Recently, an exciting opportunity landed on my (virtual) desk: Fantasy Flight Games gave me a thematic deckbuilding challenge for Marvel Champions: The Card Game, and they dared me to beat it. Although I do not consider myself a deckbuilding guru by any means, that “thematic” part immediately got my attention.
The challenge was to build a Daredevil (Fear No Evil, 1A) deck that meets certain requirements (three, to be exact), then beat the Kingpin scenario on Expert difficulty. Oh, and most importantly: I only had one chance to do so.
I realized that I couldn’t just take a random swing at it with Daredevil’s preconstructed deck from the Fear No Evil campaign expansion and hope for the best. No, I needed a proper strategy if I wanted to take on—and maybe even win—this challenge:
1. First, I had to find as many cards as I could that meet the three criteria listed for this thematic challenge (which I’ll go over shortly). Together, they formed the “pool” of eligible cards I could work with.
2. Following that, I wanted to “investigate” the Kingpin scenario on Standard difficulty and see what makes ol’ Wilson Fisk tick in this game, gathering some useful information to tweak the early concepts of my deck.
3. Then, finally, based on everything I learned, find any effective or interesting synergies in my card pool to build the final version of my deck and go all in against Kingpin on Expert.
Researching the Cards I Could Use
The challenge said that each aspect and basic card (including resource cards) that I planned to include in my final deck had to meet at least one of the following three criteria:
#1 – The cards I use depict Daredevil in the artwork.
As someone who keeps around a spreadsheet for, well, literally everything (seriously, it’s becoming an issue at this point), this was a cakewalk. Daredevil is a hero who’s been frequently portrayed on card artwork since the game first released, so there are various great candidates for this one. Here are all the cards I found that portray Daredevil in their artwork, listed by aspect:
Aggression: Surprise Attack (Wasp, 14) and “You’ll Pay for That!” (Hulk, 16).
Justice: Chance Encounter (Fear No Evil, 25), Followed (Captain America, 32), Lay the Trap (Jessica Jones, 21), Making an Entrance (Venom, 13), Move in Shadow (Fear No Evil, 27), Observe (Luke Cage, 35), Run Them to Ground (Jessica Jones, 20), Skilled Investigator (The Rise of Red Skull, 47), Vigilante Training (War Machine, 33), and one of the classics, The Power of Justice (Core Set, 62).
Leadership: Defensive Formation (Luke Cage, 18) and Righteous Purpose (Luke Cage, 19).
Protection: Unflappable (Doctor Strange, 20), Perseverance (Wasp, 33), and Stronger Together (Wonder Man, 19).
Basic: Down Time (Ms. Marvel, 33) and the Genius (Fear No Evil, 58) resource card with its new artwork featuring Matt Murdock in a courtroom.
As you can see, one thing was crystal clear right off the bat: most of the cards that depict Daredevil in their artwork belong to the Justice aspect.
Now, let’s move on to my second requirement…
#2: The artworks on the cards I use are from Daredevil comic issues
Even more specifically, they should be from a comic with “Daredevil” in its title. This one was much more difficult than the previous one. Fortunately, there are some great online resources created and maintained by various members of the Marvel Champions community, which definitely helped with this part of my research.
I quickly noticed that, before the Fear No Evil expansion, we don’t have that many options. The only cards I could find are Followed, The Power of Justice, and Surprise Attack, which I’ve already mentioned in the previous section.
Among the new cards in the Fear No Evil expansion that do not feature Daredevil (Matt Murdock) in their artwork but are still from one of his comic issues are Army of One (Fear No Evil, 48), Blindspot (Fear No Evil, 19), Legal Trouble (Fear No Evil, 26), and Stealth Training (Fear No Evil, 28).
Now, there’s absolutely a chance that I might have missed a few, but this second little side investigation pushed me once again in the direction to pick the Justice aspect.
But before that, I still had to cover my third and final criteria…
Criteria #3: The cards I use depict a character, item, or location closely associated with Daredevil
Daredevil is definitely up there among the most popular Marvel superheroes. He has interacted with various characters since his comic debut in 1964, so I had dozens of options for this one.
Just by looking at the sheer number of characters who he’s most frequently associated with, we immediately have the Defenders (obviously) as well as other street-level heroes. This list includes Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Elektra, Echo, Cloak & Dagger, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, the Night Nurse, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, White Tiger…oh, and of course, another New York-based hero in a red costume, Spider-Man himself.
Matt Murdock also has a long list of romantic interests in the comics, so in addition to Karen Page, Elektra, or Echo, any card that portrays Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) on its artwork can be also considered for this challenge. And if we look at his professional life as an attorney, he and Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk, have also appeared in the courtroom together over the years.
Since Daredevil was also a member of the New Avengers team for a while, he shared the spotlight with heroes like Captain Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Wolverine, Mockingbird, Hawkeye, and even Doctor Strange, in addition to the already mentioned Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. Doctor Strange is a “critical” find for this investigation (he has also appeared in a recent Daredevil run in the comics), mostly for a single card: Deft Focus (The Galaxy’s Most Wanted, 24). But more on that later! Black Panther is also an option, because after the events of the Shadowland storyline, Daredevil left the city in the hands of T’Challa for a while.
And just to make things even more complicated, Daredevil is also about to make his debut in a new Midnight Suns lineup teased in Moon Knight’s latest comics, alongside characters like Blade, Clea, and Ghost Rider. So some of those supernatural characters could also appear “on the menu” for future iterations of this deck.
The number of cards that are eligible to meet this requirement is tremendous, so I won’t be listing all of them, just a few notable ones for each aspect:
Aggression: Martial Prowess (Hulk, 18), Melee (Ms. Marvel, 30), and Lie in Wait (Wasp, 17) can all work. If you wanted, you could also do the full “Honed + Dive Bomb” combo by pairing up Daredevil’s Billy Club (Fear No Evil, 17) with Honed Technique (Nova, 17) and Dive Bomb (Star-Lord, 28). Oh, and if you want to improve his thwarting in Aggression, I suggest the new Shakedown (Jessica Jones, 35) upgrade.
Justice: It’s absolutely on theme that Justice keeps winning in all the categories. Lots of great allies and some other interesting picks, such as Concussive Blow (Ms. Marvel, 31), Crisis Averted (Scarlet Witch, 12), Foiled! (Doctor Strange, 38), Know Your Enemy (Fear No Evil, 23), Stealth Strike (Black Widow, 13)…the list goes on for pages and pages.
Leadership: I think his best options once again can be found in the Luke Cage Hero Pack, with allies like Iron Fist (Luke Cage, 12) and Misty Knight (Luke Cage, 13), or the Take a Stand (Luke Cage, 15) event.
Protection: The other big winner of this category. The cards that revolve around the “lone wolf” archetype in Echo’s preconstructed deck are all good to go, but you can also go in another direction with the Iron Fist (Doctor Strange, 14) or Luke Cage (Core Set, 76) allies. Cards such as Defensive Conditioning (Civil War, 46), Momentum Shift (Doctor Strange, 16), The Night Nurse (Doctor Strange, 19) and What Doesn’t Kill Me (Sinister Motives, 16) are also great choices.
Basic: Fortunately, we can use the new Energy and Strength resource cards from Fear No Evil, as they portray Iron Fist and Jessica Jones respectively. The She-Hulk (Luke Cage, 21) ally is also an option here (and in Aggression as well), but Deft Focus is definitely our winner here, providing us a “free” Sense upgrade every turn, since they all have the Superpower trait as well.
