Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
|---|
| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mostly-Basic Angel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
journeyman2 · 20794
Angel is proving to be one of the strongest heroes in Marvel Champions! But he hasn't always been like this. Identity crises had him once standing on the edge of a bridge questioning "Wouldn't everyone be better off without me? All of their financial problems will be solved if I just take this plunge..."
And lo! A figure answered the call of his prayers and took him on a journey through the game of Marvel Champions, and how different it would be without him! The figure: Starhawk!!
Like seemingly all NeXt/Tony-designed heroes, Angel is another that has been hard to describe in words. I’ve gone ahead and recorded some gameplay to assist you in your games:
The Greatest Gift
The main realization I've had with Angel, is that he really likes his own cards. Like really really. So it was a bit difficult to fill out a 40 card deck, because not much seemed to matter, except all the cards that aren't his cards clog up his hands and prevent him from drawing into his own cards to get his two extremely strong triggers Angel of Life and Angel of Death. Similarly, drawing too many non-Aerial cards hurt the efficacy of Cannonball.
The general idea of the deck is drawing into signature cards as fast as possible! We do this by taking advantage of Angel's reliable alter-ego access with Metamorphosis, thinning the deck of supports like X-Bunker and Moira MacTaggert, and cycling his own cards back into the deck with Mutant Education and Worthington Industries. While we're down in alter-ego we have some advantages:
-
Card draw off of numerous alter-ego supports like Moira MacTaggert, X-Bunker, Weapon X, and Worthington Industries
-
Burst heal from Regrowth, X-Mansion, and REC
-
The villain won't scheme because they are either confused from Adaptive Plumage or we are flapping right back up thanks to Metamorphosis
Shout-out to MegiDolaDyne for the Moira and Bunker suggestions!
Clarence Odbody, AS2 (Angel Second Class)
Angel has three very strong identity abilities:
-
Angel of Life - After you play an Aerial (trait) event, draw a card
-
Angel of Death - After you play an Aerial (trait) event, deal damage to an enemy equal to that event's printed cost
-
Regrowth - Heal 1 damage
It is going to be really hard to explain exactly when to do any of these, since it is so board state dependent. Your priority should basically be to trigger Angel of Life as early in the turn as possible, but you don't have to trigger Angel of Death on the first Aerial event you play, instead waiting for the most expensive play (ie triggering for 3 damage from Adaptive Plumage instead of 2 damage off Metamorphosis. Ideally we trigger these every round (and sometimes multiple times if we can trigger the hero abilities in the villain phase, since the limit is only once per phase!). Now, with our once per round normal flap, we should hit 2/3 forms and trigger 2/3 of the abilities. Add in Metamorphosis and we can turn into a flapping whirlwind of sequencing!
As a general principle (again there are always exceptions for complex heroes!) I use Angel form as my "base" form, trying to end there as often as possible unless the villain is confused, in which case we can be Warren Worthington III. Archangel form is great, primarily to get some free damage and discount something by 2 with Techno-Organic Wings, but the acceleration and 0 THW in true solo can be a liability, albeit a small one. There is a slight hidden cost of starting in Archangel, especially when you don't have your Wings yet: it is much easier to trigger both hero abilities if Angel of Life is triggered first as the card draw helps afford a second Aerial event play. Starting in Angel for that reason eases the sequencing considerably.
No leaps of faith off any bridges tonight
Feathers in Your Cap
- At all times you have 3 choices with this card, either change to one of your other two forms, or change into a different form and then use Metamorphosis to change back. The benefit you get depends on what form you end in. What you need depends on the situation, but I almost always use this to flap to one of my hero forms, usually after first using my normal flap to Warren. By flapping to Warren, we get access to a plethora of alter-ego supports and healing. From there, if we Metamorphosis to Angel we get to remove 2 threat (and it isn't a thwart so it ignores confuse/patrol) and draw a card from Angel of Life, or we can deal 3 damage (and not an attack so it ignores stun/guard/retaliate) and deal 2 damage (to the same or a separate enemy) from Angel of Death. I will say, changing to Warren with Metamorphosis is rarely the correct play, as manually flapping down and then using it to flap up gets you the card draw off of Angel of Life anyway. Now, this is all general principle and there are exceptions to every rule, so keep an eye out for those circumstances.
It's a very unassuming card, but getting that extra flap and alter-ego access is a game-changer!
-
This card at face value is 3ER for a confuse and 3 threat (factoring in that it triggers Angel of Life) or 4ER for a stun and 7 damage (split 4 and 3). Notably, because of "and" you can get the confuse even if there isn't threat to clear! Normally, the valid target rule would block a thwart event if there is no threat to clear, but effects connected by "and" are independent on each other! Niche, but this has been relevant a few times so I want to mention it.
