I mixed feelings about this card. Normally, I'd want to put this into hero's decks that have crummy thwart like Hulk, Thor, and Drax... however, they have crummy hand sizes in hero form. This makes this card even more expensive to play just so they can use their ATK to thwart side schemes. I'd feel better if it cost 0 instead.

This card is excellent if you are in aggression and have a lot of pesky side schemes to clear, but there are a few cards in particular you are going to be looking at running in tandem. Essentially you want to go for a Skilled Strike/Mean Swing/Hand Cannon/Combat Training build scheme. The strategy speaks for itself. You can potentially thwart with someone like Hulk for up to 5-6 damage and if you’re running BOTH Skilled Strike and Meanswing it could be as high as 8 thwart.

Additionally there is synergy here with the Aggression ally “Wasp”(Janet) because her card requires you to pay her cost with energy resources. Thus any deck that includes this card may want to consider her as well, in order to get some extra mileage alongside cards like Earth’s Mightiest Heroes(“exhaust an avenger to ready an avenger), which consequently ALSO has an energy resource icon.

Sadly this isn’t the best card for Hulk as his need to discard his entire hand at the end of the round while in alter ego mode will ensure that you’ll never be able to hold on to this card for a future turn so you’re essentially stuck hoping it is relevant when you draw into it.

This is definitely bad as a 1-cost card, and feels like it should be 0. If you have to pay just to swap your THW for ATK, you are better off just playing any other cheap event that deals with threat. Chase them Down comes to mind. While it is situational for sure, I would say this card is also situational. It needs to be in your hand at the exact time a problematic side scheme is in play for you to be able to spend 1 and then make use of it. The prospects are not good. Easily houserule-able to either cost 0 OR be an upgrade that can remain in your play area with the ability 'Action - Attach this to a non-permanent side scheme'.

I should also point it is a double-edged sword in multiplayer with regards to allies. While some allies have better ATK than THW, especially in Aggression, an equally high number of them are fine with their thwarting prowess. To use this card on a side scheme and empower your own allies could mean de-powering other players' allies, which makes it very awkward and probably not worth the slot in your deck.

To make the most of the card, you really need to be leaning on that ATK boost, which is present in Aggression for sure. From Aggressive Conditioning and Combat Training to more special cards, like "Now I'm Mad" and Fluid Motion, there is synergy to be had for sure. The question remains though, will you be able to maximise the effect by having the card in your hand at the right time, when instead you can just go for a direct thwart effect?