In this series, I am going to highlight cards that I am currently enjoying. These are by no means the most powerful cards. They aren't even necessarily my all-time favorite cards. They are simply cards that I am really enjoying right now. At the end of the article you'll find a decklist that I've enjoyed using them in and a slideshow that displays all the cards.
Call for Backup
Hot off the press, it's the new player side scheme for Leadership. Defeating this side scheme will let you put one ally from your deck or discard pile into play. It's powerful... and a whole lot of fun. There is something quite cinematic about Call for Backup being completed in a larger multiplayer game. A team of three or four allies swarm the board, turning the tide of the game. The reason that I really enjoy it though, is that it has breathed some life into expensive and forgotten allies. This leads me to my next card.
Beta Ray Bill
Hailing from Star-Lord's hero pack, Beta Ray Bill is the hunter of minions. After he attacks and defeats a minion, you can remove two threat from the main scheme. That 5 cost is hefty, but now that Call for Backup offers alternative ways to get him into play, you can drop him in, keep him healed, and be handling multiple problems at once.
E.V.A. (and Fantomex)
Another set of cards from NeXt Evolution, I couldn't include one without the other. There is something fantastic about Fantomex entering play and immediately dropping another card on the board. That said, E.V.A. is the real star to me. I really like having ping damage and threat removal, because it makes it a lot easier to set up other abilities to trigger (like Beta Ray Bill's ability). It also helps you ensure you're not wasting damage or threat removal on dealing with a Tough or clearing a 1 threat side scheme with your powerful basic activation or event. As a bonus, E.V.A. doesn't thwart or attack, so you can sidestep some nasty effects. I've enjoyed both loading Fantomex up with upgrades to power him up and just keeping him around to run E.V.A. and power up cards like Band Together.
Band Together
While sometimes touted as a 'win-more' card, I have found Band Together to be a really strong tempo card, especially in the NeXt Evolution scenarios and campaign. The main concern with the card is that it can be unusable without allies, but in NeXt Evolution you will often have access to campaign allies that help power it up. It makes it really easy to bump it to a double or even triple resource. While it's not something that I would put in any deck, it has really been singing alongside the big allies that I've been keeping out on the board.
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock might be one of the most fun allies in the game. He looks a tidge wimpy with a small 1 THW and 1 ATK, but his strength comes from his ability. If you can set it up to have a single resource type left in your hand before he activates, you can choose what effect you will get. 3 non-attack damage, 3 non-thwart threat removal, or 3 identity healing is massive and a highly efficient use of your cards. As a bonus, if you can trigger him with something like Jackpot! or Salvage, you can even trigger multiple of the effects. (Just note that it doesn't work like that for something like Strength or Genius).
Try Them Out
If you want a quick and easy way to try these five (technically six) cards out, I just took this Spider-Man deck through all the NeXt Evolution scenarios and had a blast! If you're taking it through NeXt Evolution, I would suggest swapping United We Stand for First Aid during the first two scenarios.
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