A Suit of Armor Around the Galaxy (Updated 11 Nov 23)

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Starlord - Perfected 11 9 0 1.0
A Suit of Armor Around the Galaxy 0 0 0 1.0
Guardians, Assemble! 0 0 0 1.0

dr00 · 38773

Deck update code: 541240 (update notes at the bottom)

Star-Lord <3 Iron Man

Star-Lord leadership without Blaze of Glory?!?!?

A dr00 Leadership deck without Strength In Numbers??

What is this madness? This is Iron Guardian (of the Galaxy)

The deck concept is very simple: play Guardians of the Galaxy, find Iron Man as quickly as possible, then load him up with everything. Due to his upgrade discount and Guardians of the Galaxy's subsidization plan, every upgrade is FREE* on Iron Man.

*by free we mean resource neutral since they will cost 0 and the card you draw will replace the one you spent.

Iron Guardian This isn't even my final form!

Star-Lord's hero ability and Honorary Guardian, coupled with Iron Man's own Avengers trait open up a multitude of available attachments.

And by the time Iron Man finishes building his suit, he'll be a 5 THW, 4 ATK ally with 7 HP that deals 1 every time he activates and can activate twice per round. One copy of First Aid is included to help keep him healthy, but you can include more copies if you wish and/or include Innovation (which, incidentally I was using until I sat down for the write-up! Thanks for the reminder, George Kaplan).

Allies - For the remaining allies, I have chosen as many with card draw abilities as possible (Ironheart, Maria Hill, and Nick Fury) while also avoiding any Avengers (sorry White Tiger!) so that Call for Aid will always find Iron Man. Blockingbird is great as always, but there are some wonderful alternatives, such as Adam Warlock, Beta Ray Bill, Major Victory, Spider-Man, or any of the neutral guardians allies: Drax, Gamora, Groot, Martinex, or Rocket Raccoon.

Call for Aid has multiple uses despite having only one Avenger. In actuality, it for that reason Call for Aid has other lines of play. Keep in mind that once you have played Iron Man, calling again will deck yourself immediately and deal you an encounter card. For many heroes, there is not much value from that (paying a card and receiving an encounter card just to reshuffle). However, Star-Lord benefits from having extra encounter cards in front of him, whether you are building for a large Sliding Shot or simply trying to get the most out of Star-Lord's Helmet or Jet Boots. That said, you may find that 2 copies is enough, but I would definitely not recommend going to 1; you want to find Iron Man and start building as quickly as possible.

Band Together pulls its weight as it's quite easy to have 2-3 allies at a time, and you'll always have at least 1 giant Iron Man ally. Late game, it can help pay for Sliding Shot or Gutsy Move for some fun combo turns. If you draw it at the beginning of the game, remember that you can stash it away for later with Smooth Talker (thanks @journeyman2 for the tip!).

Guardians of the Galaxy only allows you to have one in play, but it's so crucial to the deck that 2 copies are included. You could go to 3 or drop down to 1. Keep in mind that you can play them for other players (even if they don't have any Guardians characters) just if you want to get it out of your deck once you have your own. Just remember that it only works while all of your characters are Guardians, so while you are in hero form, it's always on for Star-Lord, but when you go to alter-ego, it only works if he and every ally you have is a Guardian already or has Honorary Guardian. Just something to keep in mind while playing and for changing up the deck.

And finally, Knowhere helps give you some more ally options and will also help subsidize those costs as well, but it's not as much of a priority as it is for other decks.

Looking to the future: Sidearm (War Machine spoiler) sounds like a great fit, so definitely keep that one in mind. And really, keep an eye out for any 0-1 cost basic or leadership ally attachment. Any non-avengers allies will be helpful, especially if they can draw cards; and with the upcoming new box, hopefully we'll have plenty of new non-avengers to choose from.

Update Nov '23

Deck update code: 541240

The main differences with the update are a leaner Ally line, just Gamora, White Fox, and of course, Iron Man.

Band Together has been replaced with Digging Deep, which gets a lot more value you here. You get up to 3 extra resources every time you Call For Aid. With fewer allies, Band Together doesn't get as much value, but that's fine. Digging Deep lets you constantly generate resources, and you don't need to spend it on something expensive. Although we are replacing a potentially 3-resource card for three single-resource cards, the value is definitely worth it. Call for Aid turns into a Band Together + an extra encounter card anyway.

Have removed First Aid and Innovation for Build Support to play IPAC. If another player at the table is using Build Support, you can still run yours for Guardians of the Galaxy or even Bad Boy. Alternatively, you can take out 1 copy of Guardians of the Galaxy and IPAC for First Aid and Innovation. I think First Aid and Innovation are not super necessary. I've definitely let Iron Man die before and played him almost fully the very next round before. Once you're set up, things start cruising. It's really not difficult to build back up.

Also cut 1 copy of Call for Aid for Superpower Training, which can find so many great things, like Leader of the Guardians, Element Gun, or Star-Lord's Helmet, and Jet Boots are nice too if you've played everything else.

