What to do with Ikari
Here's everything I'm excited to try with Ikari, the new card available from Sanctum Showdown Surge. For info about acquiring him, check out Lauren's Economy Guide. For Surge gameplay, I've written a guide here.
Bullseye hatches a plan to get his revenge on Matt Murdock by using the same chemical that gave Daredevil is powers to create the perfect opponent for his arch enemy. Ikari is the result. He has all of Daredevil's heightened senses and fighting prowess. But Matt is confident his experience will give him an edge. He knows his "radar" sense doesn't work well in the rain, so he lures Ikari into a shop and sets off the fire sprinklers. Except it turns out that while Ikari has all of Daredevil's enhances sense... he isn't blind!
All-In Affliction
There are multiple archetypes that feature heavy Affliction packages. Whether it's a High Evolutionary deck or a classic Ajax Affliction deck, Ikari will get a look as a new high-Power piece in decks that focus on this mechanic.
Easiest Ways to Afflict
Ikari needs to have an opposing card Afflicted to even be able to play it, but what are our best options if we just want to splash this 4/12 body into our deck? Beyond the usual Affliction options you might see in the above archetypes, consider smaller packages for Ikari. A Scream/Kingpin deck could use a 4/12! He could act as a compensation for the low-Power cards in a Clea/Lockheed deck. He could be part of a 4-Cost Zabu package with Omega Sentinel. There are a lot of decks that can use this card outside of traditional Affliction packages, and many of those decks are ones that would love a 4/12.
Affliction Isn't the Only Path
Of course, we can just get around Ikari's downside by cheating him into play. Is 12 Power enough to go through the effort? A good approach could be to mix a dash of Affliction with some cheating.
Of
Scott's Ikari Decks
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I've been impressed with Horseman Polaris in High Evo decks and Ikari is another way to increase the Power output of this deck.
Send and Afflict
Play Annihulus on Turn 5 and follow up with Ikari, a Demon, and a Merlin spell. Red Guardian and Omega Sentinel make great Polymorph targets.
Pestilent
Timing is tricky here, but with great draws you can end up with a lot of free Power.
Scam or Slam
Plan A is Storm into War Machine into Legion with the assistance of Jennifer Kale or Punisher War Machine. But there are plenty of ways to scam out a win unexpectedly when you don't hit that line.
Unavoidable
This deck has a very telegraphed Galactus line, but one that is hard to stop even if you see it coming. You can follow up Galactus with Ikari, use him to get priority going into Turn 5 (and then revive him), or as part of your backup line of clogging one lane and winning the other on Power.
Is He Worth It?
He's free if you play enough of the upcoming Sanctum Showdown Surge LTGM, but is he good enough to incentivise you to grind for him? Is he good enough that you should consider spending Gold to get him if you're not into the mode? We've seen that LTGM cards can be meta dominant with Mother Askani and they're not available anywhere outside the mode for a month. Are you going to regret not getting Ikari while you can, like players did with Askani? Unlikely. Ikari is a stat stick that can be slotted into decks with Affliction. He's not a build around that you will feel lonely in not having access to. If you're planning to get the upcoming Lady Bullseye you should definitely grab Ikari, and the same goes if any of the decks or synergies above appeal to you, but Ikari isn't going to be an obligatory pick up.
