Happy Thorsday Everyone!

Today's article is going to be a brief primer on a Thor/Leadership deck, for the next 3 Thursdays I'll be testing Thor out with each aspect in the game so be sure to check on back or follow us on podbean, facebook, or twitter to be alerted when the latest article drops! I promise next week I'll move on from Leadership and try another aspect. This deck is going to focus on Thor adventuring with 3 allies, the warriors 3 and will focus on a new Leadership card, Teamwork! As always our card images are provided courtesy of the amazing Hall of Heroes website. Be sure to check them out and consider supporting their endeavors! Without any more introductions, let's look at Teamwork.

Secret Origin

The objective with this deck is to get allies out with statlines of 2-3 and use Teamwork to add their stats to Thor. Thor has a base 2 attack (3 with Mjolnir) and a base 1 thwart. This is his major weakness if threat gets away from him or if side schemes become abundant Thor struggles to contribute to this problem! To get the best use out of this we will look for characters that have stats of at least 2 thwart. Those characters tend to be expensive (other than Maria Hill) and with Thor's limited hand size this can be a struggle. We really rely on Thor to hold down the fort while we get things set-up. Remember when we use Teamwork the ally does not take consequential damage so we can plan on having a pretty hefty ally wall and can even use those allies to stabilize the game so long as we leave them at one life! Let's look at our three favorite Warrior options...

First, Maria Hill. Maria comes with a 2 THW 1 ATK stat line and is pretty cheap on cost. She's great to help with Thor's limited hand size. I always try to target her with Teamwork when I can for thwarting but since several allies are in your deck don't be afraid to let her die and bring her back on a future deck pass. Her enters play ability is crucial to keeping up your tempo.

Next, let's look at Thor's signature ally, Lady Sif. She comes with another amazing 2 thwart stat and 2 attack as well. Remember to use Thor before playing her, so you may swing for 3, ready Thor then team work for 3 leaving yourself 3 uses for Lady Sif. Another great ally, again, with an enters play ability. Note neither Lady Sif or Maria Hill are Avengers so they won't be pumped further with an Avengers Assemble!

Finally we come to my favorite Teamwork ally. Ironically a character that's not super big on teamwork in the comics! Wonder Man! While he does not have 2 thwart he boosts an amazing 3 attack at very low cost (only 2 resources)! His typical downside is circumvented with Teamwork, usually to attack with Wonder Man you are spending a card from hand, with Teamwork Wonder Man basically becomes an amazing support that pumps Thor's attack by 3. Even better we can inspire Wonder Man and get him to 4 attack for quite the boost. Now if we really live the dream on a future turn we may use Avengers Assemble to Ready Wonder Man after he's attacked for 4, then use team work to pump Thor for 5! How would I describe that feeling? Wonderful?

You may be wondering, how am I going to pay for all this stuff! Well just like the Captain America deck from our last deck tech, we are going to use Strength in Numbers. Since our objective is to bring three allies into play and then use them to pump Thor's stats when we aren't using Teamwork we need to find a use for them other than sitting around ready for no reason. This is where we use Strength in Numbers to really cycle our deck and get the combo up and running. Thor has plenty of other cards to help mitigate this hand size (Asgard, God of Thunder x2, Avenger's Mansion) but this card is crucial to the deck.

I hope this brief write-up inspired you to try assembling Thor with a merry band of adventurers. Whether you end up with the three above or a different pairing the mighty son of Odin is sure to appreciate their stat buffs. Try this deck out and let us know how it goes. You can comment on the article here, on facebook, or yell at me about my bad decisions on the MCM Podcast discord! Check back next week for a Thor Protection deck!

Deck-list:

MarvelCDB Link: Thor and the Warriors 3+

Upgrades [6]

[2] God of Thunder

[2] Inspired

[1] Mjonir

[1] Thor's Helmet

Allies [6]

[1] Hawkeye

[1] Lady Sif

[1] Maria Hill

[1] Squirrel Girl

[1] Wonder Man

[1] Mocking Bird



Support [3]

[1] Avenger's Mansion

[1] Asgard

[1] The Triskelion

Event [20]

[2] Avengers Assemble!

[3] Defender of the Nine Realms

[1] For Asgard!

[3] Lead From The Front

[3] Hammer Throw

[2] Lightning Strike

[2] Shield Toss

[3] Strength in Numbers

[3] Teamwork

Resources [5]

[1] Energy

[1] Genius

[1] Strength

[2] The Power of Leadership

Strategy Tips:

Here are a few strategy tips for this deck.

First and foremost, use your allies as thwarting support to set up your combo, just like the Pump it Up cap deck.

Use your first deck pass to build your board state. Don't be afraid to use Teamwork with a 1 THW ally to keep yourself afloat while you play cards like God of Thunder and Asgard

Take is easy with the Defender of the Nine Realms, only use this if you have a plan to kill the minion that turn (this goes for any Thor deck!)

Make good use of Squirrel Girl and Hawkeye to set up big kill counts with Lightning Strike!

Mulligan Thoughts:

Mulligan hard for hand support - Consider a hard mulligan for Asgard, or 2x God of Thunder. Your deck doesn't revolve around Mjolnir so you can even pitch it as a resource and bring it back later. Opening up with double God of Thunder sets you up for success. With these strong allies you should be afforded time to flip back to alter-ego and retrieve the hammer!

Always pitch Mjolnir - In your initial hand, you'd rather see more combo pieces and return it to hand as a resource!

Don't be tempted by Attack and thwart events - Don't let the allure of Hammer Strike get you early on, pitch these cards to look for cheap allies and resource boosts (those allies become resource boosts through Strength in Numbers)

Multiplayer Tips:

This combo works well in solo but really shines in multiplayer. If you can con your aggression friends for a Enraged on Wonder Man you can get him to 6 attack without events. Add Lead From the Front or Avenger's Assemble and things get even bigger. Don't be afraid to ask for cards once you are set up you'll be able to pay them back by clearing the board every turn!

YouTube Content:

Youtube Link vs Expert Ultron and the Masters of Evil: https://youtu.be/gcfJ0L_Ek74

Thanks for sticking with me - come back next week, I'll have another'!