Best Caiera Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide: The New Best Card?

Caiera is the first Series 5 card for the January 2024 season, Planet Hulk. It is a 3-Cost, 4-Power card that reads: Ongoing: Your 1 and 6-Cost cards can’t be destroyed. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Variants

Caiera

Ongoing: Your 1 and 6-Cost cards can’t be destroyed.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Caiera

Strengths and Weaknesses

Caiera will arrive to start the season, and it appears to be quite the card. It protects all of your 1-Cost AND 6-Cost cards across the entire board. This could apply to ramping out big 6-drops like Blob as well as flooding the board with 1-drops like the Ultron bots. The card does cost three energy, but is the cost enough of a downside to limit the potential applications?

Variants

Kitty Pryde

When this returns to your hand, +1 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kitty Pryde

Variants

Nebula

Each turn your opponent doesn’t play a card here, +2 Power. (except the turn you play this)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nebula

Variants

Sunspot

After each turn, gain +1 Power for each unspent Energy.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sunspot

Decks that are looking to play key 1-drops like Sunspot and Nebula get a huge boost from the card. These can be played much more confidently when you don’t have to rely on playing them within an Armored lane to protect them. This allows you to set up Storm lanes with more confidence since you know you can rely on power from the cards (even against Destroy decks). This has a big impact on how we build decks because including these cards always came with a risk, so if you wanted to play them for stats they were relegated to decks like High Evolutionary and Lockdown where they could be protected by the rest of the strategy.

Variants

Blob

On Reveal: Merge cards from your deck into this until it gains 15 or more Power. Ongoing: Can’t be moved.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Blob

Variants

Jubilee

On Reveal: Add the top card of your deck to this location.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Jubilee

Variants

Lockjaw

After you play a card here, swap it with a card in your deck. (once per turn)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Lockjaw

Cheating out big 6-drops has always come with a risk due to Shang-Chi. Well, this card protects these big plays. Thankfully, it does block Arnim Zola, but you can still play Blob early into Taskmaster and create two big lanes (and only the Taskmaster lane can be targeted). Shadow King can still impact this strategy, but just pulling big cards with Lockjaw and Jubilee can be done with more confidence now.

Variants

Hit Monkey

On Reveal: Gain +2 Power for each other card you played this turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hit Monkey

Variants

Bast

On Reveal: Set the Power of all cards in your hand to 3.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Bast

Bounce decks often want to repeatedly play key 1-drops and spam them later in the game. The tension has always been Killmonger; if it comes down after them, your plays are ruined. With Caiera, the cards will be protected across the board, so even flooding the board with high powered 1-drops can be done freely thanks to thanks to Caiera.

Variants

Rogue

On Reveal: Steal the text from an enemy Ongoing card here.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Rogue

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

Rogue may be enemy number one for Caiera focused decks because it will remove the ability and give your opponent the benefit instead. Plus, this is more cost effective than Enchantress. Decks that are looking to use this as a counter need to also carry the destruction tool, but cards like Killmonger and Shang-Chi are generally good so this isn’t too difficult. However, a counter existing will never reduce the power of a proactive card.

The Verdict

Caiera is a proactive threat that could result in a meta-warping divide between counter decks and those looking to play proactively. In general, a counter existing is not a reason to write off a card. This card has serious game warping potential. Check out the Skaar article as an example: every deck includes Caiera to give you an idea of just how strong it could be. The concern here is that it supports some really high powered strategies, which may considerably change what is viable. Only time will tell, but providing universal protection for only three energy looks strong.

Potential Score:

Ultron

Caiera Goes American

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 4 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This first deck looks to use Caiera primarily to protect the Ultron bots, but you can also play Squirrel Girl on curve to fight for priority (and have more options for buffs). I’m foregoing Ka-Zar here in favor of Rogue as a nod to the expectation for other decks including Caiera and Ongoing effects. The plan is to use Caiera to protect your side, use Shang-Chi or Killmonger on the other side with Invisible Woman, and play Blue Marvel or Patriot prior to Ultron flooding the board.

Ramp

Cannot Be Moved OR DESTROYED

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 4 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

It appears that the only counter to Blob into Taskmaster is now Shadow King. Having one counter and the freedom to throw big cards around and spread the power via Taskmaster or The Living Tribunal seems worth the risk. You can get Blob down as early as Turn 4, but you still want to find a turn for Caiera whenever you can.

Black Knight

World War Black Knight

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 4 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

While the Ebony Blade already cannot be hurt, what about everything else? This Lockjaw + Black Knight deck includes Caiera and our new Season Pass card Skaar (see the Skaar article for many more Caiera decks). Caiera is the key here because it enables the Lockjaw lane to be protected as you go about contesting the other lanes. The Lockjaw lane was often a target for counter cards, but this card potentially removes that downside entirely.

Thanos

Thanos Ongoing

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 4 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2x Recruit Season

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This Thanos deck is a basic Ongoing list that uses Caiera to protect the 1-drops, as well as a potential buff target. This is probably one of the simplest decks that is improved by the addition of the new card because it allows universal protection rather than protection focused on specific lanes. It also allows for Professor X to be played with support from cards like Klaw.

Purist Zoo

Series 2 Deck

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 4 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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

2x Recruit Season

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

To demonstrate how you can use Caiera across collection levels, here is a Zoo deck with only Caiera above Series 2. This can be adjusted as you go up the collection levels and it will likely still produce good enough results since you’re completely protected from Killmonger.

Shanna

Shanna’s Army

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 4 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2x Recruit Season

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Shanna is the easiest way to quickly flood the board with 1-drops. Playing it on Turn 3 is also a lot better than holding it for later turns. There is also support from some other 1-drops and another card that failed to land last January: Dazzler! Pure board flood is the plan here, and you have some counter play via Rogue and Shang-Chi to try catching some decks going tall.

Variants

Closing Thoughts

This card can be summed up as “potentially game warping”. Decks like the ones showcased above were often kept in check by other cards that will seemingly not work anymore without a partner to turn off Caiera. This limits the power output of the counter decks and makes these point slam Flood and Go Tall decks potentially the new standard going into 2024.

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!