Best Arnim Zola Decks, Builds And Card Analysis

Arnim Zola has never been considered one of the top 6-Cost cards in the game, with many judging him too gimmicky to be effective. This situation may have changed with Patch 6.9. With the recent balance changes, Marvel Snap now offers several interesting 5-Costs that Arnim Zola can capitalize on.

As a result, the once overlooked giant robot started making appearances in several decks, and entered the same conversation as Odin, Doctor Doom and Magneto, as a go-to 6-Cost card.

Variants

Arnim Zola

On Reveal: Destroy one of your other cards here to copy it at the other locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Arnim Zola: Gameplay and Synergies

As a card, Arnim Zola has “combo” written all over it. This means we aren’t going to judge the card on its own, but rather in the context of the possibilities it opens for our deck. After all, these possibilities are what make the card relevant right now. After Patch 6.9, Devil Dinosaur and Ronan the Accuser were changed to become 5-Cost cards, in exchange for being a bit beefier.

Because Arnim Zola is a 6-Cost card, we don’t have much room to work with. This means that we need to have played a card that is worth duplicating in the first five turns. One exception is that Magik opens us up to trying to duplicate a 6-Cost with a turn seven Arnim Zola. Wave can produce a similar effect.

The other limitation to the card is the way it picks its target: at random on the location you play it. This means we need to have a card that is big enough by itself, so we make sure Arnim Zola will duplicate it.
For example, this completely takes Angela out of the equation, as she will never be big enough to be worth copying and alone on her location at the same time (except perhaps in a move deck). This also makes a card like Jubilee difficult to play if we were looking for help in order to summon a good target for Arnim Zola before turn six.

Let’s start this analysis by looking at all the potential targets for Arnim Zola without Magik giving us an extra turn. We’re looking for the highest possible amount of points by turn 5, and the ability to be alone on a location.

Variants

Devil Dinosaur

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your hand.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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Variants

Ronan the Accuser

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Red Skull

Ongoing: Enemy cards here have +2 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Gamora

On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.

Recruit Season

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Variants

Bishop

After you play a card, this gains +1 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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Variants

The Collector

When a card enters your hand from anywhere (except your deck), +1 Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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Variants

Human Torch

When this moves, double its Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Deadpool

When this is destroyed, return it to your hand with double the Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Deadpool

First up, we have the 5-Cost cards with the highest total point. These are the best cards to curve into Arnim Zola with. This row is entirely made of buffed cards in the last patch, which demonstrates how much of a difference it made for our featured card.
Next up are cards we can play early that can grow bigger, in addition to being alone on their location at the time we use Arnim Zola to duplicate them.

Now let’s add Magik or Wave into the mix and see which 6-Costs are worth considering:

Variants

Odin

On Reveal: Activate the On Reveal abilities of your other cards here.

Collection Level 1-14

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Variants

Doctor Doom

On Reveal: Add a 5-Power DoomBot to each other location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Onslaught

Ongoing: Double your other Ongoing effects here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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Variants

Spectrum

On Reveal: Give your Ongoing cards +2 Power.

Collection Level 1-14

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Variants

Giganto

You can only play this at the left location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Hulk

“HULK SMASH!”

Starter Card

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Variants

Magneto

On Reveal: Move all enemy 3 and 4-Cost cards to this location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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With the 6-Costs added to the mix, we get some excellent targets. First up are cards with abilities that seem to be worth duplicating.
Odin would trigger the On-Reveal effects in both lanes he goes to, while Doctor Doom would basically fill our board on its own. Onslaught would double our ongoing cards, and Spectrum would give an extra four power to all our ongoing units.

Next up are other big boys that we could be happy to duplicate with Arnim Zola, although we can see that their power is mostly on par with the one of the 5-Cost cards. As such, including Magik or Wave in the mix would likely be aimed at accessing powerful abilities rather than simply bigger point totals.

Let’s talk about other marginal reasons to play Arnim Zola, like cards that make it better, or fringe cases where the card has some fun interactions:

Variants

Mister Negative

On Reveal: Swap the Power and Cost of all cards in your deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Hobgoblin

On Reveal: Switch sides.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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Variants

Venom

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards here. Add their Power to this card.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Venom

Although Mister Negative makes Arnim Zola a 0-Cost card, this interaction wasn’t very popular before the nerf, so I don’t expect it to be played a lot.
The goblins are quite fun, as if you eat them, they will trigger their On Reveal again and go back to your opponent if space is available.
Lastly, Venom should be easy to get alone on its location, eating every other card there. Yet, it also means it will eat all the cards where it lands, limiting the kinds of cards you can play there.

For a card that was considered fringe at best before Patch 6.9, we can see Arnim Zola has quite the supporting cast available in Marvel Snap. This should lead to some interesting decks.

Devil Dinosaur And Ronan the Accuser Are Very Popular Zola Targets

Handsize

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With the Handsize archetype making a comeback early in Patch 6.9, and the updated Sandwave deck now called “Hurricane”, Arnim Zola seems to have found two solid decks to shine.

In both decks, the card is used for copying our biggest points contributors, duplicating Devil Dinosaur in Handsize and Ronan the Accuser in Hurricane. Both decks have backup targets in the form of Bishop, The Collector, Doctor Doom and Odin.

These two decks look like the most well-rounded decks using Arnim Zola, as the card doesn’t represent a definite win condition. It should be seen as part of a synergistic core, amongst other options for turn six.

Building A Target For Arnim Zola

Arnimove

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

1

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deathpool Zola

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

If the two previous decks were looking to develop the target for Arnim Zola on turn five, those decks are doing it a bit differently. In this case, we look to use Human Torch or Deadpool to grow a unit out of proportion, and then use Arnim Zola to get even more points out of that unit.

The previous two decks had to leave a location empty in order to have their two turn synergy work, while these decks are able to play more freely onto the locations. They can then use the Move or the Destroy synergy in order to clear the location they plan to use Arnim Zola on, disguising it more efficiently.

Both decks are playing Venom and an extra target for Arnim Zola as backup plans. The move deck includes Devil Dinosaur, which is able to get big due to Moon Girl and Beast. The destroy deck uses Death as the secondary target, as we should be able to play Death and Arnim Zola on the same turn with Wave’s ability.

Once again, our featured card comes in as an addition to an already functional synergy, looking to create another angle to take in a deck that is already functional.

Closing Words

With Mister Negative’s nerf, it feels like there is a hole to fill in the Marvel Snap metagame, and the community has been very active trying to find cards to fill that hole.

For now, it feels like Arnim Zola is on a lot of players lists as a potentially abusable card. I believe the results are showing, as various archetypes are including the card and seem to be happy with their results so far.

Only the future can tell us whether Arnim Zola will be a dominant card or go back to being a gimmick. But the card’s start in 6.9 is very promising to say the least!

Have a build with Arnim Zola you want to share? Join us in our community discord! As for myself, feel free to tag or message me on Twitter.

Good Game Everyone,