Iron Guardian

Until next time, see you, space-guardian.

37 comments

Oct 20, 2021 Marctimmins89 · 270

This is so clever! Bravo, sir.

Oct 21, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@Marctimmins89 tyty! glad you appreciate it. i hope you enjoy it :D

Oct 21, 2021 George Kaplan · 1031

Been trying something like this with Rocket. Closest thing to a Miracle deck I experienced in Marvel Champions!

Oct 21, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@George Kaplanooh, Salvage sounds really fun after a call for aid to get your best tech upgrade back on top of your deck. I definitely need to try this with other guardians.

Oct 21, 2021 George Kaplan · 1031

@dr00 yes, with Salvage and Tinkering, you can draw and draw lots of cards. I also play an Honorary Guardian on Rocket for keep he being Guardian in Alter-ego and still have the Guardians of the Galaxy response. In adittion, I run Innovation for more uses of Iron Man and have Yondu there too with Inspired, Laser Blaster and C.I.T.T. It's more greedy but i love it.

Oct 21, 2021 dansport005 · 1

Definitely going to have to try this one! I've not really been moved to play Star-Lord at all just yet for whatever reason but this should do the trick

Oct 21, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@George Kaplan you know, i was actually using Innovation when i was playing the deck and totally forgot about it when doing my write-up! haha, maybe that's why 1 copy of First Aid was enough. I tried C.I.T.T. but ended up only using it once over the many games i tried. i also ended up not using Major Victory at all, but i like the idea of them. maybe i just need more testing to find the right scenario.

@dansport005 glad to hear! i hope you enjoy it. The Blaze of Glory shenanigans definitely aren't everyone's cup of tea, but hopefully this one is :D

Oct 31, 2021 Brian-V · 41985

When I want to find a great deck that's also fun to play I always see what @dr00 is doing. You always have some of the best deck ideas, @dr00! And this write up with the pictures is absolutely hilarious! Expert Marvel Champions deck building and @dr00 are synonymous. Thanks for sharing!!! :)

Nov 01, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@Brian-V always appreciate you, bro.

Nov 09, 2021 takabrash · 1

I really haven't connected with Star-Lord as a True Solo player so far, but this deck is really changing that! I'm starting to see why people like him so much.

Nov 09, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@takabrash glad you're enjoying it! glad you've found a deck that works for you

Nov 16, 2021 bigfomlof · 1

Oh, man! So good! Thanks for all you do here--the decks are just a part. It's what you add, my friend, to our conversations. Great deck!

Nov 16, 2021 dr00 · 38773

hey @bigfomlof! thanks for the kind words! and thanks for having me on your show. can't wait till the next one :D

Nov 17, 2021 Sidewinder2809 · 1

Love this! Even better if the second player brings a cheeky energy spear along to the party

Nov 18, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@Sidewinder2809 haha, indeed! ranged, overkill, and piercing twice a turn with 7 ATK and an additional ping for 1 is truly a sight to behold

Nov 22, 2021 Odysseus · 1

This is the most enjoyable leadership deck i have played yet and i've been playing since release. Very well done, sir :D

Nov 23, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@Odysseus hey i really appreciate it! glad you're enjoying it! that's very high praise indeed :D

Nov 29, 2021 MisterCram · 1

I just played this deck against the Hood (first time playing Hood and first time as Star Lord). I had so many encounter cards coming my way, it was insane lol. It also allowed for a massive Sliding Shot to finish the game out. I look forward to trying it out against some other Villains. Thanks!

Nov 29, 2021 takabrash · 1

@MisterCram I'm planning to do the exact same thing here in a few!

Nov 30, 2021 journeyman2 · 18707

In most decks, a turn one Band Together is awful, but here Star-Lord can Smooth Talk it to the top of his deck! Really gets rid of its downside. I haven’t particularly enjoyed Star-Lord yet, but I really want to try this out soon!

Nov 30, 2021 dr00 · 38773

@MisterCram glad you enjoyed it! yes, i find it really tense against Hood, as you have to really try to outpace him to win. also his special can sometimes end up helping you haha. good luck trying it against harder villains :D

@takabrash good luck!

@journeyman2 ooh that's a really good point i hadn't thought of yet! i'll find the time to edit that in and credit you. i'm glad you found a deck that looks fun. i hope you enjoy it! :D

May 12, 2022 BravoNull · 2

All hail the Iron Guardian!

May 22, 2022 dr00 · 38773

@BravoNull The Saviour of the Galaxy!

Jun 08, 2022 lkmyst · 14

Nice deck! I just now tried it with Sidearm and 3 First Aids. In the final round, did 39 damage (or would have, had the villain survived).

