Gunboat Control

Setup/Turn 1: Go 2nd. Start with Build Support. Your ally player in 2-man should be able to remove 2 threat. Make sure to mulligan hard for a way to remove 2 threat with an ally or a card like Mind Scan since you'll want to clear Build Support on turn 1. Use Build Support to play Graymalkin. Cable will ready upon clearing of the Build Support. Often, use Graymalkin to play another player side scheme and then use Cable to thwart that other Scheme. Depending on resources and board state, you might opt for Gunboat Diplomacy to push damage into starting minions while also clearing threat.

Turn 2: You may not have an ally for chump blocking, so consider face-checking the villain attack. Turn 2, you're looking for an ally and to complete another side scheme. If you can get Dazzler or Prof X, safely go down (with the confuse token) after doing what you can to clear another player side scheme and working on the main.

Turn 3 to 6: Continue building up and discarding Psionic cards or your control cards like Predictable Ploy, Spycraft, etc. During this section, you're looking for Professor to pull Technovirus Purge (or to draw it naturally), and complete the Purge to gain Psionic and the stat boosts. You're also looking to get Children of the Atom in play to make Gunboat better/more reliable.

Turn 7+: Profit from your setup, especially your Cable events, and leverage Plasma Rifle and Telepathy (which can benefit from The Power of the Mind when triggering its ability) to dish out damage and/or threat removal.

!!! NEMESIS - if your Stryfe Nemesis set enters the deck, you'll need to play cautiously by having Spycraft and/or Stepford Cuckoos in play and aiming to hold a Predictable Ploy in hand. This may feel very inefficient but it's MANDATORY since Mind Scan or Telekinetic Blast can end your game.

Partner Deck-build notes: -If your ally relies on a weapon, you could alter the deck to include Lock and Load. -If your ally is an X-men hero, it would be helpful for them to include generically good supports like: X-Jet, Utopia, and Uncanny X-men --If the above is true and they plan to run Danger Room, make sure to include a copy of Mission Training in your deck.

Weaknesses - possibly weak to minion swarm or heavy attack damage in early game.