Mark XXV (Expert Ronan)

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Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

Mark XXV

Iron Man vs Expert Ronan Playthrough

It's 2025 and time for Iron Man to upgrade his suit to the Mark '25. The shiny new piece of tech that released for Tony this year is the Energy Shield, which is zero cost. Having Ready for a Fight give Tony access to his alter-ego hand size early and his Futurist ability is a new incentive for playing him with the protection aspect in addition to all the tech upgrades.

Building the Suit

It's never been easier to build out Iron Man's suit. This deck runs 13 tech upgrades to increase our handsize in hero form, with Energy Shield being the cheapest tech upgrade in the game at 0 cost. Just like with any Iron Man deck, we still want to prioritize his identity-specific upgrades because they have more of an impact. Here is my personal priority:

  1. Arc Reactor
  2. First Powered Gauntlet
  3. First Rocket Boot
  4. Mark V Armor
  5. Mark V Helmet
  6. Second Powered Gauntlet
  7. Second Rocket Boot (I would prioritize protection techs over this one)

Energy Shield & Energy Barrier

Despite not being as good as Tony's actual suit, Energy Shield and Energy Barrier do a great job in fortifying Tony's defenses and are easier to play because of their low cost. We loaded this deck with tons with energy resources so we can block damage with Energy Shield in addition to the classic reason of increasing Repulsor Blast's damage. Although Energy Shield isn't the most efficient way to prevent damage, its high tempo balances out Tony's naturally lower tempo kit and was able to keep him alive from even Ronan the Accuser's heavy overkill attacks.

Balancing Mental, Physical, & Energy Resource Requirements

Quincarrier and Ingenuity are essential resource generators for this deck to hit the resource requirements on our cards. Ingenuity provides the mental requirement Tony's Rocket Boots need to give him aerial every turn, while Quincarrier can provide the wild to play Ready for a Fight (which requires a physical resource). Moon Girl and Energy Shield also require specific resources so it's important to keep the Quincarrier available if it's needed for a specific card. Once Quincarrier is in play, the resource requirements will become a lot more smooth--needing multiple resource types in a given turn means we'll have the correct resource for something else in hand and Quincarrier can fill in what's left.

Ally Selection

  • Spider-Byte: New best friend for Iron Man. 3 cost ally that can thwart for 2 and reduces its own cost for each tech upgrade Tony has?! After turn 2 Spider-Byte will always be free to play.

  • White Fox: Energy resource that we want to see with Futurist or Repulsor Blast so we can play for free.

  • Gambit: Energy resource that lets us peak at the encounter deck for a safe turn to flip down to alter-ego.

  • Nick Fury: Mental resource, best ally in the game.

  • Moon Girl: Mental resource, best ally for genius traited identities.

  • Ironheart: Mental resource, solid and cheap protégé.

  • Starhawk: Physical resource to round out the resources in the deck. On a turn where Starhawk is already in play and we are missing the resource requirement for Ready for a Fight, Starhawk can return himself to hand to provide that physical resource.

22 comments

Jul 25, 2025 Doc7 · 23

Energy Shields are incredible because you can throw one on Ronan and one on yourself to get the hand size boosted so fast.

Jul 25, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@Doc7 Good point! It doesn't even have to be a friendly character, that's crazy.

Jul 25, 2025 Doc7 · 23

Some prominent podcasters have wonder aloud if it will be errata'ed. It's an amazing card for Cyclops for the same reason.

Jul 25, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@Doc7 What is Energy Shield's use for Cyke? To voltron allies?

Jul 25, 2025 Doc7 · 23

@Web-Warrior Fanatic Optic Blast - Action (attack): Spend one resource of any type → deal 3 damage to an enemy with an upgrade attached. (Limit once per round).

Energy Shield is a free upgrade that permanently stays on the villain from first player phase to the game end. Other upgrades to villains are Temporary.

Jul 25, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@Doc7 OHHH i understand. Thanks for explaining. Holy cow that’s pretty crazy with Cyclops. I gotta play him in protection now lol

Jul 26, 2025 Dreadnote1337 · 16

Sorry, but - does Energy Shield actually work in this situation when attached to villain? Do you still considered as a controller of ES if you attach it to Villain? Because Cyclops only care about upgrades in general, so it doesn't matter, but here...

