Best Cards - Updated 3/19

UPDATES:
-added Red skull, New Cap, new torch
-added proc rates, and combo proc rates

Disclaimers:
1) I have no incentive to make this guide, nor do I care about current card prices. I have nothing to trade at the moment so I will not benefit should any prices change.

2) This is designed to be an adjunct to Jeenx's guide focusing more on the utility of the cards rather than their metaphysical value (I don't care about fan factor or rarity - only 340 released etc)

3) This data is based on my own proc testing (2000) trials which was done w/ 5 average proc rare's against 5 high proc she hulks and relatively high proc mr. fantastics. The trials have been collaborated with others and have ~ +/-2.5% margin of error except when regarding proc order (yet to be determined) --> if you would like to help me with another project to get to 10k data points w/ order included please pm me

4) I am only including the top 3 cards in each category for now, but will expand as I have more free time to write

Top Offensive Cards
1) Legendary Spiderman @ 12336 attack w/ a relatively high proc and a 20% bonus to all speed cards
- While he offers a top base attack and proc, his relatively high proc gives a deck of 5 ~80% of 3 procing, which as of now can beat any defense more reliably than any other combination of cards
- At 30% scrapper bonus he can take a 10/10/10 he caps with a level 10 proc and level 1 proc

2) *Legendary Ironman @ 11955 attack w/ a relatively high proc and a 16% bonus to all tactics cards
-Surprised? You shouldn't be. Yes, his base attack makes him lower than cap's defense (and his own) and his boost is the same, but paring him with a single magneto or doom (in center w/ modified proc rate) will actually cause a 10/10/10 (doom/mag, IM, IM) will win vs. 10/10/10 cap BUT will lose to a 10/10/10 ironman (if marvel hero bonus activates)
-The real strength comes from his synergy with scrapper bonus (w/ or w/o mag/doom) as soon as you build up scrapper to 10% you can beat anyone (assuming = skill) with ~ the same rate of spiderman the only difference is that his 2 proc at 30% requires a skill 10 and a skill 6 (so theoretically you would need 1 skill 10 and 4 skill 6)

3) Legendary Magneto/ @ 12880 w/ an average proc rate of 16% universal degrade
-How could these cards with such high attacks and incredible abilities be ranked 3rd? Proc rate... to simply answer your question the difference between 3 procing with average cards 50% vs relatively high cards ~80% is a HUGE disadvantage. Who would want to loose 27% more of their battles (27% is from the chance that caps 3 proc @ 90% and that you 2 proc w/ doom and/or magneto)
-Yes if you get scrapper you can 2 proc and win, but less reliably than with the 2 aforementioned cards hence both of these come in at a close 3rd

4) Legendary Red Skull @ 12719 with an average proc rate of 16% global degrade
-Same logic as magneto, and while he has a lower base by 100 he actually has the benefit of being paired with more reliable spider. If their comes a time when defenses exceed spiders base attack with a similar boost, expect to see combo decks as mentioned by RenegadeX (3 proc rate only loses 7%)

4) Legendary Doom @ 12639 w/ an average proc rate of 20% tactic boost
-Same rational as magneto, however does however has lower high end potential, given magneto’s superior ability (assuming defenses will actually get above dooms base attack) and magneto’s superior base attack

5) Legendary Venom @ 12317 attack and an average proc rate with a 16% boost to all bruiser
-While he only has an average 3 proc 50% of the time he still falls in line at next best given his competition has the same problem (and with lower bases), but once again still hard to skill up

5) Legendary Captain America @ 12204 attack and an average proc rate with a 16% boost to tactics
-Same as venom but with a worse base attack by 100.
-Easily paired with IM however to avoid losing fury blast which adds utility and makes him about the same as venom overall (unless you managed to get 5 venoms…)
= if scrapper is eliminated, or better defensive cards come out such that ironman is truly unable to beat them, he will be instantly removed from this list

Top Defensive Cards
1) UR Captain America @ 12060 defense and a high proc rate with a 16% boost to all tactics
-90% 3 proc rate make him the most reliable card in the game defensively, and boasting one of the higher defenses and better abilities in the game its no wonder he's number 1

2) Legendary Ironman @ 12336 defense and a relatively high proc rage with a 16% boost to all tactics
-So why if I just said this defense could ward off the feared tactics offense of mag + 4LR IM would this fall to spot 2... because its 3 proc rate is closer to 80% which means you will loose (10% the 8/10 chance that offense will 3 proc ~) 8% more often, which doesn't seem like a lot but during shield training that could be 400 valor and a moral breaker and over the course of 500pp... you can see where I am going with this

