The Cable Men

Cable can have quite a weak early game, particularly in solo, but really becomes a powerhouse after clearing a few side schemes. His own kit can deal with most late-game situations once set up, so here I focus on speeding up the early game.

Protection offers a nice way to fix it via Multiple Man. With first turn access to Call for Backup you can (almost) guarantee getting Multiple Man into play first turn.

The unfinished horse meme here described the Cable situation well. Now it looks more like this:

Some kind of Centuar-Cereberos hybrid.

With this deck is better to split the strategy into early/mid/late game, I will explain the card choices on the way.

Head(s)

What you do on the first turn depends on whether you have drawn Multiple Man or not. If you do not have it, you want to get Call for Backup with Cable's preparation ability. Then you clear it with either a Mind Scan or Civic Duty plus a basic thwart to get your 3 copies of Multiple Man. At this point if you have another side scheme in hand you can play it and clear that one too. Or, play some other support/upgrade from hand.

If you do have Multiple Man, it is best to get Build Support instead. You can play Multiple Man from hand then use one of them plus a basic thwart to clear Build Support and get Quincarrier first turn. Then that resource can play last card in hand if it is 1 cost, ideally it's another side scheme that you can also defeat that turn.

Unfortunately there are not many options for clearing the initial side scheme first turn without using an ally in protection. The best option I found was Civic Duty. In solo you only need the one extra thwart to be able to clear your initial side scheme.

You want to be very careful with the mulligan. If you have the cards you need it can be better to discard nothing, as you don't want to draw into more copies of Multiple Man. You do want to have 1 copy of Mind Scan, Civic Duty, or Multiple Man to be able to start strong though. If you do end up with multiple Multiple Man in hand, Iron Fist is a great backup option.

That should leave you with a strong opening of 3 allies and usually another support in play. On the first turn I like to just take the villain attack with Cable, so that you can play What Doesn't Kill Me if you draw it. Then Multiple Man can help deal with other Player Side Schemes and take hits for the next few turns while you finish setting up.

Body

At this point you want to focus on getting the other important Supports and Upgrades out. Graymalkin provides a lot of value and should be prioritised when you see it. I use Build Support to get Quincarrier to ensure that you can pay the required for What Doesn't Kill Me. Or, a for Black Widow's ability.

Plasma Rifle is essential for damage and dealing with minions, but is better to play via Lock and Load, as it is your only target (one nice combo is using Graymalkin to play Lock and Load, clear it with basic thwart, that prepares Graymalkin which you can then use for Plasma Rifle).

Even after Multiple Man is gone you can avoid damage with Iron Fist, Telekinetic Force Field, and Establish Perimeter. I actually like Superpower Training here as it can get either Telekinetic Force Field or Temporal Leap, depending on the situation. Note that Temporal Leap is very useful against On the Run and Mister Sinister from NeXt Evolution.

You want to stay in hero form most of the time unless you really need to heal. You can set up safe flips using Precision Strike if you have the opportunity. Bodyslide also lets you heal without having to stay in Alter-Ego for the villain phase. If you do get to Alter-Ego Mutant Education can get you extra uses of Bodyslide and Telekinetic Force Field. Ready to Rumble is great with Bodyslide, it lets you heal up and still use other actions in the same turn. Or, it helps to deal with situations where you have to exhaust your Alter-Ego for obligations.

What Doesn't Kill Me is a versatile card that helps with staying alive and thwart or damage depending on the situation. Civic Duty is less useful after the first turn, but is still good for helping to clear side schemes. If you do not have Mind Scan extra readies plus Civic Duty can deal with Technovirus purge.

Tail

This is the short part:

Ok, just a little bit of explanation. Once set up you should have plenty of damage between Plasma Rifle and Telekinetic Blast. At this point Telekinetic Blast is a great target for Mutant Education. You should be able to finish villains in one or two turns, just be a bit careful when you flip them to the last stage depending on the scenario. I often wait until I have Telekinetic Blast in hand before defeating the first stage.

The upcoming Lay the Trap could also be good here. If you have that in play when going to the last stage it should let you defeat most villains in one turn. 5 damage from the side scheme, 3 from a basic attack, 10 from a Telekinetic Blast, and 4 from Plasma Rifle gives 22 damage.

This would probably be ok in multiplayer, but other builds would perform better. In solo protection offers a nice way to balance out the early game in and Cable's kit alone can carry you through the late game.