Introduction
The movement archetype's available from Pool 1, however it really comes into its own in Pool 2 while also creating a disruptive counterpart in Pool 3. This one contains the move package from Pool 2 with the addition of Dagger for an extra payoff option.
The deck is a lot of fun, can reach a lot of otherwise inaccessible locations and capable of creating impressive power swings that often can't be fully predicted, the downside of it being less intuitive and requires quite a bit of experience (a detailed guide would require a whole .ppt presentation but the first rule is that, generally, you don't want to fill the left location as everything will slide that way on the final turn).
Game plan
The goal of the deck is to use the movement synergy and drag Vulture, Multiple Man + Hulkbuster and Dagger (it'll depend on what you draw into) all over the board and create several individually powerful cards with the help of Iron Fist, Cloak, Doctor Strange and Heimdall while also buffing Kraven.
Card suggestions
You can swap out Nightcrawler for Human Torch or Miles Morales to increase the power level of the deck. If you don't have access to Dagger, you may opt for a different powerful 2-drop such as Angela, Lizard (can always slide him away from a full location to keep the premium statline), Forge (a 2 power buff can go long way on Multiple Man) or even Colossus (as a tech when you don't want something to move).
Decklist
Let's go over the card choices:
- Iron Fist, not to be played on the first turn, instead he's a great cheap early combo setup for Vulture, Dagger or Multiple Man. Tip for less experienced players; if you're planning to buff Multiple Man with Hulkbuster, the play sequence is the following: first play MM, then IF and finally HB on MM - this will create a 7 power MM which will be immediately also moved to the left for a 14 power swing.
- Nightcrawler, can be played on turn 1. A nice combo on the subsequent turns is to move him to the same location as Kraven.
- Dagger, in the midgame (if you were unlucky enough to not draw either Vulture or MM) try to punt her to a location where the opponent has already at least 2 cards. I usually tend to play her on turn 5 if I have space and following it up with Heimdall.
- Kraven, great on curve play, try moving some friends to him and then move them all with Heimdall. He also benefits from the opponent's movement.
- Multiple Man, good synergy with Hulkbuster (seeing several of them at the end of the game always puts a smile on my face) and you'll usually be playing him only in that case, otherwise can be pretty mediocre.
- Cloak, can be a double aged blade, especially when his effect activates on turn 6, so try to pull him off earlier. Can also be played on curve for stats if you don't see yourself pulling off any combos on turn 3-4.
- Storm, lock down a weak left or middle location (sometimes even the right one) early and you can then just move a comfortable amount of stats into the location later or just change a generally unfavorable location (e.g. Space Throne).
- Doctor Strange usually comes down on turn 5, can also be played on turn 6 as well - opponents will expect Heimdall and will stack the wrong location.
- Vulture, another one of the main movement payoffs.
- Hulkbuster, mainly to buff MM, if that doesn't work out, you may just use it on something else and will still keep an extra open spot on the location.
- Iron Man, alternative win condition to Heimdall.
- Heimdall, the main payoff enabler.
Final thoughts
With both how predictable yet unpredictable the archetype is, there's no clear-cut point at which you ought to snap at with this deck, try to do so as your shifting into the late game but it'll depend on whether you'll have suitable locations, the generated tempo, type of opponent, etc. The best advice I can give is to practice and learn to trust your gut.
Counters to watch out for:
- Shang-Chi can be deadly as the goal is to stack a large amount of power on a limited amount of cards (can be mitigated by 7 power Multiple Men but how you'll play is very draw dependent).
- Professor X, if played on a weak middle location will just kill the whole strategy of the deck (can be somewhat played around by either playing Storm there first or lock in the win with Iron Man instead of Heimdall on the final turn).
- A well timed Cosmo can also break your combos (Hulkbuster on Multiple Man, Doctor Strange or Heimdall).
Have fun!