Professor Charles Xavier

Professor Xavier is a jerk! But he’s also a hero, a powerful telepath with the vision to create a school for mutants, giving them a home in a world that hates them and a place to learn how to control their powers. Usually confined to a wheel chair, he is nonetheless incredibly dangerous thanks to his unmatched psychic powers. This deck pulls ideas from several different places: Maloney’s Yarael Poof deck, Sherlock Holmes from Unmatched, my 20YA Kylo Ren deck, and a classic Pokemon TCG card. Hopefully, he’ll make a fun and interesting addition to any X-Men games… or maybe even the Illuminati!

Charles Xavier PDF

Charles Xavier: 16 Hit Points, Melee, Green Deck

3x Professor X: Choose an opponent and name a value. That opponent must discard a card from their hand with an attack or defend value matching the chosen number or reveal a hand containing none.

2x MIND READING: A5/D7 If you deal damage with this card, look at the defending character’s hand. If you block all damage with this card, look at the attacking character’s hand.

2x PSYCHIC SHIELDS: D3 Play face-up when defending. Predict the printed attack value of the card this defends against. If you predicted correctly, that card has no attack value or effects, and is discarded.

2x MUTANT VISIONARY: Until the end of Charles Xavier’s next turn, whenever any enemy character takes damage, they take 1 additional damage.

2x ELIMINATION OF DOUBT: Choose Charles Xavier or an allied character. That character gets 1 additional action on their next turn. Playing this card does not count as an action.

2x MOMENT OF CLARITY: Choose Charles Xavier or an allied character. That character may discard their entire hand and draw an equal number of cards from their draw pile.

1x CEREBRO: Attach this card to Charles Xavier’s Life Card. As long as this card is on Xavier’s Life Card, any time an opponent is forced to discard a card due to his card effects, they take damage equal to the lowest value on the card.

1x ASTRAL PLANE: Choose an enemy character. For the rest of the game, Charles Xavier and this character are considered adjacent to each other and may only attack each other. Increase Xavier’s attack values by 2. If Xavier takes damage from any other character, end this effect.

Theme: The psychic general of the X-Men

Strengths: Forces discarding, direct damage, potential to cancel card effects and damage, adds actions and card draw to himself or his teammates, adds damage to enemies

Weaknesses: Lacks direct attack power, situational card drawing, complete lack of extra movement, low hit points, weaker against decks with mostly Special cards

Complexity – Advanced: Indirect damage and support effects make this a better fit for players already familiar with the game.

Path to Victory: CEREBRO + MUTANT VISIONARY + PROFESSOR X/PSYCHIC SHIELDS

Playing as Professor X: Xavier is one of the most passive decks in the game, with little in the way of directing attacking power. The only way he’ll be directly engaging in combat most games is with ASTRAL PLANE, which lets him treat an opponent as adjacent and prevents them from attacking other characters. Instead, you’ll be aiding your teammates with his support cards to give them extra actions, more damage, or a much needed mulligan. PSYCHIC SHIELDS and MIND READING can make Xavier effective at defense, while CEREBRO can turn the forced discarding into a nasty direct damage engine.

Playing Against Professor X: Xavier has many tools in his kit. He makes his teammates tougher with his support cards, and has a powerful disruption game with the ability to cancel the effects of your attack cards and discard your best cards. Your best bet is to play a deck with fewer attack cards (or big defense cards) so you don’t take as much damage from CEREBRO. Xavier is less effective against decks with more Special Cards. While ASTRAL PLANE is an annoyance, it isn’t a trick he’s likely to use more than once, and any damage from a different character ends the effect.

Jubilee

For fans of a certain age (my age), we’ll probably always have a place in our hearts for Jubilee. What Kitty Pryde was for the X-Men in the 1980s, Jubilation Lee was for the ’90s. She was the Robin to Wolverine’s Batman, and the point of view character in the animated X-Men series, letting us live vicariously as she was raised and trained by the X-Men. A mutant who creates explosive energy bursts that look like fireworks, Jubilee is also a mall brat with a motor mouth. Her taunting, obnoxious personality made me think of Maloney’s brilliant C-3PO cards.

