Family of Four

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Waxing nostalgic about my old Skrulls deck got me to thinking about some of my other all-time favorites, and this deck was one of the first to spring to mind. I got a whole lot of mileage out of this deck in Modern Age tournaments in the months after Marvel Legends came out. A good thing, too, because it is one of the most expensive decks I ever built. The characters aren't too bad, but 26 of the 30 plot twists are rares. Ouch.

If you have the cards, though, it is a really fun deck to play, especially if you are the kind of person who enjoys brickwalling attacks as much as you do executing them. And I am. I played this deck the other night against my son, who was playing a Substibuse deck. On turn 4 he sent his guy into Mr. Fantastic with two or three big pumps, 17 ATK in all. That's pretty good for turn 4, except when my guy has 19 DEF. BWA HA HA HA HA!

Characters - 26
[2 - 8]
4x Luke Cage, Steel-Hard Skin
4x Human Torch, Matchstick
[3 - 6]
4x Invisible Woman, First Lady of the Fantastic Four
2x Thing, Idol O'Millions
[4 - 4]
4x Mr. Fantastic, Critical Thinker
[5 - 3]
2x Thing, Heavy Hitter
1x Invisible Woman, Sight Unseen
[6 - 2]
1x Human Torch, Flame On!
1x Dr. Strange, Ally of The Four
[7 - 2]
1x Thing, The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing
1x Invisible Woman, Shield of The Four
[8 - 1]
1x Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd

Plot Twists - 30
[2 - 4]
4x Stretch Out
[3 - 18]
4x Force Field Projection
4x Signal Flare
4x It's Clobberin' Time!
4x Mobilize
2x Reset
[4 - 8]
4x Family of Four
4x Savage Beatdown

Equipment - 4
[0 - 4]
4x Unstable Molecular Suit

The goal of this deck is to limit damage in the early and middle game with defensive tricks and then win on 7 or 8. Ideally you want odds, since that allows you to win on a turn 7 init or on 8 after stealing the init with Surfer, and it also means you will be defending with Mr. Fantastic on 4, allowing you to use his effect. I don't have a firm mulligan condition for this deck, but I think I would keep any hand that includes Luke Cage, a 3 drop, or Signal Flare.

The ideal play on turn 2 is Luke Cage, even though he's not part of the Family. This deck works best when you are generating card advantage with Luke and Mr. Fantastic. Torch is OK on 2, mainly because Sue can give him reinforcement, and having him makes it easier to get full value out of Family of Four. Be careful with Luke's effect. Wait until the end of the recruit to discard, to be sure you are going to be able to get his effect.

Turn 3 you want Invisible Woman if at all possible. One of the best cards in the deck is Force Field Projection, and it's a dead card if you don't have some version of her on the field. Let her sit in your hidden area giving other characters reinforcement, and presenting the threat of a Force Field Projection even if you don't actually have one. Thing is a decent alternative if you miss Sue. He has no effect, but he's a big body and he's part of the Family.

It is critical to hit Mr. Fantastic on turn 4. I would never make my 4 drop my mulligan condition, but it's tempting in this case. I don't even play an alternate 4 here because frankly if you miss him you'll lose. He is, quite simply, what makes this deck work. His 9 DEF presents a big problem for your opponent, especially if Sue is out. Especially on their turn 4 init (remember, you want odds), your opponent will have to pump to get through him, but excess pumps would be wasted, because he has reinforcement. Between Unstable Molecular Suit, Family of Four and Stretch Out, it is pretty easy to boost his DEF even further. And if they go all in on the attack to get through him, they risk having you fizzle the attack completely with Force Field Projection. "Sorry about the two Savage Beatdowns you just wasted." Not. Equally important is his activated effect. He can get you an extra card on turn 4/5, and if you are on odds and play Dr. Strange on 6, he can get you two more on turn 6, most likely. And because you get to see three cards and pick one, his effect makes the deck vastly more consistent in the mid to late game. If you need characters, grab a character or a tutor. If you are set on characters, grab the best plot twist you see. Even if all three cards are worthless, he is making your next draw better.

