-UK, but can also use any of your other allies to mitigate some minion damage in a pinch. Med Team, like Render Medical Aid, helps get a lot more mileage out of your powerful allies, and the Web of Life and Destiny, as we've been discussing all along, helps offset your small hand size and pay back the cost of your allies at the same time. It also acts as a Web-Warrior card for any of your allies that care about that. Lastly, Spider-Tingle can help dodge a powerful encounter card, or force an ally to die when you really need a draw from the Web in the same vein as Thwip! Thwip!, and Unshakable helps give you resilience against nasty status effects. In a scenario without many statuses, this can be easily swapped out for Limitless Stamina.