Protection Iron Man - Earth's Best Defender

I'm testing this deck using villains and modular sets from the Core Set. First of all, sorry for my bad english, I'm going to do my best writing this post.

Why Iron Man?

I've been playing Marvel Champions for about a year and a half now. I have all packs previous Galaxy's Most Wanted (as it's hard being updated with ffg products in Argentina) and usually everytime that I played a match I was building my deck from scratch using heros and aspects as I feel like or randomly. Now I want to build decks and test them in various scenarios to make a sort of guide about them. I decide to start with the core heroes and Iron Man being my favourite one is going to be the first.

Allies:

I started playing this as a solo deck, so for Protection Iron Man solo I recommend having just between 4 and 6 allies (including War Machine), but in Multiplayer you can use 3 to 5. Iron Man don't fully depend on them, but is always useful in solo to have some chump blocks and allies that can do 2 damage every turn (hello Luke) to finish the villain sooner or to help handling minions. Nova is not bad but it's not a must; your deck has energy resources to spend in his ability of course but minions can be easily managed with just the Power Gaunlets or the Energy Barriers. Maybe in a mass minions scenario he could take the place of Luke Cage but right now I prefer the last one because you can use him to take up 3 attacks from the villain or to deal 2 damage over 6 turns. Iron Fist is amazing for solo; stunning 2 turns in a row the villain is amazing for Iron Man as he wants to stay in hero form once your armor is complete. In multiplayer it's more likely to be replaced with another cards because stun it's not as effective for Iron Man if it's not him the one who is going to prevent the attack. Mockingbird is also in this deck for the same reason that Iron Fist, is a good staple for solo decks and Iron Man with all his upgrades and supports out and drawing 7 cards each turn means you can frequently stun the villain 3 turns in a row using just this two. Also, this two provides enough stun in the game so we can afford not consider to use Tackle or Never Back Down in our deck (cards that I feel not gives us the best performance in this deck. They are not bad, but we want our deck to be the most effective possible). Finally, Clea and IronHeart are just chump blocks, both are really useful in Solo, in Multiplayer we can cut one or both. IronHeart > Clea for her draw and the mental resource she provides, so Clea is the one that can be replaced for Dauntless when I have it or for another tech card if just one of the two is going to be cut. Another allies to consider are Nick Fury is you have enough space and you don't know what else to include. He gets better in Multiplayer or agains scenarios with big minions as Modok in it for his 4 damage (the draw and the treat removal are not particularly useful when we are talking about Iron Man). Another one is Black Widow, but I think that a stable board to play her is reached so late in the game and by that time you don't really need her. But is you are going to use her I recomend using one or two honorary avenger to make her a 3 hit-point ally and using medic team in her at the same time you use her to control threat.

Events:

Iron Man has some of the best attack events in my opinion on his hero cards (8 for 2 and repulsor who is going to do at least 5 damage every time), so events that we looking for to use are defense events that help us prevent Iron Man from taking damage so he can stay in hero form longer. I strongly recommend using 3 of each: Side Step and Preemptive Strike. Both have good resources that Iron Man can use for his Repulsor Blasts and his Boots and prevents so much damage at the same time that deals ping damage to the villain, specially with Electrostatic Armor out. Also I use just one copy of Desperate Defense; this means a 3 def that prepares Iron Man if he doesn't take damage but this is mostly possible if you use another defensive event or the energy barriers. As said before, you could consider using Never Back Down but I don't feel that is good for the deck. Or maybe you could try to use some attacks events like Tackle or Momentum Shift, but Iron Man don't really needs them, are a little bit expensive and the resources don't help us a lot.

Resources:

Iron Man decks in late game does not suffer from lack of resources because all his events are cheap, but these 5 doubles resources are important in early game to help us building the suit as faster as possible; the Power of Protection is great to pay for Energy Barriers and later it's help to pay for Luke or Iron Fist or event for the Med Teams.

