Leading Wolverine

Deck concept

I'm surprised there are so few Wolverine decks using Leading Blow. Just four at time of writing. Leading blow is a great card for any hero who can get their attack over 3, and it pairs well with Combat Specialist. Wolverine is a hero who needs to draw and filter a lot of cards in order to see Regenerative Healing, as there are only two in the deck, so to me this seems like a strong pairing.

Card choices

This deck uses Combat Specialist and Berserker Frenzy for card draw, and also needs to get Adamantium Skeleton down to ensure that Leading Blow will ready every time. The focus is on drawing in to Regenerative Healing as often as possible, so side schemes, supports and upgrades will thin the deck.

Energy Barrier pairs well with Berserker Frenzy, but sometimes we will still want to defend against the villain's attack so a source of readies is valuable. Utopia works with some cheap X-Men allies to deliver that.

Since we're aiming to focus on Wolverine's basic attack, he needs some thwarting support. Nightcrawler and White Queen provide that, and the combination of Protective Training and Med Team helps to keep them in play. Nightcrawler also provides an emergency brake if Wolverine ever takes an unexpectedly big hit, but we don't plan on using him that way if it can be avoided...

Playing the deck

In this deck, Wolverine's hit points are being used as a resource for extra card draw, so be careful about using Wolverine's Claws too freely while you are setting up. It pays to start a little slowly while you only have the ten native hit points to play with.

The priorities for mulligan, and the first deck pass, are Adamantium Skeleton, Specialized Training, Berserker Frenzy, and Utopia, probably in that order. Either of the two key allies will help a lot to maintain control over any side schemes that come out, so are worth getting down if you can afford them.

Once Utopia is down, you have to think carefully every turn about the decision to defend the villain's attack. It will depend on what minions are out, how many Energy Barriers you have down, and whether there is a fresh ally in your hand. My preference is to defend if I have an ally I can play so as to minimise the damage coming in, and preserve my Energy Barriers, but you could choose to take an undefended hit if you have a spare ally on the bench to protect you from Assault. There's no way to confuse the enemy, and you'll lose Berserker Frenzy, so I see going to Alter Ego as a big setback to avoid if at all possible when playing this deck, but then I'm just cautious generally.

Once you are set up you will be drawing more cards due to Berserker Frenzy and Combat Specialist - if you use Leading Blow to activate Combat Specialist then you are effectively filtering a card while doing a little damage, and with villain attack plus maybe a minion you should see seven or eight cards every turn. With 13 events in the deck, Regenerative Healing should come round every couple of turns meaning that you will average 4 healing a turn. This is the point that you can start to amp up Wolverine's Claws, and end the game. Wolverine can do a lot of damage very quickly if you have some health to spare at this point.

How to lose with this deck

Actually this deck is quite hard to lose with, and I haven't done it very much. Too many status cards when you don't have The Night Nurse in play would be bad. Someone like Kang (The Conqueror) who keeps forcing you into Alter Ego can be irritating. Getting too excited with Wolverine's Claws too early wouldn't help.

Conclusion

There are lots of strong ways to play Wolverine so maybe we don't need another, but I really think Leading Blow deserves another look.