MODOK Best Day 1 Decks and Concepts

The new season is still fresh, but its new Battle Pass card, MODOK, is already making waves. Zabu was solidly anchored as the best card in the game (proven by several players hitting Infinite already with the Zabu Darkhawk deck) and along with Silver Surfer, has now been nerfed to shakeup the meta. Nevertheless, MODOK is impacting Marvel Snap in its own way and has managed to make discard archetypes very relevant for the start of Into the Quantum Realm season.

In this piece, I’d like to highlight the different directions MODOK pushed in the first day of play, how these are being refined for now, and which archetypes have the best chances at being relevant in the long run. The community has been very active so far, but three different decks seem to have dominated when it comes to popularity. Hela Discard, the more traditional Dracula + Apocalypse build, and a hybrid deck merging the two concepts together. As of the time of writing, the metagame still feels in its experimental phase, so it is difficult to say which archetype is unequivocally stronger. Each has its merits, either offering a higher points ceiling or more flexibility relative to the various locations.

There are already a few developments worth noting to give the new Battle Pass card credit for. Particularly, the opportunity to use The Collector or Helicarrier in some discard decks again. Those two cards have gone completely unused for several months now. Amongst other honorable mentions, some players have tossed the idea of reusing Okoye and Nakia in order to buff Swarm, another key card to many MODOK builds.

A lot to talk about then, so let’s explore all the brewing done around MODOK and see what the community was able to come up with!

HowlingMines and SafetyBlade already featured some decks with the new card, which I won’t list here for redundancy purposes. You can check them out in the links below:

Dracula Discard, the obvious best

Dracula MODOK

Created by den

, updated 3 years ago

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The basic discard archetype felt like the obvious start in order to test MODOK, and it didn’t disappoint. This particular list was shared by Griffin Bennett, but I believe it is amongst the current most popular builds.

Thanks to the new cards, Morbius gets so big that The Collector made it back in the deck. Together, they easily challenge a lane, while Dracula should take care of the second one through discarding Apocalypse on game’s end. The reason both cards are growing to such humongous amounts of points is the relationship between MODOK and Swarm, allowing both Morbius to have a ton of discards and The Collector to have a lot of cards coming back in hand. So far, without the help of positive locations, Morbius should routinely be able to grow past the ten power mark, making it the best 2-cost in the game currently. The Collector is a tad weaker, but should often grow close to double digits when played on turn two.

In addition to both cards being big points contributors, their power remaining unknown to the opponent until the very last turn makes them special. MODOK on turn five, or sometimes six, isn’t so simple for the opponent to visualize, and this gives the deck great unpredictability.

Outside this new interaction with both Morbius and The Collector, MODOK can be considered the best discard effect in the deck. The card makes sure we discard the cards we want, but also that Apocalypse is alone on game’s end in our hand, ready for Dracula to take its power, along with providing Swarms to play behind Lockjaw on turn six.

As a downside, this deck didn’t gain any flexibility regarding the various locations, which can sometimes lock it out of the ability to develop properly. The points’ ceiling is through the roof with MODOK joining the deck, but the lingering problem of not being flexible keeps hurting the deck.

Hela Discard, Highroll to the moon !

Hela Discard

Created by den

, updated 3 years ago

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Play M.O.D.O.K. behind Invisible Woman, then Hela there on turn six, and watch the fireworks. This is so simple that even your opponent probably figured it as well, and they will disrupt the play pattern if able to. As such, Hela couldn’t simply rely on this sole combo in order to win games, leading to Lockjaw being included in order to add another way to pull it off. If you don’t have Hela in hand, you can safely play Modok and then use the Swarms generated to fetch your deck and find your signature card on turn six.

Once again, we can see Morbius making an appearance; the card is simply too strong not to include in a deck alongside M.O.D.O.K. The Collector, however, doesn’t make as much sense here as in the previous archetype since we aren’t trying to discard through the whole match. But Helicarrier does!

