Stars (& Stripes) Align

"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."

In this deck, we lean into Captain America's brilliance as a tactician, using tutoring, recursion, and card-storing effects to facilitate intentional, deliberate play. Key to this strategy is partnering Captain America with Domino, to stack the deck in our favor. This is an update of a past deck, with significant improvements after further testing.

Playstyle: This is a toolbox deck about having access to solutions (including Cap's own events!) to a variety of problems. Since one of Cap's strengths (especially as compared to Captain Marvel) is his readiness, we keep a fast tempo, often taking advantage of "I Can Do This All Day!", instead of building out with expensive resource generators. Against non-steady/stalwart villains we can sustain an impressive stunlock and pepper the villain with consistent ally attacks. In multiplayer, our early-game consistency supports the team while access to Cyclops helps us contribute late-game damage.

Allies and How to Find Them:

• Domino: Saves cards for future turns. Common choices are Shield Block or Heroic Strike to maintain a consistent defense. Cap particularly likes to spend his whole hand, since pitching a card for “I Can Do This All Day!” is an efficient use of any spare, so this is a neat way to save cards for later. There is a copy of Suit Up in the deck to assist in finding her, since she is so important to how the deck plays.

• Ghost-Spider: Get into play with Make the Call. Finds identity-specific events when she leaves play. I'll tend to attack immediately with her, using Command Team to help time her exit for when I need an event. If you're swarmed with enemies and you have "Avenge Me!" on her she can grab Shield Toss and two cards to pay for it!

• Hope Summers: Finds Shield Toss and Fearless Determination. Can store on Avengers Compound.

• Gamora: Another one we need Make the Call for. She's like an Avengers Mansion with her ability to add an event to hand each activation but with damage/thwart on top of that. The event is random, but Domino can save anything you don't need yet (or you can just use the event as a resource).

• Cyclops: Pushes endgame and effortlessly transforms the deck into a damage carry in multiplayer. With Make the Call, Rapid Response, Avengers Compound, Med Lab, and even Suit Up we have several ways to time him to perfection. We can even dabble in the play-multiple-times-in-one-round combo with Command Teams in the deck.

• Agent 13: Thwarting burst. Common Make the Call target.

• X-23: Unleash her as a Shield Toss alternative (so much fun). She likes to hang out at the Avengers Compound, but may find herself in the Med Lab after some teenage thrills.

Rounding things out:

• "Avenge Me!": A source of card draw consistent with high-tempo play. Works even if you're knocking allies out with consequential (which is more Cap as opposed to the alternative, right?). Find with Suit Up along with an ally. While you can't play this in alter-ego, Domino can store it on top of your deck for next turn.

• Leadership Skill: An amazingly flexible card that helps solve as many as 3 problems efficiently. It also helps that it's just 1-cost and can be played regardless whether you have allies out yet, as opposed to ally upgrades.

• Command Team: Another flexible card. Helps trigger Ghost-Spider and "Avenge Me!". Acts effectively like a Triskelion to free up ally slots. Rouses allies from Med Lab. Pushes damage to close out games. Possible craziness with Cyclops.

• United We Stand: Keeps allies healthy, especially Domino. Amazing card on Expert mode and good in Standard. Low-cost adds flexibility. Because of Domino's card saving (Heroic Strike, Shield Block) and Cap's defense, going wide with allies is often an option.

• Clarity of Purpose: Low-cost resource generator to supplement Cap's Serums and Apartment / improve consistency. Can find with Suit Up, then put on Cap.

Design Notes: I love Cap as a character, but struggled to enjoy his (understandably) simple design. A lot of my favorite heroes to play have ways to tutor cards or shuffle cards back into the deck to steer your gameplay. Hero Cyclops especially feels very in control of his actions like a strategist, and that's something I wanted to bring out in Cap. With a previous deck, I felt I was on to something with Domino and Ghost-Spider, but there were some flaws with too many resource cards and ally upgrades, as well as too many turns putting down expensive resource generators without enough payoff (particularly in multiplayer). By focusing more on early-game action and high-tempo, the deck took on more of a clear and useful role in multiplayer. And with Cyclops access it could also contribute late-game damage. I also felt that Leadership skill was a breakthrough in the deck, helping solve problems in the early game / preparing for future turns and not requiring an ally (to put it on the table, unlike Inspired).