Colossal Gunboat

I love Gunboat Diplomacy it's definitely one of my favorite cards. One of the concerns is how to keep allies on the board to regularly trigger it. Ive used it before in other decks with good defenders like Nighcrawler and for characters who love to defend like x-23.

With Colossus access to toughs, he can easily keep his boatmates on the ship to thwart for him. Colossus also loves to flip to generate a tough status, enter Vigilante Training which allows you to shuffle a yellow event back in. Now when we flip to AE we get to shuffle a Colossus card back in and gunboat allowing us to continually access it. Then we have Moira MacTaggert to draw a card when we flip back to AE. This deck runs through really quick for a 4 hand size hero.

To get set up we want the normal Colossus upgrade Iron will to generate card draw everytime we discard a tough. We also want to get an Organic Steel out to replace a tough when one gets discarded.

After that we want to get some allies up. The preferred setup is to get either Shadowcat or Bishop as our xmen ally. Shadowcat can ignore crisis icons which can help keep the main down and Bishop will build counters everytime your attacked. He can them remove them for +2 Attack per counter to a max of 6. We also have Mission Training to keep them on the boat longer.

Our main xforce allies are Hope Summers who can grab a superpower card which Colossus has a ton of. Wolfsbane who when she basic thwarts can potentially get your top card as a draw. Deadpool can stick around forever but you'll end up with Acceleration tokens so manage him with caution.

Once set up the game plan is to keep an xforce ally as well as an xmen ally (preferably with mission training) on the boat. They will take care of 4-5 threat and deal 4-5 damage per Gunboat activation. Colossus will block with toughs generating card draw and allowing him to play his powerful events. You want to flip regularly to get a tough back as well as get card draw from Moira, cycle Colossus cards in and gunboat in through Vigilante. In AE we either want the main low or cleared from gunboat/allies, villain confused or use Armor up to avoid the villain scheming. This strategy is especially important if you have not gotten allies set up.

If you play Assess the Situation before going to AE you will start with a 7 card hand the next turn. Flipping down to hero gets an 8th from Moira. This increases the likelihood that you draw the cards you shuffled back in. If you have Organic Steel out play Armor Up in AE to flip back to hero avoiding the scheme and making the villain attack. You still get the draw from Moira and when the tough gets knocked off you can draw from Iron Will. You'll still have a tough and an 8 card hand when your turn starts.

You'll have no problem getting another ally on the boat or playing an event. It's very common to run through half the deck or more in 1 turn. Bulletproof Protector gives a 2nd tough and generates card draw.

Use Steel Fist to generate a card draw, deal 5 damage and land a stun/confuse. Or if you need to clear a minion just deal the 5 damage and save the tough.

Made of Rage is fun to clear a minion getting overkill and generating draw from iron will.

Rest of the deck:

Blindfold is another solid thwart/gunboat option

Deathlok isn't as useful in this deck due to not having upgrades. But he feels better than cannonball did and has good stats.

Deft Focus helps pay for superpowers.

Limitless Stamina is an extra ready and can be paid for with Deft.

Unshakable isn't a necessity but it's nice to not have to worry about stun/confuse.

Generation X is a Swiss army knife. Need a 2nd tough clear it and grab bulletproof protector. Want to confuse the villain for a safe flip? Grab Steel Fist. All the xmen allies can thwart it in 1 shot and Colossus can with iron will as well.

Superpower Training is to grab iron will if we didn't draw it early. Later Titanium Muscles is a great card to get in play.

So far this deck has been a ton of fun I'd love to hear any feedback/experiences with it!