Captain Marvel Heroic Mode Avenger + Voltron Leadership

Why Captain Marvel Leadership?

After the release of Antman, Captain Marvel leadership received a huge boost in the form of 5 new strong energy resource cards, 2 allies (Ronin & Stinger) plus 3 good upgrades (Reinforced suit). Combined with her huge resource pool and the good amount of strong energy resource cards in leadership it is the strongest hero aspect combo for both solo and multi player.

In solo I have beaten every encounter on heroic 2 with positive or even win rate and I've beaten most encounters on heroic 3 including the Klaw + Doomsday Chair achievement.

In two player she combos well with every hero allowing you to defeat more difficult content using your favourite Heroes.

In four player her damage is so high that she is the difference between playing two games in a evening and only having time for one without her.

What makes her so strong?

Obviously her card draw and large resource pool thanks to Energy Absorption plays a big part. It's the ability to cycle out cards she doesn't need for ones she does using her hero ability, Alpha Flight and Photonic Blast that gives her the consistency required for higher difficulty. Added to the fact she mills through her deck without having to blind discard any cards means you never have to struggle for longer than a turn or two before you get the cards you need.

Her damage is extremely high, with 15 damage from Photonic Blasts and 20 from Energy Channel. Add this with running through her deck in around 4 turns makes her damage per turn very high and that's not including all the other damage sources available.

No ramp up time, Carol's strength comes from her hero and AE abilitiy meaning she is strong from turn one. She has only one essential upgrade Alpha Flight and at one cost it can be easily played without harming your game state.

Spiderwoman, arguably the best signature ally. For three cost you get to ignore one scheme, block one attack and remove two threat. In solo play this allows you to ignore the villain and default threat for two turns and focus on dealing with just the encounter cards. When you pair this with Make the Call it's possible to bring Spiderwoman into play every other turn and make solo games much less swingy. If that isn't enough she's an Avenger giving great synergy with tower and assemble.

She is easy to play making her ideal for beginners and less experienced players. Her high health, built in sustain and large resource pool make her very forgiving of mistakes.

She has a high enough ceiling to make her engaging for more experienced players. Deck building for energy resource, maximizing card draw/cycle and using health as a resource for your hero ability.

How do you get the most out of Captain Marvel?

It starts with the deck building and her requirement for energy resources. Ideally you need over 20 cards in your deck to be energy or wild resources. The closer to 30 the better. I find 26/27 to be a good spot as it means 2/3 cards drawn will be an energy resource and it allows you to still take a good amount of strong non energy cards like Make the Call. The Vision ally from leadership also slots perfectly into this.

Health management, you can't use your hero ability at full health so you always want to take some damage. This can require some careful planning to ensure you're never at full health, but the healing and card cycle is well worth the effort.

Energy Channel, you always want to have a copy of it in play. This will allow you to be able to turn any cards left over in your hand at the end of each turn into energy tokens, squeezing out lots of extra damage (2 per card) over the course of the game. If you draw a second copy or you reach 5 tokens then you hit the boss with it.

Always be flipping, with your Alter Ego ability and Alpha Flight both granting an extra card you effectively have a hand size of 7/8 instead of 5/6, but only if you flip. On the turns starting in hero form play any hero actions and the flip to AE for the extra two cards and use them to play an ally for example or charge your Energy Channel.

Don't be afraid to deal damage. You don't need to be at full health and 0 threat on the main scheme to win. If things are looking dire, your best bet is to just defeat the villain before you lose.

How it works

This deck revolves around 3 core allies Iron Man, Ronin and Vision. You want to get a couple of them into play and upgrade then with Reinforced Suit and Team Training to keep them in play longer. Inspired and Power Gloves are there to further improve Iron Man, I wouldn't use them on the other two most of the time.

Once you have a couple of core allies into play you're aiming to get as many extra allies into play as possible and then Avengers Assemble at every opportunity.

Carol is one of the few heroes that can play an ally and Avengers Assemble in the same turn without needing to combo with Strength in Numbers. This can lead to some silly damage numbers combined with Energy Channel (30-40) and will often 100% - 0% stage 2 and 3 of a villain in solo play or a whole stage in two player.

Triskelion is there in case you don't get a chance to play Avengers Tower the first time you draw it. You will get a second chance to increase your ally limit and sometimes you may even want to increase it to five. Plus it's an energy resource if you don't use it.

Swap Quincarrier for Avengers Mansion on multi player if someone else needs it for their deck.

Alternative cards

Teamwork, when combined with upgraded Iron Man or Ronin is very strong. I often use it against Zola as it means my hero will take the retaliate damage instead of the ally saving them 2 or 3 hp per attack.

Wonderman, I have a love hate relationship with him, however he is great if you need another cheap damage blocker and he has great synergy with Teamwork if you take that as well.

Lead From the Front, I take this if I need more thwarting (Red Skull/Wrecking Crew). With two allies in play this is a decent card, with 3 or 4 it becomes really good.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes, with 3 X 1/1 allies in the deck this card has huge potential. Exhausting Hawkeye Clint to activate your 4 attack Vision is great value.

Voltron

In case you are wondering what Voltron means, it is a term given to a ally who you beef up using multiple upgrades. Based on an old cartoon where the 5 main characters combined to form one more powerful character.