FREE ENERGY

Wonder Man vs Expert Ronan Playthrough

If I was Wonder Man, I would never need to pay the electricity bill. That's why this deck is comprised of 15 zero cost events!

Recycling Energy Playstyle

The playstyle here is leaning into Ionic Physiology and Power Recycling. Try to take damage as soon as possible to leverage your health as a resource, play 0 cost energy events to heal and tuck under Ionic Physiology, then basic attack for 4 damage every time you're at the max of 3 tucked cards to push tempo and free up space. Wonder Man is one of the few heroes who's able to push the villain with this type of build because he's incredibly tanky being able to heal every turn.

Low Cost Curve

I normally prefer slowly building out with a relatively high cost curve having double resources to pay for expensive cards but there are very cool decks that focus on having a much lower cost curve without the basic doubles because it clogs up the hand (the basic double resources can be a waste to draw if every card in your hand is 0 or 1 cost). Wonder Man's flexibility allows him to lean into a low cost curve deck while also reaping the benefits of being able to afford powerful, expensive cards like Quincarrier, Nick Fury, Yellow Jacket, etc. His resource card, Energy Siphon can generate 1 to 4 resources depending on how much damage Wonder Man is willing is take. This lets us get away with excluding the basic doubles but still afford expensive cards, while also running 29 cards that cost 0 or 1 without ever having a clunky hand wasting resources. Overpaying is also a very flexible mechanic for Wonder Man because if he has the extra economy, he can overpay for his identity-specific events to more greatly impact the board. This is why we kept the Energy double resource because it still has value for 0 cost and 1 cost events like Active Altruism, Ionic Blast, and Starstruck, while Genius and Strength are wasted on those cards.

Specific Card Synergies

• Clarity of Purpose is the perfect resource generator for Wonder Man, with arguably as good synergy here as with Captain Marvel and Spider-Ham. Wonder Man cannot tuck cards under Ionic Physiology if he's at full health because in that situation there isn't a valid target to trigger the ability. Clarity of Purpose deals 1 damage to Wonder Man to make him a valid target while also generating a wild resource that can be used as an energy for Wonder Man's kickers. And Wonder Man can easily heal that 1 damage back up immediately by playing an energy resource event that Clarity of Purpose generated the resource for.

• Endurance gives us a larger hit point pool to play with, taking damage and healing back up. It's also a printed energy resource if we need to spend it.

• Defiance is one of my favorite defense events in the game because it allows the player to negate potential boost damage/boost effects without exhausting their identity. This allows us to guarantee how much damage the villain hits for eliminating the unknown variable of the boost card while also healing back 1 hit point for Wonder Man because Defiance can be tucked under Ionic Physiology. For example, if Ronan the Accuser attacks for 5 base damage plus an unknown boost, Defiance can effectively guarantee that Wonder Man takes 4 damage (5 minus the 1 healed from Ionic Physiology). This is a huge shift from always being cautious of Ronan hitting for 8-10 damage through triple boost icons and boost effects that give him more boost cards.

• Turn the Tide is a great way for Wonder Man to push the tempo dealing damage as he thwarts. He has insane thwarting with Active Altruism but can also clean up side schemes with his basic thwart activation to trigger the response window for this card.

• Yellow Jacket can search for key upgrades like Mr. Hollywood, Jet Belt, and Clarity of Purpose.

• Kaluu can search for one of the 20 events we have in the deck and grab the best one for any specific situation.

• Professor X is our only way to confuse the villain. This deck can easily stay in hero form the entire game with so much healing, but if we get Wonder Man's obligation or if we're facing a tough villain like Ronan, Professor X will help us get down to alter-ego safely.

• Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and White Tiger are all-purpose allies that help us draw cards and dig deeper into the deck to find the card that we want on a given turn. Since Maria and Nick can often end up in the discard pile with this deck's heavy milling, it gives us the option to Make the Call for them when we need to.

High Tempo Mill

Call for Aid to trigger Digging Deeps and White Fox is one of the most fun combos in Marvel Champions. This archetype doesn't work for every hero, but when it does it's very impactful. Digging Deep is a single wild resource that can be declared an energy, which is arguably as valuable to Wonder Man as the Genius and Strength basic doubles. White Fox is a printed energy resource herself. Kaluu/Yellow Jacket/White Tiger are the only 3 Avenger allies in this deck, and all 3 can dig the deck for answers. Call for Aid will generally grab us an ally while also providing us with more resources on a given turn. Having a large hand with single resources is great to help pay for our 1 cost cards. I recommend to not play this deck conservatively and Call for Aid almost every time you see it. Wonder Man has many ways to get a card he needs even if you discard another one you wanted.

Player Side Schemes

In case we discarded our key cards, use player side schemes to put what we need into play!

• Superpower Training -> Mr. Hollywood/Jet Belt

• Build Support -> Quincarrier

• Call for Backup -> Nick Fury/Yellow Jacket/Maria Hill/Kaluu

• Evaluate Threat -> Quincarrier/Nick Fury/Yellow Jacket/Maria Hill/Kaluu/White Tiger

Tons of Decisions

This deck has tons of complex sequencing so it could take some getting used to but since there are so many options to chain into, this build isn't difficult to pilot. For example, if you need to confuse the villain, see Professor X in the discard pile and have an Evaluate Threat in hand, you could clear it to tutor Kaluu, then play Kaluu to search for a Make the Call to then put Professor X into play. In my game against Ronan, there were many different routes Wonder man could have taken to solve any given problem and there was no single "optimal" path. All of these different options embody what Marvel Champions is all about - Hope you enjoy the decision-making in this deck!