Unbreakable

“I got skin like steel and muscles to match.” – Luke Cage

While wrongly imprisoned, Luke Cage was subjected to an experimental treatment that gave him superhuman strength and impenetrable skin. With his newfound powers, he took to the streets as a hero-for-hire, working side-by-side with his friends to protect their city from the criminals vying to control it. Now serving as both a Defender and as Mayor of New York, Luke uses his natural skills as a leader to keep his hometown safe.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Luke Cage Hero Pack for Marvel Champions: The Card Game!

A tough-as-nails Defender with a heart of gold, Luke Cage smashes into the scene with this expansion pack, which introduces him as a new playable hero alongside his fifteen signature cards. Paired with a pre-built Leadership deck to bolster his allies, you’ll be able to stare down the villains with Luke’s unbreakable skin and equally unbreakable will from the moment you open the box. With the ability to stack tough status cards and power his way through the gnarliest fights, Luke Cage is a sturdy hero welcome at any table.

Power Man

As a man known for being nearly indestructible—both literally and figuratively—it makes sense that Luke Cage as a playable hero is one tough cookie.

In fact, “tough” is probably the single best word to describe him, as both his alter-ego (Luke Cage, 1B) and his hero (Luke Cage, 1A) forms share the same ability, Unbreakable Skin. This simple yet potent ability allows Luke to have any number of tough status cards and makes him immune to piercing attacks. This means that, given enough time, you can use cards like the Burstein Process (Luke Cage, 8) to stack up a dizzying pile of tough cards, making Luke effectively immune to damage from outside sources. In order to balance this, Luke’s hero form has a Forced Response effect that deals him 1 “unpreventable” damage whenever one of his tough status cards is discarded. Unpreventable damage is just as it sounds: it’s unpreventable, and therefore completely ignores any additional tough status cards that Luke may have (so you can’t use another tough status card to block the damage you take from losing the first one).

Still, a single point of damage is a fair price to pay when you can flat-out ignore whatever damage numbers the villain throws at you. Even against low-ATK villains, stacking tough status cards is still worthwhile, since Luke can use them to fuel his other abilities. For example, you can spend a tough status card to bounce Knuckle Sandwich (Luke Cage, 4) back into your hand after you play it, allowing you to either immediately play it again or use it as a resource to pay for something else. Speaking of resources, “Sweet Christmas!” (Luke Cage, 6) has its cost reduced for each tough status card on Luke, while Power Man (Luke Cage, 11) refunds you a card in your hand when one of your tough status cards is discarded. While the Burstein Process is a reliable source of toughs, Luke’s going to want a few more to really stack them high, which is where cards like “Stand with Me!” (Luke Cage, 5) come in handy, giving you an extra tough status card with a bit of thwarting on the side. Speaking of thwarting, Luke’s wife and crimefighting partner Jessica Jones (Luke Cage, 2) can boost herself to a staggering 5 THW if you’re able to get enough tough cards on Luke. Of course, even Luke can run out of tough status cards eventually, which is where his Metal Bracers (Luke Cage, 10) come into play. He’s got two of these in his deck, and each of them can be used to reduce incoming damage from any source. This gives Luke access to even more defensive options, as well as a way to conserve his tough status cards against low-ATK minions. Just keep in mind that the bracers can’t reduce the unpreventable damage from Luke’s hero ability!

Luke Cage is already a potent hero on his own, but he truly shines when he’s able to lead his fellow Defenders in keeping New York City safe. This is embodied in the rest of his pre-built Leadership deck, which puts heavy emphasis on the Defenders as a team that protects each other from harm. Luke’s friend Iron Fist (Luke Cage, 12) can use his ATK to reduce incoming damage when he defends, allowing him to block multiple attacks aimed at his team. Pair that with a stat-boosting card like Take a Stand (Luke Cage, 15)—which works especially well with defensive heroes like Luke Cage—and you’ll get a surprising amount of mileage out of an ally with only 3 hit points. Speaking of stat boosts, Misty Knight (Luke Cage, 13) can get a pretty potent boost to both her THW and her ATK while she has a tough status card, and with Defensive Formation (Luke Cage, 18) letting you grant her additional toughness, she can stay boosted for even longer; and if you let Misty Knight take a single point of damage before restoring her tough status, then Righteous Purpose (Luke Cage, 19) can power her up even further!

The Defenders are a tight-knit group, and they often team up to take down the criminals that threaten New York City. The event card Dynamic Duo (Luke Cage, 22) embodies this by letting you search for both a Team-Up card and its associated ally in one go, letting you call on Luke’s Unbreakable Bond (Luke Cage, 24) with Jessica Jones or tear through foes alongside Danny Rand as Power Man and Iron Fist (Luke Cage, 23). With his friends at his side and his own indomitable power, Luke Cage is sure to remind the criminals on Kingpin’s payroll that no one messes with the people of New York!

Harlem’s Hero

With his unbreakable skin and his strong bonds with his fellow Defenders, Luke Cage is a potent (and tough) hero and a strong addition to any team. Look forward to taking on Kingpin and his criminal empire as Luke Cage when the Luke Cage Hero Pack arrives alongside the Jessica Jones Hero Pack this August!

You can pre-order your own copy of the Luke Cage Hero Pack (MC62en) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

Written by Peter Schumacher