Expert Ronan FTK

Are you sick of Ronan flipping his first fanaticism and thinking you've gotten over the worst of it only to flip over his second copy a moment later? Then you're in the right place.

The strategy is simple. Just don't let the villain get a turn.

This FTK consists of a two hero team up between Cable and Drax. Cable providing the support and Drax an incomprehensible amount of damage.

Cable has a simple but very important role. He provides Drax with card draws, stat boosts, damage prevention, chump blockers and tutoring Drax's most important upgrade (DWI theet mastery). Drax's role, deal 80+ damage on the first turn.

First Player

First and foremost let's begin with first player discussion. Without a doubt, Cable must be first player in every attempt. This is due to the fact that the power stone attaches itself to the first player (and Ronan flips an additional boost card against the player who controls the power stone when he activates against them) but more importantly Cable needs to be able to provide the necessary tools for Drax to successfully deal the needed damage on his turn.

Starting Hand

When you draw up to each hero's hand size at the start of the game, the player who's controlling Cable has a very important decision when triggering his setup ability. Do they grab call for backup or superpower training? The decision will be based off the starting hand of Drax. If Drax was lucky enough to draw DWI theet mastery then Cable chooses call for backup. If Drax does not draw DWI theet then Cable must decide between the two. If Drax opened taunt, then you can go for call for backup and hope Drax eventually draws into DWI theet mastery. The reason is call for backup gives much more tempo and also allows for Cable to provide a likely boost with blaze of glory. If Drax does not draw into DWI theet mastery after using up all his draw options on his turn then simply scoop and try again. There are instances where Cable will draw call for backup or superpower training in his opening hand and as such the decision tree expands. I will not discuss all possibilities as we would be here all day.

Mulligan

Try to mulligan for call for aid, IPAC or another player side scheme. Most of cable's cards can simply be discarded to draw new cards. The only cards in his kit to consider keeping are professor, mind scan, and telekinetic force field. The decision to keep any 1 of these cards will depend on the rest of your hand. You can also discard digging deep or white fox copies to try to draw into more relevant cards.

General Strategy

Cable is trying to complete his player side schemes and put out as many allies as possible. Complete the setup player side scheme with a combination of mind scan, allies and cable. Make sure to defeat the player side scheme with cable to proc his ability to ready.

Depending on the player side scheme defeated do the following:

Call for backup

• Cable: Put out Black Panther if blaze of glory is in your discard pile. If blaze of glory is not in your discard pile, you can still opt to go for call for aid. If Black Panther does not pan out then go for Maria Hill followed by Major Victory.
• Drax: Nick Fury will draw Drax 3 extra cards.

Superpower training

• Cable: Put out telekinetic forcefield
• Drax: Put out DWI theet mastery

Lock and load

• Cable: Put out cable's weapon
• Drax: Put out plasma pistol. Will deal 1 damage but also help with an early repurpose play.

If you happen to have call for aid, this will help get one of your avenger allies (Kaluu or White Tiger) but also help place blaze of glory into the discard pile for Black Panther to grab. Although, you do want to tutor for these allies, you also want to discard digging deeps and white fox along the way. Don't be afraid to use it even if you don't have avenger allies in your deck to grab all the digging deeps and white fox. This will empty out your deck and deal you a facedown encounter card but it means nothing since Ronan will be defeated by the end of the player phase.

By the end of cable's turn at the very minimum you would have wanted to complete the setup player side scheme and have played blaze of glory. Everything else is a bonus. Extra resources can be used to play allies, IPAC, and telekinetic force field.

Allies

• Black Panther: Arguably the most important ally in the deck. He will grab blaze of glory for you from the discard pile. This will boost Drax's atk by 2 for the duration of the player phase. If blaze of glory isn't in the discard pile or you already have it in hand then you can choose to go for call for aid if you think it will provide you some value.

• Kaluu: Main targets are blaze of glory and call for aid

• Major Victory: Acts a chump blocker and readies Drax

• Maria Hill: Draws both players a card. Very good when you're trying to look to get to certain cards.

• White Fox: Part of discard engine

• White Tiger: Draws you more cards to keep cable going

Other card options to consider:

• Establish perimeter: This provides a tough status to all player identities. This can prove useful as Drax will be taking a barrage of attacks from the villain. Personally, I did not find the need for the extra tough status but if you're finding that you're having problems surviving this can be an option to go for.
• Build Support: This will guarantee IPAC for Cable which provides an extra draw 2 for Drax to help with consistency. If you opt for this player side scheme make sure to add helicarrier to Drax's deck.
• Moxie: This card is good to knock out several player side schemes. If you opt to add 1 or 2 of the player side schemes discussed above then consider playing this card as well.

If you decide to add any of the discussed cards above, remove power of leadership for the card you wish to add.

EDIT:

• +1 Moxie
• -1 The Power of Leadership

Hopefully, this gives you a general idea of Cable's role in the FTK. Check out Drax's writeup to learn how to deal the necessary damage: https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/32382/expert-ronan-ftk-continued-1.0

Credit: @DescryGaming. I want to credit DescryGaming for coming up with these decklists and showcasing the power of Drax.

Below you can find the link to his gameplay video as well as a discussion of the deck choices.

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy5JAtn8DAw

Discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghYCxAgH2c