-
Now, this gets very good in conjunction with Avian Anatomy. Essentially a restricted double resource, by bouncing an Aerial event back to hand. This means that you can play Adaptive Plumage with Avian Anatomy, flap to your other hero form, then play Adaptive Plumage for the opposite effect! After factoring in Angel of Life, we only need one additional resource to pull off a turn that removes 3 threat, deals 7 damage, and stuns and confuses. The fact that you can stun the villain and still direct damage into a minion off Angel of Death is incredibly strong, similar to Miles' Web-Shot. Just be careful around guard, as you can't use Angel of Death to clear the guard first. You can however, take out the guard with Adaptive Plumage and then damage the villain with Angel of Death, just losing out on the stun.
- The thing to note about this is that it triggers Angel of Life and Angel of Death in the villain phase! This means that when played off X-Gene as Angel it completely refunds itself. As Archangel, it completely blocks an attack, pings a damage, and deals another with retaliate. The Angel option ignores all boost icons and abilities from all boost cards, which is amazing against scenarios like Venom, Klaw, and Magneto! The Archangel option is better against scenarios that have a higher base ATK before boosts or those that have a high boost icon average, such as Thanos, Master Mold, and Juggernaut, as the tough will block ALL damage! Just beware about rogue piercing! The triggering condition is so early in the defense, it triggers before defenders are selected (so you can redirect a teammates' attack to yourself) and even before the boost card is even dealt! I don't usually use this often in this particular build, since we have so much healing, but be on the lookout for when it can save you!
- This is a very strong finisher, dealing 6+3 with Angel of Death, and hopefully playing it again off Avian Anatomy for another 6. In the mid-game, this can completely take back control from a board of minions and in the end-game it just obliterates every villain.
- Not much to say here, very strong burst thwarting that can ignore crisis for scenarios like Stryfe!
Bailey Brothers Building and Loan
Angel's economy is a little wild. He is heavily incentivized to run The Power of Flight that works on 8 of his cards and combos nicely with Avian Anatomy to repeat Adaptive Plumage, Razor Dive, or Metamorphosis. However, while trying out different versions of his decks, it feels really bad to draw these resources without any aerial events in hand. Cards like Jocasta and Perseverance were gumming up his wings so-to-speak and leading to some weird hands. You could end up with a hand of resources and cards that don't work for them, and then the next hand would be all aerial events! Even with 11 hero phase Aerial events and liberal use of Worthington Industries, hands of resource bloat and starvation would shuffle out, a real feast or famine situation.
We are solving that with loads and loads of card draw and recursion! A couple principles:
-
I lowered the ally cost curve all around, allies like Jocasta and Brother Voodoo, while good, end up being difficult to play
-
Added a lot of deck-thinning in the form of supports, player side schemes, and cantrips
-
Focusing on putting the following cards back into the deck: Metamorphosis, Adaptive Plumage, Avian Anatomy, Vivian
- Worthington Industries industries shuffles any Aerial card back into our deck (not just events!!) Usually, the main targets are Adaptive Plumage and Metamorphosis, which both give alter-ego access (and thus access to all of our draw supports). I'll put back Razor Dive when it is time to push for game. Starhawk if I manage to get out Knowhere, but he's in the discard or if I need to emergency chump with him, but want him back in deck. Lastly, Vivian is just an amazing ally in general, blanking non-permanent, non-Elite attachments, minions, and schemes is huuuge. In multiplayer, there is usually some hazard or attachment that can't get cleared and I'll play Vivian, blank the card, chump with her for another player, and then get her back next turn with Worthington Industries + card draw
- Mutant Education does what Worthington Industries can't, which is cycle back Avian Anatomy which is huge for double-Metamorphosis turns. Often, Worthington Industries wasn't shuffling back what I needed fast enough, and Mutant Education helps shuffle back even more of our best cards. Both of these recursion options do a little the other doesn't and complement well. It even replaces itself when X-Mansion is out, but is good without it. Finally, it helps neuter Harpoon and Spear Shot in games where Shadow of the Past is pulled!
Most heroes want to accelerate through their deck to get back to their best cards, but Angel slows his own shuffle by getting back his best cards constantly!
Moira MacTaggert, X-Bunker, Weapon X
- Alter-ego card draw, pure and simple. We can flap down, draw off Worthington Industries, X-Bunker, Weapon X, Mutant Education; heal with Regrowth and X-Mansion, then flap up with Metamorphosis to draw more off Moira MacTaggert and Angel of Life. This is the crux of the deck! Alter-ego access grants ease of play for X-Gene and Weapon X that require the alter-ego Mutant trait.
