Level Up!

Level Up and Loot

You got stuff to do. Who cares about the villain, you'll handle him later. Once you leveled up! Those 4 cards you draw once you finish a Labor, Invest them right back into Upgrades. Let's break it down!

Allies

Since you want to defend yourself, you don't need a big ally package. Amadeus Cho is a cheap Avengers Mansion, which you also play, so you should be able to break that 4 handsize soon. Nick Fury is great for the opening hand, and Yellow Jacket can catch you some of your upgrades out of the deck (since there are three 0-cost upgrades, you might even play them without support).

Ressource Picks

The The Power in All of Us with Nick Fury, Avengers Mansion, Helicarrier and Quincarrier is the classic 4-handsize helper. Nothing fancy here.

Upgrade Package

Hercules can sport a lot of Retaliate already. His Gauntlets of Hercules will give you Retaliate 3 in the endgame, and the Shield of Perseus gives you another 1. So lets add Electrostatic Armor! No Dauntless because you want to use Hercules High HP as a Ressource.

Events

Desperate Defense and Limitless Stamina ensure that you are always ready. Not Today! is a bit of a solo pick, if you play Multiplayer, you can easily replace them, and I suggest What Doesn't Kill Me.

How to Play

Your first Labor has to be solved quite early, because your hero cards and upgrades will be really bad otherwise. Of course, a Mulligan for Double Ressources and one of your neutral cards (Nick Fury, Avengers Mansion) or Amadeus Cho are still the name of the game. Your Neutral+Protection Package can take over until you can tackle that first Labor. Any Upgrades that don't immediately benefit you should not be played unless it's just what is left of your hand. Always finish a Labor if you can, you'll get an immediate extra turn (each gift will let you draw 4 cards, and your Hero will be readied + you get the Option to go to Alter Ego).

• Defeat the Hydra Not the luckiest pick if it is your first. Getting Quincarrier out to pay instead of healing helps, but obviously Protection is not the best in handling a 12 HP Minion. That beeing said, Hercules Kit should be enough, and since he already comes with a respectable 3 STR. If you get a Lion of Olympus and Limitless Stamina or Son of Zeus, you should be able to handle it. It's not worth it if it heals itself, so don't bother to attack it more than once if you can't pay. Build your upgrades and Defend, and use your 14 hp as Ressource.

• Embody Pathos This is relatively easy, since the Side Scheme gets Assault, which means you'll use your STR to thwart it. This can be over quick with Limitless Stamina and Son of Zeus and is perhaps the easiest one if it comes first if you happen to get a Nick Fury opening.

• Protect Humanity This is of course Excellent, since Protecting instead of Chump Blocking is what you want to do. If you have this first, you are in a good position, because this Labor actually gifts you Amadeus Cho. Yes, there are no specific cards to handle this fast, but this is a Setup-Heavy deck anyways.Desperate Defense and Not Today! should make this very easy to handle while you have some cards left to build your cheap upgrades. Only caveat is that it has bad synergy with a Nick Fury opening, as Nick Fury is not the one who should do the Labor of defending.