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The Jubilee Marvel Champions Hero Pack comes complete with everything you’d expect from the flashy hero: the power to generate explosive energy and, of course, periodic shopping sprees to pick up her signature yellow coat and her iconic 90s shades – after all, the orphaned teenager Jubilation Lee survived by living in her favorite shopping mall before she discovered her powers. When her ability to generate explosive energy manifested she found the X-men and left the mall behind to join the team.
Her deck has a unique emphasis on spending resources of different types, and she comes with a full assortment of stun and confuse effects, as well as a (grumpy) Wolverine for her signature ally.
The colorful hero Jubilee has got a lot going on mechanically and some interesting potential synergies, but does it all come together to make her a strong addition to the roster or is she another flipping hero that’s hard to steer?
What comes in the Jubilee Marvel Champions Hero Pack?
Two-sided hero card
40 card pre-constructed justice deck, ready to play out the box
Extra “back of the pack” aspect cards for deckbuilding
Her obligation and nemesis set featuring Nanny
A bonus Modular set, featuring Arcade
Hero/Alter-ego Card
She starts with a 1-1-2 stat line, which is fairly weak, but once you can get her attachments out she’s able to boost her attack and thwart. I don’t find that I use her basic abilities very much anyway because you can exhaust her to generate a wild resource, which tends to be more powerful – especially with her kit – and she’ll often exhaust on the alter-ego side anyway.
On her alter-ego side, her ability lets her find and play her signature side scheme, Shopping Spree, which she can clear in order to put an item into play. It only has two threat on it, but the catch is, heroes and allies can’t thwart that scheme, so you’ll have to take care of it in alter-ego.
Prebuilt Deck
The Jubilee hero pack comes with a fully playable justice deck including her fifteen signature cards focused around stun and confuse effects and varied energy types.
Since she starts off with pretty weak stats, her early game tends to focus on getting out her coat and glasses to boost her abilities. The best way to do this is by clearing shopping spree, but you can only clear one threat from it per turn and only when you are in alter-ego.
There are a couple different ways to improve the efficiency with which you remove this threat, using the new Disguise card as well as some old classics, Beat Cop and Surveillance Team, but however you do it, this really is the key to getting a Jubilee deck running optimally – by finding a way to get a free item each turn, and set up your board quickly. Because you’ll want to be flipping down a lot it’s good that she can leverage her mutant power to generate confuse and stun effects consistently. Note: she will struggle against stalwart or steady villains, but against a standard villain, if you can get her tempo right, her you can skate through unscathed.
To trigger these effects you’ll need to pay for her cards with multiple different energy types. She makes this easy with her three included Plasmoid Energy cards which, conveniently, each produce two different energy types, to help you hit these kickers. Her precon includes aspect cards and allies with similar triggers, maximaizing the effect of these cards.
Let’s talk about her signature ally, Wolverine. He’s got piercing and he swings for three, which is great, but instead of healing every turn automatically like the aggression ally, they require you to flip to alter ego for him to heal which makes him kind of tricky to steer. I you want to keep him on the board you can only attack once before you heal again, so your forced to use his weak thwarting every other turn.
Ultimately, I just end up feeling torn. Do I build a deck that maximizes my ability to clear the Shopping Spree side scheme? Do I build around multi-energy plays and status effects? Or do I build around boosting Wolverine. Those elements don’t really come together in a cohesive way and feel like three different ideas in one deck. Whichever I pick, I’ll be ignoring a lot of cards in her kit.
Aspect Card Highlights
Jubilee comes with some very interesting basic and justice cards inviting some new game play options – especially in multiplayer – and one that potentially creates a new archetype – Disguise.
I’ve been VERY excited to get my hands on Disguise. Obviously it has a very specific synergy with Shopping Spree, allowing you to clear it once per turn, but I’m a lot more interested in the way it expands the potential of an alter-ego only strategy. This has always been the issue with staying in alter-ego is that you were sacrificing the value you would normally get from exhausting your hero, and since you aren’t taking damage, exhausting to heal, doesn’t make sense. Now you can exhaust to remove two threat.
X-gene is a reprint, but I don’t think it’s ever been as good as it is with Jubilee. It guarantees that you are going to hit her kicker on her events. Pretty much an auto-include card for her.
Multitasking seems pretty good because of the versatility and is a FABULOUS target for the Power in All of Us. However, I don’t know that it will see a lot of use outside of heroes with dual resources, like Bishop, or heroes with lots of wild resources, like Domino. Same is true for Three Steps Ahead and the Husk ally, which I think are overpriced.
Waylay seems too expensive to me, so far. Can’t imagine why I would run it over Turn the Tide, which has a similar trigger (zero cost for three damage).
Cell Phone offers some interesting utility in multiplayer because you could activate a hero or ally outside of your turn. Really expensive for what it is, and may only make sense with jubilee who can play it for free with Shopping Spree. But because of its ability to allow out of turn activations in multiplayer, I’ll admit that it has my gears turning, and I can see it making it into some niche decks. But it won’t see the table often.
I menion that Husk is too expensive for my taste, but could be built around, especially if you got Mission Training attached to her.
Chamber is expensive but potentially excellent as an ally in a Float Like a Butterfly deck, which is a strategy that works well with Jubilee and is how I prefer to play her.
Synth I don’t think is very good. Cards that boost stats are usually 2-cost, but this is 3. You do have the flexibility of any basic activation and since she’s basic you could use her to boost a stat that you normally weren’t able to in your chosen aspect. Likely too expensive to hit the table much though.
