Best Iron Patriot Decks In Marvel Snap

New year, new season as Marvel Snap starts 2025 on a rather nefarious note as a few villains are looking to assert themselves in positions of power. The Dark Avengers season marks the arrival of five new cards; each can grant Snappers an advantage or a victory depending on how they're being played and the decks they're included.

This season features a refreshed Season Pass, which the Iron Patriot is the reward card for January 2025, but how powerful or influential is this card upon its release? This iron-clad guide will answer this question, which details its ability, highlights key synergies and top counters, and provides three unique decks to bring to Friendly Battles or Conquest in Marvel Snap.

Marvel Snap Iron Patriot Card Abilities Explained

As the antithesis to what the Avengers symbolize and stand for, the Dark Avengers is yet another prominent heor assemble consisting of mostly villains and, at times, anti-heroes who were banded together under the influence of Norman Osborn when he took over S.H.I.E.L.D. While its line-up has changed over the years, some notable members are reunited again in Marvel Snap's first themed season of 2025, the Dark Avengers season.

One prominent member, the Iron Patriot, is the first to debut in Marvel Snap; however, its exoskeleton suit has been piloted by a handful of Marvel characters. Most notably, Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes had donned this suit before taking up the War Machine mantle and suit, but Norman Osborn is the character who first assumed the Iron Patriot suit in Marvel Comics.

Following the Dark Avengers season launch on 7th January 2025, Iron Patriot becomes available in-game as a two-Cost and three Power card. This card launches with an On Reveal ability that, once played, adds a random 4, 5, or 6 Cost card to their hand, and if they're winning the location here "after the next turn," it gives that added card -4 Cost.

There are a handful of great synergistic cards and deck archetypes that will flourish with the addition of Iron Patriot, but it's also susceptible to a few noted counters, which we'll discuss later in this guide. Nevertheless, this card and its variant are available as a Season Pass reward during the Dark Avengers season and are likely to appear at the Token Shop in the next season; however, its pricing has yet to be determined.

Best Marvel Snap Iron Patriot Decks: Iron Dino Nuggies

As stated before, some good synergistic cards and deck archetypes will greatly benefit from the addition of Iron Patriot, like Quinjet, The Collector, Grandmaster, Absorbing Man, Devil Dinosaur, and another new card release, Victoria Hand. However, cards like Cosmo, Mobius M. Mobius, Red Guardian, Shang-Chi, and Lady Deathstrike are a few strong counters that Snappers may encounter and can wreak havoc on their strategy in winning the match.

Quinjet and Devil Dinosaur are key cards to pair up with Iron Patriot, which are the focus of this dino-powered deck from Marvel Snap content creator ReZ Snapper. The main priority of this deck is card generation, achieved with Maria Hill, Snowguard, Agent Coulson, Moon Girl, and, of course, Iron Patriot.

All the cards generated by the aforementioned cards will help power The Collector while being discounted by Quinjet and receiving a power buff through Blue Marvel. These cards will also help Devil Dinosaur increase its power value, which playing Mystique can copy its ability and play a location to secure its priority to win the match.

Best Marvel Snap Iron Patriot Decks: Greedy Iron Can

Snappers looking to play outside the Devil Dinosaur archetype to avoid getting targeted by Cosmo, Red Guardian, or Shang-Chi, another great synergistic archetype to play around these counters is a Tempo-style deck. This specific archetype gained a slight resurgence following the releases of Hope Summers and Wiccan; the latter card is the centerpiece of this featured Tempo deck.

This Wiccan-centric Tempo deck comes to us from Marvel Snap content creator Regis Killbin and features a handful of familiar faces specializing in card generation, like Mirage, Kate Bishop, and Iron Patriot. The focus is less on generating cards and more on playing cards on curve in the first three turns before Speed and Wiccan are in play before getting to play those valuable higher-cost cards.

The deck also includes Hydra Bob, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Rocket Raccoon & Groot, which can help swing location priority in their favor, and Galacta to give cards an extra power buff but watch out for Shadow King as a potential counter. With the lanes set up and gaining max Energy from Wiccan, it will help them play out Copycat and, eventually, Alioth to ruin any chances their opponent may have to steal the victory!

Best Marvel Snap Iron Patriot Decks: The Patriot Machine

If playing a card generation or a Tempo-styled deck is still not up their alley, but they want to lean into the second part of Iron Patriot's On Reveal ability, a style premised on winning locations may be a good strategy to explore. However, this playstyle may see Rogue, Enchantress, and Shang-Chi as strong counters against it, but it's possible to avert crisis by setting up lanes to avoid the crosshairs of these counters.

This location-stealing deck from Marvel Snap content creator Bynx Plays focuses on taking advantage of Iron Patriot's ability to get a discounted card by winning a location. There are a few ways to achieve this, but a Lockdown-style deck with the inclusion of Storm, War Machine, and Legion can help Snappers successfully meet this condition.

Zabu is one of the key cards in this deck as it can give important four-Cost cards a discount, like Storm, Iron Lad, and War Machine while setting up adjacent locations with Hydra Bob and Jeff the Baby Land Shark; both can move into the Ebony Maw locked-down lane. Once Storm and War Machine are in play, Iron Patriot and Juggernaut can join the battleground to ensure they secured location priority before playing Legion onto the Storm location, which should help them play The Infinaut safely on the last turn.

For more Marvel Snap news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below: