Tigra joins the Dark Side

"You don't know the power of the Dark Side..."

So many people on here are trying to beat around the bush of Tigra in protection. So many protection decklists trying to find novel ways to enhance her minion survivability when the answer is so clear:

Patriot ... too slow.
"Come Get Me, Bub!" ... too random.
Ready for a Fight ... who needs alter-ego?

It's time to embrace Pinned Down for the unlimited power it provides.
Welcome to The Dark Side.

The premise behind the decklist is relatively simple, get a couple minions in front of you to enable Tigra's insane economy to turn that into table-wide buffs. Hand out tough cards through Muster Courage, provide card draw and discounts through Helicarrier and Avengers Mansion, and help defend the table through your allies and the core box GOAT Indomitable all while staying in hero form the entire time.

Lets talk gameplay:

Tigra's hero ability had the alarm bells ringing from day 1. The idea of being able to consistently draw up 8 card hands with a triple resource generator seemed too good to pass up. My initial passes of this deck tried to avoid Pinned Down, but all my attempts often felt like I was investing far too many resources into her survivability when the answer was clear. After setting down my ego, I embraced the dark side and the path became clear.

The goal here is to usually get two minions out turn 1, flip up, and never flip back down. Minions will be fetched with either Hunted or Moon Knight in this deck. Even with two minions in front of you, you already are starting with a 7 card hand that just starts the incremental advantage train to build that huge economy.

I found myself not stressing about finding that 3rd minion too much, you can usually find it through simply drawing the Hunted or even luckily as your encounter card for turn. There's no ways to guarantee finding Pinned Down either, but the new ally Yellow Jacket is a really flexible ally that can find specific cards, being able to tutor Pinned Down or Hunted early to set up your board, or more specific pieces later in the game like Sharp Claws or Indomitable.

Surviving the minion onslaught early is not always guaranteed, so there are still some specific picks in here like Starhawk and Victor Mancha that can help your early survivability and then shift to helping you teammates later on in the game.

Once the economy is fully set up (3 Pinned Down minions), the world is your oyster. You get full access to play Tigra's extremely strong identity cards, being able to drop Tooth and Claw for 1 cost or 0 is awesome. Past that, I tried my best to include a suite or protection cards that felt both good and proactive to play. Hard Knocks almost single-handedly frees up your activation every turn, allowing you to make use of your boosted attack with the claws, or get another key defend in during the villain phase. Muster Courage is borderline broken and she gets access due to the Avenger trait and her high economy.
(Note: Consider sideboarding out of it versus A/B villains or if you're playing on Standard mode, I found Med Team to be a fine replacement!)

I found myself most games donating the Avengers Mansion and Helicarrier to my teammates in order to make their turns better. The primary role of this deck is to basically generate no threat and help out with both the board control and survivability of the other identities in the game. You still do find yourself taking damage, so What Doesn't Kill Me makes sure you remain at high enough health to keep the deck running.

Final thoughts and considerations:

I should've stated this candidly, but this is not a Solo deck. There are probably numerous changes you can make to make it more solo viable, not limited to finding some way to increase the decks thwarting through strong allies such as Snowguard, Nick Fury, and others.

I don't aim to say this is the best / most efficient way to play Tigra in protection, I just found this to be the way that was most fun for me. The idea of not having to flip down a single time really felt her feel flexible and powerful, especially in a multiplayer setting being able to call for actions basically 100% of the time. If you're interested how I came upon this final decklist, feel free to check out my deep-dive video discussing Protection Tigra.

And that's it! Once you get over trying to tinker around with a protection Tigra list sans Pinned Down we'll always be waiting over here on the Dark Side when you want even a taste of that power. Enjoy!

(FINAL NOTE: If it wasn't obvious, all the references to the Dark Side and the small tongue and cheek comments made are all jokes. It's just a commentary on my initial dialogue trying to make an effective deck without Pinned Down and eventually "succumbing" and being pleasantly surprised at how good the results were. This in no means is meant to shame anyone for not playing with the card, or trying to make more novel/interesting decks in the aspect, all just in good fun!)