"That almost hit me!" (Spider-Man Protection vs. Rhino Heroi

First of all, a pep talk: YOU CAN DO THIS. What's Rhino Heroic 2 got going, really - just a lot of attacks and the threat of an untimely Advance.

Now, instead of going through the deck, I’m going to take you through Rhino’s deck and show you how we’re dealing with everything.

Breakin' & Takin': You need to get this off the board Turn 1 if at all possible, so mulligan hard for Miles Morales (who can thwart for 3) or a 2-thwart ally (Brother Voodoo, Lockjaw, Nick Fury, or War Machine). If necessary, two 1-thwart allies will do (Black Cat, Ironheart, Luke Cage, or Mockingbird). Preferably, you get out Black Cat or Ironheart AND a 2-thwart ally Turn 1 so you can remove Breakin' & Takin' and ping Rhino.

2x Hard To Keep Down & 2x I'm Tough: These are essentially the same card and you need to have the same strategy for both: never let Rhino remain at full health or tough, so that these treacheries won't surge. Black Cat, Mockingbird, and Ironheart (or sometimes Brother Voodoo) are all great for pinging off tough.

Armored Rhino Suit: Try to stay loose so you can deal with this. If need be, hit it with a Swinging Web Kick. You do NOT want this up as a firewall for him so he can stay at full health and have Hard To Keep Down surging. Miles Morales or Nick Fury can lay out some burst damage to deal with this, too. That being said, threat is typically more pressing than taking this down.

Enhanced Ivory Horn: Let it stay on Rhino - it shouldn't cause you a problem. That being said, if you have three physical resources just hanging around, remove it so it can come up again as an encounter card later.

Sandman: Similar to Armored Rhino Suit but more pressing, you typically need to just take Sandman down as soon as he's out - at least early game. So ping him and web kick if need be, or ping and hit him with Spider-Man and Luke Cage. Late game, let him live - 3 damage may not be a problem at all at that point if you can kill Rhino in the next 1-3 turns.

Shocker: Easily disposed of, but you should dispose of him. Do not leave yourself at 1 health or he will kill you.

2x Hydra Mercenary: You would think these are a pain, but they're really not too bad - if you don't need to be damaging Rhino, you can just leave them out, especially if you're flipping down since they won't scheme. That being said, remove them as soon as you can comfortably do so, maybe even ping them a bit so you can be sure to be able to finish them when you want to do your next Swinging Web Kick at Rhino.

2x Charge: I actually LOVE Charge in this scenario, because you will have so much toughness with Luke Cage, War Machine, and Muster Courage (plus the use of Backflip) that you should never have it affect you at all. A great choice is to let Charge stick on him, flip down to alter-ego, maybe have a second Charge come out, too, then flip to hero, use Bait and Switch to make Rhino attack you when you're ready for it, draw a card, and use Backflip, block with a tough ally, or absorb with your own toughness. Just remember that in Heroic 2, Rhino can easily get Charge and in the same villain phase attack you again, so keep a tough ally whenever possible - Black Cat is a great ally for this, since she can "save" a tough status card from Muster Courage without losing it to consequential damage.

3x Stampede: I also LOVE Stampede in this scenario, too, because it means you will draw an extra card, and again, if you're tough or Backflip than the stun won't affect you. Also, if you are already stunned because Rhino flipped to stage 3, you don't have to worry about the redundant stun, either. You also have so many allies, you could easily block a Stampede with someone like Lockjaw, Ironheart, or Mockingbird. If you do get stunned, The Night Nurse can remove it for you.

Crowd Control: Not a big deal - just remove it with War Machine, Nick Fury, Lockjaw, or Brother Voodoo. Just beware letting it stay on the board, because Masterplan could make it challenging to remove, and Bait and Switch cannot target it.

2x Assault & Gang-Up: Again, I love these - more cards for Spider-Man! Often, Spidey himself can just soak these hits since they won't stun him, then heal up with Aunt May (or when it's useful, he can defend to prevent some of the damage, too, if he plans to stay in hero form).

Caught Off Guard: Great targets for this are Honorary Avenger or a mostly depleted Web Shooter, but Aunt May is a good target late game when you aren't flipping back to alter-ego.

2x Advance: A great target for Enhanced Spider-Sense in hero form. Avoid leaving any threat on the main scheme when you flip to alter-ego form, because this can spell your doom with even just one Advance (and that's more likely if there is threat on the main scheme, scheming minions, or acceleration tokens). Consider staying in hero form until one or both Advance are in the discard pile, especially if you're contending with any of those other factors, too.

Shadow of the Past: Of course a great target for Enhanced Spider-Sense. Use a Spider-Tracer to remove Vulture's side scheme if possible. Use Swinging Web Kick if necessary to kill Vulture. The rest of his cards are not too problematic for you - the Sweeping Swoop will only stun you in hero form, and The Night Nurse can help with that.

Under Fire: Maybe the BEST target for Shadow of the Past. Otherwise, it just sucks to get. Since Rhino will be attacking a lot, however, you have high hopes he draws it as a boost card on an attack. Consider flipping to alter-ego as less dangerous once this is in the discard pile (since it's less likely it will pull out an Advance or a double Advance and Rhino won't draw it as a boost for scheming).

Masterplan: An absolutely awful card in many cases, so again, use Enhanced Spider-Sense for this if you have it.

Exhaustion: Consider defending often with Spider-Man so that this card has no effect.

Eviction Notice: Certainly flip to alter-ego in most cases and exhaust if possible, but the cost of losing a card and surge is not terrible, so don't fear this - defend whenever you need to. It's better to be exhausted from defending and Exhaustion take no effect than to not be exhausted just on the chance it helps you deal with Eviction Notice (and Exhaustion then exhausts you). But if Exhaustion is discarded, consider staying ready for Eviction Notice.

Bomb Scare: If you have a Spider-Tracer and there's a minion, you know what to do. Sometimes you can even afford to let this stay one turn until you have them.

Explosion: This will basically always just surge, even in heroic.

2x False Alarm: Simply remove the confuse with The Night Nurse - or, if necessary or possible, remove it by thwarting.

2x Hydra Bomber: Typically, take the damage when possible, especially if it's pretty clear you can heal up with Aunt May shortly. But whenever you would be removing threat anyway, add the threat: like if there's 2 or 3 threat on the main scheme anyway and you are about to Bait and Switch, or there's 1 threat on the main scheme and you have a 2-thwart ally ready to thwart.