Gorgon, Laufey, and Uncle Ben Decks and Strategy Guide

In the new limited time mode, Sanctum Showdown, we will get a chance to unlock three new cards: Gorgon, Laufey, and Uncle Ben. If you miss any of them during this occasion, they will become available as Series 4 cards in the Token Shop starting on March 13th.

Sanctum Showdown

Today, we will take a deeper look at these new cards and, of course, the best decks to try them out.

Gorgon

This is clearly a counter card to certain synergies like Arishem and Big Hand decks, so Gorgon‘s playability should be dependent on the top meta contenders. To be fair, the competition among 2-Cost cards is so fierce that I doubt Gorgon will see much play in Ranked since the mode is unfit for a targeted strategy (you can always just give up a cube instead of changing your deck). In Conquest, however, I could see Gorgon holding some value, because it could single-handedly make the Arishem match up quite simple to beat.

It will also be getting a slight text update with the March 4 patch, and it can still affect Arishem:

As a bit of a Patch preview for next week, we wanted to give you all a heads up about a text change coming to Gorgon, one of this week’s newest cards.

Gorgon
[Old] 2/3 – Ongoing: Your opponent’s cards that didn’t start in their deck cost 1 more. (maximum 6)
[New] 2/3 – Ongoing: Your opponent’s created cards cost 1 more. (maximum 6)

This is one of four cards (you can try to guess the others!) who are being updated similarly for the sake of player comprehension. Cards that were created during the game form a clearer conceptual unit. This does affect some synergies, like with cards from Cable, but it also opens up new opportunities for the future. Don’t worry, it still affects Arishem’s cards, though.

Pre-Release Score:

Laufey

A [4/5] base is very weak, especially when you think about all the [4/6] and [4/7] cards with amazing abilities (such as Moonstone, Wiccan, and Galacta). Fortunately, Laufey it should be easy to grow its power, as each opposing card on the location represents another two power. As such, Laufey could represent a [4/11] or [4/13] on most occasions depending on how many opposing cards are in play. I know the card also takes power from your own cards, but that is just a transfer instead of a steal.

If you also consider the synergies with Ajax and Abomination in a High Evolutionary deck, Laufey suddenly looks pretty appealing. You can also entice the opponent to play on one location with Nebula or Jean Grey, which sets up Laufey for a huge power spike. Plus, the problem of so many 4-Costs being good means it should be fairly simple to pair it with Zabu.

The only roadblock is a meta with a prevalent Shadow King or Luke Cage population. Opponents who develop slowly and play their cards in different locations could also be an issue. The first scenario likely makes Laufey difficult to play, but the second one would only really delay your ability to maximize its efficiency. Still, with Zabu supporting 4-Cost cards, it should be easy to find some Turn 6 patterns with Laufey plus another 4-Cost card.

Pre-Release Score:

Uncle Ben

A 1-Cost card that turns into a 2-Cost is an appealing offer, but the condition makes Uncle Ben difficult to leverage. Indeed, the only deck that merges the Destroy and Move synergies is Phoenix Force, but you definitely don’t want to destroy Uncle Ben in that deck.

It is difficult to find an obvious home for Uncle Ben, apart from pure Destroy decks that need more targets in addition to X-23 and Deadpool (and would welcome the extra four points brought by Spider-Man). I think the most obvious synergy would be a deck that is looking to play both Killmonger and some 1-Cost cards to avoid skipping Turn 1. Then Uncle Ben could complement The Hood, for example.

Pre-Release Score:

Gorgon Decks

Due to its function as a counter card more than a synergistic option, Gorgon virtually fits any deck that has a flexible slot and the will to run it.

If the goal is to specifically target Arishem, Mill would probably make the most sense as a deck for the 2-Cost. Indeed, Arishem typically bullies Mill since it is impossible to make them run out of cards while you steal random stuff most of the time.

Otherwise, Gorgon is an Ongoing card so you could run it in Ongoing themed decks and buff it with Spectrum or double the ability with Moonstone.

Laufey Decks

In the right meta where decks tend to fill the board rather quickly, Laufey could be a good card to play in a deck that already wants Zabu already. Outside that scenario, I expect Laufey to be a nice support tool for Ajax or the High Evolutionary synergy.

Uncle Ben Decks

Nebula and Hydra Bob are very solid 1-Cost cards, but Scream Move rarely plays more than one 1-Cost nowadays. As such, maybe Uncle Ben could lead the deck to play Killmonger, which adds another layer of disruption on top of Spider-Man already being strong in the build.

Past that option, I’m mostly testing the waters with decks that are already running Killmonger.

Closing Thoughts

From afar, it might look like Second Dinner is giving us below average cards. However, I feel that each of these new tools currently has a home in Marvel Snap. Sure, none of them seem mandatory, but that would be a problem if you had to spend resources to get them like other questionable cards in Spotlight Caches. This time, you can grab these three just by playing the upcoming Sanctum Showdown mode, so their borderline playable nature doesn’t bother me one bit.

It’s quite the opposite actually—I’m eager to see if any of these cards can make an impact because it’s been a while since more than two cards released at the same time. If you want to purchase these cards with ease, make sure to check out some of the strategies and decks that you can try in the new game mode in my strategy guide:

Sanctum Showdown Strategy Guide and Best Decks to Play

I hope this review of the new cards was helpful. Feel free to share your opinions and excitement about the cards 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. Also, feel free to hit me up on discord (@den_ccg) if you were looking for coaching.

Good Game Everyone!