Hulk - Archaic Law (Expert Mode)

This deck is quite able to win against most villains in expert mode with a high winrate. I myself tested it against Hela, Green Goblin Mutagen and Zola (all Expert), which is my deck improvement cycle.

I also tested it against Ronan. It's not a high winrate and everything has to go right, but yeah, I etched out a win. It's the reason this packs an unusual high number of cheap allies to give you at least a fighting chance. More on that later.

Card choices and General Strategy

Now, Hulk is seen as the bottom most tier. That beeing said, I think you can build a deck that will win against almost all expert villains with any encounter set in solo, and the almost is because of Ronan. So it matters very little that he is "bottom tier", because if you can win most games in expert, it doesn't matter as it's a coop. Now let's look at the weaknesses and how we tackle them. And let's do it exclusively for solo, because in any higher player count, you really only need another hero who can thwart:

1. No/low thwart

Hulk brings two copies of Sub-Orbital Leap in to the game, and that's everything he has to thwart. While Sub-Orbital Leap is ok-ish if you can meet the additional requirement, between 0 thwart and 5 thwart is a lot of inflexibility. No matter the aspect, what we want is cheap, flexible small thwarting that we just don't have because of Hulks 0 THW.

2. 4-handsize

People get all worked up about 4-handsize heroes, and Hulk is the worst offender. She-Hulk brings two Focused Rage, Thor has a specific role and if you play against the fitting avenger-level villains, you're not really a 4-handsize hero, and Drax does have his card draw as well. So how do we handle that?

Now, nobody complains about Ironman, who is a 1-handsize hero. Of course, he gets one of the biggest handsizes in the late game, but you have to endure. But wait, Hulk has 18 hitpoints! That gives him easily two extra turns compared to other heroes to build some economy. And he doesn't need much, because he brings two Limitless Strength. So go all in on economy and bring in the neutral value package The Power in All of Us, Helicarrier, Quincarrier, Avengers Mansion and Nick Fury. Of course the usual Energy,Genius and Strength, and you are good to go. Just mulligan hard enough.

The problem with the two turns of build up: In contrast to Ironman, Hulk does not become a thwarting powerhouse to come back into the game. This is were Justice comes in. In our case, The Power of Justice rounds up our deck to almost a quarter of Ressource cards. Add two One Way or Another, and if you mulligan aggressively, you should have a dream start or a dream turn two. Beat Cop is a shit card. I ranted against it in a lot of "Beat Cop is so good" threads. But there is a reason that card was in the Hulk pack. It complements his overachieving Sub-Orbital Leap and 0 thwart nicely and more importantly, it fits into his multi-ressource economy. Also, it's second ability is actually worth something, if you want to smash that villain in the late game and you know it will happen in 1 or 2 turns, you will not need Beat Cop any more, so once you know the final push comes you can really clear the board. Also, Hulk can afford to build some engine cards in the first 2-3 turns because of his high HP. And because of his double ressource heavy deck, a two cost chump blocks can often be in the budget (Sorry, Eros, Quake, Wiccan and Ironheart) in one of the early turns, buying you even more time (and usually thwarting a bit). Of course, the handsize problem gets further mitigated by Lockjaw (a no brainer, with so many double ressources, once he is in the discard, you won't have a dead hand until you need to reshuffle) and Nick Fury, who, together with One Way or Another, paves the way for more card draws in a deck that is packed with double ressources.

Yes, sometimes you have a bad turn where you throw away two cards at the end. But why not use the Confusion capabilities Justice offers us to sometimes go back to Banner? Suddenly, Banner's Laboratory is a playable card, and Banner is back in the game, putting in some of those nice allies. So Concussive Blow (reasonably thematic!) works well in Hulks Kit, also giving you an option to remove a Villain's Tough, if needed. Add a Sonic Rifle to give you flexibility. I think a Sonic Gun is as close you can get to a thematic weapon for Hulk (unless we are talking Joe Fixit, who can reasonably use all guns).

3. Oh no Hulk has to discard his hand at the end of his turn

Sorry, git gud. This is not a weakness but teaches players to play well. You always want to play your entire hand if possible, so that really doesn't matter. But you do have options to go to Banner thanks to the Confuse in this deck, so if you have to save something to the next turn, by all means, do it.

How to play this deck

Early game

The first important choice is the mulligan. You want to see a lot of cards. Basically You can see up to 10 cards (and then use Banners ability to see another one). If you see 11 cards, you have pretty good chances to get two double ressources. Always put Lockjaw in the discard, always. He is your easy handsize 5. Look for the following cards in your opening hand:

• Nick Fury - You pay basically 1. At this stage of the game, definetly draw 3 new cards. We are in engine building mode. Just imagine you draw into a
• One Way or Another. That card is fantastic anyways, but in a deck loaded with double Ressources, it is insane. You probably need to learn which Sideschemes you want to play.
• Avengers Mansion Yep, draw one extra card for the rest of the game. You have the economy to play this card, do it.
• Helicarrier and Quincarrier. For sure.
• Beat Cop As I said, a bad card that works well in Hulk.
• Any double or triple ressource. Of course.

Worst case, you have only allies. Which isn't bad at all. This deck is basically designed to give you a strong start.

Mid game to Late game

Basically, your first run through your deck is building your engine. Once your Supports an Upgrades are out, you can play the value game. But don't take to long, use Hulk a bit more than you would use other heroes to damage the villain. He can take a hit or two from minions with his high hp, so you can wait for Hulk Smash or Thunderclap.

Ronan

The biggest difference here is that you usually want to have at least one ally on the board on any given turn. And remove his Universal Weapon if you can. You'll probably lose, but I think most heroes have that experience. Or just play him standard. That's much easier especially because of his HP.