Support:

Quincarrier is a must in every Iron Man deck in my opinion, by itself enables Iron Man to use his boots every turn and gives us more freedom as we are not going to need include many mental resources or Enhanced Awareness. Med Team is useful to keep Iron Man in hero form as his recovery points are not great and in our deck they are energy resources for our repulsors beams. I don't use Night Nurse because we don't need more mental resources as said before and because status effects are not a deal for Iron Man as he can use his basic attack and prepare himself or use the gauntless to take off stuns and the helmet to get rid of the confuse status. Helicarrier and Avengers Mansion could be great in Multiplayer but expensive for solo; you can cut Desperate Defense, Clea, IronHeart, Iron Fist, Mockingbird or even one copy of Side Step if you want to include one of these supports or both when you are goint to play in a bigger team.

Upgrades:

Protection shines as an aspect for Iron Man primarly for his tech upgrades that makes us reach the 7-hand size faster. Not just that, Energy Barrier for me is one of the better cards that Protection gave us. That means that using 3 EB is a must at least when this decks is being created, Electrostatic Armor is better now with the new defense rules so it will trigger with our Side Steps, Preemptive Strikes and Desperate Defense. Endurance is good as it gives our hero form more time and because Iron Man starting health is too low, but it's not a card that you prioritize to use in the first cycle of the deck. Also is good for make Dauntless active. Another upgrades that you could try but I don't feel good/necesarily are Armored Vest, if you are willing to play defending often at the same time that you could be using more copies Desperates Defenses or cards like Never Back Down, maybe you could also add Unflappable; Defensive Stance can be consider too as it is a energy resource and could help you to survive some indirect damages treacheries (but remember, you have your energies barriers for that too). Finally, Enhanced Awareness can be include to have access to mental resources, but Quincarrier was always enough for me in my testings so far. Oh, I almost forgot Nerves of Steels, this could be super useful is you are going to use 7-9 defense events but the problem here is that so many defense events and Nerves of Steel are dead cards in early game; and in late game you don't really need that many defensive events in your hand or the extra resource NoS provides. There are going to be so dead in the first cycle and maybe even in the second one too.

Log:

Expert Rhino - Scare Bomb; Wins: 3/3.
Expert Rhino - Masters of Evil: Wins 3/3.
Expert Rhino - Under Attack: Wins 2/3.
Expert Rhino - Legions of Hydra: Wins 3/3
Expert Rhino - The Doomsday Chair: Wins 1/3
Expert Klaw - Scare Bomb: Wins: 3/3.
Expert Klaw - Masters of Evil: Wins 2/3
Expert Klaw - Under Attack: Wins 2/3.
Expert Klaw - Legions of Hydra: Wins 2/3.
Expert Klaw - The Doomsday Chair: Wins 2/3

In the lost match using Under Attack, I leave Rhino alone and with zero threat on his main scheme, not side schemes nor minions in his side and end my turn in alter-ego. His main scheme got 1 threat from the start of his phase, then he schemes with 4 (a 3 boost that was Bomb Scare's side scheme) and finally my encounter card was Advance that make me lost. Advance can make this happens in any match with Rhino if he draws a 3-boost icon or if he has minions that can scheme by 2-3. Mostly players have experimented this against him or some another 1-main scheme villain like Absorbing Man or Taskmaster.
Using Legions of Hydra as modular set I was extremely lucky. Legions of Hydra never appears at the beginning in any match. It just came twice at the end when Iron Man was full suited, so I was able to get rid the 5-threat side scheme quickly and defeat Madame Hydra with no effort. But Legions of Hydra is a really Solo Iron Man killer if you draw it in your first or second turn.
What i say about the lost in the Under Attack match happens again again a Rhino with a Modok minion out and an Advance as my encounter card being in alter ego. The other lost was because an early Doomsday Chair with a Rhino's Horn out. There was a lot of damage to mitigate with few cards in hero or losing by threat if I changed to alter ego. I keep my ground as far as I could but then more side schemes appeared and I lost.

I lost again Klaw using Masters of Evil because even with my mulligan and my alter ego effect I started with just one upgrade. Also Klaw's opening minion was Tiger Shark and then Shadows of the Past came up. I was overwhelmed in the first two turns.
In the third match agains Klaw with Legions of Hydra, I started having just 2 upgrades, my armor and a gauntlet; as I wasn't able to clean at least one side scheme I ended my turn in alter ego. Klaw and Madame Hydra (his initial minions) complete the first main scheme and the encounter card I had was Master Plan so both side schemes was at 7 threat each. I have to keep in hero form as long as I could and when I got back to alter ego, Klaw schemes 8 threat to fully complete his 2nd main scheme.