Jubilee PDF

Jubilee: 15 Hit Points, Ranged, Yellow Deck

3x ENERGY GLOBULES: A4 The defending character loses an action on their next turn.

3x PYROTECHNICS: A6 All enemy characters adjacent to the defending target take 2 damage.

2x SHOPLIFTING: Move Jubilee adjacent to any enemy character. That character discards 2 cards, and Jubilee draws 2 cards.

2x MALLRAT: D8 Move Jubilee up to 3 spaces.

2x OBNOXIOUS TAUNT: Place this card on Jubilee’s Life Card. As long as this card is on Jubilee’s Life Card, Jubilee’s allies cannot be attacked. Jubilee may use an action to discard this card and heal 6 damage.

2x INDEPENDENCE DAY: All enemy characters Jubilee can attack take 4 damage and lose an action on their next turn.

1x CALL FOR HELP: Move each of Jubilee’s allies adjacent to Jubilee. If OBNOXIOUS TAUNT is on Jubilee’s Life Card, shuffle it into her draw pile.

Theme: An annoying half-pint with explosive powers and good friends

Strengths: High direct damage, great action denial, can protect her allies by making herself the only viable target

Weaknesses: Very low staying power, direct attack power is just okay, no extra movement

Complexity – Moderate: Support decks can be a little tricky but she’s pretty straightforward

Path to Victory: INDEPENDENCE DAY + PYROTECHNICS

Playing as Jubilee: The first thing you need to know is Jubilee isn’t really meant to win games by herself. She’s designed with the idea of being a “sidekick” to her teammates, setting them up to win with her great disruption game. OBNOXIOUS TAUNT is her most unique feature; shutting down all offense aimed at her teammates until she takes it off, or dies. But even without that, she’s got forced discards, great action denial and direct damage to make herself a nuisance. Try pairing her with someone like Colossus or Wolverine and watch her set up her team for a victory.

Playing Against Jubilee: Fighting a team with Jubilee is like trying to take out a superhero and then their petulant child keeps coming and demanding your attention. Ergo, she’s quite annoying with her disruption game. You can’t really afford to ignore her (and sometimes, you just can’t) because she’s got direct damage and action denial, but you also don’t want to waste your big attacks just to see her block it with MALL RAT. Direct damage decks are usually a good counter, since they aren’t attacks and can’t take out Jubilee or the partners she’s protecting.

Silver Surfer

Comics are weird and wonderful. For example, the Silver Surfer, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, who is just a silver humanoid riding through space on what is obviously just a surfboard. It shouldn’t be so cool, and yet it is. The Surfer was introduced in Fantastic Four comics as the herald of Galactus, an all powerful Celestial who feeds off the energy of planets. Humanity convinced the Surfer to re-discover his nobility of spirit, and he’s dedicated his life to finding planets without sentient life to sate his master’s hunger. As for deck ideas, I finally had a perfect character to adapt Mike Maloney’s Shaak Ti deck.

Silver Surfer PDF

Silver Surfer: 18 Hit Points, Melee, Green Deck

3x NOBILITY OF SPIRIT: A6 Silver Surfer recovers 1 damage. Then all allies adjacent to the Surfer recover 2 damage.

3x HERALD OF GALACTUS: Choose an enemy character Silver Surfer can attack. That character takes 4 damage. Then all characters adjacent to that character take 4 damage.

3x COSMIC WAVE: Find SILVER BOARD from your draw pile, discard pile, or from play and play it on Silver Surfer’s Life Card. If SILVER BOARD was on an ally’s Life Card, move them to a space adjacent to the Surfer.

2x SURFBOARD DASH: Move Silver Surfer up to 6 spaces, then draw 1 card. If SILVER BOARD is on your Life Card, move an additional 2 spaces and draw an additional card.