Jul 27, 2022 dr00 · 38773

@lkmyst amazing! i love trying to see how much extra damage i do on the final round. i think my record (in 3 player, mind), is 78 extra damage. Sidearm really does a lot for this deck. i also like Innovation

Aug 17, 2022 Schnautza · 46

Curious about your thoughts on Target Practice in this deck. That could bring the ATK to 7 plus 1 damage (also including Sidearm.

I played your build tonight against Thanos and ended up making the following modifications:

  1. Added Sidearm. I think this one is self explanatory
  2. Three copies of First Aid. Given that Scheme 2B for Thanos snaps away half your deck, this improved the chances of not losing all the healing options on Iron Man.
  3. Swap Mockingbird out for Major Victory. Since Thanos is perma-stalwart, her stun action isn't as useful, and the low cost of the Major paired with the readying action frequently gave Iron Man a 3rd attack or allowed Peter to ready after knocking off a stun or confuse which happens more frequently than I'd care to see with the Infinity Gauntlet.

Probably took me about 8 tries to win this one and I tweaked the deck as I noticed issues. But the biggest struggle I ended up with was when Iron Man ended up near the bottom of the deck and then Guardians of the Galaxy refused to show itself. Probably half of my games this happened.

Also, numerous boosts in Thanos's deck force you to discard a support or ally. It happened several times that this boost or stone ended up wiping my board clean with a fully decked out Iron Man getting discarded. So I'll say it's terribly important to try to make sure you always have another support or ally available to discard instead of hyperfocusing on building the suit up!

Oct 05, 2022 dr00 · 38773

Hi @Schnautza sorry, I just saw this message. for a while, MCDB wasn't sending me email updates, so i've totally missed this until now. sorry about that!

as for your comment, thanks for sharing your thoughts. i think Target Practice is perfectly fine. the main issue i have with it is deck space. it's a good card, but it's single use, so i'd want multiple copies, and i'm already cutting cards as it is. but as a way to pull double duty against the gauntlet to discard instead of Iron Man, seems there's a lot of value there. glad you got it in the end! it must have felt really satisfying :D

Nov 09, 2022 Rvd1ofakind · 1

@dr00 Could you update the deck write-up with

+1 sidearm

+1 innovation

-1/2 something

:)

Nov 25, 2022 dr00 · 38773

@Rvd1ofakind

the last time i ran it, i think i did something like:

-1 Mockingbird

-1 Call for Aid

-1 Band Together

+1 Sidearm

+1 First Aid

+1 Innovation

try that and let me know how it goes!

Jan 21, 2023 ChocoboBai · 818

This deck is super fun, I was thinking there had to be more ways to get extra encounter cards. Have you tried the gamora ally with this for cycling through the deck more? I feel if they release more ally upgrades or "discard cards until..." abilities this could get even sillier.

I did seem to struggle against expert red skull for some reason though. Seemed to have trouble setting up while keeping both minions and side schemes under control.

May 26, 2023 dr00 · 38773

@ChocoboBai Gamora ally sounds great. tbh, i've been cutting more and more allies over time, but the ones i keep are definitely ones that give value. if i added Gamora, i would probably need to include more copies of Guardians of the Galaxy since there's already so much milling with Call for Aid. have you tried it out? how did it work for you?

Jul 30, 2023 AirForce1 · 1

Hi @dr00, I really love the deck. I thought of adding Venom in this deck, in multiplayer, so I can have a large amount of dammage without suffering too much of his bad effect (he will only last 1 turn or 2 but will die before the second encounter phase). What do you think?

Aug 29, 2023 boothwah · 57

Re : Mk II : Great update. I'm loving it. I've been pairing it with Cable specifically for him use his set up to start with Build Support PSS and cut down GotG to 1....replaced with a command team. Crazy fast set up between the two with Cable dropping fetch quests and running Mission Leader.

Aug 29, 2023 dr00 · 38773

@AirForce1 i was thinking about this for another deck, but then someone pointed out to me that Venom only triggers on encounter cards you resolve, and i was like 'd'oh! better keep looking'. i somehow didn't make the connection how great it is for Star-Lord though! i'll definitely have to test that out! that sounds really good. i appreciate the kind words and the advice

@boothwah hey, i appreciate you! yeah, build support for GotG is great! i don't have it currently in the build cos i kind of want to save it for IPAC haha, but until then, yeah it kinda sounds like a no-brainer. could easily replace one copy of it. but yeah, Command Team would do a lot of work. glad you're enjoying it! NeXt has some really fun cards for so many of my old decks. Mutant Genesis was a lot of fun, but most of the cards were just for x-men

Nov 11, 2023 BoardGameKid · 67

This is awesome, but why does Iron man need to be an Honorary Guardian? In hero form, Star Lord gives him the trait anyhow...

Nov 11, 2023 Marctimmins89 · 270

It's +1HP and with Guardians of the Galaxy in play it replaces itself.

Nov 11, 2023 dr00 · 38773

@Marctimmins89 is right. it's also useful for Iron Man and even Star-Lord himself so can still be a Guardians while SL is in alter-ego