The Unstoppable Nightcrawler: Keep On Standing

Nightcrawler is an amazing and fun character, whose hand is a satisfying puzzle to solve for. He does have some struggles with minions and threat, and this deck aims to solve these issues and has performed well for me in solo (Expert Magneto, as well ass Expert play throughs on all the scenarios from Rhino to Red Skull).

Why two of all these Max 1 upgrades?

Nightcrawler really wants his defense boosted and his clap back damage boosted, so it's very worth having 2x Armored Vest and 2x Electrostatic Armor. Superpower Training also acts as another copy of Kurt's Cutlasses. These are all very key, so we want to see them sooner. Another benefit is, because there are two of them, if there's a board state issue (side scheme, attachment, etc) that you want to get rid of, using one of these cards for that is less painful because you know you'll see another copy of it later.

Dauntless and Endurance I would say are nice-to-haves but not necessary. If we can get them online, great, but not worth bending over backwards for.

How do we do damage?

I have heard some complaints about his damage output, but I think the key here is leaning into his ability to defend multiple times. 'Port and Punch and Teleport Drop are great, of course, but with just Electrostatic Armor and Kurt's Cutlasses we are hitting back for two, and punishing extra villain activations with damage back into them. Tally Ho! is also a legitimately amazing card. It's effectively 0 for 3 damage since it replaces itself with a Bamf. I find this card is often worth holding into the villain phase.

How do we thwart?

Scout Ahead is a very good card that is sometimes worth the kicker to hit two different schemes at once, but even 1 for three threat removed is amazing. Another thing is, as you'll see below, we are often still standing after the villain phase, and Nightcrawler's thwart stat is very good. Not Today! is good to use to hit side schemes, and Jump Flip is main-locked, but I find I can just use Nightcrawler's basic on a side scheme if I want two off of it.

How do we kill minions?

Nightcrawler does struggle with minions sometimes, and if Dauntless, Electrostatic Armor, and Kurt's Cutlasses are in play we are clapping back for three as long as our health is 9 or more. That's pretty good, especially if we get Azazel out on a cheeky boost. For bigger minions, we have Under Control, which does really great damage when we defend. Below, you'll see how we do that without exhausting.

How do we stay alive and stay standing?

The true stars of this deck are Jump Flip and Side Step. They are great at acting as a perfect defense safety net for Unflappable, but their main use I've found is minion control for benefit. With Prehensile Tail we can pay for one of these and still have something to play in the hero phase, or two if The X-Jet is up. Both of these cards are (defense) cards, so they turn on Electrostatic Armor and they help us push a little bit more thwart and damage. They are also handy if the villain activates again and you need to thwart or attack. Neither will likely stop all the damage, but will stop most of it. Important to mention Jump Flip and Side Step also turn on Under Control, so if we have Kurt's Cutlasses, Electrostatic Armor, and play Side Step with a minion that's already Under Control, that's 7 damage!

And for staying alive, we have Angel's Aerie, which gains counters every time you Bamf!, Jump Flip, or Side Step. One 'Port Away is often all you need to top off your tank, and then you can flip back to hero form. Don't forget that Jump Flip and Side Step work on any kind of damage.

How do we pay for stuff?

I feel like, in my plays with Nightcrawler, multiple resource generators are key to ensuring you get use from Bamf!, and get it back on the villain on the following turn. X-Gene targets all our hero events, and The X-Jet along with Prehensile Tail help us pay for these defense events. I often use Deft Focus too, but this deck was getting crowded. We also have 2x Unflappable and 1x Change of Fortune for card draw. Unflappable to me feels vital enough to justify two copies.

Wait, who's that guy?

Oh, you mean Synch? He's there to boost our thwarting or damage, or defense if we are feeling nervous. I thought about cutting him for something else, but the flexibility is nice.

Some tips

• With three resource generators, it might seem like overkill because you're not using all of them all the time. I am not bothered by this as there are really nasty turns where I use all three and come out unscathed enough that I feel they are justified. Because a lot of the deck is reacting to encounter effects, it varies how much you'll need these generators.
• I find that on rare occasions I have a card or two left over. If they are Jump Flip, Side Step, or Tally Ho!, I find they are worth holding into the villain phase for peace of mind. Unflappable/Change of Fortune card draw will make up for it.
• There are other "Defend without defending" cards like Defiance that might deserve a look, I've just found these two to be so good and I don't want too many or it might lead to too many awkward hands.