2x THE POWER COSMIC: Choose Silver Surfer or an ally. That character recovers 3 damage and may draw a card. If SILVER BOARD is on your Life Card, that character recovers an additional 1 point of damage and draw another card.

1x MATTER MANIPULATION: Until the end of Silver Surfer’s next turn, reduce any damage done to the Surfer or adjacent allies to 0.

1x SILVER BOARD: Play on Silver Surfer’s Life Card. Add 2 to the attack values of the character with SILVER BOARD on their Life Card. You may use an action to place SILVER BOARD on any allied character’s Life Card.

Theme: A powerful cosmic being who helps his allies

Strengths: Lots of healing and card draw, big direct damage, big movement, solid staying power

Weaknesses: Lacks power defense, potentially hurts himself and allies, needs SILVER BOARD for consistent attack power

Complexity – Moderate: You’ll need to balance offense and support play

Path to Victory: HERALD OF GALACTUS + THE POWER COSMIC/MATTER MANIPULATION

Playing as Silver Surfer: The Surfer has two major roles that you’ll be using depending on your cards and what you need. SILVER BOARD is a versatile card that you can play on yourself and then move to your allies to boost their attack. But then you can use COSMIC WAVE to bring the allies to you and set up the ally effects of NOBILITY OF SPIRIT or MATTER MANIPULATION. Combined with THE POWER COSMIC, this makes him an effective support deck. But when you need to go on the offense, SURFBOARD DASH can get you into position to hit major damage with HERALD OF GALACTUS. The Surfer works best in 3v3 where that card has more targets.

Playing Against Silver Surfer: Silver Surfer is a potent support deck, able to grant his allies power boosts, card draws and extra healing in a pinch, and also able to pull them out of tight spots with COSMIC WAVE. That makes him a nuisance you’ll want to get rid of quickly. You’ll also want to try to avoid setting up your team to be wrecked by HERALD OF GALACTUS.

Crystal

Other than perhaps the Eternals, the Inhumans are the part of Marvel that I’m the least interested in. They always just seemed like a less interesting take on mutants, and when Marvel Comics started pushing them against the X-Men like they were a viable substitute, I had a pretty big ax to grind. Thankfully they’ve come to their senses a bit and I felt more inclined to give an Inhuman a deck – especially after playing Crystal in Ultimate Alliance 3. I’ve always loved control over the four elements as a power set, so Attilan’s Princess was a no brainer for me.

Crystal PDF

Crystal: 16 Hit Points, Melee, Purple Deck

3x BLAST OF AIR: A6 After combat is resolved, move the defending character up to six spaces away from Crystal.

2x WATER BUBBLE: Move all characters adjacent to Crystal 2 spaces away. They each take 1 damage. Until the start of Crystal’s next turn, no character may be adjacent to Crystal.

2x EARTH ARMOR: D8 Draw a card.

2x FIERY BLAST: Choose a character Crystal could attack at range. That character and all adjacent players take 4 damage.

2x WATER SLIDE: Move Crystal up to six spaces. Any enemy character adjacent to Crystal at any point in this movement takes 2 damage.

2x FLAMING STRIKE: A7 The defending character discards a card at random.

1x BOULDER STRIKE: A6 The defending character cannot move on their next turn.

1x TORNADO BLAST: A8 After combat is resolved, move Crystal and the defending character to any unoccupied space.

Theme: Four elements give Crystal a diverse tool kit

Strengths: Great board control, good offensive and defensive options, strong direct damage

Weaknesses: Limited drawing power, low hit points

Complexity – Simple: Crystal is a great starter character with only WATER BUBBLE being tricky

Path to Victory: BLAST OF AIR + FIERY BLAST /WATER SLIDE +FLAMING STRIKE

Playing as Crystal: Crystal plays like a Wizard in Dungeons and Dragons: she wants to control the board and maximize damage against her enemies. If you look at her cards, you’ll see strong synergy between cards that let Crystal push enemies away to set up FIERY BLAST for big splash damage, and cards that let her move in close and hit her big attacks. You’ll want to let a teammate (like love interests Quicksilver, The Human Torch, or Ronan the Accuser) take the early offense while you draw big cards, but once you get them, she’s a potent fighter who can follow up.

