Brand New Backflip

Backflip is arguably the best defense event in the game. Building on this strength follows a Flow Like Water event-focused Protection deck. Having entered the game from the release of the core set, this is the first Spider-Man deck that I've built that truly feels like playing everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood wallcrawler.

Spidey's weakness is thwarting, so full sets of both Jump Flip and Not Today! are on hand to manage threat.

Armored Vest and Defensive Conditioning boost the base DEF. You could add Specialized Training to become the Defense Specialist and draw a card, but I opted for just Change of Fortune and Unflappable.

Dauntless and Cuts Both Ways provide retaliate damage to trigger Change of Fortune. The original deck included Powerful Punch but it was too costly while trying to keep tempo and manage threat effectively, so was replaced by Jump Flip. The ping damage from Cuts Both Ways and Flow Like Water (Expert Defense is 3 DEF for zero cost plus 1 damage) was usually more than enough to defeat a minion.

Ingenuity and Nerves of Steel, along with the trusty Web-Shooters, provide resources for defense events. Web-Shooter reliably offers a strength resource to play Ready for a Fight so that Aunt May can heal Peter Parker without losing tempo or relying on confusing the villain.

Played multiple games against Rhino on standard and expert to test thwarting and survivability because the main scheme can easily be lost and Rhino, especially in Stage III, hits like a truck. Spider-Man was on the backfoot in the beginning but, with a little bob and weave, consistently saved the day.