Intro
Boy, have I got a decklist for you all today. I don't think I've seen anyone come up with a way to use the Modok + Hela combo like I have. I almost want to keep this list to myself as part of me doesn't want this to catch on so I can keep surprising people and stealing their cubes, but I feel that the people deserve to know my secrets.
My biggest issue with this combo in the past was always the requirement of Invisible Woman. If you played her out on turn 2, there was a good chance cosmo would appear in her lane on turn 3, or enchantress on turn 4. Even if you delay Invisible Woman to turn 4 you can still lose to cosmo, and it blocks a potential 4-energy play you could have made instead. She was basically a requirement to make the Modok + Hela play work.
...until now!
The Gameplan
There are at least two win-conditions for this deck. The first one should be pretty obvious as it involves Hela and Modok, but how do we get there? Well, if we do Magik t5, and then psylocke + wave t6, we actually have enough energy to do Modok AND Hela at the same time, on the same turn. The odds of getting blocked by Cosmo go way down (all the way down if you have priority), and it results in just an absurd amount of power on the board.
The second win-condition is a fallback in case you get unlucky draws early on. You can play out Psylocke on t4, pass t5, and then play She Hulk and Infinaut at once. This strategy is obviously a lot better if you already have Sunspot out at this point to suck up the floated energy, but it can still work in some cases without him.
The third way to win is a bit more messy, and just involves outreading your opponent and overpowering them, maybe by surprising them with a Giganto on t6, or a t6 Hela to bring back Black Cat. I wouldn't recommend trying to win games like this until you better understand how the deck works.
But what if you get unlucky and don't have all your combo pieces by turn 5? That's the neat part: you don't. With Adam Warlock, as well as aggressive options like Maximus, we can usually get a free draw or even two or more with this deck, and with two cards drawn you are guaranteed to draw out your entire deck by turn 7. Even one draw boosts your odds dramatically.
Ideal Turn Order
t1: (if Adam Warlock and Sunspot are both in your hand) sunspot to the right
t2: Adam Warlock to the right
t3: Black Cat/Maximus to the right OR
pass the turn for Sunspot
The reason we do this is because most players will autopilot and play out their first cards to the left or the middle. And when people see a Sunspot go down, lots of players assume that lane is going to get huge and they try and win somewhere else. The odds of getting unlucky with random locations to the right is actually pretty low, but I'd still recommend waiting for it to reveal before committing to a snap.
t4: Psylocke OR
Black Cat/Maximus OR
pass the turn for Sunspot OR
play Adam Warlock into your winning lane
turn 4 is where you need to make a decision on your win condition. If you have Magik and most of your combo in your hand, and if you already drew at least 2 cards with Adam Warlock, I would recommend going for the Modok + Hela play I outlined earlier, since you are at that point guaranteed to draw out your entire deck and get all your combo pieces (assuming no rocks or anything else).
However, if you're missing Magik, most of your combo, or if you failed to draw cards with Adam Warlock, you can still pull out a win by playing Psylocke and going for the She Hulk + Infinaut play.
Learn to look at your decksize, remember what combo pieces are still in the deck, and calculate the odds of drawing them in your next turns. If you don't feel comfortable trying to win with either of these strategies you can always improvise depending on the situation.
t5 (wincon path 1): Magik
t6: Psylocke + Wave
t7: Modok + Hela
t5 (wincon path 2): pass (Ideally Sunspot is already in play)
t6: Infinaut + She Hulk
Quick Reference for combo cards:
Magik (by turn 5), Psylocke and Wave (by turn 6), Hela and Modok (by turn 7).
Card Breakdowns and Tips
Sunspot is a no-brainer here. Basically all our power comes from our t7 play, so we typically end up passing some of our turns until we get our chance. It doesn't usually matter too much if he gets Killmongered later on, because we mostly care about using him for early pressure and early draws w/ Adam Warlock.
Adam Warlock is a very interesting card here. Lots of people have written off Adam as a bad card, but I disagree. In decks like these, where you basically want to draw every single card, I consider him extremely valuable for boosting consistency. I've experimented with including Yellowjacket so that he can be played on t2 without Sunspot, but I don't think it's worth it since YJ is basically a dead card past turn 3, and this deck really values board space.
I've also experimented with using Jubilee and/or Adam for card draw. Jubilee is too risky for a t4 play in many cases, and basically a dead card if she's discarded and brought back with Modok + Hela. Feel free to experiement with it if you'd like, but those are my thoughts.
Psylocke should basically only be played on t4 for an Infinaut + She Hulk play later, or on t6 with Wave for the Modok + Hela combo.
Wave should ideally be played on t6 for the combo, but if you don't think you can get to that point you might also consider using her earlier than that. Maybe you'll want to use her t3 to get Giganto out early. You could then pass and play infinaut next turn. Not the most ideal play, but it can work if the opponent drew badly. You can also use her t5 without any other cards in order to play She Hulk for free, along with something else on t6.
Maximus and Black Cat can both fill the same need of powering up Adam Warlock's lane early, but obviously Maximus is a more consistent option since Black Cat will often show up too early for you to use her properly.
Black Cat actually has a really important and unique purpose in this deck: If Adam Warlock pops off early and draws lots of cards, this deck can actually run into a strange problem where our hand is gets too full and we can't draw anything else, since most of what we will draw are combo cards for later. Black Cat mitigates this by discarding herself, and she works well as a drop for Hela later on too.
Black Cat is also a nice benefit for the deck for games where you fail to get the Modok + Hela combo, as you now have the option of closing out games with Hela and a fresh Black Cat for 13 damage. A little less than Giganto, but you can do stuff like fill your lanes and use Hela to summon Black Cat into places like Sanctum Sanctorum for example.
Everything else is pretty straightforward, we run Magik, Modok, Hela, and a bunch of huge cards for them to bring back.
Alternative cards/Substitutions
I mentioned it earlier but I don't think Jubilee is very good for this deck. However, you may have better results than me so feel free to experiement. Same thing with Yellowjacket; if you don't draw it early with Adam that's basically a 10-ish power board spot that's going to waste.
If you decide to remove some of the larger cards you might benefit from Doctor Doom, he's worth 15 power which is a lot, but it's only good if you have enough space for him, which this deck can struggle with in its current form.
If you're missing Maximus, you might benefit from Groot instead. You can usually get his buff since most people will throw their next cards into Adam Warlock's lane once he goes down. You could also try doing something like Rocket Raccoon and Starlord at once for 9 damage on the spot, but this requires more deck space. Sword Master could maybe work but if the discard hits a combo piece it can be pretty bad. Lizard is probably a better alternative to cards like Sword Master, since it'll be strong early and with Sunspot it'll be like playing 6 power, but he falls off once lategame comes around.
America Chavez is also one I go back and forth on. She's nice for getting Adam Warlock and supporting cards early, but she can also make it harder to win games where Adam doesn't work out and you don't draw through the whole deck. Her 9 power makes her a good addition to Hela's pile of damage, but idk, try it yourself and see if you like it.