-
It will be hard to encapsulate all of the available options for this card. As a general rule, if we are in Archangel form at all it is best to use this to discount the next Aerial event by 2, even to flap to Angel form and play your newly free event and draw a card off Angel of Life. Once Techno-Organic Wings are out, I don't even mind Apocalyptic Influence forcing him into Archangel form, since we get to start with the Wings discount and not have to suffer the negative of the acceleration icon. However, as strong as the discount is, using the ready in Angel form is great to THW again or to flap and REC. As a general rule, Angel should be taking most attacks undefended gaining a lot of tempo, then using Regrowth, REC, and X-Mansion to heal back to full. On Metamorphosis turns he can heal 5 with a ready, which usually outpaces most encounter damage; and turns where he stays down, he can heal for 10 on back to back turns, then flap up and ready with Techno-Organic Wings. Going from 2->12 health is a huge boost of tempo, particularly with so little opportunity cost. Any time he is taking less than 5 damage, we are gaining tempo!
- Superpower Training is here specifically to get Techno-Organic Wings early and reliably. Wings are so important to being able to play Metamorphosis and other cards in the early game, helping trigger both hero triggers. The redundancy is important, even with only a single target. If Techno-Organic Wings makes it to the table before Superpower Training, then Superpower Training makes for good Masterplan and Caught Off Guard fodder. For the latter, you can safely choose Techno-Organic Wings, then immediately get them back!
The wings were THHHHIIIS big!
A Starhawk is Born
Ok dude, you've written all these words and you haven't even mentioned Starhawk!
Settle down fans, I know you're clamoring for his autograph. Starhawk does a lot of things here:
-
Cheap 2-cost ally playable with The Power of Flight
-
Draws a card off Knowhere
-
Consistent THW/ATK
-
Bounces to hand as a floating resource or anytime we need a second Aerial card in hand for Cannonball (neat right?!?)
Starhawk is the glue holding this whole thing together. I recommend not bouncing him at the start of the turn, except when the card matters, and instead doing everything you can, and then replay him with remaining resources. Knowing when to bounce and when not to bounce is something of a light touch you can pick up over time, but don’t rush to bounce him every turn if there are other plays!
Often, slow rolling him by thwarting 3 times (each boosted by Soaring Acrobatics for 6 total thwart!) ends up being stronger. Starhawk plays pretty nicely with retaliate, either thwarting twice and then attacking into retaliate (the retaliate will defeat and bounce him before consequential), or loop him again and again by attacking that enemy head on (1 retaliate + 2 consequential bounces him to hand each time), which is not a bad way to clear a retaliate minion or spend extra resources in hand (especially factoring in Soaring Acrobatics). That first bounce will get a partial refund off Knowhere!
If you do bounce Starhawk to hand and end up spending him as a resource (or just needing to chump him), then put him back in the deck with Worthington Industries and draw back into him! He can keep coming back again and again and again!
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. And when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
Every Time a Knowhere Rings, a Starhawk Gets His Wings
Okay, I see you out there frantically typing because you don't know the difference between "play" and "put into play" yet and you decided to skip this portion of the write-up and head straight for the comments section.
"How are you playing Knowhere? Angel isn't a Guardian Angel is he??"
-
Build Support let's you put any support of 3-cost or less from your deck or discard pile into play, and that little mechanic in Marvel Champions ignores all play restrictions since we are not playing the card. That's it. That's all it is. Angel is really good at clearing player side schemes too thanks to Adaptive Plumage and his natural 2-THW. Just be careful never to Caught Off Guard Knowhere because there is no way to get it back unless you're in multiplayer with another player who has Build Support.
-
One of the neat things about getting Knowhere, is that it also extends our ally limit. This can be situationally useful as Psylocke, Cannonball, Starhawk, and Warpath can all stick around for quite a bit
"Remember, no person is a failure who has friends"
A quick rundown of all our friends:
-
Psylocke is a permanent 1-ATK in Angel form, but make sure to remember the order of operations we learned from Tigra in the core set: her response is before consequential, so she will always end with 1 damage after her first action. This means we usually want her first action to be a thwart or an attack in Archangel form (for the ready). She gets better in Archangel form, by readying Archangel, which can let him attack for 2, flap and thwart for 2, or flap and REC for 3. Having access to a ready in either hero form between Psylocke and Techno-Organic Wings is flexible!