Playing Against Crystal: Crystal’s biggest weaknesses are her hit points and card drawing ability, which makes her vulnerable in the early going. If you’re concerned about her big attacks and direct damage potential, consider going after her before she can get set up. You’ll want to be on the lookout for FIERY BLAST, and avoid giving her a chance to do 8 or 12 damage with a single card. Ranged characters fare particularly well since WATER BUBBLE can save her from them.

Black Order Expansion

The Mad Titan has elevated himself to even greater heights in the last decade and a half, finally feeling like the Darkseid counterpart Marvel always wanted him to be. A big part of that has been the introduction of The Black Order, a collection of signature underlings who have played a vital role in his stories in comics, video games and film. The Thanos deck was always intended to be a Boss character, but I think any combination of these six decks will provide a challenge for someone looking to test their dueling skills.

Thanos

Corvus Glaive

Proxima Midnight

Ebony Maw

Supergiant

Cull Obsidian

Nova

The Nova Corps is an intergalactic military force – basically Marvel’s answer to the Green Lantern Corps. While the Corps has 500 members at any given time, there are two notable earthlings who have gone by the name Nova. Richard Rider was the first Nova and the leader of the Corps: Nova Prime. But if you’ve been reading comics over the last decade or so, you’re probably more familiar with Sam Alexander, the young teenager who’s been a part of the Avengers and the Champions (with Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales and others). Both versions have essentially the same powers, so I made the deck with both characters in mind.

Nova PDF

Nova: 18 Hit Points, Melee, Red Deck

3x GRAVIMETRIC PULSE: A6 After combat, move the defending character 6 spaces away from Nova, or as far as you can.

3x CENTURIAN CHARGE: A8 Play face-up anytime on your turn. Move Nova up to eight spaces. He may move over obstacles but must land adjacent to an opponent, who becomes the target of this attack.

3x GRAVIMETRIC BEAM: Choose a character Nova can attack at range. That character takes 2 damage and loses an action on their next turn.

2x NOVA FORCE: Draw 3 cards.

2x XANDARAN ARMOR: D6 Draw a card. If Nova takes no damage from the attack this card defends, draw a second card.

1x WORLDMIND OF XANDAR: Search your discard pile for any one Power Combat card and put it into your hand.

1x NOVA BURST: A0 The attack value of this card is equal to the attack value of the last card Nova was attacked with.

Theme: A simple, straightforward deck for a simple, straightforward space hero

Strengths: Great drawing power, great movement and board control, big attacks, solid defense, direct damage, solid hit points

Weaknesses: Doesn’t excel at offense or defense

Complexity – Simple: Nova would be at home in the original Star Wars Epic Duels game

Path to Victory: GRAVIMETRIC BEAM + CENTURIAN CHARGE/GRAVIMETRIC PULSE

Playing as Nova: Both iterations of Nova was designed to appeal to young readers, so I felt it was fitting to give them a deck that anyone could use. It’s a fantastic starter deck that uses tried and true mechanisms and has a little bit of everything. GRAVIMETRIC PULSE and GRAVIMETRIC BEAM give Nova a solid push-and-pull game, letting him move tough foes away from him and setting them up for direct damage. Then he can fly in with CENTURIAN CHARGE when he’s ready. NOVA BURST is a fun card that can be really useful against hyper offense decks.

Playing Against Nova: This deck is the usual jack-of-all-trades and master of none type deck, though it does have very good drawing power and movement. CENTURIAN CHARGE makes it easy for Nova to come in and hit his big attacks, especially if he survives a big hit and can retaliate with NOVA BURST.

