Table of Contents
Ajax is the next card to join Marvel Snap in the Maximum Effort season as the latest Series 5 card. It is a 5-Cost, 7-Power card that reads: Ongoing: +1 Power for each card in play afflicted with negative Power. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.
Please note that Ajax has been buffed to [5/7] after the patch. For more information, read the corresponding news update.
Decks with Ajax
Spotlight Cache
Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop initially as a Weekly Spotlight card, or opened as one of the featured cards in the Spotlight Caches that are found every 120 Levels on the Collection Level Track after Collection Level 500 (until the next new card releases the following week).
Strengths and Weaknesses
Ajax is an interesting effect because it will give grow based on the negative power of ALL cards on the board, both on your side and your opponent’s side. However, to gain the benefit, the reduced power has to stay on the board because it is an Ongoing effect. This means that if the reduced power is removed, Ajax will revert to his base power. So, is this just too much work to be worth the investment? Or will Ajax bring with him a new way to play affliction by becoming a new finisher?
Decks with U.S. Agent
Decks with Typhoid Mary
One interesting aspect to this card is the way it interacts with the negative interactions inflicted on your own cards. Typhoid Mary, for example, can negatively impact your side of the board and “transfer” this negative power across to Ajax. If Typhoid Mary impacts your side of the board with three cards, Ajax will go up to ten power. This could reduce the downside from some other cards like Man-Thing and U.S. Agent as well since it allows you to still get the power—just at a different location with Ajax.
The issue here is, of course, the inclusion of Luke Cage to nullify the negative impacts, which will also turn off Ajax. That means this trade off between power at other locations and Ajax has to be better than running Luke Cage and gaining the solo benefits from the card. With this package, I think it potentially could be. The deck will likely look different, but the goal may be to have cards that impact your opponent more than you and then just use Ajax as a way to ensure you benefit elsewhere instead of losing total power. The problem here is that you’re still only really gaining value if you reduce cards on your opponent’s side as well as your side.
Decks with Red Guardian
Decks with White Widow
Decks with Absorbing Man
The other option is to try impacting more cards and benefiting through Ajax. Debrii, as one of the more effective ways to add cards to your opponents side of the board, may be a good way to achieve this. However, cards like Red Guardian and White Widow may also be effective in ensuring the opponent has cards with reduced power to give extra power to your Ajax.
Decks with Luke Cage
One major flaw is clear with either these game plans: Luke Cage. This one card could reduce the power of Ajax significantly while potentially leaving you with reduced power on your side. With Ajax being an Ongoing card, you cannot gain the benefit from the reduced power cards and then use Luke Cage yourself. As such, you could easily be caught out by Luke Cage diminishing Ajax‘s power while also negating the negative power on all the other lanes you’re trying to win.
The Verdict
Hazmat decks have often fallen short in the past, and Ajax may give them a way to push power they have not had before. We may also see Ajax form part of a new way to use some of the symmetrical negative power cards. However, this card is even weaker than previous counterparts into Luke Cage, as it not only reduces the impact from the enabling cards, but also reduces the power from Ajax.
This is an interesting effect that allows for some new considerations in how we use several cards; however, based on how the effect works, it seems unlikely to become a dominant way to play.
Pre-Release Score:
Typhoid Mary
SafetyBlade
The plan with this deck is to use the power reduction cards to counter the opponent’s side of the board while trying to place them where it hurts you less. You then want to use Typhoid Mary and Ajax as your lane winners, and a core of Tech cards is your way of countering the biggest threats on the opponent’s side of the board. When working through this one, I was considering Ghost over Nocturne to always ensure a loss of priority for the Tech cards. That way you either hit them with tech or try to use Ajax as a surprise power card at the end of the game.
Onslaught
SafetyBlade
This deck looks to lean onto the Ongoing synergy with Ajax. The plan is to use cards like Klaw to spread power and use the power reduction cards to hurt your opponent and grow your Ajax. I was unsure if this deck wanted Onslaught or Spectrum as the 6-Cost card, but I went with Onslaught because he could be huge on Klaw and Man-Thing. It may just be better to run Spectrum, though.
High Evolutionary
SafetyBlade
There’s nothing fancy with this one. High Evolutionary has several reduced power pay-offs, so it could be the most cost effective way of trying out Ajax. This base build looks to finish with Ajax or Evolved Hulk and use the afflictions throughout the game to attack the other lanes.
Hazmat
SafetyBlade
Before discussing a more interesting way of building something similar to this, one of the most obvious places to include the new card is in the Toxic Surfer deck. It can just use Ajax as a potential way to go taller on one lane.
SafetyBlade
Ajax and Debrii may end up being a combination that is worth considering, and this deck looks to put as many Rocks down as possible before using Ajax and Typhoid Mary as the stat plays. By limiting the plays the opponent can make and using the extra Rocks as ways to buff your Ajax, your opponent will be stuck on counter plays and potentially unable to interact.
Doctor Octopus
SafetyBlade
Last up, this Doctor Octopus deck looks to use the negative effects from U.S. Agent and Man-Thing to make Ajax bigger while remaining in control of another lane. The plan is to hit either the Rocks or the cards from Doctor Octopus with the power reduction effects, benefit from Ajax, and then use Tech cards to win the other lane.
Variants
Closing Thoughts
Stealing power from your opponent while creating a massive threat of your own is pure upside. The risk you are really taking here is with the counter cards, and that can be supported by the deck or how you choose to play him out. While you may not always see the impact of stealing your opponent’s power, a card that provides a significant threat while also hurting your opponent is likely to be a powerful standalone card, and I believe it’s one worth putting the time in to acquire.
Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!
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