Colossus Digs Deep

The old 4-card hand size has hampered pretty much every hero that has it attached to them, and Colossus is no exception. Luckily, the release of NeXt Evolution gave us Digging Deep, which happens to work perfectly with Piotr's Studio. Thus, the 9-card hand was born!

So, in alter-ego, Piotr actually has a hand size of 6, which is huge for helping him get set up. Add in Piotr's Studio, and he has 7, albeit at the cost of milling your deck a bit. We're also playing Weapon X, which lets us take a damage to do the exact same effect as Piotr's Studio, and Moira MacTaggert draws us a card upon flipping to hero form, bringing our effective hand size to 9. And Colossus rarely cares about taking damage, so that might as well not be a cost. PLUS, if we hit any of our 3 Digging Deeps while milling these two times, that just pumps our hand size up even higher. This prepares us pretty well to flip into hero form with a fresh tough and a massive hand, ready for a huge turn.

Bulletproof Protector is another extender here, as with Iron Will up, it cycles you yet another card. As far as the Justice cards go, we're playing Wolfsbane, who can give us another draw a good portion of the time; based on what you've milled through, called anything but a resource, and chances are it'll be either that or Digging Deep. We've also got Skilled Investigator, which draws a card upon defeating a side scheme, and Chance Encounter, which tutors an ally upon defeating a side scheme as well.

The rest of the deck is fairly standard Justice; one copy of most of our thwarting events is enough, given that we mill a lot in this deck anyway, and we're running Vigilante Training for that to shuffle the ones we need back in. Clear the Area can get you yet another draw, Multitasking and Even the Odds help with clearing multiple schemes (and Digging Deep can fulfill either of their kickers), Mutant Peacekeepers is your big swing when things have gotten out of hand, and Upside the Head pairs nicely with Steel Fist for maintaining control of the villain.

For the allies, Wolfsbane was already discussed and is certainly an all-star here, especially if you can get Mission Training on her. Dazzler is expensive, but again, helps with maintaining control of the main scheme and helps fuel Mutant Peacekeepers. Bishop is another X-Men with good THW, and can also help deal with a problematic minion or to finish off the villain after he's been out for a few turns. Marvel Girl is another one intended to help deal with minions and tough statuses, as that's one of Colossus's weaknesses (yes, Made of Rage helps, but IMO it's one of his weakest cards and not the greatest use of a tough status if you can help it). Finally, Forge helps us find The X-Jet, which is very important to make sure Colossus can pay for his cards.

Lastly, we've put in Superpower Training as another way to get Iron Will and Titanium Muscles in play, in that order. Both of those are essential to maintaining Colossus's game plan in hero form. Deft Focus also helps, as Steel Fist and both of his aforementioned upgrades are Superpowers. We also cut Strength for the third Digging Deep, as Colossus has more than enough might resources in his deck anyway, and we want to hit Digging Deep as often as possible when milling.