The Best of Growth Worlds

I was really excited for Rocket when Galaxy's Most Wanted came out. Really excited. Then the cards were spoiled recently, and a proper look at Groot's cards got the gears turning. Protection obviously is very strong with Groot, but I'm a sucker for those yellow aspect cards and decided to branch out into a different one. Boy, was I surprised at how good it is! I couldn’t be-leaf it! (okay, I’ll give the puns a rest now...)

Deck Basis:

The idea of the deck is to keep flipping to AE every other turn (where possible), and get maximum use out of his ability to add Growth Counters, as well as getting extra cards. This way, we can utilise best his hero cards that do X of a certain thing based on the number of counters Groot has. Justice is best placed for this, thanks to a couple of cards and being able to have a decent handle on schemes.

Hero cards:

I really like how Groot's hero cards play out around the concept of Growth Counters, very unique amongst the heroes. Definitely something I've appreciated with the spoilers so far with the Guardians of the Galaxy and how they've tried to shift up how different they are, as I was expecting something a little more standard. My favourite card so far is Fertile Ground. Groot can be a bit slow so getting extra card draw is fantastic, and it's been a card I've tried to hard mulligan for. As you're mostly flipping between forms every other turn, you get maximum use out of this and the Growth Spurt ability. Between these and the 2 copies of Fruition, this leads you to having turns with the max counters possible for dropping a 10 DMG "I. AM. GROOT!" or removing 10 Threat with "I am Groot"

I havn't generally much used the four cards that trade Growth Counters for a boost to stats or ready Groot, but they're handy in a pinch and having them sat on the board helps thin the deck (as well as being Superpowers, Deft Focus helps make them 0 cost cards). "We Are Groot" is incredibly useful, I'm more than happy to drop a couple of counters to give Groot and Rocket Tough, to help against a big attack on Groot removing more counters, or letting Rocket get another turn of attacking minions.

Allies:

I always start here, and this deck runs a healthy amount of them. First up is the star of them, Agent Coulson. He has a handy 2 THW and let's you pull a Preparation card from the discard/draw deck, and Counterintelligence is incredibly good for keeping a lid on large numbers of Threat just dropping and suddenly flipping a scheme. As Justice doesn't have the strongest set of allies, I have included the best of the rest in Quake and Wiccan. Not only are they great chump blockers at 2-cost, but they also offer a little minion damage (in their own unique ways).

Ironheart is a cheap chump blocker and helps with some card draw. Mockingbird is there primarily to take a little heat off Groot and enable him to keep those Growth Counters around a little longer. Having played this deck a fair few times now, I've had turns where I've drawn so many resource cards with little to play, so I've been trying out Lockjaw, who has proven to be quite helpful. Lastly, Rocket Raccoon; I'm really impressed with how good Rocket is. Helps keep minions down with some hefty damage so Groot can in theory focus on hitting the villain.

Justice:

There's not a lot to say about Justice really; as of present, it's really quite one note in what it does, so whichever threat removal cards you use are probably slightly dependant on the hero and what you fancy playing. As Groot isn't particularly great with resources, I added in a copy of Sense of Justice. Being able to make a copy of any of the 3 For Justice! or 2 Clear the Area cheaper is handy in a pinch, but in concert with Deft Focus it can make I Am Groot a lovely one cost card. Under Surveillance is in as I generally play 1/2 Handed or 2 player and can just help stop those 1 Scheme Villains like Rhino or The Collector taking you out in one turn with Threat. Skilled Investigator and (usually) Clear the Area help out with card draw now and then. 2x The Power of Justice rounds out the aspect to help pay for the pricey Justice cards

And the Rest:

Filling out the gaps, I've got Helicarrier and just a single copy of The Power in All of Us for more resource smoothing (the latter is a bit of a flex card). Lastly, a single copy of Deft Focus is added. Of all the heroes currently available, Groot has the most superpower cards, and this has been incredibly handy to have on the board for a hero with no built in resources/generation (Fertile Ground aside).

With the deck built, I try to mulligan as hard as possible for any combination of Fertile Ground, Deft Focus and Sense of Justice just to get the ball rolling. Flip as often as possible. Protect those Growth Counters but don't also be afraid to spend them if you need to, and it's certainly another way to play Groot. As you flip between forms, it's really easy to get those counters back.

If you're playing more than 2 players, I'd probably change a couple of cards up. If Rocket is being played by another player, chuck the basic Rocket ally. I'd also lose Under Surveillance as it's effect lessens with more players. You can add in more copies of Skilled Investigator to help thin the deck and aid the other heroes. Flora and Fauna is useful if Rocket is played as a hero. Maybe one of the other basic allies too, and possibly a 3rd Clear the Area if you feel the scenario warrants it.

All in all, this deck has proven to be quite strong. I've so far taken out Drang, The Collector, Nebula, Rhino, Klaw, and Crossbones all in Expert (as a side edit, you may want to try changing up a few cards when facing the Collector. I'm potentially looking at Foiled! instead of Counterintelligence, as though it's down to when you draw it and variable, it's a 0-cost event that can be used in both forms). It's also been great to play a deck that actively wants you to go between both forms and get the best out of both. Hopefully, if you use this deck as a basis for your own, you have as much fun as I have had with it so far!