U.S. Agent Decks: Bonus Challenge (Weekend Mission) Guide

During the weekend, there is now one more set of Missions for players to complete: The Bonus Challenge! These involve additional rewards for winning games related to the week’s new card and the Season Pass card. These missions provide extra Collector’s Tokens and Gold!

You need to win games with the card starting in your deck, and it does not count if the card was generated by cards such as Cable, Loki, and Maria Hill. Each of these reward amounts will vary depending on the difficulty of the mission.

There will be Bonus Challenge Missions available for each new card release to allow players to earn back Collector’s Tokens and subsidize their cost. Players can also expect the rewards to be stabilized at 200 Tokens to help them plan their token budget for the month.

Bonus Challenge: April 12, 2024

This week’s Bonus Challenge Missions are:

Second Dinner has changed the formula for the Bonus Challenge Missions in the Thunderbolts season. Below is a message from Stephen Jarrett that explains the changes.

Week 4 and 5 of the season will have a Baron Zemo weekend mission with 375 Gold each for 750 Gold total to represent the 5 week season.

Zemo will still get season pass missions with the same total Gold other season pass cards have received from weekend missions.

The final two weekend of the season will both include a Zemo mission. That mission will have double the amount of gold as usual to ensure the same total amount of gold from weekend missions.

Think of the other few weeks as extra credits that previously wouldn’t have been available plus you aren’t forced into playing a Zemo deck every weekend if you would prefer not.

We could have communicated it better but our intent was to add value not add stress like it has so far. Hopefully everyone can enjoy a few weekends of broader missions and extra credits before pulling out Zemo decks to finish the season with big gold missions.

Stephen Jarrett – Second Dinner

Variants

U.S. Agent

Ongoing: 4, 5, and 6-Cost cards here have -4 Power.

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with U.S. Agent

Most players will want to be efficient with these missions, so today we will give you three different decks that incorporate U.S. Agent.

We’ll also give you a short guide on how to get the most out of the deck and finish the missions quickly, but first let’s take a quick look at the new card’s performance this week.

For more inspiration, make sure to check out our latest strategy guide on U.S. Agent as well:

Performance

The Thunderbolts season continues on with the release of U.S. Agent. The alternate Captain America reduces the power of ALL 4-, 5-, and 6-Cost cards at the location by -3 power. For only two energy, this has a high ceiling; however, the effect is reliant on hitting the opponent’s cards without impacting your own plays to make the most of it. So does it make enough of an impact to be worthwhile? And how can you play the card to maximize the value?

Variants

Gladiator

On Reveal: Add a card from your opponent’s deck to their side of this location. If it has less Power, destroy it.

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Gladiator

Variants

Angela

After you play a card here, +2 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Angela

Well, this is a difficult one because the card doesn’t really synergize with any strategy well enough to be the focal point. This is the issue the card may continue to have because the impact of playing it is rarely large enough for it to find its way into lists. Even when playing U.S. Agent Ongoing decks, he was often the odd card out and didn’t push enough power on his own. Then there is the awkwardness of wanting to hold it in hand for later turns when it’s often best to play on Turn 2. In practice, holding U.S. Agent for the counterplay was only worthwhile when you knew what the opponent was playing very early on.

Losing tempo to play this out as a counter card was not worthwhile because the impact as a counter card is low (unless you’re playing against Iron Man). This led to the card being more successful as part of good early game stat packages that include cards like Angela and Kitty Pryde. The actual “strength” of the card is most often that it is a 2-drop that isn’t terrible to draw later on. While this isn’t enough to make him a strong card, it is enough to make him somewhat playable.

Variants

Hazmat

On Reveal: Afflict all other cards with -1 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hazmat

Variants

Luke Cage

Ongoing: Your cards can’t have their Power reduced.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Luke Cage

This strength is actually welcomed when playing decks with Hazmat and Luke Cage. It hasn’t become a core card to that strategy since the same issues come up (i.e. he doesn’t actually have a major impact on the game). However, these decks can afford to have a card that is OK to play on Turn 2 and can be game winning on Turn 7. Still, it is easily replaced here.

This leads to my assessment of U.S. Agent. It’s actually uniquely placed as a 2-Cost card that is on-rate on Turn 2 and can make things awkward, and it can also be drawn later in the game and still have an impact. It doesn’t ask much of you in deckbuilding, but it doesn’t do much in a lot of games, either.

So, how do you use U.S. Agent to rack up wins and complete the Bonus Challenge Missions?

Hazmat

Election Year

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 20 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

For Hazmat, this version leans on the White Tiger + Wong combo over Silver Surfer as the back up plan. Here you have lots of ways to support Wong to win the game, and you can sometimes just play U.S. Agent proactively for Ironheart to buff. The goal was to make the deck capable of playing the card on Turn 2 and also find value when it is drawn later in the game.

Zabu is still included here as it can be a target for buffs and helps your key card Wong to be played as soon as possible.

Gladiator

Rigged

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 20 days ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck looks to use cards with efficient stats and Ravonna Renslayer to try and lock out lanes early. This then allows U.S. Agent to potentially be the swing card on the final lane. When combined with the efficient power from Angela and Kitty Pryde, this deck is able to compete where it needs to and still have some mobility.

High Evolutionary

High Evolutionary

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 20 days ago

0

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

A High Evolutionary package based around Abomination can get a lot of power down on Turn 6. U.S. Agent may not help every time, but when he does it can be the difference between winning and losing.

Closing Thoughts

Wins with the new card may seem a tall order some weeks depending what quality of card is released. Hopefully this guide helps you decide first if you want the card prior to the missions coming out, and what you can potentially play to complete the missions quickly!

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!