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The first of the Guardians of the Galaxy hero packs could only be one person: their leader, Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord). The Star-Lord Hero Pack comes equipped with the leadership aspect which is only fitting. As in every hero pack, Star-Lord comes with a nemesis. For Peter, it's his own father, King J’son of Spartax, Mister Knife.
Star-Lord
First, let’s look at Star-Lord himself. He has a standard health pool, recovery, and hand size of 10, 3 and 6. These are standard, being alike to most other heroes. On his alter ego side he has a setup ability that allows him to start with one of his element guns in his hand. this is very useful as he could deal at least 3 damage every round if he has a spare resource. He also has another ability called Smooth Talker. This allows him to swap a card in his hand for the card on the top of his deck once per round. Very handy if you have a card you want to save for the next round.
This could also combo well with abilities that let you see the top card of your deck. This ability works very well with the Cosmo ally ability, which has you guess what card type is on top of your deck to stop Cosmo from taking consequential damage.
Flipping over to his hero side, his hand size changes to 5 and his thwart, attack, and defence change to 2, 2 and 1. Only having defence of 1 is a downside but Star-Lord has some cards that will reduce or block damage for him. As the leader of the guardians, it is only right that he has an ability to improve that skill. Any ally that Star-Lord Controls gains the guardian trait. This is useful as it means that he can run allies that aren’t guardians, and still affect them with his cards that only work on guardians.
His next ability “What could go wrong” showcases another theme of his deck, risk-taking. This ability allows you to take a facedown encounter card to reduce the cost of a card by 3. Star-Lord has cards in his deck that deal him more cards and some that improve based on the number of encounter cards he has taken.
Star-Lord's Cards
Talking about his other cards, the 15 cards in the Star-Lord Hero Pack have a good spread of abilities. Some can strengthen his allies and others can play off his risky nature. A few highlights of his cards would have to be Nova Prime, Sliding Shot, Leader of the Guardians and Star-Lord Helmet.
First in that list is his ally Nova Prime. He may look expensive at a cost of 5 but that could be reduced to 2 at the price of an encounter card. Nova prime has a good attack of 3 but the main attraction is his response ability. When he’s played, he can defeat a non-elite minion. This is a very useful ability if there is a minion getting your way.
The next card I want to mention is Sliding Shot, as it is Star-Lord most lethal card. Using this card with Star-Lords “What could go wrong” ability and some of his cards can get Sliding Shot to do 9 damage or even more.
Star-Lord's Leader of the Guardians upgrade gives each guardian you control +1 thwart. This works well with a leadership deck because if you’re focusing on bringing allies out then you give each of them this bonus for a lot of extra thwarting. Star-Lord’s Helmet can allow you to set up for one great turn after another. Being able to increase your hand size so much gives you the ability to play a lot of cards a turn. To be able to have back-to-back large hand sizes you would need to survive the onslaught of encounter cards you would be dealt. Working with someone who focuses on defence, like Groot, or dealing with encounter cards, like Black Widow, can help Star-Lord get away with this though.
Leadership And Basic Cards
The leadership and basic cards that come with the Star-Lord hero pack allow him to deal out a lot of damage on top of what he can already do. The cards I would highlight out of these are Yondu, Air Supremacy, Blaze of Glory and Knowhere.
Yondu is one of the best leadership allies available for decks based around upgrading allies. Like Black Cat, Spiderman’s unique ally, Yondu takes no consequential damage when he attacks. Having a deck based around ally upgrades would mean you can raise Yondu’s attack and have him fight every round for free.
Next up is Air Supremacy, a card that finally brings a use to the aerial trait. Some characters receive the aerial trait from cards, and it always felt like it would become useful at some point. That time is now. This card, alongside the 3 other cards that come with the pack for the other aspects, focuses on the aerial trait. Characters like Spider-Woman and Doctor Strange received aerial from cards but it isn’t used again in any of their cards. Now there are aerial cards that can be used in each aspect. This means there can be more synergy in decks where heroes couldn’t utilise their aerial trait before.
Another one of Star-Lords cards that works well when he has a full board of allies is Blaze of Glory. This card gives each guardian character +2 attack and thwart till the end of the phase. However, it then deals 1 damage to each of them at the end of the phase. What makes this card even better is that it isn’t limited to characters you control. This card gives the bonus to other guardian heroes too. From games I’ve played with this card, it's fun to realise you’ve won just because this card can buff so many characters at once.
To further improve Star-Lords ability to utilise allies the card Knowhere lets him play an extra ally, allowing him to have 4 out at one time. This card even has the added benefit of allowing a player to draw a card after they play a guardian ally.
Final Thoughts
The Star-Lord Hero Pack is an excellent leadership deck with the cards he comes with. A few tweaks here and there could improve his deck but most of the cards he comes with work very well with him. On top of that, he would work well in other aspects like aggression. Star-Lord works best when you embrace the chaos and risk that comes with dealing yourself encounter cards. Have a turn where you play risky, take three encounter cards, and then spend the next turn recovering.
When the villain gets low on health and you have a hand that could get you the win, but it looks too risky, take it. Star-Lord can deal massive damage and that makes him super fun. Try playing him alongside other guardians and use Blaze Of Glory and watch as the villain’s health disappears. Try building a deck centred around buffing allies, especially Yondu and it will not disappoint. This hero pack is a solid buy for any marvel champions collector and owning the Galaxy’s Most Wanted expansion makes it even better.
