Let's go ahead and indulge our inner hipsters for a bit.
In the Marvel Champions card game Valkyrie isn't considered... the best. In fact, I think most players consider her near the bottom of the tier list - only keeping herself from the bottom of the list by standing on the massive, disappointing back of The Hulk.
But that's the beauty of playing non-competitive, and mostly-solo, games. We can experiment with the things competitive folks would just throw away.
And then we get to sit back, smugly, when we actually figure out how to crack her.
So Why Valkyrie?
On the surface, Valkyrie's core 15 seems fine.
She's got 3 big, direct damage cards that can get overkill.
She's got card draw that also finds minions the lean into her slayer strategy.
She's got two cards that can remove 5 threat from any scheme.
She's even got upgrades that give +4 HP and can turn her into a 4 ATK monster.
So Why NOT Valkyrie?
With all of these amazing tools at her disposal, shouldn't Valkyrie be a monster? At least a average role-player? Some characters aren't necessarily the strongest (especially in solo play) - but on the surface, Valkyrie doesn't seem like the coaster she's positioned as being.
Well, her natural stat line doesn't help anything. 1/2/1 doesn't inspire much confidence - and unfortunately also implies a couple downstream issues.
First off, 1 DEF means you're going to get smacked around. Her natural 12 HP is better than average, but you'll still need to flip down every once in a while to stay alive.
But with only 1 THW that flip down can be devastating.
Which is why it is so surprising that some of her core kit only works in Alt Ego.
And even all those good cards we mentioned above - most of them only work if you have attached your "Death Glow" to a target. This is a tempo hit, and you'll often find Death Glow is on the wrong enemy at the wrong time.
Oh yeah, and if you hit Shadows of the Past, it's basically game over. Enchantress is probably the most lopsidedly unfair nemesis in the game.
So we've got some struggles.
Leadership to the Rescue
With all of this headwind, I think the best aspect to lean into is Leadership. It's already the most naturally powerful aspect. And allies help mitigate the immediate need of threat removal and defense.
But there are also a couple archetype cards in leadership that synergize in a nice, odd way with Valkyrie - and even let us stay in Alt Ego for longer.
Sky Cycle: While slapping the Sky Cycle/Honorary Avenger combo onto Annabelle Riggs isn't as good as it is with Wong, you still get to draw two additional cards per turn. This is amazing for a hero kit that doesn't have built-in resource generators.
Sneak Attack: Rapid Response is probably the best leadership card, but Sneak Attack is my favorite. This doesn't do a ton for us on defense, but getting thwart machines like Falcon fulfill their role for a fraction of the price. This card is really interesting for Valkyrie in particular because she is Asgard traited even in Alt Ego. That means you can drop absolute bombs like Heimdall and Beta Ray Bill to keep things in order while flipped down. (Pro tip: slap your backup Honorary Avenger on Valkyrie and she can sneak in Avangers allies when flipped down too).
Command Team: Command Team is kind of a natural fit for sneak attack decks anyway, but here you can get some extra value with Annabelle. If drawing 2 extra cards a turn is good, drawing 4 has to be better... right?
Band Together: I tend not to consider resource cards are cornerstones of any deck. Having more resources is good - yay! But I think two copies of Band Together are really special in this deck. Since you want to keep Annabelle on the board forever, it's easy to get the full three allies in play. And even when you're short, Sneak Attack lets you quickly get back to quorum. Band Together ends up being a great bridge to help change your quick tempo plays with Sneak Attack into more stable resource building (ie. Avengers Tower), or to turn the corner for the killing blow with "Have At Thee."
Let's be honest with each other for a minute.
Valkyrie still isn't a top-level contender in Marvel Champions. Her kit has so many internal contradictions that she'll never be able to stand toe-to-toe with Dr. Strange, Captain America, and Miles Morales.
But that doesn't mean she can't be successfully built.
I think this deck is really interesting. Does it have a 90% win ratio? Nope. Not at all.
But it does feel competitive in most scenarios. And more importantly, it's fun.
So don't give up on the "also rans" of Marvel Champions. I think if you spend some time in the Island of Misfit Toys, you'll probably find something that is more fun to play with that that infinite combo Ant-Man deck... again.