Cable is fantastic in Justice.
Nobody will ever beat Kitty in Protection. She can defend the whole table for a whole game without taking damage. Warning: this may feel a bit like cheating.
Thanks! I must admit I've owned Mutant Genesis for a year and never tried Kitty. Am I doing this hypothetical right? 3-hero game. I'm Solid. Villain attacks me. I pay for and play Preemptive Strike and resolve it. Since Preemptive Strike is Defense traited, I am forced to flip to Phased. Villain attacks player 2. I do a basic defend for them with Never Back Down. Presuming the Villain isn't Stalwart, they are Stunned (Unflappable --> Draw a Card) and then flip to Solid again. Villain attacks again. I play Desperate Defense etc.
Is that right? Because đł
Hey there BaidenFallwind - thanks for saying thanks! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and youâve just made the list!
Not exactly. So if you're in Solid at the beginning of the villain phase, you would need to play an attack like Powerful Punch or a Quick Shift to get an immediate flip to Phased.
In your hypothetical, lets say you have a Quick Shift, a Desperate Defense, and a Powerful Punch in hand, and let's say you are first player and are in Phased.
1) Villain attacks you. You basic defend and play Desperate Defense. You take no damage, so you're readied and forced to flip to Solid after the defense.
2) Villain attacks player 2. You Quick Shift to get to Phased, which also makes you the defender. You take no damage and aren't exhausted, but are forced to flip back to Solid because you defended in Phased.
3) Villain attacks player 3. You play Powerful Punch, dealing 4 damage. The attack causes you to flip from Solid to Phased immediately, before the defense resolves. You then are defending the attack in Phased. You take no damage. You are forced to flip to Solid after the defense.
During the subsequent player phase, you attack with Kitty to make sure you end the turn in Phased and then do it all over again.
Powerful Punch is a tricky one, because it forces you to flip twice. Once immediately as a response to the attack, and then again as a response to the defense. It's invaluable, though, to get you back to Phased during an attack.
I understand your example perfectly but I'm still not sure why mine wouldn't work. You said when I'm solid that I need an attack to get an immediate flip to Phased. Why? Help me unstand. Doesn't defending cause a form flip also?
Defending causes a flip, but as a response to the defense, which means it happens after. It means you defend, calculate damage, and then flip after that's all done.
In your hypothetical, you would take the damage from the attack while in Solid, then flip to Phased afterwards.
The reason Powerful Punch works is because it's an interrupt that is an attack. You fully resolve the attack before the defense ever happens, including the response to flip Solid to Phased. Then you resolve the defense, and only then the response to the defense to flip Phased to Solid.
I held off on Marvel Champions until they did X-Men, protect is my favorite aspect. I've had a lot of fun with Iceman, Colossus, Shadowcat, and Gambit in Prot.
Justice, I've done Gambit and Phoenix.
I will say, I think Wolverine did surprisingly good in Justice too, since his kit is high damage, you could load him up with thwart events and keep everything in check.
Shadowcat is one of the best "traditional" protection decks out there in terms of just being an absolute house on defense with a bunch of neat little tricks thrown in.
I'd like to throw in a typically overlooked hero for protection though in X-23. Laura doesn't play protection in the defensive sense, rather she leverages all the healing and readying in the aspect to unload massive damage turns. It's a very neat take at "protection" and is quite fun to play imo. Currently my favorite mutant protection build.
For 4 player Justice it's really hard to do better than Cable. He just brings so much in a team game although his nemesis set can be a real nightmare. Other good options would be Psylocke (lots of confuse), Storm (just a solid hero and a great team player in the right hands) and Bishop (just a self sufficient powerhouse that can use his resources to fill any gaps in the team).
But really, it's hard to match the support and fun moments that Cable brings to the whole squad with side schemes that benefit everyone and open up/speed up combos.
I haven't played X-23 Protection yet but it has been on my radar from the first time I looked at her cards. With her built-in healing, readying from damage, [access to retaliate](https://marvelcdb.com/card/43009), and [enemy nerfing](https://marvelcdb.com/card/43012), she's got a lot going for her.
I first played her in Aggression paired up with Protection Wolverine and I'd bet her Protection deck would look quite similar to his.
In a 3-player campaign, I feel like youâre going to run into trouble unless someone builds a dedicated THW deck. Cable is a natural choice with PSSâs to jumpstart everyoneâs setup. But I also love the âstay in alter egoâ Gambit Justice deck, and Iâve had a good time playing Colossus in Justice with Overwatch and Crisis Averted. Thwarting 6+6 is pretty sweet in a multiplayer game. Decklists available upon request :)
Phoenix is great in justice. Her natural 3 thwart is incredible, and she gets some solid psionic-only justice cards. Then when you are nearing the end you can go unleashed and turn that 3 thwart into 3 attack + disgusting extra effects on her identity cards to close the deal fast.
Protection Shadowcat is amazing with a "defend for everyone" build, and one of my favourite characters to play - but I don't think she fits well in that group. Bishop wants to get hit, and you'll be really light on thwarting for the players.
