Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
snuffs · 142
"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
The ally package is deliberately small and primarily exists to provide efficient player-phase utility rather than to constantly jump in front of attacks.
We want Luke to be attacked.
Jocasta is particularly useful because she can take a Defense event from the discard pile and effectively store it outside your hand until you need it. She also brings useful thwarting to an aspect that can sometimes struggle with it.
Brother Voodoo digs through the top five cards for an event when he enters play, helping find one of the deck's Defense events or one of Luke's powerful identity events.
Starhawk is inexpensive and provides repeatable attack/thwart value thanks to his ability to return to hand instead of simply disappearing once his health is used efficiently.
And Jessica Jones comes naturally with Luke's kit.
The allies are there to clear awkward threat, strip Tough from enemies, finish weakened minions and generally keep the board clean while Luke concentrates on doing what Luke does best.
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.
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.