Jul 26, 2025 Doc7 · 23

Yes you still control upgrades attached to enemies. Think about Overwatch, Suppressing Fire, Befuddle, Touched.

Jul 26, 2025 Ronaldtang09 · 1

How did you decide on two practices plan vs. a third ready for a fight?

Jul 26, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@Ronaldtang09 Through playtesting I’ve personally found 2x RFAF and 2x Practiced Plan to be the most reliable way to trigger RFAF without overly clogging the hand since they’re both max 1 per player - drawing RFAF and Practiced Plan together feels great while drawing 2 RFAFs feels bad. If i have both RFAF and Practiced Plan in play, i have the versatility to decide if i want to trigger the Practiced Plan based on what’s in my discard (if I have the other RFAF discarded i would use Practiced Plan to recur the RFAF in play because i know i have a second Practiced Plan coming up to pair with, versus if i have the other Practiced Plan discarded i would not trigger the Practiced Plan i have in play using RFAF by itself then wait to draw the other RFAF). RFAF is one of those cards that i always want in play as an option but i never want to draw multiple copies of because they would either clog my hand or id be forced to spend them as a resource. It also feels better to have both upgrades in play and i know if i ran 1x Practiced Plan and 3x RFAF i would try to save the Practiced Plan instead of using it knowing that i have way more copies of RFAF. All that to say i like the balance of 2 of each and it’s mostly just a preference

Jul 28, 2025 fluffyseaotter · 128

Does repurpose work with energy shield if it's attached to a villain/ally/minion? Since the "you" in repurpose means the player I would assume yes I hope

Jul 28, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@fluffyseaotter yes it does because an upgrade attached to the villain is still under your control. It makes the Energy Shields super efficient with Tony - slap it on your identity and the villain to get +2 handsize early game, then mid game when Iron Man is fully built out he can get some free readies Repurposing the shields and do extra thwarting

Jul 30, 2025 Tremain84 · 1

Reading the rules it says that only upgrades in your play zone are under your control. Putting a tech upgrade on a henchman or villain = no longer under your control.

Jul 30, 2025 Doc7 · 23

The rules state that upgrades that are attached to another player's card are under their control but does not state that about attaching to encounter cards. And in fact, that is simply proven unless you contend that players cannot trigger these cards and their text boxes (Interrupt, Response, etc) are unable to be triggered by a Player: Overwatch, Befuddle, Suppressing Fire, Under Control, etc.

Jul 30, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@Tremain84 Here is an official ruling from FFG in regards to upgrades attached to enemies:

"Am I the controller of an upgrade attached to an encounter card? For example, I am Valkyrie and I reveal Caught off Guard. The only upgrade in play is Death-Glow, attached to an enemy. Should I discard Death-Glow?

Yes, you are considered the controller of Death-Glow. Caught Off Guard can force you to discard Death-Glow from play.

-Alex"

Jul 30, 2025 Tremain84 · 1

Ok thanks. So according to this post, Spider-Byte also gets its cost reduced for every Spider- tracer put on an enemy minion (additionally to every Web-Shooter in play).

Jul 30, 2025 Doc7 · 23

Correct, spider-byte is an incredible card for many heroes and archetypes

Jul 30, 2025 Doc7 · 23

When I realized this power, is during the Sinister Motives Campaign. during that campaign some of the special upgrades you get are attached to Minions or Side schemes, and are S.h.i.e.l.d. So if you are running the "Exhaust a number of shield cards you control" they are out there as free exhausts for you.

Jul 30, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@Tremain84 Yep! That's correct with the current rulings we have. Every Spider-Tracer or Web-Shooter that the Spider-Man player has in play would reduce the cost of their Spider-Byte.

Sep 04, 2025 CanCel · 22

Does White Fox bring discarded from the AE action count for being discarded from the top of the deck.

Sep 04, 2025 Web-Warrior Fanatic · 30651

@CanCel Yep - if White Fox is discarded with Futurist, you can put her into play for free!

Oct 15, 2025 matchet · 248

Would substitute either Down Time or Endurance with Crew Quarters, maybe since you are flipping more often, that card can free heal you for 1HP without needing you to spend yourself in REC. Its also versatile (can be shared to other teammates on Alter-Ego) and the amount increases to 2HP if you dont use, have or need to get Ready for a Fight