Nightcrawler - Monster x Hunter

"When you understand the nature of a thing, you know what it's capable of."

Tally Ho fellow Monster Hunters! Have you ever wondered what would happen if Nightcrawler teamed up with Blade? Well, here you have it! This deck utilizes an innate 23 resources to power up Blade's activations. Teleport around to distract the Villain while a fully equipped Blade strikes the Villain!

Monster

Nightcrawler is a beast, with decent basic thwart, amazing defensive potential, and a series of hero cards that I am still trying to master. I've tried all kinds of deck types and aspects with him, but this is one of the first ones that has really clicked with me. He excels at defending with Bamf! while staying ready, but as andyr so masterfully demonstrated in his Divine Fury deck, Bamf! can be used for more than just defending. It can be used to power up other things through his Rapid Teleportation hero ability.

Hunter

And this is where our good buddy Blade comes in. You can use Rapid Teleportation to spend any resource to grab a Bamf! from your discard pile, giving you extremely easy access to resources in hand to keep Blade in play after he activates. So, not only can you convert cards in your hand into resources, but you can use resources on the board from the likes of Enhanced Physique or Clarity of Purpose! But it doesn't stop there...

Gear Up

If we're to to be effective hunters, we need some solid gear. You'll want to hard mulligan for Blade or Suit Up to grab him and a piece of gear of choice. I typically go for Inspired first for flexibility, but they are all pretty useful. Of course, you'll need to get Honorary X-Men out before you can make use of Danger Room Training. Sky Cycle is probably last on my list but is great to bring the game to a close once you are built out a bit.

Support the Hunt

We've got some decent options to build our board state for those longer games where you can afford to do so, such as in multiplayer.

1. The X-Jet is such a great card here because the resource can be used for Rapid Teleportation, where Helicarrier cannot. That said, you don't need it as much as some other heroes in multiplayer, so this can be swapped out.

2. Weapon X actually has some cool synergy with Kurt's Chapel and the need to recover to draw you or a teammate a card. Since we may need to use Rapid Teleportation to pull Bamf! to our hand from the discard, it can leave you taking a bit of damage, so don't be afraid to flip often and recover if the situation allows it.

3. We are calling on Moira MacTaggert to assist us with the constant flipping. This is much more viable with a dedicated Justice teammate, one with easy access to confuse or in 3/4-player games. If you are soloing or playing 2-player, you may not get as much use out of her. Also, don't forget to use your Alter-Ego ability to grab Bamf! from your deck when you can, if you haven't already taken all of them out.

Hunting Party

1. Angel is a cheap/efficient ally for the cost and helps us stay a little on theme. Angels are great to have on your team when fighting evil.

2. Cyclops can help us close a game and is a great target to grab with Suit Up in multiplayer. If you can't play him early on because you need to build up your gear a bit, he's got the resource for a Blade activation.

3. Lastly, Hawkeye makes an appearance because I value his ability to strike at minions, which ideally lets Nightcrawler finish them off through events or basic attacks powered by Kurt's Cutlasses. We don't want Blade wasting an activation on small threats if we can help it. He is also an Avenger so if we need to grab Power Gloves or Sky Cycle through Suit Up, he's our guy.

Opportunistic Hunting

This deck has a bit of flexibility depending on your situation. If you are in a 3/4-player game, you can't go wrong with throwing in Maria Hill or even swapping her with Angel to gain a swift advantage. Additionally, if you don't like to flip down often or are playing a scenario that makes it difficult, you can cut Weapon X and Moira MacTaggert. In my solo testing, I didn't get much use out of them, but I like having options if the situation arises or if you can't grab an early Blade or Suit Up.

I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this and if you try it out, let me know how the hunt went!

Peace .