Deck Guide: Bast Patriot (Pool 4)

Patriot gives +2 power to cards that don't have abilities (Wasp, Shocker, Squirrel Girl's Squirrels, etc.) and always goes hand in hand with Mystique, which copies Patriot's ongoing effect, making all cards without abilities gain +4 power.

Despite this strong effect, Mystique and Patriot have very low power (0 and 1, respectively), so that's where Bast comes in. When revealed, Bast sets the power of cards in your hand to 3, so Mystique and Patriot are even stronger with this buff.

In addition, Bast has some other very interesting interactions, which will be explained throughout the article.

Let's check the list:

In addition to the cards mentioned above, another great highlight of the deck is the Valkyrie, which, when revealed, sets the power of all cards in the place where it is played to 3.

This ability can be used both proactively, using it on your cards with little power like Mystique, Patriot and Bast and the Hood, and reactively, to counter an opponent's card that has a lot of power, like Red Skull. It is important to note that Valkyrie doesn't work against cards like Darkhawk, Knull, Morbius and Devil Dinosaur, as the power of these cards is Ongoing.

Iron Man and Blue Marvel are great cards to play on turn 5 and also serve as options for Mystique to copy their Ongoing abilities.

Debrii is its main way of countering decks that use Galactus and Lockjaw, as the Stones it places in other locations greatly disrupt the opponents' plans.

The Hood, despite having -2 power, creates the Demon in your hand, which in addition to having 6 power, has no abilities, so he can become a 1/10 with Patriot and Mystique buffs. Also, the Hood's negative power can be fixed with Valkyrie and Bast.

Finally, we have Mysterio, who has an unusual interaction with Bast: when Bast's ability hits Misteryo, his clones also have 3 power, so Misteryo costing only 2, guarantees 9 total power, thus being one of the best cards in that deck. Remember that Mysterio's illusions get even bigger with the Patriot and Mystique buffs and because they cost 2, they aren't eliminated by Killmonger.

While I like to play Bast on turn 1 when Mystique and Patriot come in the starting hand, it's preferable to wait until you have more cards that are great targets for Bast, like Mysterio, The Hood, and Squirrel Girl.

Unlike the original Patriot deck, where it is only played on the last turn along with Mystique, in this one you need to play both on the curve, that is: Patriot on turn 3 and Mystique on turn 4.

In 5, it is mandatory to play Blue Marvel or Iron Man. The criterion for choosing between the two is simple: if you need more power globally, choose Blue Marvel. Now, if you need to concentrate more power in a certain location, play Iron Man.

In the last turn there is enough energy to play the Demon or Squirrel Girl, Wasp and Valkyrie. I choose to play these cards in the last turn because the opponent is almost always caught off-guard with the Valkyrie, and the other cards without ability make the difference in the sum of points.

This is a relatively easy deck to pilot, but the player needs to pay attention to some details to make the best use of the list.

First: if the Demon is in your hand, and you're going to use Bast, remember to play the Demon, as you don't want it to have 3 power.

Pay close attention to the fact that the real Mysterio (if Bast has hit him) will not end up with 4 power. He will continue with 3 power and will only have his power increased with Blue Marvel! In this deck, you have to keep in mind that the copies of Mysterio are going to have the most power, so consider that when calculating the power of your locations.

Another critical thing is that in this deck there are many cards that easily fill their spaces, so be careful not to play Squirrel Girl, Mysterio and Debrii one after the other and run out of space to put your most important cards!

Finally, be aware of where you play Valkyrie and pay attention to who has priority, as this counts a lot for Valkyrie. In addition, it is worth noting not to play it in places where there are cards that constantly increase power and a great use of the card is to place it in the location where Iron Man is because while your opponent will have 12 power (in this case I am considering that the two opponents are with 4 cards in place), you'll have 24 with Iron Man!

Because it has many 1-cost units, Bast Patriot's deck suffers against Killmonger. Cosmo sucks for Valkyrie and Mystique and of course, Enchantress remains the main counter to any deck that has very important cards with Ongoing abilities.

I've seen several changes to this list and the one I'm using, for example, takes Super-Skrull as a tech card.

There are those who run Bishop due to his interaction with Mysterio.

Doctor Doom and Mister Sinister are also recommended cards that add even more value to this deck.

Did you already know this deck? Would you like the guide? What other decks do you want to see here? Tell me in the comments!