Generation X is okay, netting everybody a card, and potentially allowing you to pull a powerful event card from the discard, but really not that exciting. It’s good to have more options in justice and I hope the keep going with this card type because we need more.
Back of the Pack
These cards remind me a bit of the cards we got in the guardians cycle that required you to exhaust both a guardian and an avenger, because these require you to have an X-men character and an X-force character down at the same time.
With Mutant Mayhem I can replay two allies. Ideally getting the when played effects again and clearing all the damage from them and un-exhausting them. If you time this right, you could get an incredible amount of value from this card and it is important to note that you return the card to your hand before replaying it, so you can get the when played effect even if it must be played from your hand. That’s opens up some interesting possiblities.
Serve and Protect is incredible for protection, because it allows you to prevent threat – green’s greatest weakness – and then gives you two toughs for blocking next round. Takes some set up, but if you get the tempo right, you could reliably flip every turn in protection preventing all villain threat one turn, and having two free blocks the next. And, best of all, you could use the same two allies the whole game, never taking any damage.
Unlikely Duo is perfect. It’s unique, and feels thematic to how the team would work together. They also got the cost on this one exactly right. Great card.
Nemesis Set and Obligation
Her obligation, Grounded, is very well designed. Jubilee wants to flip down and this makes it REALLY expensive to flip back up, making you spend two of the same energy type. It’s easy enough to clear, but it really nerfs you for one turn in a way that feels specifically targeted at your hero, which is exactly what it should do. Great design.
Nanny is no joke either. The side scheme gets extra threat you for having a diversity of energy in your hand and it has the crisis icon, so you have to clear it. I think more nemesis side scheme should have that. I like the thematic feel of that it’s a true distraction that requires you to go out of your way to deal with your nemesis.
Nanny is not that bad on her own, but she takes over one of your allies every time she attacks, so if you, say, have Wolverine out, you better clear Nanny. Unfortunately she has tough so that will potentially take all of your attention for one turn.
Bonus Modular Encounter Set
Arcade is a death trap enthusiast and and will be trying to lure you into one of his deadly attractions to distract you from the villain’s schemes. He brings one in when he’s revealed and cannot be defeated until they are all removed. They all have when defeated effects, but, if you don’t clear them Elaborate Trap will trigger all the effects when it’s revealed.
Great set. Each card is tightly integrated with the other cards and it presents a lot of interesting decisions about what to clear and when. All choices have a negative impact and it isn’t immediately obvious what’s the right thing to focus on. Really great design.
Recommended Decks on MarvelCDB.com
To be honest, I don’t think her best deck has been made yet, but there are two solid decks that are worth a try:
Rush Hour form Web-Warrior Fanatic is a great way to increase your ability to remove threat from Shopping Spree without having to exhaust in alter ego, by using Beat cops and Surveillance Team. This means you can use your hero abililty to generate resources instead of thwarting in alter-ego.
I also like Going Nuclear from Villain Theory which is in Aggression and will have you looking at Jubilee in a different light. This plays off Honed Technique to boost her damage output to take advantage of her kickers for playing events. And, spoiler, she can sure put out a lot of damage. In multiplayer, you’ll be a useful damage dealer for the table. In solo, you’ll die about half the time.
Conclusion: More Likely to Shine in a Supporting Role
Jubilee presents an interesting deck building challenge – it is not immediately obvious how to make her work. For me, that is exciting.
It could be that she’s tough to make work and that she just isn’t quite mechanically sound. She definitely has two or three strategies in her deck that do not necessarily complement one another. But that’s fine for me. I like the challenge of trying to get her to work. That is why I play the game.
The cards she comes with do spark my deck building idea faculties. I want to build around her back of the pack cards. I want to try Disguise with a bunch of different folks. I can’t wait to throw her aspect cards into a Bishop deck.
I delayed putting out this review, because I don’t feel that I’ve figured her out yet, but I decided that that was worth including here, so that you can make the best decision based on why you play the game.
Don’t expect S tier. Don’t expect it to play well out of the box. Expect an interesting deck building project, lots of playtesting, and some experimenting to get the tempo right.
Let me put it this way: If you like to play the precons, maybe look around at some other heroes. If you like to build decks, buy this.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is Jubilee’s role in the game?
Jubilee serves as a versatile hero primarily focusing on flipping between alter ego and hero states, utilizing her unique abilities to manage threat and deal damage effectively while maintaining tempo.
How do I effectively build a deck around Jubilee?
To build a successful deck for Jubilee, aim for a balance of cards that enhance her ability to thwart and deal damage. Incorporate allies that benefit from her confuse mechanic, and consider including cards that boost her overall impact, such as Float Like a Butterfly or Operative Skill.
What are some recommended strategies when playing as Jubilee?
Focus on establishing your resources early and leveraging your ability to confuse opponents. Clear side schemes to replenish your hand size and maintain pressure on the villain while ensuring you manage your tempo to maximize your effectiveness.
Can Jubilee perform well in solo play?
While Jubilee can succeed in solo play, her performance may be inconsistent due to her reliance on synergy with other cards and characters. In multiplayer settings, she often shines as a valuable support character, contributing significant damage and thwarting capabilities.
Are there specific cards I should avoid when building her deck?
Be cautious of cards that require extensive use of confuse if you anticipate facing villains resistant to that mechanic. Additionally, avoid cards that contradict her strategy of tempo and resource management, as they may lead to inefficiencies in her gameplay.