Ascended Being

When I build a deck, I want to lean into what a hero does better than other heroes. For Adam, for the longest time, my answer was 'Just play the best cards'. There was precious little built around his most obvious mechanic (discarding), and little to achieve from going outside of that.

With the release of the Conditioning cards, I saw something I hadn't seen before. And obviously, I'm not the first person to see that. However, here's a unique take on this. We're focused on a few concepts:

-Discarding -Deck Shrink -Damage as a Cost -Full Healing

You'll notice we haven't leaned into that as hard as we CAN, but I find most encounters are trivialized around 20HP.

The Bones Aggressive Conditioning, Defensive Conditioning, and Endurance. An extra nine HP, and two stat boosts (depending on your table, feel free to trade Aggressive for Heroic Conditioning).

Why These Cards?

Adam can play cards with very specific uses much more easily than other players, as he can always rely on his Battle Mage ability to use them for something besides a resource. You're not playing any specific role with these cards - you're supporting everybody else at the table until you gain enough value to win.

Summoning Spell is its own archetype, and we're trying to get expensive allies into play. Our BEST target is Black Panther, who can grab Summoning Spell so we can replay it. However, I'd consider any ally with a strong enter-play effect, uses a strong discard mechanic, or who otherwise supports the table. "Welcome Aboard" helps play these expensive allies. Try to ensure you've discarded Pip the Troll so you do NOT play him, as he's your worst ally.

Speed - Great thwarter.

Goldballs - Discard mechanic, great damage.

Nick Fury - Great play effect.

Groot - Groot is here for the whole game. Groot's job is to tank minion attacks. All attacks of two or less mean nothing to Groot.

Intelligence is my final major contribution. The most frustrating part of Adam is Cosmic Ward. An amazing card that will either be Forced to Interrupt a treachery, or whiff. Either is frustrating, but Intelligence fixes this problem. Pick the best target for Cosmic Ward every time, and pick the easiest cards cards for your fellow players.

Piloting

Pass 1, make sure you get Soul World. After that, your priorities are...

Mystic Senses

The Sorcerer Supreme

Karmic Staff

Defensive Conditioning, Endurance, Aggressive/Heroic Conditioning

Once you've got this set, start winning the game. Burn your HP, blow through your deck, show villains what it means to have HP. Tank the biggest hits and treacheries in the game.

Alternate Cards

There are a few obvious includes, and alternate strategies here.

Bloodgem - Two HP for a resource is in line, but it's another basic card messing up our discards until we play it. Include if you want, but Clarity of Purpose served me well in place of it.

Sentry - This was super interesting to me. We COULD hit Sentry on a Summon Spell, get a Side Scheme of our choice, and then Even the Odds. It's PROBABLY good, but in practice, I never got it to hit like I wanted.

Problem Solvers - A great card I could not get to work with my group. Probably better than Even the Odds, and probably better than Great Responsibility. We even play Avengers and Guardians to make it work, and the table can pay for it. If your team will prioritize playing it, it's worth including.

Digging Deep - This, and White Fox, feel like they should be includes for a guy who is focused on discarding (and this deck discards a LOT). In practice, however, I find White Fox messes up Adam's discards, and Digging Deep is something that you really want three of to get good payout, and Adam just can't do that.