3) Legendary Captain America @ 12029 defense and an average proc rate with a 16% boost to tactics
-While he only has an average 3 proc 50% of the time, he leaves his competition like MsM in the dust wither their 1k inferior defense and the same boost, his only down fall is how hard it is to increases his skill but with the surge of booms and account creations I'm seeing this shouldn't be a problem
-Easily paired with IM however to avoid losing marvel hero bonus

4) Legendary Venom @ 11914 projected defense and an average proc rate with a 16% boost to all bruiser
-Like LR cap but with 100 less defense and does not get the marvel hero bonus
-Expensive if used for defense, but at least it’s a utility card

Mid Tier Offense
1) Ghost Rider @ 11254 attack with an average proc and 16% boost to speed
-Highest offense of the ssr 16% faction boosts, fits in great with spiderman and can be used for both fury blast and ogre, devil, spider combo (w/ blade)
-Taking the time to do the calculations there is no point with the current defensive schemes does phenix's degrade surpass his boost (in terms of a lower skill level necessary to beat a given defense)

2) Oath-bound Silver Surfer @ 11094 attack with an average proc of 12% global degrade
-Please refer to my other post regarding why he is more effective at thor as defenses improve, and how the max defense he is capable of beating is > than that of thor
-It has come to my attention that the 2.75% bonus for fury blast at 90% proc actually gives 5 UR OB+ a 700 attack point advantage vs 5 UR Nix+, does that mean its really better well for this guides sake yes but in reality they are very similar cards

3) Phoenix Force @ 11270 attack with an average proc and a 12% global degrade
-This is a shocker... but It shouldn't bee, I will pull up the link which shows how surfer > thor to provide all teh numbers and data you need regarding the scenarios
-Her downfall is that she/it provides no group bonus

Honorable mentions: Prof X and ... way lower ... Thor

Mid Tier Defense
1) Ms. Marvel @ 10820 Defense with an average proc and 16% boost to speed
-1200 defense short of captain with an average boost makes her a strong mid tier candidate
-Has good synergy with other speed cards, like black cat, but given her unreliable proc rate it is really hard to justify using only 3 Ms. Marvels

2) First Human Torch @ 10626 defense with an average proc of 16% boost to speed
-Average proc rate, suffers like MsM however, he has a slightly lower base
-At least marvel hero bonus is not sex based therefore can be combined with minimal hit ot defense and personally I think it’s a great looking card

3) Daredevil @ 10513 defense with an average proc of 12% global degrade
-Honestly its hard to put anyone else here, even with his very low proc rate (which rarely gets more than a 2)
-His real strength come by paring a single one of him with Ms. Marvel and her slightly more reliable proc rate

Honorable mentions: UR black cat, UR thing+, Legendary Surfer+ (surprise but his selfish boost ends up edging out the majority of 12% boosts)

Alternative Cheap Defense:
-I have advocated for a while the use of SSR Thing+ as a good 3rd. Not as the 3rd hardest defenses to break but as a good alternative because having 145 points+ of defense and using Ms. Marvels is almost a waste as she is shredded by even bruiser offenses (no offense to bruiser players but you know where I am coming from)
-SSR thing+ has 9097 defense with an average proc of 12% boost to all bruisers
-What makes him different is that his ability is much easier to level up than any of the other cards because he is an SSR+, so on a budget someone could fairly easily make 5 x Sk 5 of these which would offer similar protection to sk 1 ms marvel (-8500 def / same boost) and only cost 110 dp (leaving 35 more ap which could translate into 70 more valor per pp during a training session)
-Whats more is that sr thing is cheap... 20pp per Ms. Marvel = 400 pp defense, even at say 5 per thing its 50pp total....

Proc rates:
Average = 50%
Relatively High = 66%
High = 75%

The following are 5 card situation with the same proc rates on all cards

The chance of 3 procs (bonus for center card):
Average 50% (+5% for bonus)
Relatively High = 79% (+2% for bonus)
High = 90% (when I calculated the bonus ended up being <1%)

The chance of 2 procs
Average = 31% (+5%)
Relatively High = 16% (+2%)
High = 8% (+1%)

The chance of 1 proc:
Average = 16% (+5%)
Relatively high = 4% (+1%)
High = 2%

0 Proc:
Average = 3%
Relatively High <1%
High <1%


With much thanks to GohanEnGoku3, this is how skill level bonuses are calculated:

-All numbers around rounded up w/ .5 or greater and down with .4 or less

Extreme boost:
Single faction = 20% and 1% per level with 2% at level 10 which gives 30% (spider, doom ONLY)
Dual / Global = 16% and 0.8% per level with 1.6% at level 10 which gives 24% (magneto, Ironman)

Significant boost:
Single faction = 16% and .9% per level with 1.8% at level 10 which actually gives 25% (gr, cap, thor, prof x)
Dual / global = 12% and .8% per level with 1.6% at level 10 which gives 20% (surfer, nix, thing)