Deadpool Kills Expert Marvel Champions (Solo) (With Tips)

Deadpool has to be, if not the best, one of the best Heroes for solo play. Not only does he offer perhaps the easiest 2-turn kill of any Hero, but he himself cannot be conventionally defeated. Possibly the most forgiving and simultaneously punishing Hero for his high-risk/high-reward playstyle, solo games usually boil down to either winning early or losing early.

The Deck

This decklist is a consistency build for more of the rush down scenarios. For a build able to handle more things at any given time (or MP), I’ve often made the following swaps:

Remove:

Mulligan x3

Mutant Education x3

X-Mansion

Add:

Bob, Agent of Hydra

Kidpool

Cutupper

Da Bomb

'Pool Inspection

Avengers Mansion (often played over Weapon X anyway)

Moira MacTaggert (ideally replaced by X-Bunker for MP, as someone else usually has Moira out; very good card that you may want to include anyway- I did not have this available during my testing games)

I have also tried the following, with my opinions on each:

Dogpool - never does anything you want. Couldn’t care less about the tough most scenarios. Only valuable for the icon, and it’s not an icon you want on the table for very long. Always a better card available to play.

Lady Deadpool - pretty good. Only downside is the cost, which is just high enough that I’d probably not run her.

Pandapool - not worth it. High cost for another encounter card and no ability. Never really wanted to play this.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead - pretty good. Mitigates the hazard icon with the ability, but pretty expensive, so was cut.

"I Got This" x3 - usually dead. Very cool to pull off when all the icons are out, as I have done the mostly ‘Pool deck and embraced the chaos, but not reliable enough to run in a normal deck.

Get in Front of Me! - usually you will have no window to play this, as most turns you will be in AE to start.

Rock, Paper, Scissors - my luck is bad with this card, apparently. Misses more often than I’d like to keep it in the deck.

Deadpool Corps Ship - good card if you run a bulk of the ‘Pool allies. I no longer do, so it is cut.

Plan B - harmless add that can sometimes do something. Usually better options are available so I ended up cutting this from most builds.

The Games

I didn’t intend to go through every single scenario when I was testing out Deadpool; I never do with any Hero, as I don’t play solo much, and don’t think there’s really any one Hero (apart from Strange) who I would feel good about taking into every scenario. But I found the games were going by quickly enough that one more game turned into two, then three, and so on. So I figured I would share my experiences and offer some tips on how to approach each villain within the realm of the ‘Pool aspect, as that was what I tested. The modulars I used were mostly on a whim, sometimes thematic.

