"It's a leap of faith. That's all it is, Miles."
Overview
This decks purpose is to demonstrate the high roll potential of Miles Morales. Normally a below rate 4/5 card, Miles becomes an amazing 1/5 card if a card was Moved the previous turn. Sadly, this effect only takes place if Miles was in your hand when the Move happened. Hopefully that gets fixed but there's a chance it doesn't so keep that in mind. In order to give us the best odds at activating Miles' discount, we have included several powerful Move cards as well as cards which have Move synergy. Finally, we don't run ANY 6 cost cards because it would be impossible to play them with a 1 cost Miles which means there would be games where the Miles discount was essentially wasted.
What's so good about Miles?
As I see it, there are 2 big upsides to running Miles Morales in a deck:
- Value. A 1/5 is VERY good value for filling out your curve. Adding an extra 5 power to a lane on a turn can help you win lanes.
- Unpredictability. Any time a card is Moved, your opponent has to wonder if you might be able to play a 1 cost 5 power card. on the following turn. It puts the pressure on them to try and anticipate where your power will end up at the end of the game.
The ultimate high roll for Miles Morales as I see it, is being able to play Miles and Iron Man on turn 6. So long as you've got the space in a lane thats basically like playing a Negative Iron Man - the card I've long called the strongest card in the game. Outside of that high roll, there's tons of other great options for 5 cost cards to play on turn 6 with Miles. This is his best use case in my opinion as playing Miles on turn 6 can really throw off the opponents ability to play around your power level.
Update: sooo Aero has a strong case as your best closing card. She's so good now that being able to play her on 6 along with Miles is really nice.
Synergies
Miles - Miles has synergy with almost every card in this deck. The Move card synergy is obvious but he also works great when paired with most cards as a curve fill-in. For instance on turn 4, playing Miles and Polaris is a 10 power drop. Thats really good value! I've constructed the deck so that the card costs allow me to have a strong card to play on curve or a good value combo to drop with Miles + a cheaper card. Turn 3 could be Cloak and Miles for 9 power for instance. The only awkward turn is turn 5 with a discounted Miles. The 4 drop spot is occupied by a tech card so playing her on 5 with Miles doesn't really feel good (and is only average value at 9 Power for 5 total Energy). Turn 6 is where Miles really shines when paired with Iron Man to seal a lane or comboing with Aero to drag an opponents cards away from a contested lane while you add a respectable amount of power to said lane.
Nightcrawler - Is Miles' best friend. Being able to move him whenever you want is great for setting up the best Miles combo you can with your current hand.
Iron Fist - He's great for triggering Miles and Kraven at any point in the game but he also shines when played before a Doc Ock or Aero. Being able to pull all your opponents cards to one lane and then slide Doc Ock over to a different lane can help mitigate his worst outcomes (pulling a bunch of high power cards from the opponents hand). With Aero, you can do cheeky stuff like pulling the opponents card away from a lane while then sliding Aero into said lane. Look for opportunities to play Iron Fist on turn 6 with one of the aforementioned 5 drops.
Kraven - flex spot I'm still experimenting with. I like the 2 cost here (previously I had Punisher) and it's usually pretty easy to get him to be a 2/4. Going higher than that is sometimes a matter of luck since Polaris doesn't always have a target to pull into his lane and Juggernaut can move enemies randomly. Cloak and Nightcrawler are the only consistent ways to trigger him but can both come with downsides.
Cloak - I've been a fan of this card for a long time, even in decks that aren't Move focused at all. 2/4 is good value and the ability to move your cards around is usually more of a benefit to you than your opponent. Has obvious synergy with Miles and Kraven but also Storm. Playing Cloak into the Flooded lane the turn that it locks down gives you the opportunity to move additional power into the lane on the following turn. Cloak also provides some counterplay to Goblin or other junk cards being sent your way. You can gather all the junk in the Cloak lane and focus on winning the other two (which should be easy to do considering they spent their Energy on those goblins and you will have access to a 1/5 Miles Morales)
Storm - A Control staple. She has synergy with a lot of this deck. Her and Juggernaut are a great 1-2 punch that also happens to trigger the Miles Morales discount. In addition to that, she has synergy with Iron Fist if you play her left or center. You're able to surprise your opponent on turn 6 by playing Iron Fist and then a 5 drop and sneaking it into the Flooded lane.
Juggernaut - Great with Storm to deny the opponent the Flooded lane while also moving their cards around and triggering Miles. Also great with Aero because playing them back to back means you can deny your opponent from playing into a specific lane for two turns in a row. A good combo with Miles on turn 4 if he's already been discounted. Some synergy with Kraven though the randomness of his effect means its not always reliable.
Polaris - Another card I've like for a long time. She's great value and great at disrupting the opponent. Being able to drag around cards like Angela, Bucky Barnes, Hood, Collector and other key cards can really be a game changer. She has great synergy with Kraven as his effect mitigates the downside of dragging the opponents card into her lane. Obviously Miles appreciates her.
Enchantress - We are still in the Ongoing meta so having counters to cards like Iron Man and Devil Dinosaur not to mention Patriot is just key. If we ever escape this meta she could be replaced with a more impactful 4 cost card that can be played either as a good follow up to Storm or alongside Miles on turn 5.
Iron Man - One of the best cards in the game and certainly the strongest effect of any Ongoing. Iron Man essentially guarantees a win at whatever lane he's played in barring Goblins, Hazmat, Rogue or Enchantress. The only thing better than playing Iron Man to a lane on turn 6 to seal the victory is playing Iron Man and Miles on turn 6. This synergy between the two is the original inspiration for the deck. Because this deck runs several high power cards for their cost (Cloak, Kraven, Polaris, Miles, Doc Ock), along with Storm to potentially secure a lane early, it's not that uncommon to have a decent but not game winning amount of power in a single lane. Iron Man helps take that mid level power to the next level and win you the lane and game.
Aero - This card has amazing potential in this game and I feel this deck is only scratching the surface of it. That said, what I've discovered is pretty compelling so far. Obviously she synergizes with Miles both by activating him and being able to be played alongside him. When played alongside Miles on turn 6, she acts as a defense, pulling the opponents cards away from a contested lane while Miles can go and secure it. Possibly my favorite synergy for her in this deck isn't even with Miles but with Iron Fist. Being able to dictate where the opponent plays but still put Aero where her power is needed completely negates the downside of the card.
Doctor Octopus - Doc Ock is a great disrupter of combo decks that can sometimes backfire by pulling in a bunch of heavy hitting cards from the opponents hand (anyone who has pulled an enemy Infinaut or Iron Man knows the pain). His best synergy in this deck is with Iron Fist. Pulling the opponents cards into one lane while sliding Doc Ock into another lets you still benefit from his 10 power without the downside of having to compete with the power of whatever you pulled in. Doc Ock also has mild synergy with Miles in that against a location that is mostly full on turn 6, Miles can possibly offset the power add from Doc Ock pulling in a single card from the opponents hand. You have to be careful though. It's still better to just play Doc Ock after Iron Fist or into a full lane. Otherwise you're taking a gamble and should mainly be using him for the disruptive effects..
Strategy
I've written a lot so I'll stop here and come back later to fill this out. The gist is to try and trigger Miles and set up for a good turn 5 and 6. Stealing a lane early with Storm is also good.