Hulk Stay!

Main Idea

The Hulk ally offers some of the best value on damage in the game; assuming you draw all from his forced response, he’s a two-cost ally who can deal 25 damage. The problem is that you end up invariably drawing a early in Hulk’s rampage, forcing you to discard him before reaching his full potential. The goal of this deck is to avoid this feel-bad moment while very likely exceeding 25 damage with Hulk in one game.

There are two main avenues in this deck for ensuring you never have to discard Hulk: First, the Rocket card Salvage allows you to place a tech card on top of your deck, guaranteeing that you know which effect Hulk’s attack will trigger. Between two Hand Cannons (), one Rocket Launcher (), and two Rocket's Pistols (), you should be able to fairly consistently get your desired resource on top. Second, for turns where you don’t have Salvage, As One! is your next best option for getting value out of Hulk without risking him bolting. While this card is not great in most decks, getting a card draw from overkill, avoiding consequential damage (particularly when Hulk is Enraged), and not having to risk a blind discard off the top make it worth it here.

Side Thoughts

Hulk - Obviously, you want to get the big guy on the table the first time through your deck. Then work on getting him Enraged and Honorary Guardian, which gets Hulk +1 hp and opens him up for Energy Spear. With all of that, you have a 7 attack Hulk (9 total damage with a discard) with piercing and 6 hp.

As One! - Your best targets for this are Hulk + a tough Throg, letting you get something out of his attack without sacrificing tough. This won’t always line up, so your next best partners for Hulk are Angela, Groot, or Rocket with Cybernetic Skeleton.

Knowhere - Between Hulk staying in play the whole game and allies that can stick around 3 or more turns (Bug, Groot, Martinex, and Throg), opening up an additional ally slot is helpful. Having another option to draw cards is nice too. If you draw Knowhere before Hulk, getting down Knowhere while building up some Guardian allies and tech upgrades is a nice contingency plan while you dig for Hulk.

Potential Adjustments - I have only tested this in solo. For multiplayer (or just longer games in general), you might want another first aid, as the damage from Enraged starts adding up pretty quickly. Marvel Boy is probably a better include than Groot (or Nick if you don’t dig him); I just like having Rocket and Groot together. Thor Odinson Ally is another potential ally to include. Once Hulk has Honorary Guardian, you can use As One! with Hulk and Thor, potentially preserving tough on Thor and dealing up to 10 damage. I’m sure there are other ways to optimize things from here, but I can say at the very least that running this deck has been a blast.