Get this Swordsman a...shield!?

First thing's first - this is not a rush deck. But it is strong enough to defeat Expert Thanos, contains some underused allies, and has a combo that you may not have seen yet!

How to play the deck

Mulligan priorities are Knowhere, Bad Boy, Star-Lord's Helmet, Leader of the Guardians, and possibly Hawkeye (if it is a minion heavy scenario).

You want to get Knowhere and Leader of the Guardians into play ASAP since in Hero form all of your Allies count as Guardians.

Play Bad Boy every time you can. It can prevent a lot of damage (after the boost cards are revealed) and also sets you up for a big turn.

Play an Element Gun on the first turn - it helps you smooth out hands all game. and makes sure that Directed Force and Sliding Shot are always an option.

Play an ally each turn to draw a card. This is why Knowhere is so important.

Once you get Star-Lord's Helmet down, your poor choices are better poor choices than they were. Unlike other Star-Lord decks that want to save his "What could go wrong?" ability until the combo turn, this deck intends for you to play like Star-Lord! So we get a lot of mileage out of his Helmet. Use his "What could go wrong?" ability each turn, draw a card each turn. Gotta risk it to get the biscuit!

In this deck, you get to enjoy your plucky allies!

It may seem like 11 allies is too much, but you want to use Knowhere every turn and Nova Prime should really be listed in the Resource section of the decklist. Plus this list of misfits just looks like a team Star-Lord would lead.

Beta Ray Bill can theoretically do a total of 20 damage/thwart which is awesome but most Heroes cannot easily pay five for an Ally. Not a problem for Star-Lord with his "What could go wrong?" ability. "Welcome Aboard" helps too. Also, Star-Lord's love for Encounter cards often results in more minions for Bill to hammer.

At first glance, Venom doesn't look great for an extra Encounter card each turn but he will only be around to give you one Encounter card total before he is fully used. Assuming you put him out cheap with your "What could go wrong?" ability, he can attack/thwart for 3 (with Leader of the Guardians), ping the Villain or minions for 3 instances of up to 3 damage from each Encounter card ("What could go wrong?", Venom's hazard, and the normal one), and attack/thwart for 3 again leaving him with one HP left. At this point you have two choices - just block to eliminate him before he gives you another Encounter card, or have him make a Noble Sacrifice to give SL a tough and heal him for a crazy 6 health! Endurance makes it more likely that the extra healing is not wasted.

Martinex may be the weakest ally on the list but with Leader of the Guardians he can thwart for 6 before blocking with a tough, and then being sacrificed to give Star-Lord 4 health and a tough! Not bad for a discounted cost of two.

Hawkeye and Groot both love Ready for Action. With a tough, Groot gets to heal up since he will take no damage allowing you to keep him on the table until you can sacrifice him for 6 health and a tough.

And Legolas always had the potential of giving a total of 8 damage, 2 thwart, and cancelling a Villain attack for 4ER but in reality he often needed to block before his arrows were all used. Ready for Action really lets him shine on defense while targets keep coming out from Star-Lord's extra Encounter cards.

But you know who likes Ready for Action more than anyone? Swordsman!!!

And get this Swordsman a shield!

You probably do not yet realize how amazing the Swordsman and Ready for Action combo is...

Once he has a tough, he can defend WITHOUT EXHAUSTING, take NO damage, and still attack during the player phase! Play another Ready for Action next turn and repeat. Wow!

And Swordsman is great in this deck since Star-Lord often doesn't know how many attacks he will endure with a pile of encounter cards in front of him. Being able to wait until after the boost card is revealed to decide to defend is a big deal! Slap a tough on him with Ready for Action and he can defend TWO big attacks in the same Villain phase!

Along with Bad Boy and a tough from Noble Sacrifice, we can laugh off FOUR Villain attacks in one phase!

I was able to beat Expert Klaw, Expert Thanos, and Expert Mutagen Formula multiple times with this decklist.

Against hard hitters, Swordsman and Mockingbird are huge.

Against minion heavy scenarios, Beta Ray Bill is the MVP with Hawkeye and Groot being tied for second. And Venom is surprisingly helpful.

If you never tried Star-Lord because you are not a rush/combo player, you might enjoy this one. I like that you feel very safe while being risky and that it maximizes a lot of allies that don't see much play. I hope you have as much fun as I did!