Playing with Fire

Firestarter

A justice Drax deck? Must have a lot of thwart cards, right?

Right?

Art Credit: Scott Hepburn - Drax #1-5 (2015)

Smoke and Mirrors

I've never been big on Drax because of his weaknesses, viewing him mostly as a 'multiplayer only' hero.

• He has a lack of thwarting power, especially to start
• He can be slow to setup, taking a couple of turns to get vengeance counters
• Relying heavily on DWI Theet Mastery and Mantis can feel bad when they might not show up until the end of the first deck pass

Protection has all kinds of readies, card draw and ways to provoke attacks, but outside of it he can feel pretty bad. He doesn't want all the minions that come with a "Bring It!" deck and it can be slow to spend resources on allies in leadership. Justice is barely even considered.

Secretly? It might be one of his best aspects. There's one card even the bravest Drax players don't dare touch, giving you massive card draw and most of the time, no real downsides.

Playing with Fire (Deck Strategy)

Drax isn't one to back down from a challenge, and with this deck, you won't be either. With 3 copies of One Way or Another and absolutely no thwart cards, this deck is a 'rush justice' deck. Utilize all of the card draw here to set up fast, letting the board state pile up while you rush down the villain. You'll be shocked how many side schemes are so easily left on the board with no real consequence.

There will be no flipping down in this deck unless absolutely necessary, so you'll mulligan hard into DWI Theet Mastery and "Fight Me, Coward!" to set up. Use Face the Past and One Way or Another to increase your turn 1 card draw and allow you to get vengeance counters quickly. Don't find yourself stalling and trying to clear all the mess you're creating; Go too slow and you're guaranteed to get burnt.

Blazing a Trail

Not all fires are created equally, so grab these side schemes with One Way or Another first:

• Scenario-specific side schemes with net benefits: These are your Captured by Hydras and your Medical Emergencies. They're easy to let leave on the board and if cleared help advance the scenario
• Acceleration icons with when revealed/defeated abilities: One acceleration icon is super easy to deal with. When defeated might not trigger and having to reveal a minion or place additional threat is barely an issue
• Iconless static modifiers: All minions gaining toughness does not matter. If it's not significantly buffing up the villain, you can probably leave it

Other than these, crisis icons are better targets than amplify icons and amplify icons aren't as bad as hazards. The only side scheme you should never grab, in any circumstance, is one that prevents you from dealing damage to the villain.

Firefighters

Some fires need to be put out, and we have a roster of public servants ready to assist:

• Jessica Jones is a firefighter extraordinaire, thwarting for 4 or 5 in this deck. She's one of the only cards in the game that rewards additional side schemes in play and can help thwart the main or any crisis icons. Don't be afraid to use First Aid on her
• Let Vivian blank any particularly nasty side schemes if you need to clear them and avoid a when defeated effect, or just blank a crisis so you can thwart the main. Also particularly useful to blank attachments like Induced Panic
• Bishop and Rocket Raccoon are more arsonists than firefighters, but can thwart if you need it

We've also got some equipment to stop a fire from getting out of control:

• Pop Under Surveillance on the main scheme to mitigate all the side schemes with acceleration icons for a turn or two
• Intimidation on the main scheme when you're set up can remove up to 7 threat. Not a bad deal if you need it

Burning Bridges

Not everyone can handle the heat.

In higher player counts, Under Surveillance isn't as helpful, especially at 2 copies. Swap it out for Crisis Averted to help clear the main while removing any temptation to thwart side schemes.

• Assess the Situation was in a version with lower card count, but I found that adding a couple of additional cards had more impact than assess ever did
• Infiltration is a cheap thwart card, but thwarting doesn't win a game. Guard minions can also really slow down tempo, so best not to grab them
• Rocket Raccoon is my '40th' card here and saw swaps with Groot, Deadpool and Gilgamesh. You can swap if you'd like, but taking out guard minions helps advance more than these other options
• Grant Ward seems like a lock for this deck, but thinning the deck of side schemes means that drawing into a treachery is more likely
• Helicarrier can reduce the cost of cards, but card draw is often more of a limiting factor than resources. Could justify if you want some extra economy!
• I originally leaned into Float Like a Butterfly with cards like "Think Fast!" and Battlefield Benevolence. It works, but additional damage isn't really hard for Drax to manage so it can be a lot of setup for little payoff

Up in Smoke

I mostly made this deck as kind of a joke, but it's a fun 'rush justice' deck, even though it's not all that fast depending on the scenario. Beating Sabretooth without ever Finding the Senator feels like an achievement unlocked.

With any Drax deck, the higher ATK value a villain has and how punishing an activation is can really hard counter him. I struggled quite a bit to make it through expert Thanos, but 4 base ATK and the infinity gauntlet destroying your board state is a problem for any Drax deck.

If nothing else, reaching the highest possible ceiling with Jessica Jones is a blast.