- As for Soaring Hearts, I reluctantly cut it. I really wanted it to be good because it is an Aerial event, but it kind of isn't except under very specific circumstances. First, mining our discard is not great already because Worthington Industries is shuffling all the good stuff back into the deck (before we even get to Mutant Education). Second, Angel's basic activations aren't worth very much and he already has great ready access with Techno-Organic Wings and Psylocke. Getting Psylocke down in the first place isn't very easy because she can't be played with The Power of Flight and usually comes with the opportunity cost of playing an Aerial event.
-
Forge is essentially a 1-cost ally, very palatable to our non-ally focused economy, and searching for X-Bunker or X-Mansion is really good, accelerating our card draw (both) or our heal (X-Mansion), the goals we went over in the intro!
-
Cannonball is pretty much another support, a flexible 2/2 every round. Particularly in this version of the deck that is constantly cycling Aerial cards back in, so his consequential is always off. Starhawk can also bounce back to prevent a consequential damage in a pinch!
-
Warpath is really really good! We play with our hp like a yo-yo in this deck, face tanking hits, flapping to alter-ego, then healing back up. Warpath gives us 1-2 rounds of freedom and hits our hero triggers in the villain phase! Flexible statline and ability to defend minions is also very helpful, nothing like defending a minion and then taking it out with Angel of Death in the villain phase (or defending the villain and taking the minion out before it activates!). Statusing the villain in the villain phase with Adaptive Plumage is another cute trick, and being able to bounce back any Aerial event with Avian Anatomy is excellent tempo!
-
Team-Building Exercise hits 17 cards in this deck, including X-Force cards like X-Bunker and Psylocke! X-Gene hits our 10 Aerial signature events. Between all of the recursion from Worthington Industries and Mutant Education, and the bouncing from Avian Anatomy, these cards will never be lacking in targets! There are sometimes puzzles of how to pay for what, using Team-Building Exercise, X-Gene, Avian Anatomy, and The Power of Flight, but a little puzzle never hurt anyone
-
Soaring Acrobatics works really well here. Either giving Angel or Cannonball a coveted 3 THW or getting that extra damage on a target juuust out of reach
-
Ever Vigilant is the last Aerial card here, giving a ready (so we can THW+REC or DEF+REC or THW+THW most commonly) while also clearing a little off the main scheme and partially refunding itself in the process
A quick rundown of things that aren't our friends:
-
Aerial Intervention is actually not great for Angel. It can't trigger Angel of Death at all, so is practically worthless in Archangel form, and it merely replaces itself in Angel form with Angel of Life. But at the cost of exhausting an Aerial character, the damage prevention ends up being low. Compared to our recovery cycle that is healing for 5-10, we really don't want to sink this tempo
-
Perseverance is likewise even worse tempo and often outright awkward, since it clogs our hand as a non-Aerial event, and requires a flap, which usually means “needs to be drawn in hand with Metamorphosis”. This is one that looks better on paper than practice. We prefer tanking damage and healing back to full rather than spend our card plays on non-Aerial cards. Usually, it is an early-in-the-turn play, which doesn’t mix well with the plethora of retaliate in NeXt Evolution
-
Repurpose is one that should be good with Angel, but his damage and thwart output are so high from turn 1 that he doesn't need to waste the time setting up tech!
-
Snowguard doesn't have Aerial in hand, which is where it matters for Team-Building Exercise, The Power of Flight, and Cannonball. Running her alongside Aerial Intervention is not great either, as you don’t want to exhaust your 3 stat ally. Very little synergy with Angel and I’d rather run Storm
-
Storm, despite what I just said, I don’t want to run her either! You only get her discount in alter-ego, and really any expensive allies come at the cost of fewer Angel of Life and Angel of Death triggers. Warpath sneaks in because he enables those, as well as giving 1-2 turns of attack relief
-
Any non-Aerial card is going to be very awkward for Angel's economy, is going to be a weaker play by nature of his hero triggers, and is going to clog up hands reducing the chances that Avian Anatomy hits an event or that Cannonball takes no consequential damage. I could even see cutting x1 Ever Vigilant for x1 Mutant Education, but I think 2 copies is plenty
Like seemingly all NeXt/Tony-designed heroes, Angel is another that has been hard to describe in words. I’ve gone ahead and recorded some gameplay to assist you in your games:
You and all of your friends playing Marvel Champions together at your LGS
| 18 comments |
|---|
Sep 29, 2023 |
Sep 29, 2023First! Great write-up as always, excited to dive in! |
Sep 29, 2023
Starhawk counts as like 10 Protection cards though! You see so much of that guy |
Sep 29, 2023
|
