Ultimate Black Panther

Khonshu and Ra are swallowing the continent, and Wakanda is the last wall standing. T'Challa would rather hold the line. Shuri keeps telling him the line is already lost, that a king who only defends is a king who loses slowly. So he stops defending and decides to assault the enemy.

— Ultimate Black Panther (2024), Bryan Hill & Stefano Caselli

The concept

A solo Leadership deck that closes out expert villains in 5–6 turns — not what Leadership usually does. The panther is one of the fastest land animals on Earth, and this deck intends to prove it. It borrows big-money ideas from Lazy Titan's Thor deck and the high-tempo recursion I previously developed in my Phoenix deck.

Yes, I called my own deck "Ultimate". No, that's not a power ranking; it's a run by Bryan Hill / Stefano Caselli the deck is themed on. I hope I will still have funny comments about the title from you all.

The plan: recur Shuri and Heart of the Panther to slam all four Black Panther upgrades into play fast. By turn 3 they're usually all down, so the engine flips over — now Shuri fetches "Avenge Me!" and you dump Wakanda Forever!.

Setup (turn 1 to 2)

Dynamic Duo for Shuri + Heart of the Panther, paid with The Power in All of Us.

Shuri tutors a Black Panther upgrade.

Heart of the Panther puts another one into play, then triggers a Wakanda Forever! with 2 upgrades.

Attack (turn 3 onward)

Recur Shuri with Dynamic Duo, Second Chance and Ancestral Knowledge.

Shuri tutors "Avenge Me!", discounted by Effective Leadership. Keep or pay with Heart of the Panther depending on how flush you are.

You'll usually have 1–2 Wakanda Forever! in hand, especially with Second Chance and Ancestral Knowledge recurring the Wakandas, Shuri and Heart of the Panther.

That's 2–3 sequences of 4 (Panther Claws) + 1 (Vibranium Suit) + 1 (Energy Daggers) plus ally activations: 14–26 damage, 1 thwart (Tactical Genius) and 1 heal per turn.

Shuri then chump blocks to draw 2 — more than paying for herself, and digging toward the next copy of herself. She spends herself for the mission, over and over, which is very much her book.

Why it works

This deck is rich. With 8 double resources, an average draw is worth ~1.2 resources. That's why the deck skips economy scaling like Helicarrier, Quincarrier or Avengers Mansion — it doesn't need it.

Six virtual Shuris: Shuri herself, 3× Dynamic Duo, 1× Second Chance, 1× Ancestral Knowledge. The deck cycles in about 4 turns, so odds are good you can put her into play every single turn. While more expensive, I find this recursion faster than Make the call or Rapid Response, as it can get Shuri even in the deck, which helps with the thematic and concept. And offer a different flavor of your typical leadership recusion deck.

"Avenge Me!", Kaluu, Face the Past and White Tiger dig for Wakanda Forever! and Dynamic Duo. As the deck is rich, so is drawing.

Last Stand is anti-synergistic with "Avenge Me!", but it's live on turns where you don't plan to chump and used Shuri on something else. It also is a flavor win in my book. Feel free to replace with Get Ready or Make the Call if you want something a bit more vanilla and probably a bit stronger.

Face the Past is for bringing in Killmonger, which is actually an ally in the main story of Ultimate Black Panther.