Are Custody Battles the Future of Marvel Champions?

Minions… don’t want to live with them, and some heroes can’t live without them.

As the pool of heroes grows more crowded, I have seen a bit of lamenting regarding the rising number of minion-focused heroes. In particular, with Tigra on the horizon and Winter Soldier just behind us, a lot of players are wondering if the space for a minion-focused hero has grown too small. How many custody battles over minions are you willing to fight?

I am here to posit that the space isn’t nearly as small as it might seem. You see, there are two types of minion-focused heroes. Those who want them, and those who want to defeat them. In the wise words of Mulan Ping. “I'll hold him, and you punch!”

I love building decks that pair together. Interactions between players are one of my favorite parts of the game. As such, this split between heroes that want minions to show up and those who want to defeat minions offers fertile ground for making your own buddy pairings. Just pick one from each of the below categories, and you’re right as rain. 

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I'll Hold Him:

Thor

Thor gets resources when he engages a minion, but after that, he couldn’t care less. Build in ways for him to pull minions during each phase!

Tigra

Tigra draws cards from minions being engaged with her at the start of the player phase. She also has a resource generator based on being engaged with a minion. She doesn’t care about actually defeating them. In fact, the one benefit she gets from it (a ready from Hunted) doesn’t actually care who defeats the minion. Just maybe bring a Cell Phone.

Vision

Vision gains no inherent value from being engaged with minions. However, he can flat out ignore most minions while still managing thwart. While he is more of an Honorary Holder, we’re including him. Load up on minion-summoning cards or cards that benefit from minions (like "Bring It!") and profit!

Magneto

If Vision is kind of a Honorary Holder, Magneto is barely making the list with an Honorary title. He has tools to hold minions between Wrapped in Metal and Magnetic Bubble, but he also usually wants to be the one who defeats those minions using Magnetic Missile.

Phoenix

Someone is going to say I forgot Phoenix, because of Mental Paralysis. However, that is not good enough for me, so here is my tiny disclaimer that she was considered. I love her dearly, but she does not get the Holder title. (Imagine a stamp smashing down to mark her card with a big, red X.)

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You Punch:

Winter Soldier

You get to remove two threat from a scheme each time you defeat a minion! Now if only you had someone serving those minions up on a platter...

Rocket Raccoon

This rock ‘em, sock ‘em raccoon wants to knock down minions for card draw. He’s also a bit of a marshmallow, so too much direct pressure will flatten him. Let someone else be engaged with your minion farms.

Valkyrie

Valk gets some solid benefit from knocking down minions between her Valhalla card draw and her Death Glow benefits. Let someone else profit off a minion, then be their best friend by removing it.

Ironheart

With some events that pay out progress counters for defeating minions, Ironheart certainly doesn't mind having minions show up. While she isn't inherently focused on them, she's worth including.

Nova

This dude loves fuel for his Unleash the Nova Force turns. But he is getting a firm Honorary Puncher designation, because sometimes those minions just end up being extra ways to spin wheels. You want to make sure you don’t get lost in the rush of the Nova Force.

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Punching Buddies

With these heroes delineated, I thought it would be fun to feature a couple of paired decks that play off this dichotomy. Here is a pair that I have really enjoyed playing together.

Resource Rocket

Mr. Moneybags AKA The Bankroller AKA The Tech Investor

Rocket has everything he needs to be straight flush with resources. In-kit double resources, alter-ego and hero card draw abilities, Moon Girl... (I'm sorry what was that? Uh-huh. Not part of his kit, you say? I don't believe you.)

In this deck you've got all your usual goodies, but we're also packing some things to help out our pals.

Resource Reserve

Help your friends pay for their stuff with Resource Reserve! You're looking to store doubles, namely Salvage. Salvage has two great reasons to be stored. First, you can help a buddy pay for something and grab some tech. Green is your new best friend. Second, you want to store Salvage for a spicy Spectrum moment. If you pay for Spectrum with Salvage (and tuck it), Spectrum becomes a 5 THW / 3 ATK / 5 HP ally. That's right... Salvage will trigger both the mental and wild resource kickers on her ability.

Other Fun Stuff

• Use "Welcome Aboard" and Call for Backup to get allies into play for other players (or your greedy little self).

• First Aid and Rally the Troops will keep everyone's allies healthy.

• Beast can find that Salvage you want.

• Cyclops sets up a nice bonus damage turn since Particle Cannon and Rocket's Pistols are all attacks.

• Med Lab and Rapid Response can help Cyclops and Beast cycle for extra benefit.

All in all this deck is primed to help out at any table, but my personal favorite is pairing him with a Repurpose build. Right now, I've been running him with Thor's Tech Deck.

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Thor's Tech Deck

I know what you're thinking. Are we about to see Thor absolutely shredding it with a fingerboard? Would the God of Thunder do a gnarly grind on Mjolnir with his vintage 1998 Element TechDeck? The answer is no, and I'm just as disappointed as you are.

Instead, this is a deck meant to be paired with Resource Rocket, featured above!

Repurpose Refresher

This is a pretty classic Repurpose build, and while it may seem light on the tech cards, Rocket will let you use Salvage to put some tech back on top of your deck. Feel free to queue up some minions, draw your cards, and go face (or manage the board, your call).

On the off chance that you haven't played a Repurpose deck before, you're looking to play out your tech cards (Energy Barrier and Stun Gun), use them almost all up, and then trash them with Repurpose to get a ready and a stat boost. Thor has some additional readies with Limitless Stamina and What Doesn't Kill Me to use those stat boosts further.

There's not much more to it. Just keep in mind that you only care about minions showing up. You don't really care if you take them back out.

Flex Spots

There are a few flex spots in this deck. What Doesn't Kill Me could easily be Ever Vigilant. Anticipation and Ready for a Fight could swap numbers. Or go Anticipation, Ready for a Fight, and Practiced Plan. Dial it in to what you enjoy!

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Conclusion

That's it for me today. What buddy pairings from above are you excited to try out? Let me know if I missed any heroes that should be in one category or the other!