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Iron Patriot is the next Season Pass card joining Marvel Snap for the January 2025 season, Dark Avengers. It is a 2-Cost, 3 Power card that reads: On Reveal: Add a random 4, 5, or 6-Cost card to your hand. If you’re winning here after next turn, give it -4 Cost.
Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.
Decks with Iron Patriot
Season Pass
Season Pass cards can be obtained by purchasing the Premium Season Pass. When the Season ends (first Tuesday of every month), it immediately becomes available as a Series 5 card, and can then be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop as a Weekly Spotlight card.
It can also be featured in a Spotlight Cache that is found every 120 Levels on the Collection Level Track after Collection Level 500.
Strengths and Weaknesses
I can immediately tell you that Iron Patriot follows the tradition of the previous three Season Pass cards (Agent Venom, Surtur, and Galacta). The card feels like a great standalone addition to any kind of deck.
Basically, if your deck can reliably win Iron Patriot‘s location on Turn 3, I really can’t picture how the new Season Pass card won’t be the next staple 2-Cost card. So, how hard will it be to win that location?
Decks with Copycat
Decks with Baron Zemo
Decks with Agent Venom
Decks with Star-Lord
Decks with Groot
Decks with Rocket Raccoon
Decks with Rocket and Groot
In the current meta there are several low cost, high power cards that you can use to follow Iron Patriot and help win that location. Also, the Guardians of the Galaxy have to be mentioned because opponents will most likely play on Iron Patriot‘s location in the next turn.
There are other options you can use to score a lot of points, but they carry a bit more risk regarding the future of the match.
Decks with Gladiator
Decks with Sword Master
There are a ton more cards I could mention and explore the scenarios where you play them after Iron Patriot, which would be an infinite number of scenarios. But that would be a lot of talking just to say “plan to win that location”. Instead, let’s consider the impact of Iron Patriot on your opponent and the cards that could gain a ton from that impact.
Iron Patriot forces your opponents to play on its location to block the cost reduction from happening. Well, I happen to know a few cards that are pretty bonkers when you know where your opponent is about to play:
Decks with Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Decks with Echo
Decks with Alioth
I know, I know, Alioth is a 6-Cost card. But Arishem has been nerfed four times and is still a solid deck, so I think there’s a world where playing Iron Patriot on Turn 4 into Alioth on Turn 5 is doable.
Strength wise, Iron Patriot is the complete package. Decent points for its cost, a very strong ability, and oppressive enough to make opponents predictable. There must be a weakness to that card then, right?! There is, but I’m honestly not even sure if it’s good enough:
Mobius M. Mobius will block the cost reduction, so you won’t have to worry about winning the location. However, playing this card just to block one other card feels like a big investment. I’m not sure if playing Mobius M. Mobius is really worth it overall when other options like Copycat and Red Guardian are available.
Another card that could do the trick is Quake. If Iron Patriot works the same as Shuri, moving the location that Iron Patriot was played on should change the location you need to win.
The Verdict
The current meta already feels like an early game battle to earn the right to Snap. With Iron Patriot, I will Snap every time I hit that -4 cost to the generated card, and I expect my opponent to leave, which will only make the current meta more oppressive overall.
The only answer to the card is Mobius M. Mobius, but that means not playing Copycat, Red Guardian, or some other incredible 3-Cost card in your deck. I’d rather be the one forcing you to play Mobius M. Mobius than the one forced to play it.
I think the real best answer is likely using Red Guardian on Iron Patriot, but I’m not even sure that stops the cost reduction from happening. Maybe Quake is the real savior?
Either way, Iron Patriot is busted.
Pre-Release Score:
Iron Patriot Decks
To be honest, I think most decks in the game that are able to win Iron Patriot‘s location on Turn 3 should at least consider running the card. Decks that lack explosive power will love the card because it will boost their ability to contest locations for points. Decks that already win through proactive development will pressure their opponent even more with Iron Patriot.
Here are all of my ideas with Iron Patriot.
den
den
Variants
Closing Thoughts
There is an OTA planned for January 14, and I am crossing all my fingers that it shakes the current meta to its roots. Indeed, while Iron Patriot might change the current “gain energy on Turn 2 to play Galacta or Doctor Doom 2099 early” pattern, it doesn’t synergize at all with Doctor Doom 2099. It should strengthen the current trend of a strong early setup for a Snap leading to a Retreat from the opponent, though.
The card doesn’t seem to push any specific synergy, which means it will likely improve the flexible, already strong archetypes in the game.
I hope this review of the new card was helpful. Feel free to share your opinions and excitement about the card in the comments. You can find everyone on the Marvel Snap Zone team in our community discord to have a chat or ask any questions.
Good Game Everyone!
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