Considering we aren’t playing Apocalypse, M.O.D.O.K. can leave us empty handed after it activates, and we don’t always draw into Hela on the next turn. Helicarrier offers another way to play on turn six, and also some cards to throw behind Lockjaw if we don’t have Swarm in hand at that point. As a side bonus, the cards it generates can sometimes save Hela from being discarded by Hellcow, which acts as a mini MODOK in the deck.

Obviously, Hela discard is a high roll based deck, meaning the game plan won’t always be as smooth as with the Dracula deck. Anticipate more retreates. Hela does, however, allow us to reach all locations when she summons our cards back in play, which gives it a little bonus compared to the more unflexible archetype of discard.

Zabu Discard?

MODOK Zabu

Created by den

, updated 3 years ago

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Let’s enter the realm of the more complicated decks that look to benefit from more than just a ton of discards. In this variation, a build shared by Raven on Twitter, we have Zabu and a package of 4-cost cards to go alongside our discard staples. Let’s discuss the three interesting inclusions here:

• Shuri is simply is a great card and can make MODOK a 16 power play, enough to contest most lanes.
• Wong obivously synergizes with our discards and makes MODOK go absolutely nuts on our hand, generating four Swarms and buffing Apocalypse twice.
• Mystique can copy Morbius, which is already enough to make the card appealing, but can also duplicate Wong’s ability to unlock a new realm of discard possibilities.

Overall, this deck feels like the Discard Dracula Lockjaw build with fewer discards but much more support. Mainly, the 3-cost cards have disappeared, so no Sword Master, Moon Knight, or Lady Sif. This obviously hurts the reliability a bit, but Wong could be enough to largely make up for these omissions, and, to be fair, MODOK powers up Morbius, The Collector, and Apocalypse on its own.

I don’t expect this particular build to survive the data mined Zabu nerf (when it happens). Shuri and Wong would likely be too expensive to use in combination with other cards. Until then, don’t refrain from testing and having fun with the deck!

Strong Guy, Budget Discard

Budget Discard

Created by den

, updated 3 years ago

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6x

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Recruit Season

Though they haven’t made it to the big and popular builds yet, Swarm feels very powerful alongside MODOK. A lot of players have started talking about including Okoye and Nakia in their deck to make your Swarms even stronger.

I don’t really know what could be removed from the other archetypes in order to include these two, so let’s give them their own deck for now. This is a budget version I have seen where Okoye and Nakia make a lot of sense if they can touch Swarm with their ability. Also, with the curve being quite low, we should be able to manipulate our hand to get Swarm to the left for Nakia’s buff.

Other similar lists have been spotted as well, using cards like Apocalypse or Moon Girl. These two would replace Bishop and Strong Guy to create a higher curve and would allow including The Collector like in other builds as well.

DeraJN played a similar idea with Series 3 and 4 cards included in the deck, including Colleen Wing and Helicarrier to support Swarm and The Collector even more.

Closing Words

With six different ideas already roaming the ladder around MODOK, I think it is safe to say the card is appealing and seems rather strong for now. I don’t expect all these decks to stay relevant in the long run; the freshness of the card obviously boosts its popularity right now. If Hela or Dracula were able to come back to some competitive relevancy, all the discard aficionados would be glad.

It is hard to say which is the overall better deck currently. Some archetypes, such as the Dracula based ones, are strong when it comes to the amount of points they can develop, while others, like the Hela based ones, pack more flexibility and aren’t annoyed by tricky locations as much. The best way to look at it for now is to be happy that there are several decks available, so you can find the one most suited to your play style.

Hopefully the discard synergy is back for real and can finally make a comeback in the tier list, as it was locked in Tier 4 for a large part of January. To find out, come check our next installment early next week!

Until then, find the whole Marvel Snap Zone crew on discord, and myself on Twitter for direct messaging.

Good Game Everyone