Evasion is my new favorite Vs. System keyword. As I’ve started experimenting with Web of Spider-Man and making sample decks with the Spider-Friends and Sinister Syndicate teams, my evasion deck has become a favorite. I admit that it can’t consistently beat the metagame’s big decks, but when it hits its drops, it certainly competes with the best of them.
Before I get to the deck, however, let me give you the official definition of evasion and a rundown of why it’s so much fun to play. Here’s the excerpt from the Web of Spider-Man rules update:
Evasion: Some characters have the keyword “evasion” in their text box. Evasion is a permanent power that reads: “Stun this character >>> At the start of the recovery phase this turn, recover this character.”
The rules update also mentions a few interesting tidbits about evasion:
¨ The recovery does not happen every time the character stuns. This means that you have to voluntarily stun the character to pay for the effect, though you can use the ability in response to an effect that would otherwise stun your character.
¨ You don’t need to activate to use this power, which means that you can use evasion on an exhausted character. This is useful for other effects like reinforcement, or for activated abilities on the same character. It’s a boon to keep characters with evasion through later turns for their other abilities, without having to worry about huge amounts of breakthrough.
¨ Stunning is part of the cost of the ability, so the character stuns before the evasion effect goes on the chain. This saves you from being stunned in response to an announcement of evasion, and it also allows you to stun in response to a card like Flame Trap or Sunfire (either of which would otherwise severely hurt an evasion deck).
¨ Characters stunned by evasion do not count towards your regular recovery. So if you really want to keep multiple characters through your next turn, using evasion to guarantee multiple recoveries may be worth the extra direct damage you take.
¨ There are no limits to the number of characters who can use evasion. Can’t you just wait for Upper Deck Entertainment to release an ongoing plot twist that gives all of your characters evasion? Or maybe just a plot twist or effect that gives individual characters evasion? Can you imagine a Wild Vomit deck with evasion?
As I mentioned earlier, the evasion deck is a tough one to make competitive. Even after quite a bit of testing, it’s still rough around the edges. I can take the big decks to the late game with it, but I usually end up getting beaten on the eight or ninth turn. Jason Grabher-Meyer’s Gen Con