Lockdown
Table of Contents
Archetype pages are updated after each tier list is made. If a page isn’t up-to-date, it means there was nothing worth saying about in the last report, either because there was no data about it, or the archetype did poorly.
How to Play
As an archetype, Lockdown attempts to win a lane through restricting the ability to play on it with Storm. Then, the deck will use its remaining arsenal of tools to go all in on another location, or spread points to force the opponent to beat you on the remaining two.
At its core, the archetype isn’t trying to enter a points contest with its opponent. Instead, it wants to control the space available to both players and attack where the opponent won’t be able to reciprocate. With that in mind, a game with Lockdown can be a race for priority to land Alioth on Turn 6 since you have a read on what the opponent will do by then. You can also do quite the opposite by taking it slow and methodically taking away their options during the match. This way, Vision and Doctor Doom can give you a lot of flexibility in the later turns.
One crucial thing to consider with Lockdown is the need to know the most popular decks in the meta because you will have to anticipate their strategy to be able to block their ideal play patterns.
Current Lockdown Builds
Lockdown
Created by 
den
den, updated 21 days ago
1x Collection Level 1-14
3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
1x Starter Card
3.6
Cost
4.2
Power
Guides
Current Power Level in the Meta
With Hela and The Living Tribunal currently ruling the game, any deck that is able to set up a good Alioth has a big upside in this meta. This is exactly what Lockdown is doing apparently, as the 52% Win Rate shouldn’t net a 0.35 Cube Average for this type of deck. It typically averages two to three more percents in that category.
The list is still based around Zabu—even after its nerf—which is a little odd in my opinion. Still, if you can get four to eight cubes every time you match up against one of the synergistic decks, I understand how this could be a good pick.
Conquest Performance
Lockdown
Created by den
den, updated 11 days ago
2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
8x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
3.3
Cost
4.2
Power
I don’t know how Lockdown managed to post a solid performance last week with the [2/3] Zabu, but I’m very glad the deck looks to have gone a different direction now
For this one, we still find some staples of the archetype, such as Nebula or Ms. Marvel, but Professor X is now the lockdown card of choice. In a metagame with a lot of Annihilus going around, the card makes a lot of sense, and it finds good synergies in this deck as well, helping Nebula or White Widow be as annoying as possible.
0.3 cube average isn’t so bad for a deck in rebuilding mode, especially with a 57% win rate.
Archetype Evolution Over Time
April 28th Update
- Lockdown has started exploring new lists without Zabu since the OTA. Professor X is a great card right now, so it looks to be the new foundation for the deck.
- The ability to snipe Hela or part of The Living Tribunal‘s synergy with Alioth is keeping Lockdown in business right now. Otherwise, Lockdown doesn’t have any particular upsides compared to the other flexible archetypes.
- Lockdown is a high Tier 2 archetype early in the Zeroes to Heroes season with the list that struggled to post meaningful results over the last two seasons.
- Lockdown completed its post-OTA comeback with a Tier 1 performance, knocking on the door of the very best decks in the game. There is still a little gap with Thanos and Destroy, but Lockdown was on Discard’s level this week. This is already a huge testimony of the OTA’s impact on the archetype.
- Lockdown came back thanks to the global buff the Guardians of the Galaxy received. It didn’t make the archetype a powerhouse, but Lockdown is at least worth being discussed now, which is miles above what it had been during the first three weeks this season.
- Lockdown is still very discreet, but the new imbalance event gave the archetype a chance to build around the Avengers synergy. Maybe that will give Lockdown some form of momentum?
- Lockdown has completely disappeared in the early season.
- The lists have not changed after the OTA, but Lockdown did pick up a bit of momentum nonetheless. Most of it has gone into posting one of the best Win Rates in Conquest so far.
- Lockdown is a Tier 3 deck with its most popular build. Since there are several builds around, there is a chance one of them could be a Tier 2 contender.