Immovable Object Gwen Stacy

About the deck

After quite some testing, I believe this is the ultimate Ghost Spider Protection deck. While she's pretty much unkillable, the latest Hero Packs (Nightcrawler and Silk) give her some cards with quite the offensive punch.

The deck can handle high incoming damage, is great at thwarting, and has some relatively high burst in the late game, which makes it really versatile.

I just cleared the Return of Red Skull campaign on Expert, and beat each scenario on the first try. Will continue with the other campaigns and post results.

I. Defense

When fully set up, she has a base Defense value of 6!! Her very high base value of 3 + Armored Vest + Symbiote Suit + Defense Specialist.

You also have the Expert Defense, Not Today!, and Riposte package for additional +2/3 Defense whenever necessary, which makes sure that you won't be taking any damage.

II. Thwarting

You have her own 3 copies of Phantom Flip, which for just 2 resources can clear the whole Specialized Training side scheme, giving you the really useful reward.

Additionally, she can Thwart the main Scheme every round for 1-2 when defending with Hard to Ignore.

And you have an additional 2 Thwart from Not Today! for when you need it.

III. Card Draw

The deck cycles really fast and you get a lot of options with the huge amount of cards it draws.

• Defensive Energy can almost always be played for its draw effect,
• Unflappable draws 1 additional card per turn
• The pair of Web-Bracelet draws 2 more
• Symbiote Suit gives you 1 more.
• Flow Like Water occasionally gives you 2 more.
• Defense Specialist draws 1 more.

This gives you 5-8 additional cards per turn!

IV. Damage

It's not really expected for a Protection deck, but with this one you can get quite the offensive turns later into the game.

• Flow Like Water will be adding chip damage consistently, and it doesn't trigger Retaliate.
• Riposte Deals 3, and most importantly it's a Defense Event, so it won't be triggering Retaliate either.
• Phantom Flip costs just 2 Resources, and packs 6 Damage which is great.
• "Stop Hitting Yourself" will be hitting for 4-6 if you haven't played any Defense events, which is already good. With some Events you can easily go for 10+ damage for just 2 Resources.

Overall in the end game you will be having turns with 15-25 damage quite consistently with the huge card draw that the deck has.

V. Strategy

Card Priority

• Always prioritize the Defense cards first. So Armored Vest, Specialized Training, and against some villains you can get away with getting Symbiote Suit early.
• Second priority is George Stacy, as he is a powerhouse in this deck. You can tuck away additional cards under him and play them any time.
• Third priority are the Web-Bracelets as they will be drawing you a lot of cards.
• Then you need at least one Hard to Ignore early, against some villains you can prioritize both. Unflappable is also in this tier of priority.
• In this tier we have the rest of the cards of the setup - Change of Fortune, Flow Like Water, Helicarrier, Ticket to the Multiverse. They are great to have, but only when you can squeeze them in.

Playstyle

• Always Defend against attacks! In the early game the base 3 Defense of Ghost Spider will save you from a lot of damage.
• You don't need to Ready every time you Defend. Unless you are playing against a villain who can attack you again through Encounter Cards, you're fine with staying exhausted during your turn.
• In the early game you don't need to use Spider Gwen's Ready ability too much, because it costs resources before you've set up. It's better to use the resources for your Upgrades.
• It's okay to take some damage early, as the Symbiote Suit will give you 10 HP when you play it. It's also okay to sometimes play your Defense cards (Expert Defense, Not Today!, Riposte) to avoid damage in the early game.
• If you find yourself taking too much damage in the early game against a specific villain, you can swap Helicarrier for Down Time or Endurance.

VI. Conclusion

Overall this is a really fun deck to play, and it can handle almost anything the game throws at it.

Have fun! :)