The Game Plan
With Man-Thing out I wanted to see if he could work as a value card like Darkhawk or Devil Dinosaur, so I combined him with the Spectrum Ongoing shell shown here! The toxic archetypes that feature him are great, but I feel having multiple ways to benefit from his ongoing effect makes him shine in this list.
The basic gameplan is to play out cards like Luke Cage and Nebula to set up an easy lane for Man-Thing, then fill out the board with other useful ongoing cards and finish off with Spectrum. Obviously there are a ton of other playlines, like Wong + Mystique, but the synergies here work really well either way!
The Decklist
- Ant Man is an easy 1-cost inclusion that benefits from Spectrum and fills out our curve.
- Nebula is both a great value card AND a tool to get our opponent to play the low cost cards that will be vulnerable to Man-Thing later on.
- Luke Cage is perfect for this kind of deck as it helps our Lizard and Man-Thing while getting the buff from our Spectrum.
- Armor is a great tech card to slot in against Destroy decks, benefits from Spectrum's buff, protects our 1-drops, and allows us to get into locations we usually couldn't.
- Mobius M. Mobius is a really popular card right now and it's no wonder why. In this deck, he benefits from Spectrum, protects our curve, and stops some of the lists we're vulnerable to.
- Lizard is great in this list, as he's buffed by Luke Cage and Spectrum, but also helps us gain priority for our Spectrum play.
- Mystique is a flexible and important card in a list like this. She can boost our Wong play, become a second Mr. Fantastic or Klaw, and gets buffed by Spectrum.
- Mister Fantastic is an easy to include card that allows us to reach inaccessible locations and helps us gain priority for our Spectrum play.
- Wong is here to make our Spectrum play especially worth it. It's rare we don't win if we get Wong > Mystique > Spectrum.
- Man-Thing is a huge boon to this list, but it's good to have backups in case we don't have Luke Cage to synergize with. Cards like Mr. Fantastic and Klaw can buff Man-Thing's lane while Spectrum buffs his stats directly. In terms of value, he can easily be worth 4/13, which is nuts.
- Klaw is a great value card that can easily win games on his own by reaching pesky Sanctum Sanctorums or stormed locations. He can also buff our Man-Thing lane and benefits from Spectrum.
- Spectrum is the best finisher for this deck. Combined with Wong, she can easily add 20 power onto the board come turn 6. Admittedly, on her low end she doesn't swing lanes by herself, so you have to be tactical with when you use her versus another play like Man-Thing or Klaw.
The Wrap-Up
Man-Thing really feels great with this package and doesn't rely on as many gimmicks to take advantage of his effect. I'm probably going to be using this version of Spectrum Ongoing until something new tickles my fancy!