Groot in Disguise

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I am not sure how exactly Groot disguises himself, but it works like a charm in this deck.

Groot in protection is great, and really the obvious pairing with Groot's abilities. But in my playing of it, I have found it wanting in two ways: 1) inconsistent thwarting, 2) his character upgrades become less powerful because using them means you make his other cards weaker until you build up growth counters again. The most reliable way to add growth counters is flipping into alter-ego, but then you have the problem of too much threat again...

The justice aspect definitely helps with the inconsistent thwarting, but can it increase his upgrade's usage without putting him at risk of loosing too many growth counters?

If you Disguise him it can.

The benefits of Disguise in this deck:

• If you can get it on turn 1, Disguise allows you to stay in alter-ego a turn or two to Groot-up fast.
• Disguise actually makes Groot's AE side thwart for more than his hero side, effectively being an Heroic Intuition for one less resource.
• Disguise helps you to flip into AE more regularly throughout the game while still being able to respond to the main scheme. This allows you to draw more cards, keep replenishing growth counters, and do both with Fertile Ground.

GROOT's UPGRADES

I rarely used these before, but now they can do a lot of extra work. A perfect turn would be to play "I. AM. GROOT!" for 10 damage, attack for 4 with Vine Spikes, ready with Lashing Vines, thwart for 3 with Entangling Vines, flip to alter-ego and go back up to 9 growth counters with Fertile Ground, drawing a card as well, and the next turn go back up to 10 growth counters. That's 14 damage, 3 thwart, preventing an attack (and scheme if you can confuse the villain), with potentially 4 cards left in your hand (with Deft Focus out) to do whatever else you wanted with, and all for no change in growth counters.

MULLIGAN PRIORITIES

1. Disguise - OBVIOUSLY. There are even 3 copies in the deck to give us maximum odds of getting one. Some may think this is excessive, but I think getting this out on turn 1 is that good for this deck. Not to mention the other two copies can still generate a resource to play For Justice! and Eros.
2. Fertile Ground - Getting this out early is just so much value over the course of the game since we will spend a lot of time in AE.
3. Deft Focus - Since Groot has so many superpower cards, getting this out means setting up faster and consistently playing more cards throughout the game.
4. Fruition - If you already have a disguise, then this is a good one to keep. It helps for faster set up.
5. Beat Cop - removing extra threat throughout the game and taking out a minion in a pinch just helps things run more smoothly.

NOTE: Since the first 4 mulligan priorities cost 1 or less, the double resource cards are not as important for early game setup. I would rather ditch one and get disguise or fertile ground.

OTHER NOTABLE COMMENTS

• "Think Fast!" and Sonic Rifle make flipping into AE even more effective. For multiplayer, have someone else play Lock and Load in their deck, and Sonic Rifle gets even better.
• Foiled! and Wraith are there to be able to deal with scheming early game if a disguise seems to elude you. -Recovering growth counters after a maximum use "We Are Groot"? No problem. This can really set the table up for success, or get extra uses out of Gamora or Wraith.