Come Team-Up with Me at CoH 2026 (by Kakita Jamie)
- Kakita Jamie
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
Note from Astrodar: Kakita Jamie is a great friend that I met through Solo Champions League (RIP). We've shared a lot of discussion about the game, and had the joy of getting games in together at some previous Con of Heroes. I hope you enjoy some of Kakita Jamie's thoughts on team-up cards!
Con of Heroes hype season is here! Schedule’s out; custom content teasers are rolling in; and the eternal question returns:
“What should I bring?”
This year, my answer is simple: Team-Up cards. Lots of them. And ideally… you.
Last year, I showed up with Spider-Woman decks in every possible aspect combination. It was undeniably a blast, but this year I want something more collaborative. I want to build around one of the most polarizing, awkward, and secretly powerful mechanics in the game:
Team-Ups.
What Makes Team-Ups Tick
Quick refresher:
You can only include a Team-Up if your hero matches one of the named characters.
You can only play it if both named characters are in play either as a hero or ally (titles and subtitles count!)
That second rule? That’s the whole game.
Team-Ups are often over-statted for their cost meaning that they give you more value per resource than most comparable cards. The catch is simple: you have to actually turn them on.
Enabling Team-Ups (The Real Challenge)
Team-Ups are only as good as your ability to turn them on. Here’s how I approach it:
1. Play With Matching Heroes
The dream scenario: someone else at the table is running your partner.
The downside? That signature ally in your deck can become a dead draw.
2. Fix the “Dead Ally” Problem (House Rule)
At my table, we use:
If:
Your hero has a signature ally matching another player’s hero
And you share a Team-Up
Then:
Replace that ally with the Team-Up card.
It’s cleaner and honestly just more fun.
3. Work the Card Pool
Ask yourself:
Do I already have a usable signature ally?
Is it even worth playing? (Looking at you, War Machine…)
Are there alternate versions of this character?
Example: Thor has multiple ally versions. Jane Foster still counts as “Thor” for Team-Up purposes and she opens up more flexibility across the table.
4. Bring a Sideboard (Seriously)
One of my favorite Con of Heroes moments was someone sitting down, asking everyone’s aspect… and handing out cards.
And we played them.
So now I do the same. Bring allies. Pass them out. Let the table enable your nonsense.
5. Accept Reality
Sometimes your Team-Up partner is Nick Fury.
Sometimes it’s Storm.
Plan accordingly.
A (Very Subjective) Team-Up Tier List
The Best
Daughters of Thanos (Gamora & Nebula)
Draw 3 cards for 1 cost. No downside. No notes.
The Top Tier
Beauty and the Thief (Gambit & Rogue)
Fastball Special (Colossus & Wolverine)
Frenemies (Cable & Deadpool)
Order and Chaos (Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch)
Super-Soldiers (Captain America & Winter Soldier)
Winter, Widow, Soldier, Spy (Black Widow & Winter Soldier)
These punch at the level of signature hero cards and sometimes even higher.
The Divided
Shadow and Steel (Shadowcat > Colossus)
Super Spies (Maria Hill > Nick Fury)
Swarm Tactics (Ant-Man > Wasp)
All strong, but each clearly favors one side of the pairing.
The Good
Flora and Fauna (Groot & Rocket)
Heart of the Panther (Shuri & T’Challa)
Investigative Journalism (Peter Parker & Silk)
Unlikely Duo (Jubilee & Wolverine)
Solid cards that shine in the right setup, but need a bit of work to get there.
The “Cell Phone Required” Tier
Ancient Rivalry (Hercules & Thor)
Psychic Rapport (Cyclops & Phoenix)
Soaring Hearts (Angel & Psylocke)
Soul Sisters (Phoenix & Storm)
Two Against the World (Iron Man & War Machine)
These all ready both characters which sounds amazing until you try to sequence it.
With allies, you’re often just burning them out faster.
With heroes, you’ll want to play Cell Phone so that you can call for out of turn basics actions.
Verdict: powerful, but requires effort at the table to really make the juice worth the squeeze.
The Young Love Problem
Young Love (Gwen & Miles)
The card just doesn’t quite get there. Ghost-Spider doesn’t love the Miles allies, Miles doesn’t desperately need Ghost-Spider, and coordinating alter-ego flips is more trouble than it’s worth. It’s not unplayable—but there are better options almost every time.
Recursion: Because Once Isn’t Enough
You’ve coordinated heroes. You’ve handed out allies. You’ve built your deck around this one card…
…and you get to play it once per deck pass.
That’s where recursion comes in.
Aspect Tools
Protection: Jocasta (for defense events like Shadow and Steel)
Aggression: Keep Up the Pressure, Plan of Attack, Aggressive Stance
Justice: Cricket Noises
Hero Tools
Some heroes can loop Team-Ups:
Thor / Black Panther: single event shuffle effects
Psylocke, Wasp, Quicksilver: regular alter-ego recursion
Winter Soldier: loops via Black Widow (from hand only!)
Angel / Archangel: Avian Anatomy + Worthington Industries support
Rogue: the absolute champion (Superpower Adaptation + Mutant Education)
What I’m Bringing to CoH 2026
Here are the decks and team-ups I'm bringing this year. Click the links to see the full decks!
Most Team-Ups at One Table
No recursion but 6 Team-Ups across four players.
Recursive Duo
Psylocke + Angel: The only duo with recursion on both Heroes. Looping Soaring Hearts while buffing Angel into a menace.
Don’t Tell Black Widow It’s Boys Night
Winter Soldier recursion engine using Regroup and Med Lab to replay Black Widow repeatedly.
When Did Nick Fury Stop Being an Auto-Include?
Answer: He didn’t! He Shows up all over and that should leave Super Spies easy to activate!
Nadia Is the Real Hero
Wasp’s alter ego shuffle effects get absurd as the deck shrinks.
Rogue Does It Best
Up to eight Beauty and the Thief plays per deck pass.If the villain survives, it’s just because they want to see how far this will end up going.
Final Pitch
Come play with me.
Bring Ant-Man. Bring Nick Fury. Bring Captain America. Bring Gambit. Just… maybe don’t bring Black Widow.
Borrow a deck. Take a card from the sideboard. Enable someone else’s combo.
I’ll have a limited run of custom hero cards to hand out and a table full of Team-Up chaos ready to go.
Let’s make this the most synergistic Con of Heroes yet.
Thanks
To my lifelong friend D. Bruce Campbell, thank you for editing this disaster of a writing experiment.
Much love to the Marvel Champions LCG Homebrew discord community for the all the custom art options.
Most appreciative of Astrodar for letting me put up my first writing adventure on their platform.
Thanks for reading. I hope I’ll see you at CoH 2026.
