Twisting by the Pool (Lucas Bishop cover)

When Bishop's Energy Absorption ability floods your hand with an absolute tsunami of resource cards, how do you keep from drowning? You dive right in and go twisting by the 'Pool, of course!

While using 'Pool as a massive resource sink for Bishop huge number of resource cards isn't a brand new concept, the specific tweaks and synergies in this build blow the usual engine completely out of the water. How ridiculously powerful is it? I just swept the pool floor with Expert Magneto wielding the Infinity Gauntlet on my first try without, even breaking a sweat... or inflating my rubber ducky floatie!

If you are ready to weaponize your economy and drown the villain in sheer value, turn up the boombox and let's make a splash!!!

DECK NAME: I love naming my decks after songs and this was the perfect chance to bring back a Dire Straits classic! Lucas Bishop just can't stop dancing to Knopfler's band anthem!

MAIN STRATEGY: It is kind of obvious, but let's spell it out: use Bishop's Energy Absorption ability to grab a ridiculous amount of resource cards and then sink them in a massive variety of resource dumps:

• Attack or thwart for 4 with Machine Man
• Bring Lockjaw back from the discard pile
• Slap some charges onto Super-Charged
• Ready Bishop with Stick-To-Itiveness
• Delete threat with Blackout
• Heal up friendly characters with Tic-Tac-Toe
• Punch an enemy in the face with Plan B

...and after doing ALL of that, you may STILL have resources left over to play Mulligan and completely replenish your hand! To make this even more consistent, Plot Convenience is included so you can stash Mulligan (or another 'Pool card) safely away for the exact moment your tank is empty.

SETTING UP: Your absolute priority turn one is Bishop's Uniform. Mulligan hard for it. It is what keeps your head above water. If your regular initial mulligan is not enough, you may be able to use Mulligan to search even deeper in your deck. Still didn't find it? You have a backup plan with the Superpower Training player side scheme to tutor it out (this card is also useful to put Bishop's Rifle into play once that you have the Uniform out). Of course, if this does not work and you discard the Uniform with Energy Absorption, flip to Alter-Ego and grab it back.

With Endurance and the Front Line Specialist upgrade (from the Specialized Training side scheme), and you can reach a whopping 19 hit points that are easy to keep almost intact with the Uniform, Healing Factor and Tic-Tac-Toe.

DEALING WITH ENEMY ATTACKS: You want to tank attacks and take damage to activate both Energy Absortion and the card draw from Front Line Specialist. If you have Energy Conversion in hand, use it for the villain attack (in fact, I most of the times keep it in hand for the next turn if I happen to draw it at an inconvenient moment). If not, you may consider either soaking it all up or blocking with an ally (Lockjaw is ideal for this, since you will likely return him to the table next turn anyway). It will depend on how hard the villain hits and how many hit points you have left at the moment.

But, almost always, you are interested in taking damage from at least one minion. I often leave a small one in play just for this purpose alone. For instance, if you get Dreadpool from Crisis of Infinite Deadpools you'll probably want to leave it forever engaged with you instead of spending damage every turn just to have him come back again. In any case, remember to activate your Uniform after the last attack and not before (if you can tank the damage, of course).

ADDITIONAL SYNERGIES: There are many small but useful additional synergies among the cards in the deck:

• Machine Man: Use Tic-Tac-Toe to heal him so he can stay on the board forever, attacking or thwarting for up to 4 every single turn.

• Sharpshooter: Gives you extra damage on Bishop's Rifle (sometimes +2 if you happen to discard a double resource) and gives you an extra window to grab a Digging Deep or put White Fox into play for free.

• Rock, Paper, Scissors: I just love this one in this deck. This is basically a 1-cost Avengers Mansion. Because you run Digging Deep, The Power in All of Us, Malcolm, and Randall, you will nearly always have a wild resource in hand to almost guarantee you keep the discarded card (especially because you usually grab one of Digging Deep or The Power in All of Us with Energy Absorption).

• White Fox: You usually aren't playing her from hand. She's in the deck specifically to be discarded by Energy Absorption or Sharpshooter so she hits the table for free. Great for a quick thwart, pinging a tough from an enemy or blocking a huge attack!

• The "Triple Resource" Trick: With Healing Factor and Bishop's Uniform, you will frequently be sitting at full health. This makes your 'Pool resources count for three. Then, you can use them, for instance, to drop a Concussive Blast (it costs exactly 3), deal the damage, and get a free ready!

• Villain Attachments: Those nasty attachments villains get? They barely make a splash. You have so many resources in hand you can wash them away before they even cause a ripple. Oh, and you will be praying to get Crisis of Infinite Deadpools. Not only because you want Dreadpool hitting you every turn, but beause you totally want to 'buy' Anti-Regeneration Ray as soon as you see it hit the table!

FINISHING THE GAME: Keep controlling the board with your basic activations, allies, events, Blackout, Tic-Tac-Toe and the Bishop's Rifle. Whenever you have spare change, dump it onto Super-Charged. When you are ready to dive into the deep end, you'll probably be able to one-turn kill both villain stages. A 16-damage basic attack from Super-Charged, together with the Rifle and your Concussive Blasts tend to sink even the bigger dreadnoughts!

CLOSING REMARKS: I find this deck to be not only very powerful, but also very fun to play. You don't have to wade through a lot of set-up and, before you know it, you'll be riding a water slide of options to dump your resources, making splashy decisions the whole way down. If you like making huge waves with big turns, you are in for a treat! Enjoy your time twisting by the 'Pool with Bishop!!!