Recon Mission: Key Takeaways from the Kingpin Scenario
On Kingpin’s starting side (A1 on Standard and B1 on Expert), his minions do his bidding and handle all the attacking for him. Because of the number of minions (a total of 12, plus Daredevil’s nemesis minion), I found the ability on the first main scheme too much of a risky play. The minions can quickly overrun you, and if you’re not ready for them whenever you decide to trigger the Hero Action as an “easy thwarting” option, then I suggest you tread lightly and thwart hard instead, or you’ll quickly end up in the caring arms of Sister Maggie (Fear No Evil, 16). Especially since…
…Bullseye (Fear No Evil, 33) is here to make our lives miserable right from the start. Daredevil basically starts the game with -3 hit points after Bullseye attacks Matt Murdock in alter-ego form. And even if you manage to defeat him, there are several cards in Kingpin’s encounter set that can bring him right back, such as Unrelenting Hate (Fear No Evil, 176) or Bag of Tricks (Fear No Evil, 175), which can reveal a copy of Bullseye’s Eye on the Target (Fear No Evil, 36)treachery.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Kingpin scenario doesn’t use the Standard encounter set (although he does still use the three cards in the Expert set), so at least you don’t have to worry about a badly timed Advance or Assault completely catching you off guard. Especially since, well, Caught Off Guard is a part of the Standard set as well. Kingpin also doesn’t have any “extra activation” treacheries in his own set, which is probably our best thing to note when we finally go up against him for real.
What that essentially means is that you can basically “predict” the amount of threat the main scheme can accumulate in the villain phase, with much more certainty than usual. And since you are also able to “cancel” boost cards in the scenario’s second half—granted by the ability on the Public Support (Fear No Evil, 163B) environment’s High side—you can pretty much stay in control of threat during the whole game.
The last takeaway from my test runs was that I should be extra careful and methodical with Daredevil’s Sense upgrades. Kingpin’s starting side can’t have any upgrades attached, completely negating 2 out of Daredevil’s 5 senses, Heightened Hearing (Fear No Evil, 3) and Radar Sense (Fear No Evil, 4). Since those two can be only attached to minions during the first half, you have to be extra aware of the order of your upgrades in the Sense deck, and how you’re actually cycling them.
Building the Final Deck
Based on my findings, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that my “best” aspect options are either Justice or Protection. There is also absolutely an argument for an Aggression deck because, technically, there are enough great cards for Daredevil to go the “red” route.
I was tempted by some of the new Protection cards that revolve around the Ronin (Fear No Evil, 53) upgrade and the “lone wolf” archetype that focuses on not having allies under your control. But after I lost spectacularly with that deck during my test plays (due to its lack of thwarting), I eventually decided to go with Justice. I’m absolutely a “theme first” player when it comes to deckbuilding, and since this is a thematic challenge, it was the most comfortable choice for me in the end anyway.
I wanted to include a single copy of the StealthTraining upgrade because I like the design space that focuses on “exactly defeating” schemes and enemies. Oh, and a single copy of the Skilled Investigatorfor some additional card draw and deck thinning was also a must-have. When it comes to aspect cards, I planned to do most of the thwarting with Move in Shadowand Know Your Enemy, as they work together smoothly.
Other than my hero cards, my main source of damage to handle all those minions were Concussive Blow and Stealth Strike. One to confuse them (or discard a minion with the Vulnerable keyword, which will be relevant later), and one to do some extra thwarting after I defeat them.
When it came to resource economy, I could’ve used the three basic resources, but I decided that I wouldn’t be needing them (famous last words, I know). The cost curve of my deck was relatively cheap: around 25 of the 40 cards were either 0- or 1-cost. Daredevil’s Enhanced Olfaction (Fear No Evil, 2) is basically an “on-demand double resource” anyway, and Deft Focus is here to play a free Sense upgrade for me every turn. I also included two copies of The Power of Justice, because I had a total of 7 valid targets for them in my deck, which would be just enough to justify their inclusion.
Since I was planning to flip frequently and play as Matt Murdock (Deposition, Foggy and Karen are just so good in alter-ego), I wanted to give myself some kind of “defense” against Kingpin’s scheming. Confusing him is not really an option here because of his stalwart and steady keywords, but I found the right tool for the job: Foiled!, with none other than Fisk himself in its artwork, which was super on theme. I also included Legal Trouble to handle the scheming of those nasty minions.