On turn 5 you want Invisible Woman if you missed her on turn 3 or somehow lost her. Her effect is good only if you have a 2 and/or 3 drop still around that you want to move out of harm's way. You should never use it on Mr. Fantastic. If you have your 3 drop Sue, obviously you want Thing. He's not as intimidating now as he was in MOR days, but he's still a big body who is part of the Family. He can likely take out the opposing 5 without stunning back, allowing Mr. Fantastic to do the same with the opposing 4. If you head into turn 6 with your 3-5 drops intact, it will be very hard for most decks to win, unless they were built to win late.

If you are defending on 6 and still have Mr. Fantastic, you want Dr. Strange. He allows you to get two activations out of Reed. If you don't have him, or you are on evens, then you probably want Torch. He has 1 more ATK, which isn't much, but he boosts the value of Family of Four. His effect is generally useful only if you are way ahead and using it allows you to finish off your opponent.

Turn 7 is usually Thing if you didn't play him on 5, and otherwise Invisible Woman. Thing's effect will rarely come into play. If you are playing against curve, the opposing 3 drop is probably long gone by 7. If you are playing against off-curve, the game usually ends by 5 or 6, one way or the other. Only against something like the second version of my Spidey Stall deck would you get much use out of his effect, and you probably aren't going to beat that deck anyway. Sue's effect seems decent if you are on evens, but I honestly can't remember ever using it, and I've played this deck many times.

Turn 8 is of course Silver Surfer, and he's the reason you want odds. You want to drag out the game until the later turns, then have consecutive inits on 7 and 8. Usually you will win on 7 anyway, but he's your insurance policy against other full curve decks that are really good defensively, like X-Mental.

The tutors are as good as it gets for a mono-team deck, Mobilize and Signal Flare. Signal Flare is better in the sense that you can use it on 3 even if you missed your 2 drop, while Mobilize is better in the sense that you can discard any card for its cost (e.g., an equipment card).

This is a defensive deck first and foremost, and it has plenty of defensive pumps and tricks up its sleeve. The best one is Force Field Projection, because it nukes an opponent's attack without allowing him to re-ready. As I said before, just the threat of this card being played will hamper your opponent's play, if he knows what he's up against. Reset is a good card as well. After they've thrown a couple of big pumps into an attack, play Reset to make them start over. Nevertheless, if there are other cards you want to add to the deck, this is a good place to cut. Stretch Out can be used only with Mr. Fantastic, but it is incredibly versatile, giving you +4 DEF off init and +4 ATK on. Similarly, Family of Four works on both offense and defense. On average it's a +3/+3 pump that can be used for either purpose.

On the other hand, this deck also has plenty of firepower. Savage Beatdown is better than average in this deck, since you spend more time than average playing with four resources. Clobberin' Time gives you less pop, but it normally allows you to attack without getting stunned back. That's hugely important here, because as with most aggro-control decks, this one wins by generating field advantage. Attacking without stunning back is a big part of the plan. As I said, Family of Four and Stretch Out do double duty, so they both add to your offensive arsenal. I tend to save them for defensive purposes, though, unless I really need to push through an attack.

Finally, there is Unstable Molecular Suit. Along with Reset, this is another place you can cut to make room for something else. Back in the day, when I was tinkering with this deck, these were the two slots I would experiment with. I think I spent more time with these two cards in the deck than without them, though, so that's how I have it built now. You could certainly make a case for replacing them with tech cards (Only Human, Omnipotence, Pathetic Attempt) or other defensive cards (Acrobatic Dodge, Against All Odds), however.

This is without question my favorite mono-team aggro-control curve deck ever. I guess that's not saying much, given that most similar decks are team-up decks (X-Mental, Crisis Doom, Checkmate/Whatever), and the other obvious candidate, Sentinel Curve, is not strictly mono-team. Then again, that's what makes this one so special. You normally have to team up to get this kind of balance between offensive and defensive prowess. If you want a mono-team deck that is really good at both, look no farther.