Supergiant

She may not have made it into the Infinity War movie, but Supergiant debuted with the rest of the Black Order and made her way into Ultimate Alliance 3, so it felt right to include her with the rest of the group. Not actually a giant, this omnipath (able to mentally control anyone regardless of their species or origin) is named after a luminous star. Possessing immense psychic power, she was even able to continue living as a being of psionic energy after her death. It was that story that made me think of a fun mechanism I could use to make her stand out.

Supergiant PDF

Supergiant: 16 Hit Points, Ranged, Orange Deck

3x MENTAL PARASITE: A4 If the defending character does not have a copy of MENTAL PARASITE on their Life Card, place this card on their Life Card. Whenever a character with MENTAL PARASITE on their Life Card draws a card, Supergiant may draw a card.

3x PSYCHIC FEEDBACK: A6 The defending character draws cards equal to the amount of damage dealt by this card.

2x OMNIPATH: A2/D2 Add +1 to the Attack and Defend values of this card for each card in the opposing player’s hand when this card is revealed.

2x MIND FEAST: All characters with a copy of MENTAL PARASITE on their Life Card draw 2 cards.

2x PSYCHIC POSSESSION: Choose an enemy character with MENTAL PARASITE on their Life Card to reveal their hand to you. Discard one of their cards. If it has an attack value, the character is attacked with that card and may defend.

2x MASS POSSESSION: All characters with MENTAL PARASITE on their Life Card take damage equal to half the number of cards in their hand, rounded up.

1x PSIONIC ENTITY: Play on Supergiant’s Life Card. As long as this card is on Supergiant’s Life Card, she may not defend or reduce damage. When Supergiant is destroyed, she remains on the board until the end of the game. She may move, draw cards and play cards on her turn until the end.

Theme: A psychic who feeds off mental energy, controls foes and lives after death

Strengths: Amazing card drawing ability, can attack players with their own cards, solid direct damage, potentially huge attacks, can stay around after death

Weaknesses: Gives her enemies drawing power, overall damage output is just okay, low staying power without PSIONIC ENTITY

Complexity – Advanced: Supergiant helps her enemies before she hinders them and can be tricky to play

Path to Victory: MENTAL PARASITE +MIND FEAST/PSYCHIC FEEDBACK then OMNIPATH; PSIONIC ENTITY

Playing as Supergiant: You’ll want MENTAL PARASITE on your enemies as soon as you can so you can take full advantage of her tool kit. While it might seem counterintuitive to have your opponent draw extra cards, Supergiant can use this to twist things around. A bigger hand means there’s more likely to be a tasty card to steal with PSYCHIC POSSESSION, which can often end up discarding two cards if the attack value is high enough to warrant a defense. And of course, OMNIPATH can be as high as an A12 or a D11, which isn’t shabby. Wait until Supergiant is almost dead to play PSIONIC ENTITY or you’ll dissuade opponents from going after you. Also note this is useless in 1v1, as when she’s destroyed she’ll be the last member on her team destroyed and thus lose the game.

Playing Against Supergiant: Supergiant is a weird one to combat. On one hand, she’ll give you extra drawing power, which will be helpful if you’re taking on her and the other Black Order decks. And you also don’t want her to get PSIONIC ENTITY into play, being dead and thus invulnerable while she keeps playing her cards. But you also don’t want her to unleash the nasty direct damage of MASS POSSESSION, the big attacks of OMNIPATH, or your own best attacks.

Corvus Glaive

The General of Thanos’ army and the husband of Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive is the leader of the Black Order and one of the last people you want to pick a fight with. For one, his Glaive is powerful enough to kill the likes of Wolverine and The Hulk. It also has the power to bring him back from the dead. Corvus seemed like the perfect character to re-use one of my favorite deck designs: the Kylo Ren deck that will be showing up in the 20 Year Anniversary Set.

Corvus Glaive PDF

Corvus Glaive: 18 Hit Points, Melee, Red Deck

4x THE BLACK ORDER: A5 Discard a card from your hand. Then remove a card from your discard pile from the game.