And since Daredevil can ready himself relatively easily, I wanted to have a “last resort” healing option whenever Sister Maggie was not around, which is why I decided to bring along two copies of Making an Entrance.
All in all, here are the aspect and basic cards that I eventually included in my final deck:
Allies (2): Blindspot, Jessica Jones (Core Set, 59)
Events (12): 2x Concussive Blow, 3x Foiled!, 3x Know Your Enemy, 2x Making an Entrance, 2x Stealth Strike
Resources (2): 2x The Power of Justice
Supports (1): Stick (Fear No Evil, 29)
Upgrades (8): 2x Legal Trouble, 3x Move in Shadow, 1x Skilled Investigator, 1x Stealth Training, 1x Deft Focus
That’s a total of 25 cards. I’m usually completely okay playing with a deck that is anywhere between 40-44 cards, but for this challenge, I wanted to keep my deck size at the absolute minimum.
How Did My Deck Do?
Fortunately, I had a blast with this deck, but I definitely needed those “test runs” on Standard in order to learn what I was up against.
Having a relatively lucky opening hand definitely helped, because Deft Focus and The Man Without Fear (Fear No Evil, 18) were right there at the start. I wasn’t so blessed with Karen Page (Fear No Evil, 14) though, because she ended up sitting at the very bottom of my deck.
My first turn was pretty straightforward: I played those two key upgrades, recovered for 3 (thanks Bullseye), kept a copy of Foiled! in my hand, and stayed in alter-ego form. Since Kingpin was going to scheme no matter what at this point, I figured I might just lay low for the first round and enjoy the benefits of my hand size of 6, with a Foiled! in hand ready to go and basically zero mathematical chance for the main scheme to reach its threshold.
When it came to minions, of course I had to defeat Bullseye a total of three times thanks to Unrelenting Hateand Bag of Tricks. I also needed to deal with Spot (Fear No Evil, 171), Tracksuit Mafioso (Fear No Evil, 202), and Beetle (Fear No Evil, 197) at one point, along with two copies of Tracksuit Bro (Fear No Evil, 203). Spot’s activations were basically nullified thanks to Heightened Hearing and Legal Trouble, while Tracksuit Mafioso’s vulnerable keyword was utilized after playing a Concussive Blowon him.
The James Wesley (Fear No Evil, 165) attachment was more painful than I thought. I realized too late that take caring of him immediately after I revealed him might be devastating, since draining my thwart events while facing Expert Kingpin with his SCH of 3—and scheming with 2 boost cards, thanks to James Wesley—was far from optimal. So, I had to clear his main scheme first, and even though he schemed for a total of 9 in the end, I fortunately had enough wiggle room to survive, thanks to a combo I pulled with Move in Shadow and my Superior Taste sense. It was a really, really close call.
After I decked out the first time, I had my supports, Foggy Nelson, Karen Page and Sister Maggie (with Stick joining them soon), as well as my upgrades, Deft Focus, The Man Without Fear, and a copy of Skilled Investigator in play. That engine made Daredevil feel unstoppable, even on Expert, and although Kingpin’s Mountain of Muscle (Fear No Evil, 167) card slowed down my progress, finishing Fisk with Daredevil’s Billy Club and his Raising Hell (Fear No Evil, 11) event (thanks to Karen shuffling it back into my deck) was extremely on theme and rewarding for my extensive research beforehand.
Case Closed
Now it’s your turn to beat this challenge! I’ve collected a handful of eligible cards in this article for anyone who’s up for some thematic deckbuilding, so feel free to try out a different approach in Justice, or come up with a completely new deck in a different aspect!
Written by Dan Gore
Marvel Champions: The Card Game is a cooperative Living Card Game® set in the iconic Marvel Universe. As villains attempt to carry out nefarious scehemes, it’s up to you and up to three other players to take on the role of a Marvel Hero and thwart evil wherever it rears its ugly head!
