Given the excitement over MEV Exile and the shift mechanic, I’m truly surprised that there has been no good post on building a good Exile deck except Stu’s version with the exile cockroaches. The only other thread dealing with Exiles completely misread Nocturne’s ability and hence does not work as suggested.

This is an attempt at a curve swarm version instead of a Mariko Yashida burn. I’m not sure if it is better than the weenie swarm version cos no one in my gaming group has built one, but it seems to play out reasonably well.

Characters 35
4 Proteus, Earth 58163
4 Sage, Earth 616
2 Mystique<>Mystiq, Earth 797
4 Blink, Earth 295, Clarice Ferguson
4 Shadowcat<>cat, Earth Unknown
4 Mariko Yashida <> Sunfire, Earth 2109
3 Illyana Rasputin<>Magik, Earth 4210
2 John Proudstar<>Thunderbird, Eath 1100, War
1 Blink, Dimesion Jumper
4 Rogue, Earth 1009
1 Heather Hudson<>Sasquatch, Earth 3470
1 Mimic, Earth 12, Infected
1 Blink, Team Leader

Plot Twist 21
4 A Finer World
4 Call in a Favor
4 Warp Shards
4 Beak Saves the Day
2 Blink!
3 Cutting Loose

Location 4
4 Panoptichron

One thing that is noticeable immediately is the high character count. This deck works best if you are shifting as many characters as possible for the first 3 turns and then try to dominate from turn 4 onwards. That means you need to have drawn into at least 6-7 characters on the first three turns. The mulligan condition is that you must have at least 2 characters in your opening 4 cards, preferably from following: Proteus, Sage, Blink, or Shadowcat. If you get one of those and some other character, that is ok, but you almost always have to ship a hand with only 1 character despite the number of search cards you might also draw. This is to maximize the use of resource points in the first 2 turns since the searches only kicks in on turn 3.

Also, the last 2 plot twist, Blink and Cutting Loose is for a pure MEV build. These are the 5 open slots for modification to cater for different metagame or formats. I guess other suitable cards might be Pathetic Attempt, Only Human, Omnipotence, Death of a Dream or some combat pumps. I find that I hardly need combat pumps because I usually have enough to team attack from turn 4 onwards. Hence, some control cards may be better, especially in the early turns.

The most difficult thing about playing this deck is keeping count of the number of resources you have committed to shift each turn, and how best to maximize them. The math can get quite complex so practice is essential. The typical turn plays runs like this:

Turn 1: Set Resource. shift Proteus (1)

Turn 2: Set Resource. shift Shadowcat (1). Pay 1 resource, bring Proteus into play, Activate Proteus for counter on Shadowcat (2)

Turn 3: Set Resource. Shift Blink, Clarice Ferguson (1). Shift Sage (1), Shift Mariko Yashida (1). Activate Proteus for counter on Shadowcat (3).

Turn 4. This is your critical turn. Set Resource. Hopefully by now you have rowed in 1 Panoptichron. Shift Illyana Rasputin (1), Shift Rogue(1), Shift Mystique (1), Shift John Proudstar (1). Bring Shadowcat into play; activate to bring Blink into play. While ability on stack, activate Proteus for counter on Illyana (2). Panoptichron Proteus to place 2 counters on Proudstar (3). While Blink’s ability is on stack, play Beak Saves the Day, targeting Blink. Total shift counters at this point Sage (2), Mystique (2), Proteus (1) Mariko (2), Blink (3), Illyana (3), Proudstar (4), Rogue (2). Bring Mystique into play. Bring Blink into play, While Blink’s ability is on chain, Mystique eats 1 counter from Sage and Proudstar, gaining 2 +1/+1 tokens. Total counters, Sage(2), Proteus (2), Mariko (3), Illyana (4), Proudstar (4), Rogue (3). Bring everyone into play except Rogue, in the following order: Proudstar, Illyana, Mariko, then Sage. Burning the opponent for 14 endurance and drawing you 6 cards. This gives you 3 2 drops, 3 3 drops, 2 4 drops on turn 4. If you have drawn into Warp Shards, then this is quite the devastating beating.

Of course things never quite pan out in practice as perfectly. Often you get only 2 2drops (Sage, Proteus) 3 3 drops and 1 4 drop (Illyana). Even then this is still quite a good board considering all of them should survive to turn 5, courtesy of Illyana.

I don’t think I need to continue to detail the convoluted maths at turn 5,6,7. I’m sure if you can follow the above 4 turns, you should be able to work out how best to manage the next few turns. Who to shift, recruit, Panoptichron thereafter depends a whole lot on whether you want to draw cards (Sage), direct burn(Mariko), or maximize shift counters (Blink). Very often it is possible to get both 5 drop, both 6 drops and the 7 drop blink into play on those turns. Needless to say, the interaction between 7 Blink, Heather Hudson, Sage and Mariko is quite something to behold if you even get to turn seven.

