The Immortal Hulk: Solo - Protection.

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Hulk Protection 0 0 0 1.0

Remedy · 3691

Well Hulk is officially out!

While aggression provides some interesting tools to increase damage output turn to turn and Justice and Leadership provide fairly stable platforms for Hulk to perform well in solo, Protection proves tricky as there are a reduced amount of opportunities to thwart alongside dish out additional damage.

In multiplayer I believe Hulk would function very different to the list presented here with a greater focus on defending for others and utilising cards such as desperate defence and counter punch a bit more. For solo play however there are a few challenges to overcome.

  1. We need a reasonable way to address threat over the course of the game. In expert there are a few scenarios at present that require 3 threat removal rather promptly.

  2. We need a way to sustain in hero form that doesn't break the bank.

  3. We need to find resource advantage without impacting our overall deck consistency.

I believe this list addresses these 3 points while providing a fun and engaging way to play Hulk.

Enhanced Physique might look like an awkward card, but once you put it down it allows you to play more than one card a turn in hero mode more often than not and smooths out your ability to put down your other pieces throughout the game without needing to hold onto double/triple resources in hero mode.

Night Nurse addresses one large problem hulk has which is stun and tough having a rather large impact on tempo.

Honorary Avenger can be viewed as increasing our THW reach on any ally, particularly Black Widow.

Momentum Shift let's us heal while in hero form reducing the need to flip back to alter-ego.

To the Rescue is needed as a back up THW option. Combine with the 1 THW allies allows removal of 3 THW quite often which is a threshold amount.

Nick Fury can clear 4 threat in a pinch or help us dig through the deck and cycle faster. An important part of Hulk is the desire to cycle faster and therefore see Hulk Smash more frequently to close the game out faster as threat accumulates.

I still don't know what the exact resource combination is for Hulk but I believe running 7 resource cards (2 x power of) makes the deck far too awkward and at present I'd rather be able to play Hulk cards more efficiently than aspect cards. The enhanced physiques are playable cards and provide physical and have done just fine so far.

The one weakness of this deck is that it's difficult to meet alternative resource requirements on encounter cards. You might want to cut 1 enhanced for a quincarrier or cut energy or genius and 1 enhanced physique for power of protections to up the chance of been able to address those sorts of cards.

Hope this finds some success in solo endeavours. If you want a multiplayer focused build check back later next week for an alternative suggested build.

8 comments

Aug 09, 2020 Old Ben · 1081

Thanks for this deck, I've been struggling to get Hulk to work with protection in solo, but had a more "traditional" protection build with Desperate Defense and Counter-Punch as you mention, and Get Behind Me! to help against those nasty treacheries that can ruin your day. I'm definitely going to give it a go. How often do you actually defend with him in this build, or are you relying more on generating more hp with Endurance and Immovable Object, then healing with a boosted REC, Momentum Shift and The Night Nurse, or are you blocking more with allies?

Aug 09, 2020 Remedy · 3691

Yeah, I like that traditional deck in multiplayer a lot more. I should have added that solo protection with Hulk right now is still going to feel like an uphill climb in most scenarios.

You defend if you have unstoppable force and are going to play it or you don't have a reasonable reason to attack that turn (ie. clear a minion etc). Just build up your board state and THW with allies until you can go hard on the villain.

Momentum Shift and Night Nurse buy you time. Healing in Alter-Ego is also quite efficient particularly for 6 or 8.

So far it's handily taken down Rhino, Klaw and Mutagen. Ultron has proven really tricky and I've tried a few alternates with energy barrier but still very limited success.

Aug 11, 2020 acharlie1377 · 515

Have you beaten Ultron with this deck? I've been working a Protection Hulk deck v. Expert Ultron for days and haven't been able to beat him; I get overwhelmed by drones too easily, and then a side scheme comes out and it's all over.

Aug 18, 2020 ecamel · 11

I have to admit, I don't like it at all. There's nothing here that really justifies going Protection over other aspects or would make for an interesting experience. When there's 12-15+ basic cards in a deck, one has to wonder what aspect cards there are to give the deck some flavor. This has 18. Basic cards are meant to supplement your aspect not be the crux of the deck. The 7 aspect cards you do have aren't particularly impactful a a whole.

The Enhanced _____ cards are generally trash unless you really need a resource type and don't have enough. You're paying 3 resources (2 cost plus the card itself) for 3 resources trickled back to you over time. Hulk does need a ton of but this is total overkill. I'd go with 1 copy of that card, if at all. (And honestly, Martial Prowess is much better, but not a tool available to Protection.) 3 is way too many.

The curve of the deck is also way too high (expensive/slow) for a Hulk deck. He needs cheaper cards. I'd also probably ditch Avenger's Mansion (generally regarded as too slow for heroic anyways) for Quincarrier. Providing a resource is almost as good as an extra card in most cases and with only a 4 card hand in most cases, you want cards you can play reliably without having to swap forms. Unflappable should be in here instead if you want card draw.

Get rid of Lockjaw. He has a place in some decks but not here. You don't have the resources or tempo to afford on him.

Hopefully it doesn't feel like I am dogging on you. I'm not. I applaud you for going with something a bit unconventional. I'm not convinced solo Protection Hulk can work with the pool we currently have available, but if there is a combo of cards that would be viable, I think it would need to be cheaper and impactful than this iteration.

Aug 18, 2020 Remedy · 3691

Hey thanks for commenting.

I totally agree with you that this doesn't make a strong argument for protection outside of night nurse or momentum shift. I have another build which is all about desperate defense, unflappable, energy barrier etc. which is fun but often loses to a lack of THW opportunities. I chose to share a list that can defeat scenarios on expert through testing rather than the deck that still can't seem to get over the challenge with the current card pool. I'm hoping others work on similar decks and through collaboration and discussion it can get there.

I'm not sure if your comments are based on giving the deck a go and then providing feedback or if you just looked at the list. Enhanced Physique has performed exceptionally well. Because you lose your hand at the end of the turn and because your signature resource generator is in alter-ego only (a place you don't really want to go in solo play with these sorts of heroes) a cheap way to leverage resource advantage is welcome. If I were to change it it would be to resourceful so I can more consistently clear villain encounter cards with certain resource types.

Similarly I would agree that after further playthroughs I'd switch helicarrier for quincarrier. My initial concern was that you draw it in alter-ego form or have it a weird time where you are not Hulk and can't get it down, it's also not a physical so if you don't play it hopefully you can spend it on something else.

Lockjaw IMO is one of the best cards for Hulk Solo. At any point you can ditch your hand in hero form to THW 2 and have a blocker. He also is the easiest choice for Bruce Banner's ability.

Lastly, Mansion is worth the tempo hit. The only scenario I don't play it early is Mutagen Formula which has other challenges. The ability to increase your options by 20% in hero form is too good to give up. Unflappable isn't consistent if it's just the villain activating particularly if you don't have vest down or play desperate defense.

Hope that helps explain some of the thoughts behind this. I definitely agree about the theme/aspect angle but I haven't found anything as consistent as this for solo protection play. It's been nice to use momentum shift a bit more...

Aug 18, 2020 ecamel · 11

You mean Unflappable only works in a proper Protection deck? You don't say. ;)

Aug 19, 2020 Remedy · 3691

marvelcdb.com

I've been using this one for that variant. Lots of fun also, just a bit more challenging to succeed in solo play than the list above in my experience.

Aug 19, 2020 dr00 · 39752

nice writeup and lovely to see a deck with allies who are terrible with med team just not use med team lol. honorary avenger feels great here to help get consistent value from your hands each turn

can't wait to try this out