"You've Got a MAYOR Problem!"

"You've Got a MAYOR Problem!"

— Luke "Problem" Cage, Mayor of New York.

 
2 Luke Cage decks in 1 week? Yeah I like him! :p

(Don't forget to drop a like/fav, it's always appreciated :) )

Overview:

• Play Style: Mass minion killer for the table.
• Fun: High (draw all the minions towards you, "Sweet Christmas!" them).
• Difficulty: Easy-Medium (setup for huge "Sweet Christmas!").
• Power level: Strong (relies on teammates, Medium in solo).
• Recommended Player Count: 2-4 (solo version at the end!).
• Number of cards: 40 (1 PSS + Face the Past).

Concept:
This deck aims at maximizing "Sweet Christmas!" in multiplayer. A solo version can be found at the end, but it's more fun in multi :)

Accumulate tough status cards by letting your allies tank the first hits. The goal is to reach 5+ pretty fast so "Sweet Christmas!" becomes free.
You want to be killing minions asap, thus the low cost-curve.

Engage minions with Target Spotter and Cruisin' for a Bruisin'. Then Aggressive Stance your "Sweet Christmas!", and delete them all. OR, keep them engaged until you get "Sweet Christmas!" thanks to Vivian, Spider-Girl, your Metal Bracers, or tough status cards on allies.

Bug + Energy Spear + Sidearm + Harlem's Hero is a very effective combo! It gets rid of pesky tough status on minions/villains, while never taking damage.

How to play this deck / combos:

1. Early game

• Start by asking your teammates to run relevant side schemes (Build Support, Evaluate Threat, Establish Perimeter and Specialized Training/Combat Specialist can help).

• Mulligan for an ally to tank a hit for you. Or any resource generator.

• Of course, you should always aim for a turn 1 Burstein Process, so don't mulligan too hard.

• In multi, you can stay in alter-ego to protect your tough on turn 1.

• Play an Aggressive Stance and 1-3 Target Spotter whenever you can.

• Try not to skip Bug, Contingency Planning and your Metal Bracers. Energy Spear, and Sidearm are for Bug.

2. Gameplay + combos

• Accumulate 5+ tough status cards with Burstein Process, Harlem's Hero, "Stand with Me!", and She-Hulk. Protect them with Metal Bracers, tough and/or cheap allies, and going to alter-ego early game.

• Then, play Cage's events at maximum efficiency, especially "Sweet Christmas!" that becomes free!!! Jessica Jones is also really good at 5 THW but not our main goal in multiplayer.

• Target Spotter and Cruisin' for a Bruisin' will engage most minions at the table so "Sweet Christmas!" can do its job.

• Aggressive Stance and Keep Up the Pressure can help you find "Sweet Christmas!" at the right time! Keep Up will even make it a 6-damage event.

  • Be careful when you go to alter-ego. Target Spotter can be used from there, but Aggressive Stance cannot.

• Contingency Planning can hold 1 Cruisin' for a Bruisin' or Suppressing Fire. The first one gives you a nice engage, +2 damage, and overkill. The second one, heals you by 2 from time to time. You don't need more Suppressing Fire or Air Cover in my experience, as you're not supposed to lose a lot of tough status cards (and take unpreventable damage). At least not during early game.

• Sometimes it's best to keep a minion in play, engaged with you, a little bit longer, the time for you to find a "Sweet Christmas!". Vivian, Spider-Girl, Throg, She-Hulk, and your Metal Bracers can help. This is not the main strategy of the deck and, often, it'll be better to just basic attack with Bug+Cage to kill the minion.

• You need to draw a lot, as Aggressive Stance only searches your deck and you only have 2 "Sweet Christmas!". To rush/reshuffle your deck:

  • Hall of Heroes is VERY easy to charge. Draw 3 in alter-ego.
  • "Bring It!" is already good if you draw 1. Sometimes it's much more.
  • Face the Past is great...But you need to be careful early game and really only use it when you're 100% sure Cottonmouth won't be able to attack you three times! Later in the game, you have a lot of ways to one shot him. Plus, it thins your deck.
  • Have you ever played Avengers Mansion?

• Bug + Energy Spear + Sidearm can attack for 4 with piercing and ranged. You really want to use Cage's basic activation to basic ATK for 2 every turn and heal Bug. Harlem's Hero makes this super efficient, because you can always ready Luke Cage AND Bug (assuming you reach 2+ tough), dealing an additional 6 ATK. Very cool!

Other cards to consider:

• Angela, Mockingbird, Nick Fury are more tough-protectors.

• It's an excellent occasion to play Shatterstar! He's still a bit expensive but maybe Call for Backup and/or Med Team can help in multi.

• Ask a friend to play and thwart down Build Support.

• Second Chance can help reshuffle your "Sweet Christmas!", and draw them, or get them through Aggressive Stance.

• 1-3 Air Cover and/or 1-2 Marked can help you deal more damage through overkill. Not really needed imo unless many small minions in the deck.

• 1-2 Spoiling for a Fight is great to get extra minions, or simply reshuffle the encounter deck if no minions are left!

• 1-2 Warrior Skill help "Sweet Christmas!" reach 6 damage to each enemy. A bit expensive though.

Solo version:

• -2 "Bring It!"
• -2 Target Spotter (only 1 left, to prevent Quickstrike).
• +1 Psylocke
• +1 Professor X
• +1 Build Support
• +1 Looking for Trouble

Anyway, enjoy, have fun,
and don't forget to drop a like/fav, it's always appreciated :)