How could you NOT use this card?

All day long with Cage you are going to be pinging Toughs off of him...why not get a card draw out of it? It's cheap and pays dividends nearly every turn.

I love to run Cage in Protection, which means this card can easily compound with Change Of Fortune to allow for tremendous extra card draw in the mid-to-late game, particularly if you lean into Retaliation.

But even by itself, this is a great upgrade.

Honestly, I thought this card was going to be a 'wish and a dream' for Cage. But after 10 or so games in Protection, I found myself relying on this card in some clinch moments.

Obviously it works best (or maybe only) when you already have a few Tough status cards, but that's literally Cage's job description. Sure, it maxes at 5 THW which isn't the most efficient for a 3ER card, but the added Tough (that -also- gets counted for the THW) is the chef's kiss for this card.

How awesome is this card? You get to add it to your beginning hand after the fact, meaning it's one of the few examples of a 2 cost card actually being a 2ER.

More importantly, it works whenever you are in Alter-Ego, with no other stipulations. So a free Tough whenever you dip down.

The best part is that the first time you use it, you are almost guaranteed to take advantage of the final amazing aspect of the card, which gives you a SECOND Tough...for no reason. I LOVE this so much. (Okay, yes, the reason is that you have no Toughs, but on Turn 1, that's just a free extra Tough)

You will probably spend some time trying to work out the puzzle of how and when to let a Tough ping off in order to maximize the benefits of this card, but that's literally the best part of playing Marvel Champions.

What an incredible card for the king of Toughs. It costs nothing, adds extra damage to every attack against them, throws in Overkill and even drags the minion over to engage Luke. If there was a clearer signal that Cage was designed for Protection, I don't think it's broadcasting.

Obviously, this is meant for multiplayer, which is why the Overkill keyword is so excellent. Cage rounds up the problem minions and lets them bounce off his Toughs until a high damage hero can sweep them off the board.

This is an amazing late-game card for Cage, particularly in Protection (with Toughen Ups boosting the Tough card count). Once you are regularly stacking several toughs, you get to be super-selective about the cards you play, since Cage in Hero has no SCH -or- ATK pressure. Making it easy to play this card twice a turn. Then there is the added benefit that stripping a tough does a single damage to Cage, allowing him to recover and abuse Toughen Up for more Toughs. (again assuming the Protection aspect.)

In any other aspect, you will still be able to make use of this card in the late game, but you'll lean into the hero deck cards a little harder. This is essentially Clobber with a highly unique recursion that ends up giving Cage some offensive chops outside of Aggression.

I think I would happily have lost a Harlem's Hero for another Knuckle Sandwich, but that's only because I haven't even thought about Leadership for Cage yet. He is the Rock of Gibraltar in Protection and I am all about it right now.