How do we review this?

It's technically a very slow Hero Response card, since it can only be applied to an enemy that was previously attacked this turn.

For my money, I treat this card as Honey Badger Special. If it looks like the villain may be a problem this turn, have her poke the villain and attach this card.

But if there is a serious minion threat, then that is a prime target for Puncture Wound.

The beauty is in the fact that you can make your decision later. So even if you are certain about which enemy you need to debuff, you can take your time deciding, since Puncture Wound's application only specifies an enemy that was attacked 'this turn'.

In a multi-hero game, this prevents you from wasting this card on an enemy that would be defeated that round. Excellent application of situational variance.

Possibly the X-23 upgrade you want to get to the table soonest.

To be fair, X-23 has a significant number of ways to heal. And -at best- this card will stave off one or two flips down.

But that's still a pretty huge benefit.

This is a card that appears to live in the aggregate, with its maximum benefit being achieved by an early pay. But that's inaccurate.

This is a card that provides immediate benefit, no matter when it is played. Particularly when you are playing a Honey Badgerrecursive deck. This card will eventually pay massive dividends, so long as you recognize that and get it into play.

The secret sauce card in X-23's hero deck.

Look, a load of Marvel Champions heroes have resource generators in their intrinsic decks. But only rarely do they also trigger the Hero's special ability.

Grim Resolve provides an X-23 player with much more than a wild resource. Timed usage can ensure a 'ready' for X-23 while also feeding an upgrade. This is a constant, significant resource with meaningful consequences.

Not your typical generic generator, but it provides an additional means of utilizing X-23's ability when properly timed.

I don't think enough credit is given to Retaliate in Marvel Champions.

We spend so much time trying to come up with huge swings and recursive exploits that I think a slow and steady source of damage often gets lost in the mix.

Adamantium lacing not only provides that steady incremental damage, it also gives X-23 more HP and adds Piercing to her basic attack. And all for one resource!

I cannot tell you how awesome this is. But I am going to try anyway.

First of all, X-23 is designed, from the ground up, to rely on basic actions. While other heroes dodge and weave, X-23 attacks repeatedly and often. This makes piercing huge, as she relies on it to ensure she deals direct damage.

But what we often overlook is the fact that, depending on your play style, X-23 may be defending more than once per round. This makes her retaliate more significant.

This is a great card.

This card is the absolute crux of any Honey Badger Voltron build. Frankly, it's a centerpiece for any X-23 deck that has an interest in the extra 'readies' that Honey Badger provides.

Even if you aren't doing a Honey Badger Voltron, this card is amazing because it recycles an ally every time that ally is eliminated. And not in a weak-sauce way, where you shuffle the card into your deck. Straight. To. Your. Hand. The insanity bit is that this card recurses a specific ally that readies the hero when the ally takes damage. Even if you chump block with her, this card will justify that cost repeatedly.

if you have a deck built around having Honey Badger ready X-23? This is the card you absolutely HAVE to get to the table.

I don't love that you have to discard an X-23 card, but since you can only use one Claw Mastery per turn, that's a solid sacrifice candidate.