'Pool Uncaged (Mr. Fight Guys)

Mr. Brightside Fight Guys ♫

Luke's coming out of his cage, and he's been doing just fine
Gotta gotta flip down because he wants toughs y'all
Started out with a fist, how did it end up like this?
It's a knuckle sandwich, it's a knuckle sandwich

Now Luke's falling asleep, Jess is calling a cab
Murdock's making a joke, Danny's throwing a jab
Now they are Defenders, and my defenses are sick
Up against Hammerhead, but she's touching his...

...schemes now
Sweet Christmas costs zero now
Let me go
And I just can't lose, it's thrilling me
I'm playing control

Victory
Fixing my economy
Readying shameless allies
Tough cards need no alibis
But it's the pink cards I play
Oh Dreadpool is calling me
Open up my Harlem eyes
It's time to fight, guys

So I talked about 'Pool for Luke in my Luke Cage Review video (spoilers: I like him a lot!) and the comments seemed to dig it. So here it is.

The main driving force behind me playing pink Luke Cage is actually War. Gone alter-ego? Wanna trigger Power Man and Fogwell's Gym on yourself in the next round? Forget peace, forget love, make War. Just try and stack some toughs first to keep your hero cards powered up.

And sure, running tons of basic allies isn't trendy - but we really have to put this pink money somewhere.

You don't have to run powerhouse choices like Nick Fury or Professor X but thing is that Harlem's Hero readies them, giving them extra juice before they dip. In other words, it felt disingenuous not to include them when they actually synergize with Luke (and also Get Rage-y).

Readying Spider-Man Miles Morales with his fresh stat boost or Hellcat while she's around is also kinda awesome. And the 'Pool allies who don't believe in consequences also love being readied.

She-Hulk gives toughs, Gambit helps you go alter-ego for those delicious Burstein Process toughs (by scouting out the villain's boost card). So you could say it's tough to cut these allies and there aren't many non-ally options to replace them.

Going aggressive with the mulligan for resource cards pairs well with playing Burstein Process while also affording other setup cards or solving problems that start on the board.

Dreadpool is a huge jerk but having 2x Metal Bracers basically solves him, and he conveniently disintegrates when you're playing "Sweet Christmas!" to hit the villain or something.

Once you've got your toughs, Christmas really comes early when you shuffle all your Luke Cage cards back in with Second Chance. Playing "Sweet Christmas!" a couple of extra times for 0-cost and serving up a fresh Knuckle Spamwich can end games decisively.

Oh, and Healing Factor keeps your resources high and makes you completely invincible without needing to recover. Pretty cool.

Good luck and have fun!