Colossus has the most resource cards in any hero kit except Hulk himself, this makes him the best platform in the game for Hulk ally! Hulk is one of the best value propositions in the game when you can reliably hit his kicker, coming in at 3ER for 25 damage!

Human kind can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain something, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange -Alphonse Elric

Professor Hulk Teaches Math

Hulk alchemizes the top card of the deck into 2 extra damage incredibly reliably. Here are some rough numbers just to elaborate a bit:

We have 28 cards in deck, 7 (not counting Hulk himself), 3 , and 1 .

Odds to hit

• 72% baseline

• 80% By prioritizing our non- set up; Iron Will, Piotr's Studio, The X-Jet, and Deft Focus

• 82% with full setup

Most of the time the odds hover between 75-85%, so 4/5 of Hulk's health on average will be ! 20 damage!

But we have some ways to manipulate things further. Piotr Rasputin's Aspiring Artist effect can let us put back into the deck, something we'll likely already be doing anyways with Bulletproof Protector, Steel Fist, and Armor Up. 90%+ odds are not uncommon and I've had situations where I know literally every card left in the deck is and can openly spam Hulk!

While this means Hulk can start swinging very reliably from turn 1, he makes a great chump blocker in the early game to preserve toughs. Most times Hulk can block twice, saving two toughs, essentially a third copy of Organic Steel. Saving Organic Steels also keep their out of the deck for Hulk!

A Tale of Two Brothers

• Iron Will gives Colossus the coveted 2 THW; but transmuting toughs into cards is the real draw. Bulletproof Protector, Steel Fist, and Made of Rage discard toughs for beneficial effects while refunding themselves in the process. Enemy attacks will make him take no damage and still draw a card. Piercing effects and Rampaging Juggernaut will discard all his toughs, but compensate him in cards. On the rare turns where Hulk hits an or , we will get a refund off our lost tough!

• Titanium Muscles is the crux of the deck, turning resources into physical cards is pure alchemy! Flipping will grant a tough with Steel Skin, allowing Titanium Muscles to fuel an instant Surprise Attack! The single-tough plays also include Jarnbjorn and Marvel Boy, two great options to deal with toughs on enemies, useful since this deck has mostly large chunks of damage. Chaining a Bulletproof Protector off the flip will make Titanium Muscles a double resource generator, hitting Drop Kick, Lockjaw, and Machine Man

Aspiring Artist teaches Finger Painting

• Steel Fist is Pheromones + Venom Blast. Even against steady it is equivalent to a full status, by applying two half-statuses. It can also be played just for damage, without sacrificing a tough, which is useful if out of toughs and needing to defeat a minion before flipping down. Against non-stalwart villains, this card can trivialize most scenarios and is a good candidate for recurring with Aspiring Artist. This is the card I Aspiring Artist most when toughs are plentiful

• Bulletproof Protector duplicates a tough, gives us a draw off Iron Will, and bumps Titanium Muscles to two resources. This is another card I'll Aspiring Artist quite often, especially in Aggression where we have fewer options to give tough. The ready effect is also situationally useful in order to trigger Iron Will to draw a card, get 2 THW/3 ATK, or to spend a tough before flipping (flipping down with two toughs on will discard one since Colossus can only have two toughs in hero form and not while Piotr Rasputin). Bulletproof Protector is important to have on turns when flipping to get a tough from Steel Skin. This is the card I Aspiring Artist most when toughs are hard to come by

• Armor Up is important to help us flip in solo. Holding this or knowing when it's coming in the deck, allows for safe flipping. When the villain would activate (re:scheme), Armor Up will give us a free flip to hero (and a tough), then change that villain activation to an attack instead. This gets us some extra resources from our increased hand size and Piotr's Studio, while guaranteeing a tough for the attack (not to mention triggering an additional draw off Iron Will from the attack we are now taking). This is the card I Aspiring Artist most when flipping is necessary

Law of Equivalent Exchange

• Organic Steel is less efficient than Steel Skin or Bulletproof Protector. Usually it is better to spend toughs to control the board state and then flip down, but when flipping is risky, Organic Steel shines, exchanging one tough for another (equivalently). Once Iron Will is out, it combos well to generate tempo off of discard tough effects. We can Steel Fist, Made of Rage, or Bulletproof Protector in the hero phase, draw a card, and replace our tough; then tank the villain attack, draw a card, and replace our tough in the villain phase. Worth noting is two Organic Steel can trigger off a single loss of tough! This is important to keep Titanium Muscles as a double resource. Using allies to block, keeping this on the table for as long as possible, is important to keep the out of the deck

• Piotr's Studio accelerates set up and can dump Lockjaw into the discard. Discarding past things like Mystique and Mysterio cards can save us from nasty effects like Infiltration or draw us cards from Maze of Mirrors. It can get us to that Armor Up we recycled, or let us manipulate the ratio in our deck. By keeping track of what's left, we can do some nifty mid-game math based on what this hits

• Made of Rage, very simple, exchange a tough for 6 damage with overkill, possibly for 0ER if replaced using Iron Will. Using two off of one attack can lead to a 15 damage attack. When combined with Hulk, Steel Fist, and the other allies Colossus has great burst damage. Keep an eye on copies of this in the discard as this is the only that cycles in the deck constantly

Search for the Philosopher's Stone

Colossus relies on the thwarting of his allies while he builds and flips, giving him enough thwart for solo or to assist a multiplayer team!

• Machine Man is the key thwarter, using Titanium Muscles and The X-Jet to boost to 4 THW or 4 ATK. The former being most useful here

• Lockjaw is a perennial target for Helicarrier, Titanium Muscles, and The X-Jet, coming in for 2 THW and a block or 4 THW. Piotr's Studio is useful to queue him up in the discard. Both Machine Man and Lockjaw make good uses of dead Bulletproof Protector and Made of Rage, preparing a flip down. You can then Aspiring Artist that same Bulletproof Protector, and hope to draw it next turn with Piotr's Studio

• Spider-Man can come in and THW 3 or ATK 4. A partner with Utopia can ready him if Honorary X-Men is played on him and another X-Men ally enters play on Colossus' turn. Likewise adding an Attack Training can make him a strong Game Time target from other players. A leadership player can Command Team him. Excellent ways to get additional uses of the boosted stats in multiplayer!

• Blade's 3 health can stall a 1- or 2-ATK minion for a few turns, preserving toughs. Sentinels, Goblins, and Badoons can all be successfully stalled, particularly minions that come out as boosts and would otherwise cost a tough. While Blade cannot be fueled by The X-Jet or Titanium Muscles, he doesn't need to discard a to activate. At the cost of himself he can add an emergency 1 THW or 2 ATK, worth remembering, especially in the end game

• Marvel Boy and Wolverine provide piercing, which can be key, as most of Colossus' attacks are large. Wolverine can also be used as a perennial thwarter

• Mockingbird provide a stun and a block to save two toughs. Being able to thwart twice makes her more valuable than a third copy of Drop Kick

• Shadowcat ignoring crisis can get Colossus out of a pinch. Thwarting three times is usually her best use

• Honorary X-Men can be added to any of these allies for some extra thwart or damage when necessary!

Alchemical Tools

• Deft Focus pays for key set up pieces, Iron Will, Titanium Muscles, and Organic Steel, while combining with Martial Prowess to spam Steel Fist; saving the generic resource generators to pump Machine Man or bring in Lockjaw. It also hits Limitless Stamina to use Colossus' boosted 2 THW or 3 ATK

• Martial Prowess hits Surprise Attack, Drop Kick, and Steel Fist. Since Aspiring Artist will be recurring Steel Fist, Martial Prowess and Deft Focus will always be online

• The X-Jet powers all the physical kickers (except Blade), but is also useful to hit encounter card kickers in a pinch. Honorary X-Men allows use of The X-Jet from alter-ego

• Helicarrier helps with Lockjaw and Drop Kick. Running so many generators might seem like overkill, but Helicarrier and The X-Jet can be passed to a partner in multiplayer, and getting one down early is key before Iron Will or Titanium Muscles are out

• Jarnbjorn is an efficient dump for extra resources, The X-Jet, and Titanium Muscles

Key Opening Hands

We will want to mulligan hard for Iron Will or Titanium Muscles. Steel Fist makes a good tempo opening, by allowing us to flip right back down, and our other resource generators or thwarting allies make good secondary targets.

• Iron Will+Steel Fist: thwart for 2, apply double status, and with the draw from Iron Will, likely still have another play to make

• Bulletproof Protector+Titanium Muscles: This can immediately lead to getting a turn 1 Organic Steel, Steel Fist, or Machine Man. The golden turn of Titanium Muscles+Iron Will is usually achieved by using Bulletproof Protector either with Iron Will out to draw into Titanium Muscles, or to boost Titanium Muscles to afford Iron Will

• Piotr's Studio is a great card to see in the opening hand. Getting Steel Fist, Iron Will, Titanium Muscles, Bulletproof Protector, or Shadowcat are all great cards to hit turn 1. Pulling Armor Up turn 1 can allow Colossus to stay in alter-ego for the extra card draw. Mulling Lockjaw early can set him up for when he's needed most

• Organic Steel by itself can leave a little to be desired. It can hopefully save a tough long enough to be spent on the second turn or even third turn. Where this opening can fail is if multiple sources of damage come through on turn 1. Organic Steel can save the first tough, but because it exhausts, Colossus might still be left with 0 toughs and needing to flip on turn 2. Generally I'll use the setup Organic Steel as a resource to play more generally useful allies and resource generators, the exception being if Iron Will or Titanium Muscles are also playable

I hope this deck transmutes some losses into wins for you!

Huge thanks to Jimmydm90 for the absolutely killer deck name!!