What to do with Superior Iron Man
After the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom's botched morality inversion spell, Tony Stark is now a narcissistic, greedy, predatory tech Billionaire who resides in the bay area and... wait, what universe are we in? Here is everything I want to try with this powerful new doubling villain!
Discounts, Buffs, Or Both?
What's better in Marvel Snap, Cost discounts or Power buffs? Cheaper cards allow more complex and unpredictable ways to attack multiple lanes, but Power is what wins games. I do think there will be combos that lean into making a truly gigantic Iron Man, but leaning into the cards that do both, buff and discount, is the more reliable strategy.
Discount Synergy
There aren't many cards that just provide a steep discount. I don't think anyone is going to want to bounce SIM back to hand, so I've just focused on the discounters that are likely to be tried. SIM immediately becomes an Elite Iron Patriot or Loki hit, but that's not something you add him to your deck for. He does represent a slight buff to those cards, though.
Evolved Shocker, Warlock, and Sera can each make SIM a 3/7, which is fine, but not worth it by themselves. Shocker and Warlock can work in a package with Evolved Misty Knight, but surely there are better packages for him. Time Shot isn't a big deal on it's own, but because of the plethora of shared synergies, I expect Thanos FF decks to be one of SIM's best homes.
Small Empowerments
There are a ton of ways to give SIM a 2 or 4 Power buff. Again, I tried to stick with things people may actually consider – if you really figure out some kind of Headpool/Nova/SIM or Araña/Sparky package please tag SnapDecks! It should be noted, Venus will go extra crazy with some of these if SIM is already on board and Kahhori has a higher ceiling than 4.
Ongoing Packages
Superior Iron Man doesn't specify that he only works with Empowerment effects, meaning there are some pretty crazy combos available with Ongoing cards. Moonstone doesn't directly interact with SIM, but she can magnify the effect of Carter, Cap, or Flag.
Captain Carter works well as a part of a buff package. It's easy to envision SIM's place in an Ongoing deck with either Spectrum or Onslaught to give him a big boost on the last turn. Dare we play Cerebro just to get a +6 Buff to win a lane? If so, you'll probably have to play him to the right of Cerebro. If Red Skull ever becomes a part of a dominant deck, SIM will feast.
Giant Buffs
There are also a bunch of ways to make a super gigantic Superior Iron Man. Even though Maverick only provides two of his own, I put him here too because he's likely to be used in chains that end up magnifying his effect. Is it finally Triton's time to shine? I expect Stick buff pass packages to be popular, but Shuri and Namora can make giant Superior Iron Men as well.
Both!
These are the real keys to SIM's success and most of these will be a part of any SIM package. New seasons are often preceded by OTA changes targeted at the new cards, and that seems to be the case with Mister Fantastic First Steps. Pre-nerf Askani would have gone crazy with SIM.
The Shape of a SIM Deck
We can already see there are quite a few pathways to leverage Superior Iron Man in a given deck. Do we want to go with the advantage of hidden power with hand buff? Go with the Shadow King-proof safety of an Ongoing package? As the cherry on top of a Thanos FF and/or Aurora deck? Squeeze some value out of him with a High Evo, Elsa, or other less obvious package? This card has a lot of potential homes.
Scott’s Day One Superior Iron Man Decks
Frontier Man
The goal here is to get a Superior Iron Man to play out alongside an Aurora, whether that's strictly through discounts or with the help of Herbie's Energy.
Shou-Lao has fallen out of favor, but SIM provides a new way to multiply Shou's big buff. It shouldn't be too rare that you can play them out together on the last turn, possibly even alongside a Kitty or Nico. This will be the last Thanos FF deck I put here, but just know he (and Jane) could be added to basically any of the rest of the decks too (nerf soon?).
Stick Stacks
Can we make a big Stick stack to pass onto Brood and still win another lane with a beefy Iron Man or vice versa? It's worth a try!
A New Classic
Sera plus either a Wingbeat or Surge hit is enough to play Spectrum and SIM on the last turn. Sometimes, we'll just sneak him in on 3 or 4.
Infinity&Iron
Kind of a Victoria-less Victoria Hand deck, this deck tries to play out multiple big Iron Men. Loki is always a fun back-up plan with discounts.
Is He Worth It?
Superior Iron Man works well with the flood of buff cards we've had added to the game recently, but also plays nice with some big Ongoing combos. He's flexible, powerful, and can be played out alongside other cards, he can be fully built around, but doesn't demand it, and he works well in decks that fight for priority and decks that want to hold Power back. That is a winning recipe. The Season Pass is always valuable, but this is a pass card you're really going to want to have in your collection.
Subscribers will find some of the more off-the-wall ideas for this card below! If you love this card, wacky decks, or just want to help secure a future for written Marvel Snap content, help us out by joining up today! Special thanks to SnapComplete and Snap.Fan for card and deck art featured in this article.
Even More Superior Iron Man Ideas
Ok, I lied, I'm gonna give you weird Destroy and Move SIM decks. Advised for Proving Grounds only!
Big Heads
Sparklers
Superior Zombies
Viv is Cool
Maybe I've been playing too much draft mode...
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