3x DEADLY TITHE: A6 If this attack deals damage, the defending character discards a card from their hand and removes it from the game.

2x ASSAULT TACTICS: Move Corvus Glaive and his allies up to 6 spaces. Resolve this card’s effect when it is removed from the game.

2x PREPARE FOR BATTLE: Draw 3 cards. Resolve this card’s effect when it is removed from the game.

2x REWARDED DEVOTION: Corvus Glaive and his allies each recover 3 hit points. Resolve this card’s effect when it is removed from the game.

1x ASSASSIN OF THANOS: A3 Add 1 to the Attack Value of this card for each card that is removed from the game.

1x IMMORTAL GLAIVE: A7/D7 Remove this card from the game. When another of your cards is removed from the game, shuffle this card into your draw pile.

Theme: A death-dealing general that takes cards out of the game

Strengths: Removes enemy cards from the game, heals and moves himself and his allies, good drawing power, IMMORTAL GLAIVE keeps being recycled

Weaknesses: Limited defensive power, lacks any big attacks until late in the game

Complexity – Moderate: Removing cards from the game and getting the most out of his combo cards can be some tricky mechanisms

Path to Victory: IMMORTAL GLAIVE over and over, finish with ASSASSIN OF THANOS

Playing as Corvus Glaive: Those familiar with Dominion and Ascension will immediately recognize the idea behind Glaive’s cards. Obviously, DEADLY TITHE has the value of potentially removing powerful cards from the game. But you may ask “Why do I want to remove my own cards?” Well, for one, six of them have effects that trigger a second time when they are removed. For two, IMMORTAL GLAIVE will recycle itself back into his deck every time, giving you consistent combat power. If the game goes long enough to reshuffle your draw pile, you’ll notice that you get to your stronger cards much faster the second go around. And oh yeah: ASSASSIN OF THANOS gets an obvious attack boost.

Playing Against Corvus Glaive: You’ll probably want a character with power defense to prevent Corvus Glaive from removing your cards from the game with DEADLY TITHE. Corvus also adds extra healing and movement to his team. Corvus also wants to get his discard pile reshuffled into his deck – if he can play THE BLACK ORDER cards a second time, his second play of ASSASSIN OF THANOS is one of the strongest attack cards in the game.

Ebony Maw

While most of the Black Order prefer to threaten their enemies physically, Ebony Maw prefers to win his battles with words. A hypnotic master of persuasion, he excels at bringing out the worst in people and turning them against their allies. But Maw is more than just a mind controller – he’s one of the most powerful wizards in the galaxy. Much like Doctor Strange, I felt this was an occasion for a deck of all Special cards – and a worthy support for the more direct Black Order members.

Ebony Maw PDF

Ebony Maw: 15 Hit Points, Melee, Green Deck

4x COUNTERSPELL: Play when an enemy card is played. Negate all effects, including damage, of the card this is played against. That card is shuffled into its player’s draw pile.

3x TELEKINETIC CONTROL: Choose a character Ebony Maw can attack at range. Move that character up to 3 spaces. That character cannot move until the end of your next turn.

3x COSMIC FIREBALL: Deal 4 damage to an enemy character that Ebony Maw can attack at range.

2x DARK WHISPERS: Choose an enemy Ebony Maw can attack at range. Choose a card in their hand and play it as if Ebony Maw was that character.

1x FINDER OF SECRETS: Play on Ebony Maw’s Life Card. Whenever Ebony Maw plays a Special Card against an enemy character, that character’s player reveals their hand to you.

1x MASTER OF SPELLS: Play on Ebony Maw’s Life Card. Whenever Ebony Maw plays a Special Card, draw a card.

1x SPEAKER OF DEATH: Play on Ebony Maw’s Life Card. Whenever Ebony Maw plays a Special Card, it gains the affect “Deal 2 damage to the target of this card.”

