Brand New C.I.T.T.y

This is the third of my Bishop decks released around using C.I.T.T. as a resource dump and readying up powerful Guardian allies.

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Resource Management

Bishop's most interesting hook to me is how he opens up some very inefficient plays. You need something to spend all of those resources on, so a card like Lockjaw that doesn't see play very often becomes something to do with all those extra resources so you're not wasting a whole hand.

The only problem is I don't particularly like Lockjaw.

• He's not operating as a chump blocker
• His traits aren't useful
• You have to strategically place him so he's not in the discard when you deck out

All of this just ends up with a sequencing puzzle I don't enjoy. I'd rather have other resource dumps.

Guarding the Guardians

Something I haven't seen anyone do is pair Bishop with a card typically reserved only for Guardian heroes, C.I.T.T.. This card is not trait locked with a play restriction, so there's no putting into play shenanigans going on.

C.I.T.T. offers a constant on-board resource dump, can be triggered with The Power in All of Us and can allow you to ready some powerful Guardian allies across aspects.

I'm patenting this idea. Over the next few weeks, I'll be releasing Bishop decks centered around this card.

The general idea here will be pretty similar, with modifications depending on the ally targets themselves and the aspect's strengths.

• Trigger Energy Absorption sparingly early game and use blockers as necessary to get key setup pieces on the board
• Build Support helps C.I.T.T. get into play if you mill past it
• Honorary X-Men gives our targets of choice the X-Men trait
• Forge helps us to get out Utopia and X-Mansion
• Alter-Ego access lets us use X-Mansion to heal our newly crowned X-Men/Guardian allies. Triage helps here too
  • Of course, this also helps us grab Bishop's Rifle, Bishop's Uniform and Stored Energy for Super-Charged
• All of the X-Men allies will be chosen to provide strong enter play abilities to cycle through and trigger Utopia
• Our Guardian allies will be chosen to mostly stay on the board as C.I.T.T. targets
• Mockingbird will be here to help combat scenarios where you need to stop activations that trigger adverse effects

Have a different favorite color? Here are links to the other builds (In-progress):

• Head over to the Paradise C.I.T.T.y for a slower version of this build in justice with the strongest alter-ego access
• Visit the m.A.A.d. C.I.T.T.y for an aggression build focused on speed and strong ally upgrades
• Leadership - coming soon!

Brand New C.I.T.T.y

Remember when I said these would all follow the same format?

I lied.

This one will be doing something entirely different. Why?

Protection has a Guardian problem. The allies are uh... not good.

• Moondragon is a far worse version of Karma
• Charlie-27 is outclassed by core set allies like Luke Cage

The only Guardian ally really worth buffing up is Martyr but with no reliable way to tutor minions at lower player counts, you can end up whiffing on her response. Her stats are also pretty lackluster with no real way to buff her up.

The best Guardian ally is actually unique in that he does not benefit from staying on the board. Starhawk wants to by cycled regularly, ideally triggering Knowhere.

And so this time, C.I.T.T. takes a backseat for an even better city, Knowhere.

There's no focus on our low cost enter play pals Forge, Beak and Triage. No more Utopia, X-Mansion or Honorary X-Men.

This build is instead all about card draw and taking damage, offering a tight 40 cards because Starhawk is that crucial to get out here. You're going to let allies tank hits during the villain phase and trigger Taunt during the hero phase for some crazy turns.

Here's how you set up here:

• Mulligan hard for Starhawk
• Do not trigger Energy Absorption until Starhawk is in hand or on the board
• Use Build Support to cheat Knowhere into play
• Get C.I.T.T. out

Once you're set up, you can put Starhawk into play multiple times in a turn, offering a strong resource dump if you need it. I typically play him twice in a turn if I need to use the resource dump.

Of course, Martyr is also a C.I.T.T. target. For minion heavy scenarios or multiplayer, let her defeat an enemy to get a tough status card, tank the villain hit and ready her up with C.I.T.T. to do it all over again.

Concrete Jungle

There's not much focus on alter-ego here aside from Professor X. You don't really need it.

There's so much card draw here to let you set up quickly. Avengers Mansion, Knowhere and Taunt will help you cycle through your deck fast, mitigating the feeling of losing a key card.

You will be tanking some hits staying in hero form, so there are ways to make sure you stay alive.

• Endurance gives us a nice buff to health
• Specialized Training's target is Front Line Specialist to get the extra health and benefit from taking damage
• What Doesn't Kill Me lets us heal and ready if we need to, effectively replacing Utopia
  • Only 2 copies because you may be at full health once Bishop's Uniform is out

Because we want to trigger Taunt during the player phase, we've got a lot of tough allies to tank hits during the villain phase.

• Colossus can take hits and has a strong attack value
• Armor will be able to take a hit. Just make sure you play her in hero form!
• Polaris can give you a tough, offering a lot of versatility.
  • You can tank a hit with Taunt. You won't get to trigger Energy Absorption but you will cycle through your deck. Especially useful early game
  • Let her tank the hit and then tank another the following turn if you need her to
• Martyr, when tough from her response, can chump during the villain phase and then ready up so she's in a position to defeat another enemy

With all of these allies blocking, Hangar Bay lets our allies ready up so that you can utilize their activations before needing to chump again. More of a 'nice to have' than a requirement, but feels good when it triggers!

If you don't have an ally to chump, there's always Jocasta, who can grab and hold onto Energy Conversion and let you trigger it potentially three times per deck pass.

If you'd like to make some small changes, there are some cards I rotated out before landing here. These could easily be justified:

• Mockingbird's stun is solid for scenarios where status is more valuable than tough. Replace one of the allies with toughness
• Triage is great for healing and a block if you're finding yourself low on health

Leadership will end out this series!