Best Loki Decks and Loki Counter Decks

Season Pass cards are the most discussed cards every month in Marvel Snap. In the Token Shop era, they were the most popular card each season by a very large margin. Now in the Spotlight Cache system, it seems like other cards have picked up since players can target a specific card each month. For example, X-23 was very popular last month, and I’m sure many are planning to save for Mobius M. Mobius in a few weeks from now.

However, Season Pass cards remain the most impactful card of the month based on that high popularity, especially when that card is a good one. Loki has followed this trend, maybe even more than the other Season Pass cards we’ve had recently. Indeed, the card has been compared to Zabu and Silver Surfer by some players in the community.

Variants

Loki

On Reveal: Transform your hand into cards from your opponent’s starting deck and give them -1 Cost.

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Loki

The card received help from The Triskelion as Wednesday’s Hot Location; it naturally made Loki look even stronger than it was. Still, it is undeniable that Loki has made a much bigger impact than Daken, Ghost-Spider, and The Phoenix Force. Four months ago, Nebula had a great impact and was touted as the next 1-Cost card that would be included everywhere. Loki is said to be better than this, even though it only pushes one archetype.

The archetype, which I’ll call “Big Hands” for the rest of this article, has risen to be the most popular deck in the first days of this season. It also posted good enough numbers to be called the best in the game. This last statement is debatable, as Shuri Sauron was a worthy foe when looking at the available data for both decks. Nonetheless, Big Hands should be considered an elite deck, at the very least, over the first three days of the season. It took the meta by storm, the same way Move Legion and Patriot Surfer did in the previous season – and both decks eventually took a hit from Second Dinner. If this is a reason to call for a nerf to Big Hands, we also have to note that it took at least two weeks for the nerfs to the other decks to go live, and I don’t think an OTA balance update with The Collector losing one or two power would be a solution many people will be satisfied with.

In this article, I’d like to explore the reason why you are right to think Big Hands is already a nerf-worthy candidate. I’ll showcase the decks that have performed the best and the various adaptations one can bring to the archetype. Also, I’d like to talk a little bit about why it might be too early to get your pitchforks out, as some decks have performed pretty well against Big Hands during that same period.

Ready to dive deep into everything Loki brought to Marvel Snap?

Best Performing Loki Archetypes

As is usually the case with a powerful ability, the first decks to rise around Loki are built around proactive strategies. It only makes sense, as we have very little information about what the card needs to beat at first, so we just look for what is the strongest synergy we can develop for points.

With that in mind, we will typically see the card paired with strong synergies that already exist or alongside strong standalone cards. It only makes sense; we don’t have enough information to build something designed to counter. Loki followed that trend, with all of its best performing archetypes focused around proactive concepts so far. There are some disruptive cards that are often included, such as Armor and Cosmo, in order to protect The Collector and Angela. However, we have yet to see cards designed to beat a specific archetype added.

I’m sure these will come soon – especially if Loki continues to be the most popular deck on the Ladder. For example, Cable has started to become an inclusion for many players as a way to try stealing either Loki or The Collector in the mirror match.

Loki Bounce

Loki Bounce

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1.8

Cost

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5+

1.6

Power

0-
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5+

According to the data I have available from the various deck trackers, Bounce seems to be the best performing hybrid archetype with Loki, the better one being the Big Hands archetype. In that deck, The Collector replaces Hit Monkey as the huge power card, and there are a ton of ways to manage your hand for Loki if you intend to play it. In addition, Bishop and Angela have a lot of reasons to be happy in this kind of deck because both the deck and Loki‘s ability give you tools to grow them.

Here, Loki serves its usual purpose of growing The Collector to a crazy amount of power, as well as changing your hand to get different options for the late-game. That second trait is particularly important in Bounce because a lot of cards are timing based, such as Bishop, or have much more upside when played earlier in the match, such as Kitty Pryde. Also, Loki is great for changing your cheap cards once you’ve bounced them to your hand and are looking for more points out of your cards.

