Spider-Woman - Open the Spyfrost

Spider-Woman is on a top-secret mission from S.H.I.E.L.D. to gather Asgardian aid to combat the world's latest threat...

-----Operation OPEN THE SPYFROST-----

This deck is built around combining Spider-Woman's unique deck-building possibilities to pair Beta Ray Bill with his aggressive Asgardian friends while accessing on-demand triggers for Jessica's "Superhuman Agility".

The Mission at Hand

1. The top mulligan priority is Build Support to cheat the Bifrost into play. I know it sounds a little crazy and inefficient to not select a 3-cost support, but it's the only way to get the mission going. Perhaps you can enlist the help of a friendly Cable hero to aid you instead. That guy loves missions.

2. Second, you are looking for both copies of Finesse as well as Clarity of Purpose to build your board state. These let you easily play the Asgardian behemoth that is Beta Ray Bill and trigger kickers from Thor and Valkyrie.

3. To execute the mission, Open the Spyfrost to deploy allies, boost your stats, and fill in the gaps through either Attack or Thwart.

I Spy These Interactions

• Beta Ray Bill + War Room for additional threat removal from any source (not just the main scheme).

• Boot Camp + Leadership Skill + Thor can easily clear out the minions engaged with an overwhelmed player.

• Boot Camp + Leadership Skill + Beta Ray Bill likewise makes it easier for him to do his thing.

• Bifrost into Angela for a free Superhuman Agility boost and target for Bill to crush. You heard that right. The Bifrost lets you play the card, which can trigger your stat boost.

• "You Got This!" + Superhuman Agility boosts lets you hit the villain or their schemes where it hurts and readies you for another swing. On top of that, this gets your key Asgardian friends back in the discard pile right before a deck cycle so you can bring them right back out through the Bifrost

The Debrief

• Did you leave out a Thor? Yes, she's a bit expensive and not as useful as her friends. I focused on the more efficient Asgardians. Heimdall is also left out because he is costly and does not trigger Superhuman Agility, nor is he playable with Finesse.

• I didn't see any Squared Off! This deck shines against minions. However, its mission is not minion summoning, but rather to Open the Spyfrost to play allies on demand from the deck. That said, this is an amazing combo worthy of its own Spider-Woman deck. This would also pair well with "Bring It!".

• What about Hall of Heroes? While thematic, it's the allies typically defeating minions, not Spider-Woman. A potential consideration in minion heavy scenarios.

• Spider-Girl makes an appearance as a thematic choice that can also help you deal with strong minions.

• Maria Hill is a solid multi-player ally for this mission. She's also great at helping you hit your Leadership Superhuman Agility boost and giving you an extra card to dig for more boosts.

• Once the Bifrost is open, it's easy to reach the 3-ally cap. Instead of going for the Triskelion, I opted to go the motivational route with "You Got This!". It takes advantage of a damaged ally, triggers your Superhuman Agility boost, and readies your boosted hero. Command Teams also let you get the most out of your allies, so the Triskelion is less necessary.

• Deft Focus helps you get that 3rd Superhuman Agility boost from either Contaminant Immunity or Inconspicuous. It also provides a ready through Self-Propelled Glide once you have a solid boost.

Suitable Substitutes

• Attachment Heavy Mission? Swap out Spider-Girl for Sunfire.

• Solo, 2-player, or someone playing the Maria Hill hero? Swap Maria Hill with Stinger or Ant-Man for a cheap ally that can boost you and provider you or another hero with a blocker. Or better yet, grab Kaluu to dig for just the right aspect event.

• Minion Heavy Mission? As mentioned above, you can add in Hall of Heroes, swapping with a single copy of Looking for Trouble.

• Low Minion Mission? Not an ideal scenario for this deck, but you could trade a single Looking for Trouble and War Room for 2x The Power of Aggression.

• Side Scheme Heavy Mission? Swap out a copy of Command Team for Mission Leader or just add it with a single copy of The Direct Approach to balance the aspects.

Forbidden Tactics

Regroup has so many applications with a multi-aspect hero like Spider-Woman. A potential possibility with this particular deck is to Regroup Asgardians back to your hand and then put them back into the deck with Domino's activation on the following turn and then open the Bifrost to get them back onto the field. While this might sound fun, I believe the juice is not worth the squeeze. Domino eats up one of your ally slots. Then you have to get her into play. After that you need to Regroup an Asgardian. On top of all this, you really only need this if your deck is empty of Asgardians. All that effort saves one effective resource... No thanks.

Now, perhaps there is a version of minion summoning between these two aspects that uses Regroup to keep playing Angela before dropping a "Bring It!"...but we'll save that mission for another time...

If you happen to find yourself at the table with Cable and can convince him to use Build Support, I'd recommend adding a few copies of aspect resources, such as The Power of Aggression and Effective Leadership. These are cheap ways to trigger your Superhuman Agility boost while accelerating your efficiency and effectiveness. The large deck size isn't as much of a problem since you can call upon your Asgardian allies with ease.

I hope you have as much fun playing this deck as I did! So far I've used it to complete several missions of various player counts, including a solo match vs Expert On the Run with Standard Decisions. Special thanks to andyr for showing me Beta Ray Bill's potential at Con of Heroes '24.

Peace!