"I Require No Followers" -- Zero Ally Leadership

Introduction

Leadership is an aspect I've had some trouble finding my footing with, as its ally focus doesn't really jive with how I normally play. I thought building a zero-ally leadership deck would be a fun challenge and I wanted to share what I came up with. I was tickled to find this concept works surprisingly well (read: is mostly functional) with Magneto, as that’s simply great poetic justice. Magneto is old, a survivor, has seen every trick in the book and has added a few of his own. He desires to be a beacon of mutant-kind's strength and independence and he maaaybe has a touch of toxic self-reliance. In other words, he’s the exact sort of character to be an ally-less leader.

What's in the deck

Our self-imposed limits give us a tiny card pool to work with. I haven’t counted, but I strongly suspect our functional pool is smaller than even running a basic grey deck. That said, I had a few deck building decisions and each card serves a specific purpose.

Go All Out, Morale Boost, Specialized Training: These cards are big reasons why I chose Magneto. His Magneto's Cape, Magneto's Armor, and Magnetic Pull ability give him a ready and boost his basic stats. Morale Boost loves readies and the combined increased stats can go towards a beefed-up GAO. I only included two copies of GAO because we only really want it late game to close out the villain. Earlier, we’d usually rather use Metal Shards. Specialized Training is a flexible PSS providing a stat boosting upgrade and card draw. Combat Specialist is probably your best choice for pushing the villain in endgame. It gives you effectively 2 extra damage each turn and draws a card. All these boosted stats can lead to a satisfyingly powerful GAO. I've hit for 16 with just two basic ATKs (one with a GOA) and I know it's possible to go higher.

To the Rescue! and Invulnerability: These cards are overly costly for most decks, but we’ll have to make do with them. Invulnerability is often described as a card you consider playing only after you’ve played every ally in your deck and that describes us from turn one! TtR is about as underpowered as it gets. 2 THW for 3 ER is Legal Practice levels of resource inefficiency. That said, it helps us consistently reach some important thwarting thresholds, especially before we get our Cape and Armor upgrades. Mag’s basic THW and TtR clear two of our three PSS and will clear a lot of villain side schemes in solo. Once we have our key upgrades, having TtR in hand lets us more easily use our (possibly boosted) basic DEF, for fundamentally the same reason. Lastly, both these events also have physical resources. The deck has a lot of upgrades and supports with energy and mental resources, meaning that we get balanced stat boosts in the early game and become more damage-focused in the late game.

Assess the Situation: Magneto’s riches lead to a lot of hands with leftover cards. This is especially true in late game, when I have a player board filled with card and resource generators. AtS turns that excess into consistently bigger hands, letting me find game-winning cards faster.

Stepford Cuckoos: An amazing card and another reason why I chose Magneto. The Cuckoos are a great alternative to stun and confuse, which this deck cannot access with our self-imposed limits. The ability to negate an untimely Advance makes flipping down to AE pretty viable, even in solo. Beyond that, they can also save you from getting flattened from a Gang Up (especially if you entered the villain phase without a tough) or protect your board from a Caught Off Guard or some other nonsense. They’re fantastic, they’re not allies, and they might be your best fishing target for Build Support.

What didn't make the cut

Earlier versions of this deck experimented with other cards I ultimately didn’t include in the final build. Digging Deep was occasionally useful during the setup phase, but it led to nothing hands in the late game. I replaced them with Assess the Situation for greater consistency. I also considered leaning more into Magneto’s readies with Tenacity, Adrenaline Rush, and Civic Duty. In the early game, these are always the least impactful set-up cards in a deck full of powerful upgrades and supports. By the time I reached late game, I was always ready to win without them.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this write up and give this goofy deck concept a try. Magneto’s signature cards and abilities made this surprisingly think-y to play, as I had to often consider the relative values of my different basic actions, know what cards were in the deck and discard piles, and consider what I might mill from a magnetic pull. It's a build-up deck with a lot of little decisions, and GAO gives it some surprising late-game punch. Enjoy!