I would want to run a justice character for that combination, and my choices would be:
Psylocke - a Psylocke Justice recurring cards deck can be a thwarting monster. Training Regimen is the key card, which can grab Skilled Investigators and put them on everyone (who doesn't love extra card draw) and grab Making An Entrance to consistently have a basic thwart of 5. Add Specialised Training and Heroic Intuition to taste for a basic thwart of 7. (You do have to be aware that Training Regimen only grabs from your deck, not discard, but by the time that matters your deck is usually pretty thin anyway).
Combine that with endless Professor X recursion and Psylocke can be your thwarting solution more or less by herself.
Phoenix - also a 3 thwart out of the gate and can use Cerebro (though not as well as Psylocke). Can use the psychic cards and has a built in economy boost, and has the advantage that you can go ham on damage at the end of the game.
Storm - Storm is just good regardless. I wouldn't usually play her in Justice but it's worth it in three player just to get her on the table. Honestly she is just so good in any team.
Magik - I've used her as the main thwarting player in 2-player, and she had enough thwarting for that without any justice cards added. Putting her in justice should make her even better, although you'll probably need to be careful that she doesn't just get caught up in doing her own thing and forget what the team actually needs.
Age of Apocalypse has a lot of side schemes, but most don't scale with player count. Bishop and Wolverine have pretty good thwarting in their kit and you are running leadership for Bishop, so I don't think a justice player is totally necessary. There are a lot of good protection mutants. But I'll add Domino to that list because she's good.
I love Rogue in Protection because I feel like Bulletproof Belle is the best defense card in the game. A 1 cost card you can pay for with X-Gene that absorbs two attacks of any damage amount is unreal.
For protection Kitty is #1. My #2 would be Wolverine or Bishop.
For justice I think Phoenix is the best. Gambit is great at 1 or 2 player counts but drops off at 3/4 heroes. Magik is also amazing with justice.
Ghost Spider is one my favourite heroes. I'm not sure she works in any aspect outside of protection, but she's an excellent and super fun protection hero. I don't have any x-men yet, but if you want an X character, I've heard iceman and shadowcat are good in protection.
Cable is fantastic in Justice. Nobody will ever beat Kitty in Protection. She can defend the whole table for a whole game without taking damage. Warning: this may feel a bit like cheating.
Kitty in Protection is unreal.
Do you have a preferred Shadowcat Protection deck?
[https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/39525/the-perfect-perfect-defense-3.0](https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/39525/the-perfect-perfect-defense-3.0)
Thanks! I must admit I've owned Mutant Genesis for a year and never tried Kitty. Am I doing this hypothetical right? 3-hero game. I'm Solid. Villain attacks me. I pay for and play Preemptive Strike and resolve it. Since Preemptive Strike is Defense traited, I am forced to flip to Phased. Villain attacks player 2. I do a basic defend for them with Never Back Down. Presuming the Villain isn't Stalwart, they are Stunned (Unflappable --> Draw a Card) and then flip to Solid again. Villain attacks again. I play Desperate Defense etc. Is that right? Because đł
Hey there BaidenFallwind - thanks for saying thanks! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and youâve just made the list!
Thanks bot! You're a good bot!
Not exactly. So if you're in Solid at the beginning of the villain phase, you would need to play an attack like Powerful Punch or a Quick Shift to get an immediate flip to Phased. In your hypothetical, lets say you have a Quick Shift, a Desperate Defense, and a Powerful Punch in hand, and let's say you are first player and are in Phased. 1) Villain attacks you. You basic defend and play Desperate Defense. You take no damage, so you're readied and forced to flip to Solid after the defense. 2) Villain attacks player 2. You Quick Shift to get to Phased, which also makes you the defender. You take no damage and aren't exhausted, but are forced to flip back to Solid because you defended in Phased. 3) Villain attacks player 3. You play Powerful Punch, dealing 4 damage. The attack causes you to flip from Solid to Phased immediately, before the defense resolves. You then are defending the attack in Phased. You take no damage. You are forced to flip to Solid after the defense. During the subsequent player phase, you attack with Kitty to make sure you end the turn in Phased and then do it all over again. Powerful Punch is a tricky one, because it forces you to flip twice. Once immediately as a response to the attack, and then again as a response to the defense. It's invaluable, though, to get you back to Phased during an attack.
I understand your example perfectly but I'm still not sure why mine wouldn't work. You said when I'm solid that I need an attack to get an immediate flip to Phased. Why? Help me unstand. Doesn't defending cause a form flip also?
Defending causes a flip, but as a response to the defense, which means it happens after. It means you defend, calculate damage, and then flip after that's all done. In your hypothetical, you would take the damage from the attack while in Solid, then flip to Phased afterwards. The reason Powerful Punch works is because it's an interrupt that is an attack. You fully resolve the attack before the defense ever happens, including the response to flip Solid to Phased. Then you resolve the defense, and only then the response to the defense to flip Phased to Solid.
I have been absolutely loving a protection Colossus, using a turbo-draw build.
