Bishop and Knight Checkmate Build
By Loop.
The premise of this deck is simple: it leverages the Ebony Blade’s ability to go very tall with Marvel Boy’s ability to go very wide, while utilizing some really neat Hulkling synergies. It uses low-cost cards and Sunspot to offset the awkward turns you may have while searching for your high rolls, allowing it not depend on them as much.
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Turn by Turn:
- Turn 1 you wanna play your one costs (duh!), barring Blade. Save Blade to discard Infinaut or Hulkling. If you’re playing Nebula instead of Chavez, prioritize her so she can scale and force your enemy to contest that lane. Otherwise, play Chavez to buff your next card in hopes it’s something you can discard for an even bigger Ebony Blade.
- Turn 2 you do the same or play Kate, who can give you more ones to fill out your curve as needed, providing lots of utility and power to boot. If you’re able to play Black Knight + discard a big card with Blade, do that.
- Turn 3 is where you gotta make a meaningful choice depending on your hand: play Sif if you got BK on the field and a big card in hand.; play Marvel Boy if you managed to play at least a couple 1s; play Magik or Hope if you didn’t. Hope is especially incentivized if you haven’t drawn your 1s, as you can play them on her when you do draw them.
- Turn 4 you basically do the same, but here is where you can play Ebony Blade if you managed to create one. If you managed to discard a big card but not create a big sword, Ghost Rider is an option as well (though it is best saved for later turns if the energy curve and draws allow). Otherwise, you can play Magik to extend the game for further buffing of your scalers and more chances to draw what you need. Like before, you can also play cards onto Hope for cheating out cards the following turn, or play Sif/Blade/Ebony Blade if needed. You can even play BK + Sif this turn if you drew the combo late.
- Turn 5 just do any of the actions outlined above, but you can also play a Hulkling if you have +1 energy from Hope. You also have the option to skip a turn to enable Infinaut and buff Sunspot as a viable fallback option.
- Turn 6 you just play whatever you can, or if the game is extended, you can just follow the instructions for turn 5 (skip for Infi).
- Turn 7 is where you can really pop off. This turn this deck becomes very hard for the opponent to predict. This is because you can ramp into 8 energy with Hope, enabling you to play Ebony Blade + Ghost Rider, like the good old days of ongoing Zabu. Otherwise you can scam out a victory with certain Hulkling high rolls, which synergize extremely well with this deck.
Good High Rolls and Unique Synergies for Hulkling Include:
- Alioth (you generally have prio)
- Doom and Ultron (meshes well with your general game plan of going wide and tall)
- Red Hulk (gets huge with the extended turn 7 games and can be discarded for a big Ebony Blade)
- Galactus (yes, Galactus – you can usually overpower anything they play with Infinaut/Ebony Blade)
- Taskmaster (the new change to TM helps here, as Hulkling can copy a huge Ebony Blade, or even a raw Infinaut)
- Blob (it’s just really big, especially if it hits Infinaut)
- Hela (can bring back discarded cards)
- Leader (generically just really good on a 6/11 body)
- Odin (procs Ghost Rider again)
- Mockingbird, Skaar, Sasquatch (this deck meets the conditions to discount them)
- Helicarrier (can give you random cards that you can more easily play due to Hope’s extra energy)
- She-Hulk (synergy with Sunspot and Infinaut)
- Living Tribunal (you can get a lot of power in this deck, sometimes enough to spread and win)
- Destroyer (not usually great but can be played more easily due to Ebony Blade being indestructible)
- Zola (can copy Infinaut if played early; not amazing but can output a lot of power if it works)
- Magneto (generically great card)
- Heimdall (moving such a large amount of power can be quite useful and they’ll never see it coming)
- Onslaught and Spectrum (they have a fair bit of hits here, including the Pym Arrow)
Snap Conditions:
- Identify Hope line into an 8 energy turn 7 with your combo in hand? Snap.
- Have a good Hulkling highroll? Snap.
- Sometimes you can also just snap upon getting your basic Black Knight combo if you identify the enemy deck and know they can’t output more.
Deck Code:
S3RCc2hwQSxNcnZsQjksQmxja0tuZ2h0QixCbGQ1LEluZm50OCxMZFNmNyxTbnNwdDcsTWdrNSxIcFNtbXJzQixHaHN0UmRyQSxIbGtsbmc4LEFtcmNDaHZ6RA==