Diversity Wins (AoS+)

This is a deck in a series I'm putting together using only cards from Agents of Shield onward (AoS+). Even though so much of Marvel Champions is inaccessible to new players, it's still a game for everyone!

Teddy here is a solid hero no matter the circumstances, but we don't have access to some of his most powerful options. That's okay, though, because we've got some backups. For starters, we're going to actually play the hero as he was probably intended to be played. That is, changing forms to fit the situation. Considering the nature of this deck, our best shape will probably be Armored Shape, because our goal is to keep allies on the board for a long time. However, Winged Shape, Hulk Shape, and even Imitation Shape (when used with care) can help us deal with whatever particular problems we're facing.

Now, the meat and potatoes of this deck is something time-tested. Strength in Diversity, a card that can go from "okay" to "no way did I do that math right" pretty quickly, especially when you build for it. And, fortunately, we've got a lot of good options to make it work.

[[WARNING: This deck has significant diminishing returns as the player count goes up. Strength in Diversity costs 2 per player (though, it being Alliance-traited, other players can help pay for it), but due to Trait saturation you get less bang for the buck as the number of players increases. At 3-4 players, it might be worth exchanging Strength in Diversity for other events like Teamwork, Unified Strike, Assess the Situation, or even Lead from the Front.]]

Hulkling has three traits out of the gate, meaning we can play a Strength in Diversity with no allies and it's as good as a For Justice! without the kicker. We're not setting the world on fire, but it's not a dead draw. It's also an event, so it'll trigger our Shape abilities, too.

However, our ally pool is curated to make sure we get access to lots and lots of trait tags to boost those numbers sky high. Our best board state (with The Triskelion in play) will include Hugin & Munin, Grant Ward or Slingshot, Namora, and Misty Knight or Hulk. That's 9 additional traits to add to our 3, giving us 12 points of damage or thwarting, divided however we like, ignoring Stun, Confuse and Patrol, and only losing 1 damage to clear a Tough status.

Let's talk about Innate Inspiration. I don't think this is a very good card. It's not something you want to play early, but it's in your opening hand. It has no resource icons so you can't spend it. So why is it here? Well, with the stipulations I've put on deck-building (AoS+), we don't have access to Team Training, so Innate Inspiration is the best we've got. I recommend mulliganing this card and playing it on the second deck cycle when it shows up again.

In this deck, Righteous Purpose is an opportunistic play. I wouldn't pay for it unless you've got allies out, they're low on health, and you've already seen most or all of your Strength in Diversity cards. It can be an efficient closer, and it can rescue a bad board, but it's not Plan A. Defensive Formation has two excellent targets. Either one of them will be grateful for the Toughs to keep them swinging. It can also function as your defense plan for a while. Hulk blocking with Toughs while he builds counters is a great way to buy yourself some breathing room.

Even though our goal is to keep allies in play, you are going to lose them, so we've got the "Avenge Me!" upgrades to make their sacrifices count as well as Make the Call to get our most valuable allies back in play. With the strong economy our Shape cards give us, we should be able to set up quickly and start hammering every scheme, minion, and villain with the power of diversity!