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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.
Thunderbolts: Bonus Challenge – May 3, 2024
This week’s Bonus Challenge Missions are:
| Mission | # | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Play 500 Power’s worth of Cards | 500 | 125 Credits |
| Win with Valentina starting in your Deck | 4 | 200 Collector’s Tokens |
| Win with Baron Zemo starting in your Deck | 8 | 375 Gold |
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
Decks with Valentina
Decks with Baron Zemo
Most players will want to be efficient with these missions, so today we will give you three different decks that incorporate Valentina and Baron Zemo.
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 Valentina as well:
Performance
The Thunderbolts season comes to an end with the release of Valentina. This is another card which adds cards to your hand, and this time she adds a 6-Cost card but with 2 important conditions. It costs 2 less but also had -3 power. These two conditions were difficult to evaluate before release. Would they need lots of support with Quinjet and Luke Cage, or will you just Loki them away more often than not?
Decks with Loki
Well, it is excellent with Loki. She provides a card which can have positive outcomes while also keeping your hand full for Loki. What sets her apart from Cable for example, is the range of options she could provide are less expected than Cable for your opponent. Cable may feel better for some as it sometimes provides key cards and lets you know you win, however over time this can have a lower value than having the potential to play cards like Alioth for 3 energy.
Given they have the same application with the card Loki, this led to Valentina feeling like a slight upgrade over Cable. While it does raise the ceiling over Cable, the baseline is similar for the Loki application. In short, if you want to play Loki, you don’t need Valentina.
Decks with Luke Cage
There are two ways to increase the effectiveness of the cards from Valentina. Luke Cage will remove the reductions in power. This allows for some interesting play lines outside of Loki that have had varied success but also can be a package within Loki which gives you more options. This can be useful, however in practice removing the -3 power via Luke Cage is rarely the difference maker. He can often feel like he is in the way, but if you’re playing against decks such as High Evolutionary often this two card package gains significantly more value.
Quinjet is the other big synergy, which allows the card generated to be played as soon as turn 3. Although often you’re not going to want to play the 6 drops on turn 3, the choice to be able to do so is valuable.
The main issue in practice is both these synergies remain best in Loki decks and Valentina‘s success outside of Loki decks has been limited. She does however generate value and is an on-rate card herself. The opportunity cost of including her within other decks is not high, and it is very hard to recommend her in other decks at this stage.
Decks with Mobius M. Mobius
Which leads to the card we should be seeing more of – Mobius M. Mobius not only counters Valentina herself, but it also makes playing the deck you’re most likely to want to play Valentina in, much harder. It isn’t a complete counter which stops the deck altogether but facing down Mobius as a Loki player is more difficult.
Valentina is an excellent inclusion to your collection if you’re a Loki player but not one you need to purchase. She also has potential due to her ability to be included into other decks with low costs. However, if you’re not a Loki enjoyer its falls short.
So, how do you use Baron Zemo and Valentina to rack up wins and complete the Bonus Challenge Missions?
Baron Zemo
SafetyBlade
This deck looks to combine key parts of the Loki and Baron Zemo decks into one that can frustrate the opponent and reduce Mockingbird in the early game and then transition to Loki on turn 5 or use the generated cards to win the game.
Keep in mind this is often a turn 5 Loki deck and you should also focus on winning without Loki. In practice Yondu remains the card you may not need, and you can replace this with Iceman or Nico Minoru.
Loki
SafetyBlade
This Loki build is simple: Play the best cards in the early game, play Mobius M. Mobius to impact the mirror and play Loki. Playing Mobius M. Mobius if you’re less experienced with Loki gameplay is a good way to start, especially going into a weekend where we may see more Loki himself.
Devil Dinosaur
SafetyBlade
This deck looks to generate the gameplan as it goes along, supported by two big Ongoing cards in Ms. Marvel and Devil Dinosaur. We want to play the cards and maintain a full hand as we go along. The plan is to use Quinjet to play as many of the generated cards as possible.
Mockingbird can be included over Jeff the Baby Land Shark but we wanted to start with as few Series 4 and 5 cards as possible for this build.
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!
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