Sorry Raccoon, Bambino isn't for you!

"Sorry Raccoon, Bambino isn't for you! Only Winter Soldier is allowed to play with THIS big gun!"

Overview:

• Play Style: Voltron ally + Bambino recursion + minion summoning.
• Fun: High (use Winter Soldier+Bambino up to twice per turn).
• Difficulty: Easy to Medium (you don't really play Raccoon as intended but it's still fairly easy).
• Power level: Average to "Average Plus" (pretty effective but relies on 1 ally).
• Recommended Player Count: Any (even better in multi with more minions and more threat to remove).
  If you play multiplayer, ask a friend to bring Evaluate Threat!!! It's incredibly good here to quickly find Winter Soldier.
• Number of cards: 40, for once :p (see other potential cards at the end).

This deck played very well against multiple Expert villains, including supercharged 10 ATK / 10 SCH Hela. Don't expect to beat very strong bosses alone though :)

Concept:
This deck aims at maximizing the Winter Soldier ally by making him (and Bambino) the center piece:

• Fully equipped, Bucky gets 8 ATK, with piercing, ranged, overkill, and 1 extra damage anywhere.
• And he removes 2 threat every time he kills something (+1 with War Room once per turn).
• He only gets 4HP but you heal him (or your hero) quite often.
• Bambino has 3 uses but you can recur it with Salvage: THIS is why we play Rocket Raccoon! (and because he can play Energy Spear + Honorary Guardian) (and because it's fun to play the "who has the bigger gun" game :p )

Careful: This deck does NOT often trigger Rocket hero's ability because you prefer to kill minions with Bucky whenever possible ;) It's still super fun and you still overkill them most of the time tho!
This way, you can focus on surviving and thwarting instead :)

How to play this deck / combos:

1. Early game

• Mulligan for Winter Soldier. Only keep Psylocke, Professor X or 1 Rocket's Pistol/Battery Pack.
• On your first turn, don't hesitate to play and immediately recycle a 1-cost TECH upgrade with your Tinkering AE ability to draw 2 extra cards.
• Then focus on confusing and tanking hits with your different allies (except Bucky of course). Throg and Captain America are great because they defend twice for you. Worst case scenario use First Aid on Rocket.
• Tinker as much as possible to cycle your deck and find 1 copy of Honorary Guardian for Winter Soldier. Then Energy Spear, Sidearm, S.H.I.E.L.D. Sidearm and/or Bambino itself.
• Don't feel forced to immediately play Bambino. It can be recurred with Salvage, or played with Lock and Load.
• Lock and Load gets you Particle Cannon or Bambino depending on the situation. But you still have other key/nice weapons to play if needed!
• Whenever you have time, try to play Particle Cannon (or Rocket Launcher if you play Ultron...) so you don't waste your Battery Packs! Don't forget that...
• Sometimes, you'll have more than 2 minions engaged with you and Winter Soldier won't be able to kill them all, or maybe you just need that extra card draw instead of threat removal this turn. This is when you overkill with your 2ATK and/or Particle Cannon.
• The main risk of this deck is having a very bad hand early game when you cannot play any upgrade or event. This is why playing Avengers Mansion and C.I.T.T. is very important as well!

2. Other combos

• Spoiling for a Fight is strictly better than Looking for Trouble here in my opinion. Raccoon already has 3 THW (with Thruster Boots) so Spoiling allows you to target a side scheme instead, or attack, or heal!
• Each attachable upgrade has at least 2 targets so you have a fallback in case you don't currently control Winter Soldier. Energy Spear can be played on Angela and Throg. Bambino can be played on Captain America. Same for S.H.I.E.L.D. Sidearm. Honorary Guardian and Sidearm can be played on any ally.
• Play the other Honorary Guardian on Rocket for +1 HP.
• C.I.T.T. is VERY good in this deck!!! It's the best way to ready Winter Soldier (once a Guardian). It can also ready Rocket Raccoon. And it's the perfect sink for your extra doubles during turns where you don't have an expensive ally in hand.
• Captain America also is a great ally. He's expensive but he readies Bucky, while defending twice for you and being a great way to use your extra copy of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sidearm if Winter Soldier already has one.
• Don't hesitate to ATK the villain with Winter Soldier if he's at full health. You'll draw a First Aid soon enough anyway and you don't want to waste 1 point of healing on your next turn ;)

Other cards to consider:

• Superpower Training was very good, but had to cut it to reach 40 cards.
• Aggressive Conditioning can maximize your Spoiling for a Fight readies even more. And +3HP is great.
• Looking for Trouble on top of Spoiling for a Fight can be nice, but only if you want to be the main thwarter in multiplayer.
• Crew Quarters so you don't have to basic REC.
• Find a friend and make them play Evaluate Threat or Call for Backup to easily find/play Bucky!

Anyway, enjoy, have fun,
and don't forget to drop a like/fav, it's always appreciated :)