The Tragedy of Cerebro: How the Cards Are Stacked Against One of the Most Engaging Deck Archetypes

In theory, Cerebro is such a great deck archetype. You can build around the power value of many seemingly disparate cards and effects and bring a surprise power push across your entire board on curve during turn six, which is always satisfying.

Variants

Cerebro

Ongoing: Your highest-Power cards have +2 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cerebro

Most importantly, for players earlier on in their Collection Level progression it doesn’t require half of your deck to be Series Three cards, while simultaneously shining with the addition of some Series Four and Five cards.

However, in practice Cerebro decks end up stumbling frequently and are more sensitive to locations than any other deck archetype. This leads to a greater time commitment to be able to effectively pilot the deck compared to other strong meta archetypes like Shuri Zero and Destroy, and a discouraging amount of what often feel like “unfair” retreat conditions.

Today I’m going to cover the exciting deckbuilding opportunities Cerebro offers, the unfortunate downsides that plague the archetype, how to best mitigate those downsides, and cap things off with some lists I’ve had success with on the ladder this season. Let’s dive in!

The Promise of Cerebro Decks

Variants

Mister Sinister

On Reveal: Add a Sinister Clone here with the same Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mister Sinister

Variants

Brood

On Reveal: Add 2 Broodlings here with the same Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Brood

Variants

Cosmo

Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cosmo

Variants

Sentinel

On Reveal: Add another Sentinel to your hand.

Starter Card

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sentinel

Hands-down, the best part about building a Cerebro deck is the flexibility that comes with Cerebro’s ability. As long as the cards in your deck have the same power, you can kind of do whatever you want. Do you want to fool your opponents with some classic Patriot cards like Mister Sinister and Brood? Those are great in Cerebro 2! How about something that looks like a Sera control or Devil Dinosaur deck with Cosmo and Sentinel? Those sound like some nice cards for a Cerebro 3 list. I could go on with examples all the way up to Cerebro 7 but I think you get the idea.

On that same note, the flexibility of Cerebro’s ability lets you bring together some powerful effects that don’t usually come together in other archetypes. A classic Cerebro 2 deck can kick things off with the ever infuriating Iceman and Scorpion opening turns while quickly filling other locations with Mister Sinister and Brood – perfect for taking over the raft location before your opponent.

While all Cerebro decks will have some similar cards across the board this potential for unique elements in a single deck is fairly unique to Cerebro. This gives you plenty of opportunities to surprise your opponent on the ladder… Just don’t get so crazy that you start slotting Hazmat into a Cerebro 2 deck without Luke Cage!

Location, Location, Location

Variants

Sewer System

Cards here have -1 Power.

released

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sewer System

Variants

Xandar

Cards here have +1 Power.

released

view card details Start a deck Decks with Xandar

Variants

Nidavellir

Cards here have +5 Power.

released

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nidavellir

Variants

Stark Tower

After turn 5, give all cards here + Power.

released

view card details Start a deck Decks with Stark Tower

The concept of unique locations is one of Marvel Snaps greatest selling points. No matter how many times you’ve played a deck, each game has something different going on thanks to the locations. The way Elysium can change your play patterns and energy curves, the thrill of throwing a card like Iron Man into Sinister London, or the sheer dread when you see Subterranea or Sanctum Sanctorum reveal. It’s great and while there are some locations I’d rather never see again (looking at you Weirdworld & District X every time I’m trying out a new deck) it keeps things fresh when each match is only a few minutes.

For all of the fun build around potential Cerebro offers there is no other deck archetype that is as sensitive to locations as Cerebro. To the point that you’ll need to prepare yourself to retreat more often than any other deck while you’re still in the learning phases of Cerebro.

Every deck has locations that are practically game ending, Central Park ruins a Galactus game plan, Mister Negative dreads Crimson Cosmos and Miniaturized Lab and I don’t know anyone that wants to see Subterranea (except Darkhawk players who have him in their opening hand). The issue with Cerebro is that all of those locations I just listed are bad for Cerebro in addition to many many more. 

Think of common “minor inconvenience” locations like Sewer System, for most decks it makes us think “Uh ok, I’ll try not to have too many weaker cards in that location”. For Cerebro players, placing any cards in that location means that they won’t receive the Cerebro buff because of the disruption in their power.