Evidently this deck dies to rush decks that kills on/before turn 4, and is also quite vulnerable to 2 drop Caliban that neutralizes Sage’s extra card draw. The card draw is really critical to the deck, I notice. Any suggestion on the what to play to deal with this, or any improvements to the deck would be greatly appreciated.

PS: this deck is also prime to become a ladies only theme deck. you only need to find a replacement for JohnProudstar and Mimic

I have a similar deck, but it focuses more on turns 5 and 6, as those are the kill turns. I usually bring out 2 5-drops, but depending on my hand I can bring out all 4, and if the game goes to turn 6, I bring out Heather Hudson and Namora. The deck does have 1 7-drop Blink, which is busted on my int and decent on my opponent's int.

If you want to go more curve, take out Shadowcat, for she is sort of useless after turn five. Proteus is a god as is Blink 3-drop. Mariko is amazing, but not great for my deck. The point of mine is to bring out several 5-drops on turn 5 and abuse Time Broker.

So personally, I would cut out a lot of the early game and put in some more late game. Oh, and Cutting loose may be good in the Swarm, but useless in the curve.

Thanks for your comments. However, the meta in my area is reasonably fast, so it may be problematic to survive to turn 5-6 without a solid presence from 1-4.

Shadocat does serve her purpose becos quite often, you'd want to panoptichron Blink 3 drop, Mariko or Sage in order to re-trigger their effects. This is a great low cost way of bringing them back to the board.

May consider the time broker thing though. Any chance you can post your deck for a comparison?

A card that I've found is under appreciated until you play it a few times : No More Mr. Nice Guy.

A static +2/+2 is amazing. Get two or three of them out, and you're golden. I've had the 3 drop blink up to a 11/10 on turn 3, a killer against curve decks.

Another great card is Magnus. Especially if you get odds. I've easily stunned the opposing 6 drop with his come into play effect.

Sure. This is the deck as follows:

1-drop:
3x Timebroker

2-drop:
4x Proteus
3x Sage

3-drop:
4x Blink
2x Spiderman
4x Vision

4-drop:
3x James Proudstar
2x Magik

5-drop:
2x Power Princess
2x Morph
2x Rogue
1x Blink(will probably be two times)

6-drop:
2x Namora
2x Sasquatch

7-drop:
1x Blink

Plot Twists:
3x Warp Shards
3x A Finer World
4x Beak Saves the Day
2x Blink
4x Defying a God
2x Unhinged from Time

Locations:
3x Pant
2x Birthing Chamber

These are the cards I currently own, so that is why there are only 3x of the Warp Shards, A Finer World and no Mobilize. The deck words out very well, though I haven't really had a chance to test it out besides online and against my friend who runs a perfect Runaways build. So damn annoying.

The people in my area always have some kind of curve or control deck, so turns 1-4 don't matter as much. Ideally, I should have a pretty decent board on turns 2-4, having Proteus, Blink, Spiderman and Proudstar out.

The mull is for Prot or Blink, or a way to get them out. If I am not playing against a certain friend who does not allow proxies, I take out two Birthing Chamber and two Visions for four Mobilize. You have no idea how useful that card really is for this deck.

another way

1-drop:
2x Timebroker

2-drop:
4x Proteus
3x Sage

3-drop:
4x Blink
3 X Shadowcat
1x Spiderman
1 X Mariko

4-drop:
3x James Proudstar
2x Magik
1 x Mimic

5-drop:

3x Blink(or two)
2x Rogue

6-drop:
3x Sasquatch (or two)
1 x Mimic

7-drop:
2x Blink
1 X Sabretooth

Plot Twists:
4x Warp Shards
4x A Finer World
4x Beak Saves the Day
3x Blink
2x Wolverine Squad
3 X other (in golden age Press the attack)

Locations:
4x Pant
1x Birthing Chamber

62 cards!

I don't like Shadow Cat in the curve build, as she doesn't really do much later in the game. Spiderman is damn good so I would use him instead.

I had the same idea but it's not quite true.

Normal situation

turn 3: Shift blink (1 count). Shift in shadowcat. Shift in Blink, Shift in Proteus and or Sage. Agains curve deck it's pretty dificult to lose shadowcat

Turn 4: Use panop with blink, shift in Jhon proudstar, shift in Blink, Shift in Illyana and or Mimic and (in normal case) Mariko and another. It's your attack. against curve it's imposible to lose Shadowcat and with blink! get it not stunned

Turn 5: returns john and Blink 5, and probably Rogue. Againts curve your opponent prefer to stun blink drop 5 first and (if they can) john or another because are a big boys in table.

Turn 6: normally the end of the game.

Try it. It's really a good option