Last summer, I took a swing at using Jubilee: Jubilation Lee as a OTK Team. You can read the original article here. It was a good Team, but was slower to run in anything more than a casual setting. However, I wanted to take another shot at the Team by subbing in some newer tools to see if I could change the speed of the Team. Since we still do not have WWE in our area, I figured… why not?

We all know what Yawning Portal can do, so I won’t bore you with a rehash. I have been tinkering with older Teams that lacked speed by adding this action to it. It made sense that the Jubilation Lee Team could benefit from this little added bit of potential nitro.

Would adding access to the Portal make a Team that was good in casual into something that could be just that much better? What other tools could be swapped from the original build to make it more effective?

What Did You Play?

The Team: Jubilations +

The original build used Kree Soldier to deal with Jubilee’s potentially horrific fielding costs, and Kitty Pryde in order to discount my Jubilee purchases. Kitty was the weak point of the build last time, so she was easy to toss out. With Yawning Portal’s ability, I could also take out Kree Soldier. I can easily deal with discounts on fielding AND purchase costs with just Yawning Portal. That immediately opened up a slot on the Team. Immediately, I chose to fill that with Supreme Intelligence in order to get Yawning Portal into the Prep Area as often as possible.

Mimic was my original main source of removal on the previous build, but I felt I could do better and cheaper. Gazer would essentially remove that pesky character holding me back. In this case, Wonder Woman: Reflections or Bishop would make my life difficult. This tiny Beholder will boot that Amazon right off the Field allowing me the OTK I desired. It also helps that Gazer is a 2 cost character that I can move around with Supreme Intelligence as needed.

Mjolnir was my energy fixer of choice since I was going with a Bolt centric Team. That made sense at the time. However, Intellect Devourer’s Global is superior in every way here. Having access to any energy on demand is a much better option than being limited to Bolts.

The rest of the Team remained unchanged from the original build. Jubilee was obviously the win condition. I wanted all 5 of her out and a single swing would bring my Opponent to zero. Firefly was my back-up plan/win more card. Blob was there to prevent Green Devil Mask from ruining my day. Clayface was there for the Global to help get to Jubilee a little easier. Resurrection was my main source of Ramp and bag control. Static Field was for defense and help keep my Jubilee dice around until all 5 of them were present.

The formula was pretty straight forward. Ideally go second and use Supreme Intelligence to get Yawning Portal in the Prep. Then use whatever combination of tools needed to buy Jubilee dice and send Yawning Portal back to Prep as often as possible. Once all 5 Jubilee dice are in the Field Zone, attack.

The Modern Team was a little more modernized now. Would these changes allow the Team to step on the gas and hit a little faster? Let’s see how it ran.

Game 1:

Our resident out of towner was here and he had a mish-mash of Waterdeep characters. I lost the roll off and got to go second. So far the plan is working perfectly. Buy Yawning Portal, Prep Yawning Portal. Buy Jubilee dice. Chump block with Sidekicks or use Static Field until I was set up. Then swing for lethal. Blockers were irrelevant as Jubilee’s damage happens when she attacks. I didn’t get much of a discount with Yawning Portal in this game, but saved significantly on Jubilee’s level 3 fielding costs. So far, the experiment is a resounding success.

1-0

Game 2:

This one was up against Gord’s “Infiltrate” Team. I knew he was up to something sneaky, but I didn’t know what it was until it happened. Pro-tip: Ask your Opponent what all of their cards do if you are not sure (especially Flip cards). I lost the roll-off again and got to go second again. Prep Yawning Portal right off the bat again. Then it was build up my Jubilee army as before. He hit me with his surprise when I chose to keep my Jubilee dice on the Field instead of blocking with them (if only I had saved a mask). Luckily he didn’t get a second chance to spring his trap on me. The last Jubilee hit the Field along with a Firefly for good measure to end the game.

2-0

Game 3:

Double Overcrushing Thanos… many of them would be the threat here. He had 4 dice on his 8 cost character and intended on buying all of them. This was another Yawning Portal powered Team. I wasn’t exactly sure how it was going to work when we started though. This time, I was forced to go first. I missed the chance to use Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard to Prep my Yawning Portal, so the Team started off a little choppy. It didn’t take long to stabilize though. While he was building up his Field, I was building mine. The big difference was that I didn’t need as much in my Field to fire off. The fifth Jubilee hit the Field before his monstrosity could hit me.

3-0

Post-Mortem:

The main question asked in this experiment was, “Does Yawning Portal make this Team better?” The answer is a resounding “Yes”. Replacing two cards with one to get the same effects makes this Team flow so much better. Being able to recycle Yawning Portal pretty regularly was incredibly useful too. Like Fish Slap Teams, this build benefits greatly from having the Supreme Intelligence around.

In every possible way, this was a much better version of the Jubilation Lee build.

Gazer (while not needed on the night) was a better choice than Mimic as they both pretty much do the same job. They both remove something that can slam the brakes on your Team. I personally feel that the Intimidate ability is better than Mimic here as it is harder to stop Keywords from firing. The 2 cost also plays well with the Supreme Intelligence Global.

The Intellect Devourer Global (IDG) makes any of the other Energy Fixers obsolete. The flexibility this offers to this Team cannot be overstated. I will miss having to make the choice of which one to include, but this is just a better solution to your energy fixing needs.

Blob, like Gazer, was not needed on the night. He would remain on the Team in any other versions though until Green Devil Mask is no longer a threat. You need numbers in the Field, and that action just ruins your day. Blob is still one of the best ways to deal with that die right now.

Everything else worked as it should have. Clayface made purchases easier… especially when you missed a roll when trying to hit a character. Resurrection played extremely well with Yawning Portal’s bag filling ability. Static Field is excellent protection to keep Jubilee around until you are ready.

Firefly is still that one card that I am not sold on. It is always good to have a back-up plan on your Team, and he is an excellent one. However, could something else be put here that makes Jubilee even better? I don’t know at this point. I would probably keep him here until someone sold me on something else.

So, the other question is “can this Team be competitive”? I think it is definitely better than it was, and I would be tempted to run this against some top tier Teams. I don’t know that it is Top Tier itself still, but it is much higher than it once was.

I think this week will put an end to my Yawning Portal experimentation. I have been testing it to see if it improves previously slower Teams… and it does. There is really nothing else that needs to be said about that card. It is just that good. If you are not using it, make sure you have something to mess with it.

What do you think of Jubilation Lee 2.0? Can it hand with the big boys yet? What do you do with the Firefly slot? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

– jourdo

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