Toughness Grows Where RECovery Flows.

Credit: This deck was greatly inspired by @Doublejefferdy's [Tough Enough]https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/65212/tough-enough-1.0 deck.

The gym is where the damage happens. Recovery is where the magic happens. Luckily, Luke Cage has mastered the art of post-workout gains. In this deck, he's so consistently Tough that you'd think the status card was glued to his hero card.

The main plan is to quickly set up as quickly as possible with 3x Toughen Up + Burstein Process. This allows you to gain 4 toughs per round in AE when you REC.

• If you flip down to AE and recover, and you stay in AE until the next round, then you can REC again and flip up to hero form with 8 toughs on Luke!

What do you do with so many toughs? Well, you can enjoy the following benefits:

• a 5 THW Jessica Jones
• 0-cost "Sweet Christmas!" x2 copies
• ability to consistently play Knuckle Sandwich 4+ times per round (12+ damage). If you've been saving toughs, it's possible to play Knuckle Sandwich up to 9 times in a turn (27 damage).
• you can reliably maintain up to 3 retaliate (2x Metal Bracer and Dauntless), as well as get an extra damage from Electrostatic Armor when you defend. This makes it easy to trigger Change of Fortune.
• Oh ya, and you'll probably never die!

While you're setting up, contribute to keeping the board clear with Jessica Jones' high THW and Rogue's versatile 4 THW / 4 ATK stat line (after she "touches" Luke).

Tip #1: As mentioned in the section above, 3x Toughen Up + Burstein Process allows you to generate 4 toughs per round in AE, which you can then use to fuel Luke's kit. Because the deck generates Tough statuses so consistently, you rarely need to manage them conservatively. Spend them freely and keep the engine running.

Tip #2:Endurance or Defensive Conditioning (you only need to play one of them) is essential because the extra hit points enables Luke to REC across two rounds and trigger Toughen Up in each of those rounds. The key is to keep do this when Luke is between 6-8hp.

• If he's at 9hp or more, you won't be able to recover a second time because Luke will be fully healed.
• If he's at 5hp or less, then you won't be able to trigger Toughen Up on the first REC because Luke's health won't be equal to his base hit points.

Tip #3: Metal Bracer can be used to prevent the damage that Rogue deals when she "touches" Luke to boost her stats.

Tip #4: Fogwell's Gym and Power Man create a useful combo. During the villain phase, you can DEF against the villain to trigger Unflappable and Electrostatic Armor. When you lose a tough from the attack, you can exhaust Fogwell's Gym to ready Luke and exhaust Power Man to draw another card. Luke now has 7 cards in hand! And if he manages to kill a minion with retaliate during villain phase and triggers Change of Fortune, he'll draw another 2 cards. Wow, 9 cards starting in hero form! Go Luke!

Tip #5: Once you're set up, keep Knuckle Sandwich in your hand for the rest of the game. Every two rounds, you can generate 8-9 toughs. Paired with the amazing card draw detailed in Tip #4, you can play Knuckle Sandwich for 24-27 damage! Rinse and repeat until the villain is defeated.

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