Iron Man - Mission Critical Mark II

This is an updated version of the old deck of the same name. It is the 8th version of this deck, which from the very beginning, has yet to fail me.

Designed primarily for threat management, this deck still does significant damage if played correctly. It has a lot of threat management, damage, and toughness, leaving Iron Man an incredibly well-rounded ally to any team at the mid to late stages of the game. It is more effective in multiplayer than solo, but once you have a few upgrades to the suit, this deck solos fine.

How to Play

Please note this is just for guidance, you can and should play as you want to

• Your priority is to get to 4+ upgrades on your suit as soon as possible so you can play viably as Iron Man

• Attack cards like Repulsor Blast or Supersonic Punch should be mulliganed until it's safe to put the suit on

• Stay as Tony Stark for the first 2+ turns and Mulligan/Futurist liberally in order to play these cards in the following priority:

  1. Stark Tower (only if you're still early in the suit building phase)
  2. Suit Upgrades

  Upgrade Priority:

  1. Arc Reactor
  2. Mark V Armor
  3. Mark V Helmet
  4. Rocket Boots (only if you can already access mind resources)
  5. Powered Gauntlets
  6. Powered Gauntlets

  7. Rocket Boots*

     *You can choose not to add your second Rocket Boots, sacrificing 1 HP for a card you can constantly farm resources from by using Stark Tower to bring it back to your hand and then spend it again, giving you free resources if you're in your Tony Stark identity. The choice is yours, but once you get your suit together you won't be spending much time as Tony Stark anyway.

  The above upgrade priority is listed here in case you have options as to what upgrade you can play but aren't sure which one you should prioritise. Regardless, you should always look to play as many suit upgrades each turn as you can until your suit is built.

  4. Quincarrier
  5. Pepper Potts
  6. Avengers Mansion
  7. Helicarrier
  8. Down Time
  9. Beat Cop
  10. Spider-Man
  11. Heroic Intuition
  12. Beat Cop
  13. Beat Cop
  14. Endurance

• Look to play Stark Tower as soon as possible. Once it is in play, discard a suit upgrade anytime you have one, then exhaust Stark Tower to bring it back for a free resource once per turn

• Once your suit is built, you should look to stay as Iron Man more than Tony Stark until your hit points get too low, and stop using futurist and mulligans so that you can slow down the number of encounters coming at you and your teammates

• Look to thwart as your basic ability whenever you are Iron Man, then immediately use Arc Reactor and thwart again. Once you have Spider-Man in play, look to use Earth's Mightiest Heroes to ready yourself for the third time and Thwart again if necessary

Allies and How to Use Them

General Use

• Nick Fury - Remember to use him to defend an attack before he leaves after the round.

Against Minions

• Quake - Best against 1-2 minions.

• War Machine - Best against 3+ minions.

Against Multiple Schemes

• Jessica Jones

• Spider-Man - The optimal time to play Spider-Man is during a side-scheme, but do not delay this card too long because readying yourself with Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a big plus

A Note on Repulsor Blast

This deck is not as focused on Repulsor Blast as other Iron Man builds out there, and so sacrifices some damage, but it's consistently excellent at thwarting and does decent damage at the same time. There are also more than enough energy resources in the deck for Repulsor Blast to remain an option for those that want to get blasty.

Variation

There may be times when it's a good idea to increase your deck size closer to 45 in order to slow the rate at which you go through your deck and receive encounter cards. Whichever cards you add, they should be energy generating cards wherever possible - Just keep in mind you also need consistent mind resource generation to stay AERIAL with Rocket Boots, and don't go too far away from the minimum number of cards (40) so that you can build your suit in the fastest possible time.

Possible cards to add:

Counterintelligence - For emergency threat reduction and Repulsor Blast energy.

Foiled! - For damage reduction and Repulsor Blast energy.

Followed - Extra Followed cards, if you're up against a villain with a lot of side-schemes, is a great idea.

Enhanced Awareness - For mind resources.

Enhanced Reflexes - For Repulsor Blast energy and extra resources.

Multiplayer Deck Changes

You should consider bringing more than 1 Skilled Investigator if you're playing with another player as they essentially add extra cards for free.

(Tested on Expert difficulty with 1, 2, and 3 players)