Shock Therapy

Theme: Tony worked out a new suit of rapidly deploying armor with enhanced automatic defenses. Touch the suit and the enemies is in for a shocking surprise. Tony and his buddies are taking it out for a test flight.

Overview: This is my favorite Iron Man deck to play. This deck was tested against Rhino, Klaw and Ultron. All on Expert. All attempts were solo which I think is the harder scenario for the deck. If someone else is thwarting with Iron Man it should be easier. Did not try heroic difficulty yet. Felt like Expert was right at the level for the deck at least in solo. Klaw was the hardest due to his more aggressive scheming. Rhino and Ultron Expert were both pretty easy. For Klaw you need to stay out of alter ego mode even more and rely on your defense cards to carry you. If you don’t get 3 or 4 pieces of tech down by turn two (preferably one being the arc reactor to double thwart) you are gonna have a rough time with Klaw. I suspect on Heroic level games the scheming will be too fast for this deck. Maybe when we get a cheap thwart trick for protection (preferably one with an energy or intellect icon) i will feel more confident taking it to heroic level games.

The idea of the deck is to try and get Tony into his suit as fast as possible and stay in hero mode as long as you can. To this purpose I picked Protection since for the most part Tony’s aspect cards are resources and icons for effects. When he does use his non-Iron Man cards they are in service of keeping him in hero mode as long as possible. Also protection is the only aspect that helps him up his tech upgrade count to speed up his ramp. Most cards are real cheap and protection has a wealth of useful energy icon cards.

Iron Man Justice is a stronger solo configuration since it will slow down the game for Iron Man’s ramp. Though to me this pairing is way more interesting and less autopilot-y to play. So it’s my go to Iron Man deck right now.

Includes: Brother Vodoo to fetch Repulser Blast or Super Sonic Punch for a clutch KO punch combo. Most of the time he’s played for his icon to power the boots unless i need a hail mary play.

Nova to add to the reflexive damage. His damage can kill an enemy before it has a chance to attack back potentially saving Tony’s life. Many Energy icons in the deck. Helps with crowd control. Seems like a card for two damage is underwhelming but its actually a fairly average trade and slightly above average since he can potentially stop an attack in it’s tracks or combo with other defense cards to remove a minion from the board without using one of Iron Man’s other more costly attacks to get high health minions off the board. I still had to use Supersonic Punch sometimes on big minions just to get them out of play.

Energy Barrier and Electrostatic Armor up his tech upgrade count by 4 which should speed his ramp for Iron Man handsize and helps with more reflexive damage for minions. As Energy icons and tech upgrades they are never bad to see. Electrostatic Armor seems bad in Tony but it might as well effectively just read draw plus one card per turn. I do defend with Tony if I need to but he isn’t exhausting to defend every turn. Usually it triggers when I’m using Desperate Defense. When he does defend the extra damage is welcome. I would not cut it. A 1 resource tech upgrade early game is great for getting Iron Man online fast. The energy icon is always welcome late game.

Armored Vest needed since Tony’s defense is a pitiful 1. Though protection cards, healing and HP buffs should help and i’m not always exhausting to defend so this is still sometime rocket fuel.

The deck contains many ready effects for Tony to double thwart or defend and thwart. Desperate Defense is used way more than Indom. If I was going to cut or replace one it would be Indomitable. I had considered replacing it with Get Behind Me to cancel things like Advance or Shadows but I’m worried what that will do to the average Repulser Blast Damage.

Preemptive is fantastic and I wouldn’t cut it. only played on 2 plus boost icon cards.

The icon spread is three quarters stacked toward energy for Repulser Blast and Nova. A few extra Blue icons in there to power his boots. The minimum physical resources included.

Play style: The deck should have enough speed and damage. Try and Mulligan or dig to get 3 or 4 tech down in the first two turns of the game. For your openning mulligan discard anything that isn’t a tech upgrade or two resource card.

If you can do that you just need to be very careful with the threat management. Iron Man is usually thwarting every turn unless he needs to defend(but hopefully he will ready off the defense). Iron Man needs to do the heavy lifted on Thwart so staying in alter ego for too long is not advisable. I am alter ego first turn and thats usually all unless I have a really bad start. Then I flip usually only if I absolutely need to to stay in the game. When the deck loses its to scheming and I usually feel like I can see where I misplayed. Night Nurse added for villains that deal alot of Confusion status tokens since Tony’s thwart is extremely important. Nobody is thwarting but Iron Man in solo so he needs to keep ontop of the schemes. Stark Tower is rarely played since I rarely flip back to alter ego.

I rarely had more than one ally out on the board. Nova sticks around to deal damage if you can get him to board in the mid or late game. Luke and Voodoo are there to hit and take hits if you need it so they leave quickly unless a med team is on the board. The priority is tech upgrades though early game not allies. I don’t play any of these expensive allies early game. Voodoo is usually only played if I need his fetch ability. Luke if I am riding the line with Tony’s HP.