Best Pixie Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide: Pixie Will Praise You With RNG (Hopefully)

Pixie is the first Series 5 card for the February 2024 Season, Avengers vs. X-Men. It is a 2-Cost, 1-Power card that reads: On Reveal: Shuffle the Costs of all cards in your deck that started there. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Variants

Pixie

On Reveal: Shuffle the base Costs of all cards in your deck that started there.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Pixie

Strengths and Weaknesses

Pixie is a card that asks a similar question to some cards we have had in the past, but in a unique enough way that we need to potentially rethink how we build the decks that include it. However, will we just end up with decks that cannot operate without the new card being played on Turn 2? And is that too large a restriction to make it successful?

Pixie shuffles the cost of all cards in the deck at the time of the effect being triggered. This means that when you play it on Turn 2, you will want to have several lower cost cards and higher cost cards still in your deck. This leads to one major weakness we need to think about with all of this card’s decks: how do you win when you don’t draw Pixie or play it on Turn 2 if all the cards in your deck are included just for Pixie‘s effect?

Variants

Iron Man

Ongoing: Your total Power is doubled here.

Starter Card

view card details Start a deck Decks with Iron Man

Variants

Mister Negative

On Reveal: Swap the Power and Cost of all cards in your deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mister Negative

Variants

Ravonna Renslayer

Ongoing: Your cards with 1 or less Power cost 1 less. (minimum 1)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ravonna Renslayer

The other way to cover this weakness is too include some cards that can reduce cards in similar fashions, such as Mister Negative and Ravonna Renslayer. Building for these packages will allow you the ability to try and hit one of your three different reduction strategies to get your power down. This is, however, likely to fall victim to the same downside Mister Negative can have, what if I draw badly or get the wrong reductions? Which is why it doesn’t seem like Mister Negative is actually the strongest direction for Pixie. Unlike Mister Negative, Pixie is random and you cannot rely on specific draws. While it is likely to be useful in these decks, it doesn’t seem to improve them in any real way. Pixie doesn’t change the power of the cards, though, so you have more utility with cards with bigger stats than Mister Negative.

Variants

Mobius M. Mobius

Ongoing: Your Costs can’t be increased. Your opponent’s Costs can’t be reduced.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mobius M. Mobius

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

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

Ebony Maw

You can’t play this after turn 3. Ongoing: You can’t play cards here.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ebony Maw

Variants

Wasp

“My secret power is that I get things done.”

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wasp

Variants

Nico Minoru

On Reveal: After you play your next card, cast a spell. (The spell changes each turn.)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru

Which is where the biggest ‘counter’ to Pixie comes in. Mobius M. Mobius may be the most immediate way to counter the effect from Pixie, but it is also the best way to cover the card’s weaknesses. MMM will ensure the cost of every card in your deck never goes up, only down, which makes Pixie on Turn 2 into Mobius M. Mobius on Turn 3 only upside for all subsequent draws. This also opens up where you can consider playing Pixie. Knowing your cards are not going up in cost allows you to explore playing good value 1-drops in decks with Pixie. They can act as activators that, with Mobius M. Mobius down, still only cost one while also reducing the cost of the bigger cards in your deck.

Exactly where this will be most effective may be still unclear by the time I end this article, but this simple two card combination could be devastating. The 1-drops worth considering for this deck are cards like Sunspot, Nebula, and Nico Minoru. They have strong value for your early game, and once they’re swapped they will hopefully improve one of your draws to be one energy for massive power. The high roll direction is Wasp, which is simply a 0-Cost with one power when you don’t get the effect.

Variants

Doctor Doom

On Reveal: Add a 5-Power DoomBot to each other location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Doctor Doom

Variants

Magneto

On Reveal: Move all enemy 3 and 4-Cost cards to this location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Magneto

As for what cards to target, it is unlikely to be as successful with specific combinations as Mister Negative. One big point of difference is how Mister Negative has a controlled effect. You are aware of what the cards in your deck cost when you play Mister Negative, which makes it easier to hit specific combinations. Pixie is more like Lockjaw where, on average, you want to get more stats for your energy after playing Pixie, but you cannot be too locked in to certain combinations of cards to be successful. Decks with several low- and high-cost cards benefit the most from the switch effect and, in the right places, this card could completely flip match ups.

This is also why the card may end up less effective than many would like. It is potentially more likely to miss than Mister Negative because it can miss good swaps more often. Two 6-Cost cards could swap, or your Doctor Doom might swap with a 5-Cost instead of Wasp; all these factors play against Pixie.

The Verdict

Pixie‘s effect is undeniably strong. The factors against it are real, though, and they may balance out the strength of the effect. You need to play the new card early, and then you need to draw into good stuff. Both of these tasks can be harder than expected, but you will have games where what you can do with the hand you draw is unpredictable. This could potentially lead to a high cube rate card that is difficult to play against consistently. Randomness may seem like a bad effect at times, but, when the name of the game is Snapping, it changes the equation.

The effect is actually less effective than Mister Negative, and that card already doesn’t have prolonged periods of success. This is because, even though you can Snap early, it can backfire and lead to a play experience that is often not consistent enough for most players. Pixie is potentially MORE random than Mister Negative, and that does not bode well for how successful it will be in the long term. In the short term, it may have a big impact once players get used to the high rolls. In practice, though, building decks with Pixie appears to be more limited than with Mister Negative. Effects like this are hard to judge on paper, but the card sure will catch a lot of players off guard.

Potential Score:

Lockjaw

Pixie Jaw

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 2 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Lockjaw is the closest card we have to the style of Pixie‘s effect, so this deck looks to combine the two. Adam Warlock is an attempt to find card draw to get the Pixied cards down. The rest of the deck is the basic Lockjaw deck that aims to play big On Reveal cards and repeat the effect either with Lockjaw or Pixie.

Pixie

Pixie Pride

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 2 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Continuing the theme of good cards that can win with and without Pixie, this deck looks to play a small Move package that supports Hope Summers. You can play Pixie to hit high rolls and use Mobius M. Mobius to defend the low rolls. This gives you plenty of ways to play the big 6-drop cards with and without Pixie, and you can relocate your power as the game continues. This sort of split between low- and high-cost cards is the direction that looks most promising, but this deck highlights the Pixie Problem. You can play the entire strategy without Pixie, so, if you replace it with something else, do you just have a more consistent and better deck? Only time will tell.

Professor X

Pixie X

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 2 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This Pixie deck looks to get priority early on and hold it while playing Pixie as soon as possible. Once Pixie is down, your goal is to keep priority with Ms. Marvel Turn 4. Play two cards to the left or right early for this play to keep you ahead. Then you just play out the rest of the Professor X game plan with cards of swapped cost. This is also a coherent strategy when you don’t play Pixie on Turn 2 as well.

White Tiger

Fairy Tigers

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 2 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Recruit Season

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck has one strong direction built in with Wong into On Reveal and Odin. Echo is here to help this plan be successful, and you have all the tools needed to win without Pixie. You have two one drops and Wasp to maximize the chance that Pixie hits something good, but all three of these cards can still have value without the flip. Nico Minoru and Wasp can be used to activate many effects (as well as put cards down for Ironheart). You can consider the Absorbing Man and Iron Lad spots as your flex spots. They may be better as more low cost cards or more payoffs, but this will take some time and experimentation to work out. For now, they form the backbone of a solid On Reveal deck as a starting point.

Variants

Closing Thoughts

It’s hard to judge exactly how good Pixie is without actually playing the card. The effect seems strong, but its random nature might be enough to stop the card in its tracks. Or it could just be incredibly busted. I’m not sure which it will be, but I’m excited to find out!

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!