Being a basic ally with piercing gives Swordsman a useful niche in the crowded ally slot. Leadership has a cheaper option with Black Knight, and Aggression has Wolverine, who outputs more damage overall, but Justice and Protection might be interested. Swordsman's response does two interesting things. 1 - if he is given a tough status (Ready for Action, Muster Courage), he can block an attack and activate in the same round. 2 - since the response is after a boost is turned face up, you can wait to block with him until he's guaranteed to soak a large attack. Especially with the Avenger trait, Swordsman has enough things adding up to make him reasonably playable.

Simple but powerful card for any deck whose hero expects to thwart most turns. Like the Aggressive and Defensive versions before it, Heroic Conditioning takes the Core Set stat buff upgrade and adds one to the cost but also adds 3 hp, an exchange that's generally well worth it. The combination is perfect as the stat buff sets up your long-term value while the hp buff gives you some time to get there. Cards like Overwatch or additional ready effects can get even more mileage out of the buff with additional uses of the thwart stat each turn. This is a great general-purpose card that belongs in lots of decks!

I'm new to magik but already in love with this card. Nothing feels better than swapping magic barrier to the top of your deck, to play it for free just in time for the villain's attack. Really seems to smooth out what magik does best, and thus is essential to get down early.

I really like both options here. The second option is a great way to renew the tucked cards und Ionic Physiology to heal up a little bit. It's not the cheapest identity specific resource generator but it works really good with Wonder Man

Just a reminder that the Setup step occurs after mulligans. This means your Cameo ally is not available to draw until mulligans are complete.

Cameo will be in your deck and available to draw pre-setup. This is a dead draw, but you can discard it as one of the 2 cards you choose to pay the cost.