• Absorbing Man - Black Tom Cassidy - Play Symbiote Suit (SS) ASAP and rush down. Very easy.
• Brotherhood - Bomb Scare - Build up until you are ready to take down either two or all of them in one go. Take out Toad ASAP if you start with him. Medium difficulty, harder or easier depending on what comes up when.
• Collector - Experimental Weapons - Rush down; play SS on a turn when you can Maximum Effort for huge damage. Should only take about three turns at most. Very easy if you find SS turn one.
• Collector 2 - Menagerie Medley - Focus on finding “Yoo-Hoo!” and rush through the main schemes, only flipping when you can whittle down the next one significantly, taking the extra encounter card to remove threat every turn- keep threat on MS2 so that one encounter card from the library can clear it and allow you to escape MS3 in one go before the villain phase. Should only take around three to four turns. Very easy.
• Corvus/Proxima - Under Attack - Build up while reducing each villain equally, blocking with allies to avoid unnecessarily damaging the tower. Play It Ain’t Over… on Proxima Midnight’s scheme to protect it from damaging the tower. Only play SS near the end, when you can likely take out one of them in a single go. Relatively easy.
• Crossbones - Weapon Master, Sentinels, Zero Tolerance - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Very easy.
• Drang - Band of Badoon - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Relatively easy.
• Ebony Maw - Beasty Boys, Brothers Grimm - Plan ahead for the spells you start with and focus on control while you damage the boss. Medium difficulty.
• Hela - Frost Giants, Galactic Artifacts - Kill the first minion and build on the starting side scheme while keeping the acceleration tokens low. Prioritize It Ain’t Over…, at least one Katana, and Chimichanga Truck. Rush when you are ready to deal with things. Medium difficulty if Hela schemes too often, or if you play SS too early.
• Hood - Osborn Tech, Military Grade, State of Emergency [unused sets: Crime, Experimental Weapons, Running Interference, Streets of Mayhem] - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Very easy.
• Juggernaut - Symbiotic Strength - Stay in AE as long as you can and let Juggernaut scheme until safe to flip. Use the triple pool resources to expose the helmet and keep it that way. Ideally kill phase three in one shot. Very easy.
• Kang - Shadow King - Surprisingly very difficult fight for Deadpool in ‘Pool aspect. You want to kill phase one Kang early without playing SS early (you risk losing it easily to the obligation that steals your highest cost card), and you want to do this without adding acceleration tokens. Prioritize Armed to the Teeth with Sonic Rifle to keep Kang confused to ensure safe flips to get rid of the nasty obligations. It Ain’t Over… will be useless in this fight. Build during phase two while keeping the board controlled. By the time you get to phase three you should be able to kill him in one or two turns.
• Klaw - Children of Thanos - Defeat The "Immortal" Klaw first to limit the threat placed early. Depending on the minion you get to start, focus on defeating the Defense Network side scheme next. Normal fight after that. Relatively easy.
• Loki - Fantasy, Frost Giants - You want the costly events for this fight, as you want things under control as much as possible most of the game, especially side schemes. One wrong Loki can bring your game to a halt, and the Infinity Gauntlet complicates things. Kill Loki whenever you can immediately kill a replacement, or if you can immediately deal with the side scheme he pulls out. Not a rush fight. Difficult fight.
• Magneto - Extreme Measures - Rush through the side schemes in around two turns maximum. You can do it in one turn if you can play Prof X and both “Yoo-Hoo!” in the opening hand. After that, play at least one Deadpool's Katana before playing SS and aim to kill phase three in one go. Magneto has loads of cards to slow you down (Magnetic Bubble, Wrapped in Metal, etc) so you do not want to play SS early if you can help it to avoid extra encounter cards. Block aggressively with allies to keep your health up for surprise shrapnel. Medium difficulty, harder or easier depending on what comes up when.
• Magog - Western - Often best to stay down first turn to avoid damage, unless you have a way to stun him. Play SS when you anticipate killing him at least twice in a turn. Only flip The Challengers when you can deal with Surprise Contender the same turn. If you can wait to kill Magog until he gets his attachments all the better. Either an easy fight or a close one.
• Marauders - Crossfire’s Crew, Weapon Master - Build up on the first Marauder and wipe out the next two as quickly as possible. Block with allies to preserve at least one of the Morlock allies. Relatively easy.
• Master Mold - Ransacked Armory - Focus on the minions until you can wipe out Master Mold in one go. He has low health so this should be doable relatively quickly. Da Bomb can do work here, as it bypasses guard. Very easy.
• Mister Sinister [Super Strength, Telepathy] - Nasty Boys - Keep the main scheme from flipping as much as you can while whittling down the villain. Play SS when you are confident you will win. Relatively easy.
• Mojo - Fantasy [Western] - Rush down. Mojo has a few cards to stop you cold (chiefly Undercover Mojo and Stinger Tail), and a lot of HP, so if you see one of these chances are good you will lose, as even one turn of no damage to Mojo might cost you the game. Avoid him scheming at almost all costs, either through confuses or just staying in Hero form. If you get to the end of the first pass through his encounter deck and cannot defeat him the next turn, it’s probably best to give up and try again, as the main scheme can build up tons of threat quickly. Hard difficulty.
• Mutagen - Goblin Gear - Block the villain’s attacks with allies while dealing with any Goblin Thrall, ignoring any Goblin Soldier. Keep the main scheme from flipping at all costs so you can continue to avoid dealing with the non-guard minions. You want to kill phase three before dealing with that villain phase, so he should be low health on phase two before the flip. Medium difficulty, harder or easier depending on what comes up when.
• Mysterio - Mystique - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Avoid getting encounter cards in your deck while keeping the main scheme low. Very easy.
• Nebula - Anachronauts - Rush and go for the two turn kill. You will most likely lose very quickly otherwise; there is almost no way to contain Nebula’s nonsense. Tons of Nebula’s techniques can stop you by themselves, so if you get the wrong ones it’s better to restart and try again. Very difficult even with the perfect hand to successfully pull off a turn two kill.
• On the Run - State of Emergency, Wrecking Crew - Always kill the Marauder minions to avoid the villain scheming. Try to flip the main scheme when you can deal with the minion it pulls out, then rush the final villain phase. Relatively easy.
