I can't promise that this version of the deck is better than one that plays the Darkhawk package what I will say is that this is my best attempt. My initial inspiration for this deck was "What if Shadow King was good?" so I tried to assemble all the cards and combos that Shadow King can deal with but Shang often can't and this is what I ended up with. Before I explain the deck though it's important to highlight one card interaction in particular. As of the time I'm writing this Kitty Pryde DOES NOT work with Beast and Falcon the way you would hope. In order for her to gain her +2 power you must bring her back your hand with her ability. Now in practice this isn't as bigger problem as you might expect since you can simple play Kitty after Falcon and she can be returned to your hand and played again in the same turn. The bigger choice will come when using her with Beast since bouncing her once will make her a zero cost for the rest of match at the cost of a single +2. I'd imagine that given the opportunity it will almost always be correct to take the cost reduction but in rare games where your amount of energy isn't the problem you should be aware that +2 power may be better. With that out of the way lets go over the 12 cards I've picked.
Kitty Pryde - Is a super interesting card and one that will likely take some practice to use to her fullest. Something I'd like to make clear though is that if you played her on every turn of the game you would end with a 6 Cost 10 Power card which is not good enough to see play. Her strengths in this deck is she can also add power to Angela, Bishop and Collector so don't be concerned about replaying her every turn unless you have some of her other payoffs. ***Another thing that isn't immediately obvious is that she gains her power *after* she is replayed to the board so if for example you play her on 1 pull her back to your hand on 2 and play Bast and then wait to replay her on turn 3, she will land on the board with 5 power. *** nope, that's not how it works. I got confused by the interaction since if you play her again in the same turn the stat change isn't shown till she is revealed but she in fact gain stats as soon as you hit end turn regardless whether she is on board or in hand meaning this interaction with Bast will not be as I described.
Angela, Bishop, The Collector & The Hood - The aforementioned bounce payoffs. Previously the collector has fallen a bit out of favour as the weakest of the 3 but my belief is that Kitty's ability to more consistently add herself to your hand means that he deserves his spot back. Plus not including the Hawk package in general gives us some room. The Hood is obviously not exactly the same us the other 3 but is a bonce payoff that also greatly benefits from the next card...
Bast - The total power of the 5 cards currently in the deck is 0 so Bast becomes a clear include. It comes with some deck building restrictions but with the incredibly positive effect it has on the core of our deck it's worth the compromise. Speaking of the core of the deck though there is a couple cards I skipped so far
Beast & Falcon - Not every card can be Kitty Pryde and bounce itself so of course we still need the original bounce boys themselves.
Mysterio - Has a unique interaction with Bast that makes me want to include them together in almost any deck that runs one of them. If your not aware Bast sets the power of not just Mysterio but his illusions to 3 power turning him into a mini Doctor Doom. Now while he can't play into locked locations like Doom his Illusions count as cards played meaning they are able to trigger Angela and Bishop which is a trade we are happy to make.
Iron Man - Is probably the most unique card I've opted to put in the deck so let me explain my reasoning. The problem that the Hawk package solves in this deck on top of adding extra disruption for your opponent is a way to more consistently win a second lane. There are lots of decks that can slam points and the bounce decks brand of low cost, above rate can often fall short of that. Hawk is positioned such that it befits from low cost cards that like to bounce and isn't kneecapped by Bast. Finding something to replace it's position is necessary and I believe Iron Man is that card. It also plays well with Bast and is currently uncommon enough that I don't think most people will think it's inside your output range.
Iceman & America Chavez - Rounding out the deck with 2 good cards. Since we will never bounce Kitty with Falcon we really need another 1 drop (possibly more but decks built at this point) and Iceman seems to be the best of that bunch. Chavez increases our consistency but also can end up being our best play on 6. While playing the deck, on turn 5 you should always be considering if dumping whatever you can of your hand and then playing Chavez is better than whatever larger combo you had hoped to be playing.
So that's the list, this deck is a little odd since it will likely end up being a bit of time capsule. Bounce decks going forward will likely end up including Hit-Monkey as their key build around and if it's good get ready to see a lot of Sandman. Best case scenario for this list then is that it's good this week and a good jumping point for the next generation after but even if neither things are true, I still had fun making it. Sorry I took the last 2 weeks off after I just made a show of being more consistent but I was really hoping the patch would come a bit sooner than it did and the new cards just weren't that interesting to build decks around for me. I did build a deck for Master Mold but I would have been late posting it and I don't think it was that great anyway. The roadmap of new cards has me very excited though and I already have 5 decks built waiting for the new releases so look forward to them. Next week in particular I'm incredibly pumped to trot out my favourite garbage deck which I believe finally has enough support to be playable. If you've read this far why not have a guess at what it could be in the comments and if your from more than a week in the future click on my profile and find out what it was, I promise it'll be fun. So if your picking up Kitty because you like her or in anticipation of Hit-Monkey I hope you give this list ago and enjoy it. Either way thanks for reading and good luck snapping.