Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
snuffs · 149
"Show Me What You're Famous For"
There are already a few Protection Luke Cage decks out there, and naturally there is some overlap in the cards they use. This version started with a slightly different question:
If Luke's Tough cards are already going to stop the damage, how cheaply can we trigger the "perfect defence" engine without exhausting Luke or burning through the hand we want for the next player phase?
The aim is to get Power Man, Unflappable and Hard to Ignore online, then use cheap Defense events to make Luke the defender while his Tough cards actually absorb the attacks.
Ideally, you want to enter the villain phase with five cards and come out of it with at least five — and preferably six.
Spend a 0-cost Defense event, lose a Tough, draw from Power Man, draw again from Unflappable, remove threat with Hard to Ignore, and Luke is still standing ready for his own turn.
Meanwhile, the villain is slowly beating themselves to death.
The Engine
The priority setup is:
You don't need every piece before the deck works, but each one makes an enemy attack increasingly profitable.
Power Man replaces a card whenever one of Luke's Toughs is discarded.
Unflappable then turns a successful defence into another card.
The two copies of Hard to Ignore convert those same attacks into passive main-scheme control.
The important part is that Luke doesn't need to exhaust to establish himself as the defender. That leaves his basic activation available during the player phase and means the villain's turn is helping build your next turn rather than consuming it.
Defense Events – Defend for Almost Nothing
The core events are Cuts Both Ways, Defiance and Preemptive Strike.
Cuts Both Ways
This is almost exactly what the deck wants.
It costs 0, establishes a defence and gives Luke another Retaliate for the phase. If an attack removes a Tough, the card effectively replaces itself through Power Man, while Unflappable, Hard to Ignore, Flow Like Water and Electrostatic Armor can all add additional value.
Defiance
Another 0-cost way to switch the defence engine on.
Discarding a boost card can occasionally reduce an attack to zero and preserve the Tough instead. That's absolutely fine — you may miss the Power Man draw, but you've kept a Tough while still potentially triggering the rest of the perfect-defence package.
Preemptive Strike
This costs 1, so ordinarily it would eat further into the hand we're trying to preserve.
That's why the deck runs two copies of Defensive Energy.
Pay for Preemptive Strike with Defensive Energy and the resource immediately replaces itself. You then get the boost cancellation/damage from Preemptive Strike while keeping the same basic card-economy principle as the 0-cost events.
There are plenty of Defense events that prevent additional damage, but that isn't really what this deck needs. Tough is already doing that job. The Defense cards are primarily here to cheaply tell the game that Luke defended and unlock everything attached to that.
"Go Ahead. Hit Me."
The fun part is how much damage happens without Luke actually attacking.
Both Metal Bracers give Luke Retaliate, Cuts Both Ways adds another point for the phase, Electrostatic Armor deals another damage after Luke defends, and Flow Like Water adds another whenever you play a Defense card.
Preemptive Strike can throw the villain's own boost icons back at them as well.
None of these are individually enormous numbers, but they stack.
You can spend the player phase setting up, controlling the board and building Luke's economy while the villain steadily loses health simply for continuing to attack him.
Then Luke's normal attacks and identity events are added on top.
Tough Economy & Flipping
Luke wants Tough cards, and this deck gives him plenty of ways to keep the supply flowing.
Burstein Process remains the main engine, particularly when you can flip down with no Toughs remaining and immediately reload.
Hidden Base rewards that same flip to Alter-Ego with another Tough.
The key card that makes those trips downstairs much safer is Ready for a Fight.
Rather than flipping to Alter-Ego, reloading, and simply allowing the villain to scheme, Ready for a Fight lets Luke jump back into hero form when that scheme would begin and turn it into another attack.
For most heroes that sounds like a downside.
For this Luke Cage, another attack is exactly what we want.
It gives us another opportunity to spend a Tough, trigger the draw/defence engine and deal passive damage while still getting the six-card Alter-Ego hand.
Recovery & Toughen Up
Luke does take a point of unpreventable damage whenever one of his Tough cards is discarded, so over a long game that damage does accumulate.
Down Time boosts Luke's REC and makes his trips to Alter-Ego considerably more productive.
Endurance gives him additional breathing room above his printed hit-point total, which is particularly useful alongside Toughen Up.
After Luke recovers, Toughen Up can generate another Tough provided his remaining hit points are at least equal to his base hit points. Down Time makes reaching that threshold much easier, while Endurance gives Luke some extra space above it.
Dr. Sinclair adds another Alter-Ego recovery option. She can heal based on Luke's REC — so she also benefits from Down Time — and can remove a status card at the same time.
You don't need to prioritise Sinclair immediately, but once the important engine pieces are established she makes Luke's Alter-Ego turns extremely comfortable.
Allies – Let Luke Take the Hits
The ally package is deliberately small.
This isn't a deck that wants to constantly throw allies in front of villain attacks. Once Luke's engine is running, we actively want those attacks hitting Luke so that Tough, Power Man, Unflappable, Hard to Ignore and the retaliatory effects can all do their work.
Instead, the allies are here to provide efficient player-phase utility: finding Defense events, controlling threat, stripping awkward Tough cards from enemies and generally keeping the board under control while Luke concentrates on building his engine.