• Red Skull - Band of Badoon, Hydra Assault - You can either thwart each side scheme as it comes, or focus on just what’s beneficial. Once The Red House is down, focus on rushing. If The Sleeper comes out, try to deal with it in one turn so you can get back to rushing. Surprisingly his attachments that give him retaliate can slow you down enough to matter. You do not want to build up acceleration tokens as you want to mostly focus on thwarting the side schemes when you have to thwart. Can be more difficult than it may seem. Possibly pack a Pool Inspection just in case.
• Rhino - A Mess of Things - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Very easy.
• Risky Business - Goblin Gear - Build until you are ready to flip him and kill GG in two turns. Very easy.
• Ronan - Mutant Slayers - Rush and go for the two turn kill. You’ll want SS turn one, and you’ll want to save your treachery cancel for only the most debilitating of treacheries. I drew perfectly for this fight and so it took only one attempt, but there are many things that could cause you problems, so, like Nebula, it could take many tries. Very easy if you can get the turn two kill; not worth it to play longer than that.
• Sabretooth - Brotherhood, Mystique - Play SS ASAP and rush down. I was lucky in my game and defeated both phase two and three before even rescuing Robert Kelly (I did this even without SS), but do not expect this to be a regular thing. If you are unable to defeat Sabretooth before Kelly is freed, I imagine this will be a far more challenging fight, as you’ll have to always have a way to block for Kelly. Would be usually a fairly difficult fight I’d imagine, but because it can be done without ever having saved Kelly, I’d put it at a Medium difficulty.
• Sandman - Zzzax - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Avoid putting acceleration tokens if your health is not high enough to take at least two placements. I played two games against Sandman with both versions of the deck, and one game he didn’t attack me even once. Very easy.
• Sentinel - Sentinels - Play SS ASAP and rush down. You want to clear the schemes that get you allies for more damage and never block with them. Try to keep things as under control as you can, but it is better to just keep hitting the villain most cases. Medium difficulty.
• Sinister Six - Can be a tricky fight if you do not have enough answers to the side schemes and the Life-Size Decoy. Try to keep the villains out to one or two at the most, and try to flip the Light at the End on a turn when you are almost guaranteed to clear it. “Yoo-Hoo!” is fantastic for this. Medium difficulty, can be easier or harder depending on what comes up when.
• Spiral - Crime, Fantasy, Sitcom - Play SS ASAP and rush down. You can leave the starting environment out if it’s not too terrible until you are ready to kill phase two (or until you absolutely need to thwart it). You should be able to kill phase three in one go if she doesn’t get extra activations. Relatively easy if her activations are limited, medium difficulty if not.
• Stryfe - Personal Nightmare, Reavers - Build up while Stryfe’s Grasp is out, and get rid of the attachment he puts on you ASAP. You will want to Live Dangerously as early as possible since you will be thwarting Stryfe’s Grasp anyway, and you do not want to build while on the second main scheme. You can plan your attacks to always get the maximum damage on Stryfe while avoiding taking lethal in phase three to finish him quickly. Relatively easy.
• Taskmaster - Mutant Slayers - Play SS ASAP and rush down. Bring Pool Inspection for the Captured side schemes. Very easy.
• Thanos - Galactic Artifacts, Mutant Slayers - Can approach one of two ways. You can take a chance and have him remove half of your deck from the game, hoping he hits your non-Hero cards, or you can play him as you normally would, and deal those big bursts of damage when you can while controlling the board and removing his attachments. Probably would not recommend a rush down. Medium difficulty.
• Ultron - Galactic Artifacts - From my experience, by far the hardest of the villains for solo ‘Pool Deadpool to defeat. Took many tries. I do not recall if I finally defeated him using the Galactic Artifacts set or not (I don’t believe it was this set, actually), but I tried this set for so long and the games blurred together (it can hand you easy losses thanks to The Poison) that it may well have been. You cannot rush Ultron in 'Pool. At least I could never do it feasibly. Playing SS early is a mistake. You want both Katanas. You want Armed to the Teeth and Sonic Rifle. You want as few drones as possible because he will create two more when he flips to phase three. He cannot take damage while a drone is out. His main scheme can get out of hand quickly. He has ten cards in his deck that make drones. If they ever get to three HP it can get very hard to kill them. Da Bomb is your best friend here and you will want to hold it whenever you draw it, lest it become a drone. If this sounds like fragmented trains of thought, just know that fighting Ultron solo in ‘Pool has worn me down and I do not recommend it. If, miraculously, you find yourself able to hit phase 3 when there are no drones, it will feel like the best thing in the world. Hardest villain hands down. Do not recommend.
• Venom - Down to Earth - Avoid multiple attacks and go for big burst ones instead. You want a Maximum Effort turn one to clear the Tooth and Nail. You want at least a Katana or two. After that, play SS and rush him down. Relatively easy.
• Venom Goblin - Goblin Gear - Focus on building the first turn and hope to find Live Dangerously as early as possible to get the extra cards. You can ignore most things as long as you focus on going for damage. You should get the phase three kill before you reach that villain phase, as the schemes will likely be unmanageable by then. Only took one try for me with the mulligans and an early SS. But it’s Venom Goblin, so he can easily deal you the wrong card at the wrong time. Medium to hard difficulty if you get unlucky.
• Wrecking Crew - Build at your leisure, making sure Piledriver never completes his scheme. Live Dangerously can be played with impunity. I was able to eliminate Thunderball, Piledriver, and Wrecker in one turn, each from full health, with Bulldozer falling next turn. As always, the easiest of easy.
• Zola - Deathstrike - Play SS ASAP and rush down. You’ll likely want to clear the Test Subjects turn one to avoid the hazard. You can ignore most of the minions as long as they don’t get guard. Katanas are good here, Da Bomb seems like it would be fun to get around guard and hit multiple things at once. Zola has low health so this should be a very easy fight.

Conclusion

Wow, so that’s everything, I think. Maybe not as comprehensive of tips as I could give, but Deadpool lends himself to be a more ‘guaranteed win’ or ‘struggle ‘til you suddenly win’ sort of character, in my experience. Just the right amount of chaos to be very fun and enjoyable in his aspect, from all the games I’ve played. I’ve both embraced the chaos and shunned it, and found both approaches viable in their own way. He’s a unique experience all-around; a cheat-code type character that will likely be either hated, avoided, or loved in this game, which, for a few terrible match-ups, he just barely avoids breaking completely.