Theme: A master manipulator who disrupts and manipulates his opponent

Strengths: Fantastic disruption cards, powerful direct damage, good drawing power, can steal an opponent’s card and use it as his own

Weaknesses: Low hit points, needs specific cards to deal significant damage

Complexity – Moderate:

Path to Victory: SPEAKER OF DEATH + Special cards, especially COSMIC FIREBALL

Playing as Ebony Maw: Ebony Maw is a character who wants to sit back and let his teammates do the heavy lifting while he draws the cards he needs. TELEKINETIC CONTROL will help keep melee threats off of his back. Once he gets MASTER OF SPELLS for consistent drawing power and especially SPEAKER OF DEATH for consistent damage, he becomes one of the most threatening characters on the board. COSMIC FIREBALL can spell the end for almost anyone with SPEAKER OF DEATH in play: 18 direct damage is enough to put almost anyone out.

Playing Against Ebony Maw: Depending on when he gets his signature Life Card abilities, Ebony Maw can either be a mild nuisance or a game warping threat. SPEAKER OF DEATH is a card that potentially creates 28 direct damage, so you’ll want to take Ebony Maw out before he can get much out of it. That’s no easy task, as his Green Deck and COUNTERSPELL make him very difficult to do anything to, even direct damage. Also, beware that DARK WHISPERS does play (and thus discard) the card that Ebony Maw plays.

Cull Obsidian

If you read the comics before seeing the movies, then you probably know this character was originally called Black Dwarf. Though he was named after the star, I can see why the MCU decided to rename him Cull Obsidian and that’s what I choose to stick with. It’s a better name anyway. Deciding to do the whole Black Order meant I was going to have to make a deck for this hulking brute, and find a new spin on the formula that yielded Hulk, Doomsday and Abomination. I think this ended up being quite fun, and gave me a chance to use Whirling Axes from Geektopia’s Legolas and Gimli deck.

Cull Obsidian PDF

Cull Obsidian: 22 Hit Points, Melee, Blue Deck

3x TWO-BLADED AX: A3 Ignore the defend value of the defense card played against this card. Cull Obsidian takes 1 damage.

3x MOMENTOUS SHIFT: A4 If you moved using Special Cards this turn, the attack value of this card is 6.

2x RECKLESS CHARGE: Move Cull Obsidian up to six spaces. If he lands adjacent to a character, that character takes 4 damage and Cull Obsidian takes 2 damage.

2x WHIRLING AXES: Move Cull Obsidian up to 3 spaces. Then all opposing characters adjacent to Cull Obsidian take 2 damage.

2x AGGRESSION: Draw 3 cards. Take 2 damage. Gain 1 action.

2x SHEER FORCE: A7 Until the end of your next turn, ignore the effects of Cull Obsidian’s Power Combat cards and double their attack values.

1x BLACK DWARF STAR POWER: A6 Return a Power Combat card from your discard pile to your hand.

Theme: A savage brute who takes a beating to dish one out

Strengths: High direct damage, lots of movement, big attacks, good drawing power

Weaknesses: Damages himself, lacks power defense.

Complexity – Moderate: Cull is simple, but he’s tricky to manage for beginners

Path to Victory: SHEER FORCE + SHEER FORCE/MOMENTOUS SHIFT/TWO-BLADED AX

Playing as Cull Obsidian: Cull is brute force incarnate. He’s here to cause destruction and he’s devoted enough to that cause that he doesn’t mind getting hurt along the way. Normally, 22 Hit Points and a Blue Deck would be plenty of staying power, but many of Cull’s cards hurt him as a cost for the movement, direct damage and drawing power they provide. Your goal is going to be take out players before they take you out, and he’s very well equipped to do just that.

Playing Against Cull Obsidian: Cull’s one of the heaviest hitters in the game; he’s even more immediately threatening than Thanos, but he will hurt himself in the process. It can be tough to decide if you’re wasting a defense card against TWO BLADED AX or if you need it to block one of his bigger attacks. SHEER FORCE and TWO-BLADED AX is especially nasty and can be a death sentence. If you know you’re going up against him, bring some characters with hit points and healing so that you can outlast him.