Hit Me Babushka, One More Time

I'm loving Taunt in the Angel pack, particularly for Colossus and let me explain why.

Expert Gameplay!

First, a little bit about how Taunt works:

• Taunt restricts any other character from defending the attack, no ally chumps or defending from other players
• Taunt is 2 ER for 3 draw, a net of +1, so we are looking to get some additional value, as risking a villain attack for a single card is not a great exchange

Why Colossus:

• Colossus doesn't need to defend the Taunt attack at all, so the defend restriction may as well not be there
• Iron Will gives a 4th card draw off Taunt netting us +2 instead of the usual +1
• Other characters like Spider-Man and Drax can also get that 4th card off Taunt, but they usually have to spend Backflip or Parry respectively, still ending up at net +1
• Colossus' analogue to Backflip/Parry is Bulletproof Protector, which returns the tough that was spent on the Taunt attack. However, Bulletproof Protector has the benefit of drawing a card off Iron Will that cards like Backflip and Parry don't have. Spending 3 cards and drawing 5 reaches net +2! If you get an additional resource out of Titanium Muscles, then Bulletproof Protector is one of the few cards in the game that can be resource positive!
• Colossus doesn't need to have Bulletproof Protector in hand or top-deck it to play Taunt, unlike Backflip and Parry. He can take the attack first and draw it at a later time!
• Bulletproof Protector solves his villain phase attack, while spending a Backflip or Parry leaves those heroes still needing to make another plan for the villain phase attack(s)
• Colossus has so much extra hp that he never uses, that Taunt is a great way to mulligan a hand while tough-less, in exchange for some hp
• Taunt is a great way to spend excess stun from Steel Fist, particularly in multiplayer where stuns among players won't stack
  • Note that tough-less and stun Taunts will only net +1 compared Iron Will Colossus' net +2

This deck sets up very fast, especially thanks to Taunt and Superpower Training. My standard recommended Colossus opening is to aim for Bulletproof Protector + one of Steel Fist/Iron Will/Titanium Muscles or more if you can! But with the addition of Taunt, Bulletproof Protector+Taunt is an excellent opening which can lead to getting multiple key upgrades/supports down turn one. Colossus opens with a 7 card hand size (unless he unluckily mulligans into both Organic Steels), add in another 3 from Taunt and he usually has an 8 card hand size and seen 16-17 cards deep into his deck on turn 1! An ideal opening could look like:

• Bulletproof Protector->Taunt->Titanium Muscles->Iron Will->Organic Steel/Deft Focus/Piotr's Studio (getting Organic Steel is dependent on having a double or getting another resource somewhere, which isn't that rare!)
• Taunt->Forge->The X-Jet/Utopia
• Taunt->Hope Summers->Iron Will/Titanium Muscles/Bulletproof Protector/Armor Up

This is excellent, because I typically recommend ignoring the turn 1 Organic Steel, since Steel Fist either sets up a safe flip or Bulletproof Protector gets a second tough card cheaper. The additional setup speed can get him out to a really fast start!

The game flow alternates playing Taunt/Steel Fist/Made of Rage, your tough "spenders", with Bulletproof Protector/Polaris/Hard Knocks/Armor Up as your tough "generators".

Tough Management

I see a lot of players really struggle with Colossus, so here are some tips for managing those toughs.

The BIGGEST strength you have as a player when mapping out the villain phase, is that you get to play an entire turn AND see your next hand before deciding whether to tank an attack or chump or defend.

• If you see Bulletproof Protector or Steel Fist in hand, you probably want to defend with an ally and try to save the tough for the player phase
• If the villain is confused from an old Steel Fist (you don't have to use that confuse the turn you put it on!!), then you can safely use that tough for blocking purposes.
• Colossus can defend 2 ATK minions to save his tough! A majority of Boost/Quickstrike/Teamwork minions are 2 ATK or less and Colossus can safely defend them, which saves his Tough. Especially with all the readies we're packing
• Having a card in your hand/in play that can turn your tough effects back on, means you can go tough-less in the villain phase; Polaris, Hard Knocks, Establish Perimeter

Looking at your hand before the villain phase is a good habit that Colossus teaches!

Player phase tough management is going to be crazy, because there are so many ways to generate toughs and to use them! Often, I really want to spend a tough so I can use Bulletproof Protector to gain a second and draw (this can also be a sign to use the ready option and close the game!). For example, in the villain phase, I often won't even trigger Organic Steel to save a secondary tough if I have Bulletproof Protector in hand, then use that Bulletproof Protector in the hero phase to draw another card; while keeping Organic Steel ready as an insurance against any encounter card that might threaten the remaining tough. A piercing attack for instance, would discard both toughs, so I want to add the tough from Organic Steel as late as possible in the villain phase to avoid any potential piercing attacks, indirect damage, etc from encounter cards. For example, Thanos' Avatar of Death coming out as an encounter card would have lost me both toughs if I Organic Steel'd earlier, but now the piercing will pop my remaining tough and Organic Steel can put it back on for the actual attack (and a second Organic Steel can even save that tough too!)

• This is a good place to remind everyone, that you can trigger both copies Organic Steel on a single loss of tough (just not a single one twice). So if you are about to lose your last tough, you can instantly shoot back up to 2 if it is beneficial to do so, like reloading Titanium Muscles at the start of the player phase!

• You don't really want to have 2 toughs on you with no way to get rid of one, as the only benefit to having 2 is Titanium Muscles, and you may as well try and spend any secondary tough before flipping to alter-ego (even if you get it back when flipping up, you would get it back anyways so you're giving up some tempo by not spending it!)

