Don't Quit Your Day Job

Deck Pitch: We never flip to hero and let the law and some careful planning take out the villain.

Reviewing statements by moonlight. Winning cases by daylight. Never getting in a real fight! She is the one named Jen Walters.

I’m publishing this one ahead of my suspected (and hoped for) episode of the Winning Hand on She-Hulk’s hotly contested “Worst Card” Legal Practice. If that one doesn’t end up happening, then we still have this deck. If it does, then it can get sorted into the decks associated with that episode. Like they say “there are no bad cards” and while that is debatable every now and then, I believe there is a place for every card in the game. Even if it's more effort than it's worth in some cases.

Inspired by decks like https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/10156/playing-poker-with-natasha-romanoff-1.0 and https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/49445/tony-stark-director-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-1.0 that never want to flip up, here comes a Jennifer Walters deck that seeks to emulate what her life might be like if she just stuck to the lawyer gig. She is working with law enforcement to deal with the villain’s scheme and leaving actual punching to those that aren’t at risk of being disbarred for punching someone out. While it may not end up being 100% feasible depending on the matchup you’re looking at, the goal and challenge of the deck is to see if you can get by without ever flipping to hero form.

Basic Deck Strategy

This deck is very build reliant since we aren’t gonna be going into Hero form if we can help it. So we need to get our supports, upgrades, and allies to help us get the job done. If we are playing solo we really need side schemes to help us end the game because that is where a solid chunk of our damage is coming from. In a very ideal scenario we can wring 6 damage per side scheme we defeat. So we aren’t playing a very fast game with this deck.

Mulligan Priorities

1st - Permanent Threat Removal (Beat Cop, Disguise, Superhuman Law Division)
2nd - Temp Threat Removal (Allies or Surveillance Team)
3rd - Side Schemes and our additional damage (Command Center and Sky-Destroyer)

Opening Statements

We’ve done all the prep work we can do for our time in court and now it’s time to put it into action. We gotta make sure all our witnesses show up and that we can question them effectively. Beat Cops are a huge source of passive threat removal so once you can get one on the stand, do so ASAP. I don’t think there is a more important card to get out except for your making sure you have your snappy suit on (aka Disguise). The villain scheming against you every turn is gonna add up really quick if you don’t have a way to deal with it the game is gonna be over before you can get off the ground. We’ve put together an effective case, but the prosecution is going to hammer us hard, so we have Counterintelligence to push back against their Advance.

Since the main scheme is probably ticking up at an average rate of four per turn, that gives us a baseline for how much threat we need to shake every turn. Our Beat Cops can almost cover than by themselves and Surveillance Teams and good in a pinch, but we want to hold onto them for Homeland Intervention.

I included Quincarrier here to provide stable resource generation for Superhuman Law Division. you have to use Build Support to get it out if you are staying in alter-ego. But if you manage this early it will help us dismantle the prosecution’s arguments just as well as our Disguise.

Expert Witnesses

We have a handful of high profile names we can call on to help our case. They each serve a specific purpose to help us defeat the prosecution.

Daredevil is another skilled attorney and pulls double duty for us by cutting off our opponents’ schemes and chipping away at their defenses. Call on him when you need some help managing threat mid-game.
Hellcat can wear down the prosecution’s schemes and then take a break before coming back for more cross examination. Solid early to mid game play.
Husk is our closer. Once you have laid out your case, she can keep pressing your position until the villain folds. Play her late game.
Jessica Jones is snapping photos to help support are case, the more evidence the better she is. Play her mid game when side schemes are piling up.
Monica Chang helps present our evidence. Play her early and mid game to get our Surveillance Teams or to refresh them.
Nick Fury comes in clutch with whatever we need in the moment. Good to play whenever you need an immediate boost.
Quake is here to clear the gallery if things get too crowded. In minion heavy scenarios get her out early to chip away at them.

Closing Arguments

The prosecution isn’t gonna rest until they are beaten into submission and unless you wanna flip up to hero to close things out, we have a pretty strict path to achieve this. Now if you don’t mind not challenging yourself, just go hero mode and beat face. But if you’re trying to stay alter-ego, we are very reliant on dealing damage strategically by defeating side schemes or playing SHIELD cards.

If we can manage it we can do six damage whenever we pop a side scheme with Command Center and Followed. Finishing Lay the Trap hits the villain for eleven which is a decently flashy way to end things.

Sky-Destroyer is here to slowly chip away at the villain or the minions by a little bit whenever you Homeland or play a SHIELD ally. It’s unlikely to win you the game on its own, but it can manage things for you.

There’s one Cell Phone here to help give you a slight boost towards either thwarting or punching. Call in help as needed.

Additional Evidence

If you are taking this one into multiplayer, it’s probably fine as is in two player for handling most of the threat (once you’re established). But higher than that, it’s unlikely to be able to handle the higher numbers you’ll be seeing. Since you’re more likely to have other players to handle damage in high player counts, feel free to lose Followed, Command Center, and Sky-Destroyer in favor of Vigilante Training to recycle Homeland Intervention. Even then, it’s gonna be struggling to really deal with everything that gets put on the table, so hopefully your fellow players don’t mind helping when you get in a pinch.

There is a version of this deck that ran more Cell Phones to squeeze a little more out of your allies. I traded those away in favor of adding Counterintelligence to give you a little more protection against losing to a burst in threat. In multiplayer it may be better to switch this trade since Cell Phones can sometimes function better than Counterintel.

Most decks I run Monica Chang in are recursion decks meant to play her repeatedly. So I had to break away from that for atleast one deck. If you are more interested in that playstyle, trade the Followed cards for Chance Encounter. I might also throw in Dum Dum Dugan to give you a little more damage.

If you want to cut this deck down closer to 40, be my guest and good luck to you. I was struggling to make any cuts and every time I did I found another card or two to include in its place. I guess you could trim down the allies or cut out some Beat Cops or Surveillance Teams, but I was really having a hard time doing that. This deck may be cursed to be inefficient, but it’s a jank deck anyway, so we may have to settle for that.

Wishful Thinking

I really wish Operative Skill doubled the threat removal of Legal Practice. There’s a world where the words are shifted slightly and it make it more obvious that it would do that, but as is it’s too vague and the wording leans more towards it just giving you a +1 for that thwart. Makes me a little sad. But I will say no one from FFG is watching you play so if it makes you happy to play it that way, do so. They aren’t gonna take your She-Hulk cards away from willfully misinterpreting a ruling to be able to make two cards in this kit actually semi functional.

—- Munkey