Phoenix: Cerebro Shenanigans (Con of Heroes 2026)

This deck is all about getting the most out of Cerebro and Phoenix's impressive thwarting ability. The plan is to flip to alter ego regularly, use Cerebro to find another X-Men ally, and then head back into hero mode to keep clearing threat. Phoenix starts with a base THW of 3, so even without spending an event, she's already an excellent thwarter. Add in her ability to ready and a steady stream of allies, and you can make a serious dent in the schemes.

Cerebro Is the Star

Cerebro is the central engine of the deck. Since we're planning to flip to alter ego regularly, we can use it to find another ally and keep building our board. Rather than treating alter ego as a break from the action, we're making it an essential part of the strategy.

Moira MacTaggert helps make those flips more rewarding by providing card draw when we change from alter ego to hero form. Psychic Manipulation is another great fit: when we're spending more time in alter ego, preventing threat can be just as valuable as removing it outright. It helps protect the main scheme while Phoenix is taking advantage of her alter ego ability and finding the next ally.

The key is to keep the cycle going. Flip down, find an ally, draw cards, then flip back up and put Phoenix's excellent thwarting to work.

Building the X-Men Team

With so many X-Men allies in the deck, Team-Building Exercise is an important support. Three copies might seem excessive, but there are plenty of X-Men allies and supports to play, and the resource savings can add up quickly. It can also help reduce the cost of our Psionic cards, giving us even more flexibility with our resources.

Utopia is another essential piece. We're going to play a lot of X-Men allies, so the extra ally slot helps us build a substantial team. Better still, Utopia can ready Phoenix when an X-Men ally enters play, turning our steady stream of allies into additional activations. With Phoenix's base THW of 3, those readies can translate into a lot of extra threat removal over the course of a game.

Forge is a particularly good early ally to find because he can help get Utopia into play. Once that support is established, the deck's ally engine can really take off.

Thwarting With Phoenix

Phoenix doesn't need to rely exclusively on events to handle threat. Her base THW of 3 is already strong, and Heroic Intuition and the two copies of Heroic Conditioning give us ways to push that even further. With Utopia readying her, we can get multiple uses out of that impressive thwarting stat.

The thwarting events are still important. Telekinetic Attack, Psychic Blast, Telepathic Trickery, and Phoenix Firebird give us ways to respond to different situations, while Skilled Investigator rewards us with extra card draw when we defeat a side scheme.

Generation X gives us another player side scheme to work with, and the deck's combination of high THW, allies, and extra readies makes it well suited to clearing schemes efficiently.

The Rest of the Deck

The rest of Phoenix's kit provides protection and flexibility. Phoenix Suit, Rise from the Ashes, and Telekinetic Shield help keep her going, while Mental Paralysis and Mind Control offer additional ways to manage threats on the board. White Hot Room rounds out the Phoenix support package, and The X-Jet helps with resources.

The allies give us plenty of options as the situation demands. Professor X can help with control and card flow, Blindfold provides useful information and disruption, and the remaining X-Men give us a flexible group to draw from as the game develops.

Cerebro Shenanigans turns Phoenix's alter ego into part of the engine rather than a necessary downtime. Keep flipping to find allies, use Utopia to squeeze extra activations out of Phoenix, and let her base THW of 3 do a lot of the heavy lifting. The result is a flexible deck that can build a strong X-Men team while keeping threat under control.