Early in a season, it is typical for proactive decks to do better. They reward a game plan where you try to impose your will onto your opponent, which limits the need for situational cards or even possess much information about their deck. Bounce is perfect in that regard, and it has the upside of being a very flexible deck as well. You can reposition your cards and continue to grow the power of your pillars (Angela, Bishop, and The Collector).

I am a bit surprised about Quinjet not being included in this deck, although it doesn’t necessarily fit the theme of a Bounce deck. Still, the card has proven to be incredibly effective with Loki, and there is still some card generation in the deck. It’s probably the first card I would be looking to include if I had to make a change.

Loki Move

Loki Move

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
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5+

Move Legion felt like it a lost a lot after the nerf to both Legion and Captain Marvel reduced the deck’s potential power. As such, I was quite surprised to find this list, which was posting solid results over hundreds of games. It’s one of Loki‘s highest Win Rate builds.

This is a simple mix of two synergies that keeps the most important elements of each. On the one hand, you have the Move package with Silk, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Kraven, and Spider-Man. Nightcrawler is typically not considered a staple, but I guess the deck needed another 1-Cost alongside Quinjet (and if you get Kraven, the card is usually a [1/4]).

The other half of the deck is the Loki crew, with Agent Coulson and Nick Fury as the multi-card generators. This makes a deck that isn’t solely focused around either synergy. Cable is the chosen 2-Cost card, but Sentinel, Mirage, or Maria Hill could also be in that slot. The possibility to steal The Collector or Loki in a mirror match is difficult to pass up, though.

Once again, this looks like an attempt to build something flexible around Loki, that still revolves around a very proactive core and makes it easier to read where the deck is going. I don’t know if these decks will survive once the metagame adapts to Loki and figures out how to limit how much it can develop.

Loki Big Hands

Loki Big Hands

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

2.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
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5+

The last of the three builds around Loki is much closer to what I was expecting when I started researching the card for this article. Also, it seems to be the best one so far, even if Cable is quickly taking over Sentinel as the last inclusion in the deck.

Simply put, the reason that the more flexible decks we have seen aren’t doing as good as this one is the Snap mechanic. It incites you to look for the very best possible thing rather than settle for something good. As such, because Loki is extremely popular right now, you are bound to play the mirror match a lot (if you decide to play Loki yourself, of course). Typically, your draw is much more important in a mirror match; it’s a huge factor in deciding who will emerge the winner. When you draw into your best outs, you can confidently Snap since the opponent will only be able to match what you are doing at best.

Knowing this, you can raise the stakes on your better hands and just leave a cube on the table for your bad ones. Going for a very committed strategy, therefore, makes a lot of sense in a metagame where your most common match up is a deck that is similar to yours. Sure, the more flexible deck will win in the odd scenarios, or when things don’t go according to plan. But, when things do go according to plan, the player who put all their eggs in the same basket knows it can push further than the opponent.

Down the line, I expect this build, or something close to it, to be the only Loki deck around. As such, if one was to look to counter the new Season Pass card, they probably should look into how to beat this archetype more than anything else.

Best Archetypes to Take On Loki

The other common casualty when a card has a wide appeal and sees a lot of play is that some counter archetypes rise to benefit from the environment. Of course, these usually take a little more time to build up momentum, especially if we have to create a tailored deck rather than just find a good archetype we can plug and play.

In addition, looking to counter a specific deck comes with more requirements. Once we have found a deck that makes sense to abuse the popular build, we also have to learn the intricacies of that match up. When to Snap, what to be careful about from opponents, which locations can turn the match up around… Assuming the role of the counter deck is much more difficult than simply jamming the new proactive deck, because you basically have to learn two archetypes: ours, and the one we look to beat consistently.

So far, Loki is still running wild and free, and a clear counter is yet to become popular. This doesn’t mean we do not have any idea on how to attack the problem, though. Several archetypes have been discussed among the community already. But, for the same reason it might be a little early to call for a nerf to Loki, we also need time to make sure certain match ups work the way we think they will. To call it a counter, we need a deck that will be reliably strong against Loki, not just win when the stars align.

Hela Lockjaw

Hela Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

When Loki takes cards from your starting deck and reduces their cost, it usually leads to a very explosive turn for your opponent. If you were playing a lot of cheap cards, they get to create some synergies, and even the more expensive ones tend to find a way to hit the board if Quinjet is in play.

