Hey guys! This decklist is still something of a work in progress, but I've been using it for a while now and I've been very happy with the results so far. I've been testing it at around rank 120, and I'm looking forward to using it next ranked season. I thought I would share it with all of you, as well as tell you a bit about how I think you should be piloting a deck like this.
This deck is a little on the weirder side of things, and as a result I think it catches a lot of people off-guard, which will hopefully result in lots of 4 or even 8 cube victories when you pull out your big burst combo at the end, which is typically going to consist of forge + brood + swordmaster + killmonger, but I'll get into this in a little bit.
Let's go over the card list:
Nova [pool 1]:
Nova's the only 1 cost we run in this deck. You want nova to just chill out in a corner until the end of the game, so that you can blow him up with Killmonger and get a massive attack bonus to your side of the board. If nova dies, and your board is completely filled up when this happens, Nova will grant an additional 11 attack to your team! That is absolutely massive potential value for 1 energy. Play him as early as you can.
Angela [pool 1]:
Angela's busted, everybody already knows this. We don't have anything like Nightcrawler for synergy but it doesn't really matter, getting 7 attack for 2 mana is crazy. Try and play her in a separate lane from Bishop, as having them both in one lane is sometimes overkill. She can also be played turn 6 or 7 as part of your finisher.
Forge [pool 1]:
There are two ways to play Forge: you can either play him on curve if you already have Brood in your hand, or you can wait until the very last turn to use him as part of your burst finisher. What you decide to do will depend on lots of factors, but generally just know that if you're wanting to end the game fast, you will probably want to play them both out 1 at a time if you get them both early. This deck still has a decent finisher even without Forge + Brood.
Either way, Forge is really great when comboed with Brood, and not particularly amazing without. With Brood, you're basically paying 2 cards and 5 energy for 13 attack, which is respectable value that only gets better with Sera.
Okoye [pool 2]:
Okoye is normally pretty good value by herself, although most decks will opt for Scorpion instead of her. When played on curve from your hand on turn 2, Okoye will grant you basically an additional 4 attack, assuming you use the cards that you draw after playing her. In this sense, you can think of her like a 2 energy 6 attack unit when played on curve.
Okoye is actually perfect for this type of deck. Magik will typically be played, meaning you'll get another turn to draw an additional buffed card, and if you get lucky and happen to buff and draw a Brood, that's an extra 3 attack as well. So in a best-case scenario, Okoye can give your team +7 damage, plus her own body for a total of 9 damage, which is obviously massive value for 2 energy.
If you want something that's safer if you draw it late, consider cards like Mojo, Lizard, or Mysterio instead.
Bishop [pool 1]:
Bishop is just really good in fast miracle decks like these. If played on curve he'll typically end up as a 6 or 7 attack unit. Extremely good value for 3 energy.
Brood [pool 3]:
Our first pool 3 card. We talked about it a bit in the Forge section, but Brood is basically the heart of this deck. If you don't have Brood and Forge in your hand by turn 5 you should seriously consider retreating since you'll be missing a lot of burst. However, you can also play them both early should they both show up in your hand in time, and this can be a decent way to use them as well.
If you end up playing them early, your endgame burst combo will typically be a little more freestyle, which will be covered later in the guide.
Killmonger [pool 2]:
Killmonger should almost always be used in order to take out 1 drops like Ebony Maw, Nightcrawler, Antman, or Sunspots at the end of the game, or in order to kill your own Nova for a team-wide buff, or ideally both. But definitely try and save him for the last turn while Sera is active. When played optimally with Nova, Killmonger will net your team +14 attack including his own body, so definitely don't sleep on how much of a swing he can provide!
Swordmaster [pool 1]:
Funny thing about Sword Master is that you might think Maximus from pool 3 is better for a miracle deck because he has an attack value that's 1 strength better, but the problem with that here is that if Maximus receives buffs from Okoye AND Nova, he'll end up as +9 unit, meaning he can die to Shang Chi, which is very bad. For this reason, I opt to use Sword Master here.
On the other hand, since Maximus forces card draw to the opponent, he's going to be a better option when fighting Discard decks that want to do things like have their Dracula inherit Apocoylpse's or Infinaut's attack value. But Maximus also slightly buffs the opponent if they're running something like Devil Dinosaurs. And they're kind of rare but Maximus also counters Strong Guy decks too. Feel free to pick either depending on what the meta looks like.
You can also switch out this option for similar choices such as Wolfsbane or Captain America if you'd like.