Sep 29, 2023Ha you made a protection deck with less green cards than my Domino deck! I have seen this ran and it is great! |
Sep 29, 2023He protec He attac But most importantly He got wings on his back! |
Sep 29, 2023Flapping good write-up! |
Sep 29, 2023I played this twice so far, two handed and true solo and it worked really well! When you get a few of the supports placed down his options open up widely. Starhawk is so useful, a lot like cycling Sp//Dr with Web Warriors and I'm such a fan of Mutant Education working in tandem with Worthington Industries as well. Gonna run this through expert RoRS 3P soon, really excited for Angel! |
Sep 29, 2023Can I downvote this? Christmas releases come earlier and earlier every year! It’s not even Halloween yet! Haven played Starhawk in a while. Bouncing him for extra value seems pretty awesome! Will def check this one out. |
Sep 29, 2023
I have been working on a deck really similar to this for the last while. I call mine Team-Up: Starhawk and Cannonball actually. (I've actually been debating sharing a series of decks all built around the idea of Putting Into Play cards that normally can't be played through the use of side-schemes - Gamora, Cerebro, Knowhere, Bifrost, Weapon X) Anyways, I wanted to throw out a comment regarding Aerial Intervention and see your thoughts on it. I also ran into the problems that you mentioned, but I've ultimately kept it in my deck. As you mentioned, with Angel, I strongly agree that you don't overly care what some of the last cards in the deck are because you are hunting those hero cards so much. I've kept Aerial Intervention though, because I want to have as many Aerial cards in my hand to try and keep Cannonball working each round. However, I've also discovered that I like using it when in Angel form, but with exhausting my hero. Because we draw another card in hero form once per phase, it replaces itself, so it effectively becomes like Angel has a DEF 3, and gets a free card cycle, which is really good when you're hunting those hero cards. It's the same reason I like Knowhere and TBE with Starhawk because it's another card you get to see that is replaces itself. Anyways, the way I find it, I do lose my exhaust, but a DEF 3 is effectively the same as a REC 3 for cost of tapping, and then I don't have to flip down if I don't want to. Then it becomes more reasonable to use Adaptive Plumage to attack and stun, instead of thwart and confuse. I also find in solo that with having Cannonball and Starhawk on the table, I'm not really needing that thwart from Adaptive Plumage. Plus, with the Wings, I can always ready again if I need to. So overall, I've found that for the 38th through 40th cards in my deck, it has some utility, mostly being another Aerial card in hand, but also effectively the same as using a basic REC, with the advantage of giving me much desired card cycle. Anyways, just curious your thoughts and experiences? |
Sep 30, 2023i'm only commenting on this because you're my friend. also:
|
Oct 10, 2023
|
Oct 10, 2023
|
Oct 10, 2023
|
Oct 23, 2023Very nice write up! I finally found a deck build for Angel that I will enjoy playing. I love all of the detail. You mentioned some little things that I have just been missing. I was so focused on the aerial trait, I forgot that Team Building would also work for X-Force cards :) I am confused on how using Metamorphosis to change to Angel form allows you to draw a card though. And X-Bunker is not X-Men traited so Forge can’t tutor it. |
Oct 24, 2023
Let me clear up those questions for you. Metamorphosis’ effect draws a card when you flip to Alter-Ego (you are now Warren and trigger the first option on the card). Likewise, if you use it to flip to Angel, it will draw a card off your Angel of Life ability, if you haven’t trigger it yet Forge can tutor X-Men or X-Force supports! X-Bunker is X-Force traited, so Forge helps get it for you reliably, even if you have to pass on it early or when you haven’t completed a PSS yet! Great for when you have TBE like you said! You can’t use it on Forge, but you can use it on the X-Bunker he grabs! You can even play Bunker out of turn using the action on Team-Building Exercise. Useful in multiplayer if you have a mutant partner in alter-ego, while there are PSS in the victory display, allowing them to draw an extra card! |
Oct 24, 2023Thanks for the clarifications |
Jan 10, 2024Finally got around to reading this very in-depth write-up. Thanks for taking the time to share. Very fun deck even if I lost vs Mister Sinister as the second villain in a Pocketverse run. The extra start of game threat from Mister Sinister's when revealed and the Pocketverse start of game immediately advanced the main scheme so I really started behind. I will try the matchup again with as a regular one-off matchup. |
Hey Protection aspect? We need to have a chat. The best "Protection" decks for Domino and Angel are like 5 Protection cards and a bunch of basics.
It's really interesting that unless you're going all in on perfect defense, there is so little internal synergy in the Protection aspect that it simply doesn't make sense to carry a big suite of Protection cards. There are some good utility events and some handy allies but economy is just better. I hope it changes ...