However, when it comes to Hela, it is extremely hard to leverage several cards in the deck, as they tend to need several turns to work properly:

• Hela is useless if you have not discarded anything. They could use Blade or Colleen Wing in the same turn, but your Hela will be miles better than theirs.
• Lockjaw works with your deck, but a Loki deck has barely any cards worth fetching. The same is true for Jubilee.
• The Infinaut is unplayable unless they skipped a turn.
• Swarm and Death have to be discarded to be effective, which limits a Turn 5 Loki play.

Sure, your opponent could very well play Loki on Turn 3 and then basically play a mirror match. It is, however, undeniable that they aren’t taking a winning bet. This deck relies heavily on pulling specific synergies, which they will rarely get complete in their hand.

Also, Gambit is a perfect way to try sniping The Collector if they played it on Turn 2. And it’s even better if it follows up a Quinjet on Turn 1!

Cerebro 3

Cerebro 3

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.7

Power

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5+

In a similar vein as Hela Lockjaw, there are a lot of cards in this deck that require a specific situation to be considered effective. Yes, there is a risk in giving your opponent both Iron Man and Mystique. It has the potential to hurt a lot, and it would typically lose you the game as both cards can be played on Turn 6 with Loki‘s reduction. You could run Professor X instead of Iron Man to mitigate that problem. Otherwise, a lot of the other cards are kind of useless for the opponent:

• Valkyrie and Shadow King will very likely hurt them more than they hurt you. The worst case is disabling Bast‘s buff on a few of your cards, but it completely dismantles Angela and The Collector.
• Every other card is ability driven rather than power driven, which isn’t great unless they’re buffed by Cerebro.

As of now, Cerebro 3 has established itself as the most popular counter deck to Loki. The first reviews seem to lead towards a favorable match up for Cerebro, at least.

Galactus

Galactus

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

One thing the Loki decks tend to struggle with is managing their space since they play a lot of cheap cards in order to generate the big ones. If you add to this the fact that they typically reveal where the most of their points will be played though Angela and The Collector, you soon realize that Galactus has a lot of upside against the current Loki decks.

This is the most untested build of the three on this list, but the early feedback is looking great. Indeed, it is not just playing Galactus on the lane where they dumped their low power cards that can be a problem for Loki Big Hands:

• Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Professor X also reduce their available space.
• Wave can serve as a Turn 6 limiter, which usually annoys Loki decks fairly well.
• Electro, Daredevil, Nebula, Professor X, and Galactus are all disappointing pulls for the opponent.

In a similar vein, Junk and Electro Ramp have been using those same concepts to post decent results against Loki. They’re looking to limit their space or to limit their cards to one a turn.

Closing Words

We are just a few days into the season, which happens to be one of the most active times of the month. Those looking to grind back to the Infinite rank are playing a lot, which can quickly build frustration. This frustration adds up over time and clogs their judgement – especially when faced with the same problem over and over and no solution in sight.

We have to give props to Loki; the card is very difficult to beat, and it immediately pushed an archetype that is typically in Tier 4 to be considered a top contender. We can’t fault the many players who saw a great deck, built around a card they paid for, and stuck with it as they kept winning more games. However, we also cannot ask for Second Dinner to solve the puzzle for us through a nerf to Loki when we have not tried to solve it ourselves.

As it stands, I think it’s safe to say Loki is part of those very strong cards that have managed to shake up Marvel Snap solely with their release. In my opinion, these kinds of cards are important for the game to thrive, as long as we have the tools to defend against them. In the end, we all want to invest in cool cards, not the ones we are not compelled to play. During the first day of play, the situation was well in favor of Loki and almost looking hopeless for most of the other decks. With a little more time under our belts, we are starting to see new strategies emerge. More players are joining the ranks of the believers, and we might be able to contain Loki once we find the right deck for the job.

I am very curious to know everyone’s opinion on the current situation, as well as which deck has been your choice for this new season. Let me know in the comments below, or come share your opinion on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord. You can also use my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.