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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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 Though her beginnings in Amazing Spider-Man #210 were humble, the blind, terminally ill Cassandra Webb has proven herself to be a powerful ally to both Peter Parker as well as the first three bearers of the Spider-Woman tradition. Afflicted with a central nervous system condition called Myasthenia Gravis and kept alive by an externally-linked life support system that would eventually be a point of attack for her arch-enemy Juggernaut, Webb compensated for her weak physical condition with an array of psionic powers: telepathy, clairvoyance, and the ability to sense psychic powers in others. After suffering massive physical trauma and a case of amnesia, Madame Web became the one-time ally of Norman Osborne, who offered her various things the dying Webb desired. Startlingly rejuvenated to a youthful body, Cassandra gained the power to take on an astral form. She then went on to lead an all-Spider-Woman team for a short time.
Madame Web, as we see her in the Spider-Man Vs. Doc Ock set, packs an interesting set of effects:
Madame Web: Cassandra Webb
Character, Spider-Friends, Recruit 3
3 ATK/1 DEF
Whenever a Spider-Friends character you control uses an activated power, gain 2 endurance.
Activate >>> Look at the top two cards of target player's deck. You may put those cards into that player's KO'd pile or return them to the top of his deck in any order.
This version of Madame Web is the pre-Norman Osborne one—the one who helped Peter Parker upon their first meetings and kept his identity safe, despite having used her gifts to arrive at the conclusion that he was in fact Spider-Man. Webb’s ATK and DEF are fitting for the character at this point in her career. Though capable of psionic attacks of decent strength, Cassandra is still at this point a victim of her nervous system disorder. As a result, she’s still dependant upon her cybernetic life support for sustained survival, and as such is exceedingly fragile (hence her 1 DEF, which is pretty terrible for a 3-drop by the standards of Marvel Origins).
 Where Webb shines is her top-notch effect, or should I say, both her top-notch effects. With some of the Spider-Friend team affiliation characters having great activated powers, Spider-Friend decks are often going to see a lot of activated powers being used. Over the course of a few turns those repeated uses of activated powers really start to tally up, so Cassandra Webb is a potentially great selection for a 3-drop on the Spider-Friends' side. Remember, too, that with Marvel Team-Up, you’re going to be able to share the Spider-Friends team affiliation with the likes of the Fantastic Four or the Brotherhood, both of which have substantial lists of strong activated powers. Gaining 2 endurance after every shot for five from Human Torch, Hotshot? Or with every activation of Alicia Masters or Franklin Richards? Those cards are superb to begin with, but with Cassandra Webb backing them up, they take on a new dimension.
The true prize, however, is Madame Web’s own activated effect (which she naturally gets a bonus for via her own first effect). One of the first viable “mill” cards in the Vs. System, Madame Web’s effect represents her ability to tell the future, and can be exceedingly nasty off of an advantageous pull on those top two cards. The New Brotherhood in an aggro Brotherhood swarm? KO’d. Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria in a Doom control deck? KO’d—you'd better be running a few Reconstruction Programs, Doomy. Alicia Masters or Thing, Heavy Hitter in a Fantastic Four acceleration deck? Gone. Same goes for Cosmic Radiation. Gone, gone, gone. Madame Web allows you to process a deck by separating the wheat from the chaff, giving your opponent the chaff to work with.
Granted, that’s the ambitious way to play Cassandra, opportunistically picking off key cards that your opponent needs. That’s great, but really, it’s just icing on the cake. The true strength Cassandra presents is curve disruption. In the early game, you’ll stick your opponent with 5, 6, and 7 drops. In the late game, you deprive him or her of the big hitters, providing instead all the copies of Alicia Masters, Destiny, and Random Punks your opponent can eat
Remember, too, that replacing the two cards means you know what the opponent will be seeing next turn. If he or she is light on cards in hand, you'll be able to deduce what his or her resource row consists of long before it’s turned face up, and you’ll be able to choose your field positioning accordingly. You’ll be able to anticipate power-ups, replacement of certain hitters (rendering the attacking of other copies of the same character somewhat pointless), and the overall direction your opponent’s development will take.
Plus, there are several neat synergies to work with. For instance, couple Cassandra with Avalanche: Dominic Petros, and watch players cringe as you KO their locations, while at the same time sticking their key characters in the resource row. Ouch.
 Or how about using Webb to see into your own future? Cycle through your deck and do the opposite of what you did to your opponent, making sure to eliminate the cards you no longer need to increase your chances of making key drops. Running two Flame Traps, but find yourself up against a standard Beatdown deck that isn’t very focused on weenie characters? Thin clean through them.
Want the sickest of the sick? How about activating Webb’s effect, gaining the 2 endurance, seeing the cards, and putting them back, then following up with Longshot’s effect? The end result is an almost guaranteed two additional cards in hand. Drawing four cards a turn instead of two? Sounds good to me!
With players currently searching for more and more control elements in the environment, Madame Web: Cassandra Webb is sure to see a lot of experimentation and use upon its release.
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