In Part One we took a look at Iron Man and his hero cards. In this part we are going to take a deck for each aspect through the gauntlet of scenarios on Expert difficulty and see how we get on.
The scenarios we are playing are as follows:
- Rhino (Bomb Scare)
- Klaw (Masters of Evil)
- Ultron (Under Attack)
- Mutagen Formula (Goblin Gimmicks)
If we beat a scenario, we’ll move onto the next one. If we lose to a scenario, we will try that one again until we either beat it or lose three times. The first aspect that we are going to use is Justice!
| Scenario | Module | Result | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhino | Bomb Scare | WIN | 7 |
| Klaw | Masters of Evil | WIN | 11 |
| Ultron | Under Attack | WIN | 14 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 4 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 6 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 2 |
Iron Man Justice has been a popular deck since the game was released and the only scenario it struggled on in this run was Mutagen Formula (and by struggled, I mean totally failed to beat). I’d be tempted to take Surveillance Team out for more damaging cards, such as Stealth Strike or Haymaker.
| Scenario | Module | Result | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhino | Bomb Scare | WIN | 6 |
| Klaw | Masters of Evil | WIN | 9 |
| Ultron | Under Attack | LOSS | 2 |
| Ultron | Under Attack | WIN | 10 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 5 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 3 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 3 |
A bit of a wobble against Ultron, taking two attempts to defeat them, but quicker wins on the first three scenarios than Justice. Also failed to beat Mutagen Formula! Not really sure what I’d change, maybe swap Morale Boost for Lead From the Front? I honestly thought that this would be Iron Man’s most successful aspect, but I was wrong.
| Scenario | Module | Result | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhino | Bomb Scare | WIN | 6 |
| Klaw | Masters of Evil | WIN | 10 |
| Ultron | Under Attack | LOSS | 4 |
| Ultron | Under Attack | WIN | 9 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 2 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | WIN | 8 |
Well, that was unexpected, I finally got a win against Mutagen Formula with Iron Man! I didn’t expect it to be from Aggression, but upon reflection I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Iron Man can thwart just fine with his basic action (and readying via Arc Reactor) and Mark V Helmet. That means that he can use cards in hand to deal with minions, one of the best of which is Relentless Assault. Along with allies like Tigra and Valkyrie, minion control wasn’t a problem. I think that I might play some more games soon with Iron Man Aggression to see if this was a fluke, but I don’t think that it was.
| Scenario | Module | Result | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhino | Bomb Scare | WIN | 8 |
| Klaw | Masters of Evil | LOSS | 6 |
| Klaw | Masters of Evil | LOSS | 5 |
| Klaw | Masters of Evil | WIN | 8 |
| Ultron | Under Attack | WIN | 8 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 1 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 3 |
| Mutagen Formula | Goblin Gimmicks | LOSS | 3 |
Struggled against Klaw and totally failed on Mutagen Formula. At least I beat Rhino and Ultron on the first attempts though! Energy Barrier proved useful in helping me get into hero mode a bit quicker. Nova was good when he was in play, but oftentimes was discarded as a resource because there was a more important card to play.
| Rank | Aspect | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Aggression | 4 | 2 |
| 2nd | Justice | 3 | 3 |
| 3rd | Leadership | 3 | 4 |
| 4th | Protection | 3 | 5 |
This is not the order I was expecting them to be! Admittedly, it’s a relatively small sample size (which is why I’m probably going to play a load more games with my Aggression deck), but interesting nonetheless.
| Rank | Scenario | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rhino | 4 | 0 |
| 2nd | Klaw | 4 | 2 |
| 3rd | Ultron | 4 | 2 |
| 4th | Mutagen Formula | 1 | 10 |
Rhino was beaten every time (no surprise), Klaw took a bit more effort than expected, Ultron was beaten more easily than I’d have expected, and Mutagen Formula absolutely destroyed me. After how some of the early games against it were going, I didn’t expect to get a win against it, but I managed a solitary win with Aggression.
So other than when playing against Mutagen Formula, Iron Man can handle himself very well in solo on Expert difficulty (I had a 12-4 record against non-Mutagen Formula scenarios). However, I’m still not sure that he’d do very well in Heroic as he has to spend more time than most characters getting set up and Heroic doesn’t give you time to waste. Multiplayer Heroic might be a different story though, as your partners can carry you for the first round or two.
Anyway, that completes the first of our Character Focus articles. Next week we will be looking at another character from the Core Set (you’ll have to wait to find out who though!).
Cheers,
Tim
Tabletop Timesinks 