Jessica Jones – The Better Half
Jessica is much more than a signature ally you happen to be forced to include.
She is one of the biggest payoffs for successfully building Luke's Tough economy.
Her THW increases with the number of Tough status cards on Luke, up to +4. Once Luke has four or more Toughs — which this deck can reach surprisingly comfortably — Jessica becomes a 5 THW ally for only 3 resources.
With 3 HP and only 1 consequential damage from thwarting, that potentially becomes:
5 THW → 5 THW → 5 THW
That's 15 threat removal from a single ally.
She is particularly useful if you've spent the early game investing resources into Luke's board rather than aggressively controlling every scheme. Once the Tough engine is established, Jessica can suddenly arrive and clean up an enormous amount of accumulated threat.
It also creates an interesting tension around Luke's Tough pile. Those Toughs aren't simply defence anymore: they're protecting Luke, powering Jessica's THW, and eventually becoming ammunition for Knuckle Sandwich.
And thematically, it feels exactly right.
Luke might be standing there letting the villain punch themselves into submission, but when things actually need sorting out, his better half turns up and fixes the board.
Jocasta – Bank a Defense Event
Jocasta fits the deck particularly well because she lets you recover a Defense event from the discard pile and effectively store it outside your hand.
That is exactly what this deck wants.
We're trying to enter the villain phase with access to a Defense event without clogging up or draining the hand we're building for the following player phase. Jocasta effectively gives you another Defense event waiting in reserve while still contributing useful thwarting on the board.
She also means that trimming the number of Defense events in the deck doesn't necessarily reduce how often you can access them — the good ones can simply come around again.
Brother Voodoo – Find the Event You Need
Brother Voodoo performs the other half of that job.
When he enters play, he digs through the top of the deck looking for an event. With the number of Defense events and strong identity events Luke is running, there is usually something useful to find.
Sometimes that's one of the cheap Defense events that switches the engine on for the next villain phase.
Sometimes it's "Sweet Christmas!" to clear a crowded board.
Sometimes it's Knuckle Sandwich when you're ready to start closing the game.
Either way, Voodoo gives the deck a little more consistency while also contributing useful thwarting afterwards.
Starhawk – Cheap, Repeatable Utility
Starhawk is the simple value piece.
He's cheap enough that he doesn't interfere too heavily with setting up Luke's engine, and his ability to return to hand when used efficiently gives you a reusable source of attack and thwart.
That makes him useful for all the little jobs you don't necessarily want Luke spending an activation on: removing Tough from an enemy, finishing off a weakened minion or shaving the last couple of threat from a scheme.
And because he can come back to hand, he can also simply become a resource when something more important needs paying for.
The important thing with all four allies is that blocking is the backup plan, not their primary job.
If the villain attacks Luke, that's generally good news.
Let Luke take the punch.
Let the allies deal with everything else.
Dealing With Minions
The deck doesn't need to dedicate huge numbers of cards to minion control because Luke already has a very good answer built into his kit.
"Sweet Christmas!" hits the villain and every minion engaged with Luke, while becoming cheaper as Luke accumulates Tough cards.
The two copies of Hard Knocks provide another way to remove an awkward minion while potentially replacing the Tough spent doing so.
Between those cards, allies and Luke's normal ATK, the deck has enough tools to stop a crowded board from getting out of hand.
Closing the Game – Knuckle Sandwich
So where does the actual finishing damage come from?
By the late game, the engine should be established and Luke will often be entering the player phase with five or six cards in hand and a healthy stack of Toughs.
That's when Knuckle Sandwich stops being a normal 3-damage attack and becomes the finisher.
It only costs 1, deals 3 damage, and after resolving it you can discard one of Luke's Toughs to return it straight to your hand. So once you've built up more Toughs than you realistically need for defence, you can start cashing them in:
Play it → 3 damage → discard a Tough → return it → play it again.
With a five-card hand containing Knuckle Sandwich and four cards available as resources, that's potentially 12 damage from four consecutive plays.
With six cards, that becomes 15 damage from five plays.
And because you don't need to return Knuckle Sandwich after the final attack, five plays only requires four Toughs to recycle it.
That is before adding Luke's basic ATK, any retaliatory damage already dealt during the villain phase, or something like "Sweet Christmas!" if it is also available.
The deck therefore has a nice change of gear. Early and mid-game, Toughs are your defensive economy: they keep Luke safe while generating cards, threat removal and passive damage. Once the villain is within range, those accumulated Toughs become an offensive resource instead.
Stop building the wall and start throwing sandwiches.
Just keep an eye on Luke's health — every Tough discarded this way still causes his usual unpreventable damage.
The Goal
Get the engine down.
Keep Luke stocked with Tough.
Use the cheapest possible Defense events to switch on Unflappable, Hard to Ignore, Flow Like Water and Electrostatic Armor without exhausting him.
Flip when it benefits you, use Ready for a Fight to turn the villain's scheme back into the attack you actually wanted, and keep converting those attacks into cards, threat removal and damage.
Eventually you realise Luke hasn't actually spent that much time attacking the villain.
The villain has mostly done the job themselves.
Go on. Show me what you're famous for.