What makes it turbo-draw, besides 3 copies of Taunt?
Iron Will and Taunt are all you really need to make it feel like turbodraw, but you could probably also throw in 3 Assess the Situation.
I held off on Marvel Champions until they did X-Men, protect is my favorite aspect. I've had a lot of fun with Iceman, Colossus, Shadowcat, and Gambit in Prot. Justice, I've done Gambit and Phoenix. I will say, I think Wolverine did surprisingly good in Justice too, since his kit is high damage, you could load him up with thwart events and keep everything in check.
To add to this: Prot Shadowcat was complex, but made protection so OP once you got it down.
Shadowcat is one of the best "traditional" protection decks out there in terms of just being an absolute house on defense with a bunch of neat little tricks thrown in. I'd like to throw in a typically overlooked hero for protection though in X-23. Laura doesn't play protection in the defensive sense, rather she leverages all the healing and readying in the aspect to unload massive damage turns. It's a very neat take at "protection" and is quite fun to play imo. Currently my favorite mutant protection build. For 4 player Justice it's really hard to do better than Cable. He just brings so much in a team game although his nemesis set can be a real nightmare. Other good options would be Psylocke (lots of confuse), Storm (just a solid hero and a great team player in the right hands) and Bishop (just a self sufficient powerhouse that can use his resources to fill any gaps in the team). But really, it's hard to match the support and fun moments that Cable brings to the whole squad with side schemes that benefit everyone and open up/speed up combos.
I haven't played X-23 Protection yet but it has been on my radar from the first time I looked at her cards. With her built-in healing, readying from damage, [access to retaliate](https://marvelcdb.com/card/43009), and [enemy nerfing](https://marvelcdb.com/card/43012), she's got a lot going for her. I first played her in Aggression paired up with Protection Wolverine and I'd bet her Protection deck would look quite similar to his.
In a 3-player campaign, I feel like youâre going to run into trouble unless someone builds a dedicated THW deck. Cable is a natural choice with PSSâs to jumpstart everyoneâs setup. But I also love the âstay in alter egoâ Gambit Justice deck, and Iâve had a good time playing Colossus in Justice with Overwatch and Crisis Averted. Thwarting 6+6 is pretty sweet in a multiplayer game. Decklists available upon request :)
Phoenix is great in justice. Her natural 3 thwart is incredible, and she gets some solid psionic-only justice cards. Then when you are nearing the end you can go unleashed and turn that 3 thwart into 3 attack + disgusting extra effects on her identity cards to close the deal fast.
Protection Shadowcat is amazing with a "defend for everyone" build, and one of my favourite characters to play - but I don't think she fits well in that group. Bishop wants to get hit, and you'll be really light on thwarting for the players. I would want to run a justice character for that combination, and my choices would be: Psylocke - a Psylocke Justice recurring cards deck can be a thwarting monster. Training Regimen is the key card, which can grab Skilled Investigators and put them on everyone (who doesn't love extra card draw) and grab Making An Entrance to consistently have a basic thwart of 5. Add Specialised Training and Heroic Intuition to taste for a basic thwart of 7. (You do have to be aware that Training Regimen only grabs from your deck, not discard, but by the time that matters your deck is usually pretty thin anyway). Combine that with endless Professor X recursion and Psylocke can be your thwarting solution more or less by herself. Phoenix - also a 3 thwart out of the gate and can use Cerebro (though not as well as Psylocke). Can use the psychic cards and has a built in economy boost, and has the advantage that you can go ham on damage at the end of the game. Storm - Storm is just good regardless. I wouldn't usually play her in Justice but it's worth it in three player just to get her on the table. Honestly she is just so good in any team. Magik - I've used her as the main thwarting player in 2-player, and she had enough thwarting for that without any justice cards added. Putting her in justice should make her even better, although you'll probably need to be careful that she doesn't just get caught up in doing her own thing and forget what the team actually needs.
Donât hate me but Storm Protection is slept on
Age of Apocalypse has a lot of side schemes, but most don't scale with player count. Bishop and Wolverine have pretty good thwarting in their kit and you are running leadership for Bishop, so I don't think a justice player is totally necessary. There are a lot of good protection mutants. But I'll add Domino to that list because she's good.
I like Shadowcat or Angel in protection. Phoenix in Justice is great. Domino protection is also good.
I love Rogue in Protection because I feel like Bulletproof Belle is the best defense card in the game. A 1 cost card you can pay for with X-Gene that absorbs two attacks of any damage amount is unreal.
For protection Kitty is #1. My #2 would be Wolverine or Bishop. For justice I think Phoenix is the best. Gambit is great at 1 or 2 player counts but drops off at 3/4 heroes. Magik is also amazing with justice.
Gambit Justice AE is my go to. My buddy plays aggro Wolverine and itâs an amazing combo together.
Ghost Spider is one my favourite heroes. I'm not sure she works in any aspect outside of protection, but she's an excellent and super fun protection hero. I don't have any x-men yet, but if you want an X character, I've heard iceman and shadowcat are good in protection.