Jessica Jones [base]:
Honestly Jessica is just here because we don't really have any decent turn 4 plays in this deck without her. You can swap her for a different unit if you'd like, such as maybe White Queen or Rescue, but I just like using Jessica because she's simple and doesn't require any additional cards to work efficiently. Jessica can also survive Shang Chi if she doesn't get buffed.
Magik [pool 3]:
One of my favorite cards from pool 3, part of the reason I wanted this deck to work so badly. At first glance she seems really weak, only 3 attack for 5 damage. But oftentimes she'll catch the opponent so off-guard, they'll be busy filling up one of their lanes to the brim only to realize you have enough time to finish them off in 2 turns from now. She got nerfed recently so that you can't play her on turn 6, but even with this nerf I think she works really well here.
Being able to control a location of your choice can also be a huge swing in your favor. You'll almost always start with a lane advantage if you play Magik into places like Bar With No Name or Jotunheim to name a few.
It should be said that cards like Scarlet Witch, Storm, or Rhino can just shut down the Limbo location the next turn, but this doesn't happen too often since most people play those cards out on curve when they appear.
Sera [pool 3]:
Sera's ongoing effect is the only reason this deck works at all, and without Sera this deck just doesn't work out most of the time. We'll go over some of the combos she enables in the next section. The only thing that feels bad is the fact that we'll normally end up playing her on turn 6 after Magik and floating 1 energy, but it's not too bad all things considered. You can even take this chance to play out Nova if you stumbled upon him recently.
America Chavez [pool 1]:
The consistency queen. I consider Chavez pretty important for the consistency of this deck as you really want to make sure that you have Forge, Brood, Magik, and Sera in your hand by turn 5. You don't NEED all of those cards all the time, but running Chavez ensures that you'll be getting most of them for a reasonable amount of games.
Chavez also acts as an emergency win condition too, being able to finish games either by herself, or after playing Sera and Magik (and Chavez herself), plus anything that costs 3 or less from your deck on turn 7., or 2 extra cards that cost 2 each.
Ideal cards to play on each turn:
(Version 1: Turn 7 finisher, easiest)
Turn 1: Nova
Turn 2: Okoye first, otherwise Angela (we can build up angela quickly later, we don't usually need to rush her out)
Turn 3: Bishop (Angela works too if you don't have Bishop)
Turn 4: Jessica Jones
Turn 5: Magik
Turn 6: Sera
Turn 7: Forge + Brood + Swordmaster + Killmonger. Alternatively, if Killmonger isn't going to provide much value, lead the combo with Angela instead.
Not counting any buffs, this combo will add up to 22 damage on your side of the board. With perfect Okoye buffs and Nova buffs, this combo can add up to 37 damage including Nova buffs to your other units, PLUS Bishop/Angela buffs, PLUS additional 1 drops from your opponent being killed. Just a huge amount of burst, really.
(Version 2: Turn 6 finisher, harder)
Turn 1: Nova
Turn 2: Angela, Okoye, or Forge. Typically Forge if you already have Brood in hand.
Turn 3: Brood if you played Forge last turn, otherwise Angela or Okoye (you could also play Forge here if he just appeared)
Turn 4: Jessica Jones, or Brood if you played Forge last turn.
Turn 5: Ideally you have Sera here. If you don't, I'd usually recommend retreating.
Turn 6: If you didn't play Sera last turn, finish with America Chavez for 9 damage if you can win with it.
If you DID play Sera last turn, finish with something like Angela/Nova/Forge/Okoye/Bishop + Sword Master + Killmonger/Brood. Damage here can vary a bit depending on what cards you have remaining, so make sure to count out how much each option you have can do. You'll be surprised how quickly damage starts to add up, even when you opt to not go into turn 7 with Magik.
Difficult matchups:
Sera mirror: This deck can struggle a little vs other Sera users, since you'll lose a lot of momentum vs them if you play Magik into them. They get all the benefit of an extra turn with none of the momentum drawback.
Wongoing or Big Dudes: We don't run tech options like Enchantress or Shang Chi, so you need to be extra careful vs decks like these. Consider retreating if it's not manageable.
Mr. Negative: Too hard to predict and counterplay at times, they benefit too much from having a turn 7.
Medium matchups:
Control: Cards like Shang Chi can be scary since we run some units that can die to him, but normally you have so much on the board that survives it ends up basically being a wash. Watch out for Cosmo, broken card smh.
Easy matchups:
Kazoo
Patriot
Wave
Rocks
Other stuff I can't remember right now lol
That's going to do it for this guide. As of writing this, pool 4 and 5 cards are going to be added to the game soon. I don't expect these to change the cards played too much, however with cards like Silver Surfer buffing 3-attack units it's possible the meta might shift a bit. At any rate, I expect this list to stay useful for a good while longer.