If I have to distill all of this down into a principle it would be:

• Try to enter the villain phase with 2 toughs
  • Exceptions being when Organic Steel, chumps, or Establish Perimeter/Polaris/Hard Knocks can refill him
• Try to enter the player phase with 1 tough, primarily when Bulletproof Protector is in hand
• Try to enter the player phase with 2 toughs if an early Titanium Muscles use makes a difference (though usually fishing for Bulletproof Protector with Taunt+Organic Steel can solve this problem)

Tough-Less Play

Ok, so we've run out of toughs. By following the above guidelines, this doesn't usually happen often! But we have plenty of ways to restart the toughs. The turbo-draw of Taunt+Iron Will will allow us to hit these even more reliably as well!

• Polaris is amazing in general, and if we don't have the space for another tough, she can even tough herself or another ally (like Shadowcat for an additional block or more THW
• Establish Perimeter is great to sit on and wait for a tough-less situation that matters
• Hard Knocks defeats a minion and gives a tough

Any of these options can get us into the "enter the villain phase with 2 toughs" principle as well, or kick off a Taunt chain!

If we have no toughs and no way to gain tough, all is not lost! We have a huge health pool to work with, and it is beneficial to do so! Go wild with using Taunt on a tough-less Colossus and cycle away the tough spenders for tough generators! Taking a hit or two without tough also turns on What Doesn't Kill Me, a perfect card for Titanium Muscles! Gone are the days of Colossus ending games with max hit points!

Do You Have the Steel Balls Necessary to Taunt the Villain 3 Times and Draw into a 4th?

ARMOR UP

Armor Up deserves its own section since this card is so key to Colossus' game plan and I see it misplayed so often! This is our key card to prevent the villain scheming. Especially against stalwart enemies! Flip down with a leftover Armor Up in hand, or shuffle it in with Aspiring Artist and draw into it off Piotr's Studio, or just guarantee it from being in a thin deck! This is best when able to set up an ally or Organic Steel before flipping back up with Armor Up, in order to save the single tough Colossus will have after the flip. This scenario is quite common!

• The turbo-draw this deck has often leads to a skinny deck, perfect if there is an Armor Up left in it (guaranteed draw), or to shuffle one back in and guarantee pulling it
• If Armor Up is in hand, we can play very fast and loose with Taunt and other Tough spenders, as we have a guaranteed way to start the engine back up by either holding Armor Up or spending it and shuffling it back after Taunt leaves us with a thin deck
  • For example, a hand with Bulletproof Protector and Armor Up can lead to spending the Bulletproof Protector to ready Colossus, instead of gaining tough, flipping down to make use of Armor Up, shuffling that copy of Bulletproof Protector back into the deck, then drawing into Bulletproof Protector after flipping with Armor Up and using it to go back up to 2 toughs in the hero phase and start a Taunt chain etc
• With Assess the Situation, we will often be drawing a boosted alter-ego hand size of 7-9, which can guarantee pulling Armor Up even in situations where we otherwise could not!
• Hope Summers can pull Armor Up directly to hand, allowing us to safely hold it and flip down, even if we aren't guaranteed to draw it in the flip!

HOPE SUMMERS

This is a great time to mention how good Hope Summers is for Colossus! She can grab one of his 13/15 Superpower cards directly from deck (but not discard) when played from hand. She also triggers Utopia and has a very important 2 THW stat. Taunt chains usually end up in leftover resources and Hope Summers is a great sink for those resources to do any of the following:

• Speed setup of Iron Will + Titanium Muscles
• Grab Bulletproof Protector to enable playing another Taunt(BP draws you a card off Iron Will->that card plays Taunt->chain of tough spenders/tough generators continues)
• Grab Armor Up to enable a flip down
• Grab Steel Fist or Made of Rage to spend an extra tough when Taunt isn't in hand
• Grab Organic Steel when there are leftover resources
• Grab Limitless Stamina to spend a leftover Deft Focus or just for some good value

Early versions of this deck were running out of cards to spend resources on as we will be drawing so many cards, mostly 0-cost, and have some very strong resource generators in The X-Jet, Titanium Muscles, and Deft Focus. Some other ways to spend resources:

• Assess the Situation has been an amazing addition to this deck. Sometimes Taunt leaves you with a 1-cost card and Assess the Situation or a 2+-cost card playable with a generator + Assess the Situation. Getting the extra draw is excellent from the leftover resources.
• Machine Man is excellent in all Colossus builds as a way to spend dead tough generators/spenders and solves a lot of his early game thwarting problems. Dumping leftover The X-Jet/Titanium Muscles or Taunt draws into Machine Man is key

Other Considerations:

• Swapping Hope Summers in the 3 scenarios that require her is a good idea, and in those scenarios where she takes attacks from the villain, more careful use of Taunt is necessary!
• Machine Man can be swapped for Angel if staying on theme or triggering Utopia is important to you
• Build Support is great, but Forge ends up being just as fast and I prefer Superpower Training since it is good even in the mid- to late-game for Organic Steel
• Honorary X-Men can allow for triggering our X-Men triggers like The X-Jet, Utopia, and Armor, but Armor Up makes this less necessary than other heroes. It can give some extra thwarting to Shadowcat in a pinch
• Nick Fury and Moira MacTaggert are good sources of additional card draw. Moira MacTaggert is great with Armor Up in particular
• Brother Voodoo works in a similar manner to Hope Summers, especially after Aspiring Artist, but he doesn't trigger Utopia
• The Night Nurse is actually detrimental, since she can discard toughs; and we have so many readies that status is not a huge roadblock, making Unshakable redundant

Expert Gameplay!