Spider-Woman (2020)
This is a review of Spider-Woman’s pre-constructed deck, mostly through the lens of solo play. It is in no way an exhaustive review or commentary on the meta game. Rather, it is my thoughts and experience of the pack as a casual player. I also include a deck idea that I enjoy.
P.S. The hero pack art featured is one I put together, not official. The artwork comes from Marvel Comics Spider-Woman #1, J. Scott Campbell Variant Cover.
Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman
Alter-Ego form: Spider-Woman’s alter-ego form stats are average, with a recover of 3, hand size of 6, and health of 11. Her alter-ego action is okay, allowing you to view the top card of any deck. What makes Spider-Woman most interesting is her mechanic Double Agent, which allows two aspects instead of one during deck-building. I will get into this more later.
Hero form: Spider-Woman’s hero form has base stats of 1, and a hand size of 5, though her stats can be increased with her ability, Superhuman Agility, which gives her +1 to all stats when you play an aspect card (limit once per round per aspect). This makes her a great all-around hero, as she includes a few cards from all four aspects, but she can also focus on certain skills depending on how you construct her deck. This is what makes Spider-Woman so fun.
Hero Cards:
Like all other hero packs, Spider-Woman comes with 15 signature hero cards. What makes her so fun to play are the multiple aspects and how they boost her stats; It’s a fun puzzle to figure out how to best use her hand to not only do what you want, but also optimally boost her basic stats. I have really enjoyed playing as Spider-Woman recently and like many of her hero cards. I won't go into all of them, but will discuss my favorites..
Pheromones – Pheromones is my favorite of Spider-woman’s hero aspect cards. This 2-cost leadership card both stuns and confuses an enemy, which is particularly good in true solo, effectively cancelling two villain activations. Combined with Spider-Woman’s Finesse cards, Pheromones gets even better at its new reduced cost.
Self-Propelled Glide – Self-Propelled Glide is a 1-cost event that readies Spider-Woman. Any card that readies your hero is already great, but one that can be played free (with Deft Focus), is perfect. Coupled with a well-played turn full of aspect cards, Spider-Woman becomes deadly.
Inconspicuous – Inconspicuous is a 1-cost thwart event that removes three threat among schemes in play. Not only is it a justice card, boosting her stats, but really covers the weakness of Spider-Woman, for the way that I have been playing her (see below).
Aspect Cards:
Spider-Woman’s hero pack comes with 8 distinct Aggression cards, and 8 distinct Justice cards, 2 of each being new to the pack. She also has 4 new aspect cards, 1 for each aspect, that are specific to her hero deck. I'll only discuss the new ones here.
Spider-Girl (aggression) – Spider-Girl is a 2-cost ally with 2 attack, 1 thwart, and 2 health. At a cost of 2, she's automatically a cheap blocker, but what really makes Spider-Girl is her response, to stun and confuse a minion when played. This can allow for some great breathing room from a pesky minion when trying to set something else up. For me, this was against Advanced Ultron Drone, letting me set up my ally a bit before taking it out.
Press the Advantage (aggression) – Press the Advantage is a 1-cost attack event that deals two damage to an enemy and draws a card if they are stunned or confused. This isn’t a card I played often, but could be great in an aggression/justice deck that focuses on dealing statuses.
Clear the Area (Justice) – Clear the Area is a 1-cost thwart event that removes two threat from a scheme and draws a card if the last threat was removed. This is also a card I didn’t play often, but would have if I was focused more on thwarting, as it is a cheap way to boost Spider-Woman’s stats.
Skilled Investigator – Skilled Investigator is a 0-cost upgrade that is a Hero Response: After a side scheme is defeated, exhaust Skilled Investigator, draw one card. This is great free upgrade, especially for scenarios that involve multiple side schemes.
Tips from a casual player:
The single best card to add to Spider-Woman, in my opinion, is Deft Focus, from the Guardians Most Wanted box. This 1-cost upgrade adds to her already good resource generation, which makes it possible for you to play even more of her powerful hero cards, reducing the cost of superpower cards.
Deck idea:
The thing that makes Spider-Woman so fun is the many possibilities with her dual aspect deck mechanic. I have recently been playing Spider-Woman as leadership/aggression, creating a Yondu ally Voltron deck, focusing on building Yondu’s attack since he takes no consequential damage. The goal is to give Yondu Honorary Avenger, along with Laser Blaster, Inspired, Energy Spear, Power Gloves, and Sky Cycle with Boot Camp and C.I.T.T. in play. This gives him an attack of 7, with one free ready, and a 2-cost ready each turn. With three copies of Get Ready in the deck, Yondu can have HUGE turns. My highest so far being 28 damage. While setting this up, Spider-Woman should focus on managing threat, with her boosted stats. She should also try to get Deft Focus, Jessica Drew’s Apartment, and both copies of Finesse in play. This allows her to play most of her hand every turn on top of Yondu’s massive damage. Her apartment is also crucial for building Yondu faster.
Feel:
I don’t know anything about Spider-Woman aside from this game, but her deck mechanic feels different from any other deck. If you are a fan of deck building, this allows for so many possibilities.
Final thoughts and recommendation:
The big box expansions are huge value, so you should get them regardless of the heroes included. However, Spider-Woman is a ton of fun. The possibilities she allows for is great, and her deck mechanic is getting me back into the game after a slump!
Purchase the Rise of Red Skull box expansion: https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Champions-Rise-Red-Skull/dp/B08FXQ6DNN