It’s one thing to have “bad” locations disrupt your deck, but where Cerebro takes it to the next level is being destroyed by “good” locations as well – of course I mean locations that increase the power of your cards. Xandar, Nidavellir, Stark Tower, Muir Island, Wakandan Embassy – fun locations for so many decks can force a retreat from a Cerebro. I could go on about Monster Island but let’s not even get me started there…

Combating Location RNG

So, any tweaks to your cards power has the potential to ruin a given match, what can you as a Cerebro player do to get wins when faced with poor locations?

The number one thing to keep in mind is that locations that lower your cards power are actually better than ones that raise it for Cerebro decks. Cerebro’s ability applies the card(s) with the highest power, so if you have a handful of cards with slightly lower power they’re not getting the buff but the rest of your cards will. If you drop a Cerebro in Nidavellir then prepare to watch that buff disappear from the rest of your board. Ideally in the case of something like Sewer System, you just drop your Cerebro and Mystique in there and try to win the other two locations.

Variants

Luke Cage

Ongoing: Your cards can’t have their Power reduced.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Luke Cage

Luke Cage is probably the first card that jumps to mind when thinking of cards to mitigate these kinds of issues. He can definitely help but he only stops having your power lowered, if any locations that increase the power of your cards reveal then you’re out of luck. Not to mention his one power doesn’t lend itself well to more popular Cerebro-oriented lists.

Thankfully our location disruption cards all work in the most popular and effective Cerebro 2 and 3 lists. I would say that having a location disruption card is as mandatory as having Cerebro and Mystique to make this whole thing work.

Variants

Storm

On Reveal: Flood this location. Next turn is the last turn cards can be played here.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Storm

For Cerebro 2 Storm is our only option, thankfully because of the Zoo-like nature of Cerebro 2 lists you can Storm an empty location on turn three and easily fill it with Brood or a Mister Sinister plus Korg and Iceman on turn four. Cerebro 3 can lean into either or both Rhino and Scarlet Witch. Considering how sensitive Cerebro is to location RNG Rhino is usually the right call but if you’re willing to roll the dice and save one energy (or you just picked up that great Artgerm variant) then take your chances with Scarlet Witch!

My Go To Cerebro Decks

While you could do anything from Cerebro 0-15, realistically if you want to have a shot at climbing the ranked ladder you should use the more reliable Cerebro 2 and Cerebro 3 styles. These are the two lists I’ve had the most success with this season!

Cerebro 2 Zoo

Cerebro 2 Zoo

Created by kickerofelves

, updated 1 year ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overview

Like I said at the top of this article, as long as you keep cards with two power as the majority of your list you have a solid foundation. For me I love the early disruption potential of Iceman and Korg, and the lockdown potential offered by Storm and Goose. Brood and Mister Sinister help us fill the board especially in a stormed location.

The other two power cards are flexible, I’ve seen folks sub in Scorpion for Daredevil but I think Daredevil‘s ability is frankly insane. Sometimes it doesn’t work out this way but if you’re able to get Cerebro and Mystique out on the board turn six then you have a good shot at some four and eight cube wins.

Bast and Valkyrie Cerebro 3

Bast and Valkyrie Cerebro 3

Created by kickerofelves

, updated 1 year ago

5

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Starter Card

2.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overview

If you follow Dekkster or DeraJN on YouTube you’ve probably seen this lovely Cerebro 3 list. It’s expensive since Bast and Valkyrie are both required, but this is easily my favorite Cerebro list. 

Full disclosure: This one will take a good deal of practice to pilot effectively. After hitting Infinite this season I bought Valkyrie and initially had buyer’s remorse after my first twenty or so games but after that something just clicked and I fell in love with this.

The main gameplan here is to have as many cards that aren’t three power become three power thanks to an early game Bast play and trying to stack as many non-three power cards in one location for us to hit with Valkyrie on turn six for a huge power swing.

I recently gushed about Bast’s potential in Mister Negative decks but she can really shine in Cerebro 3 as well: Hitting our high roll and dropping Bast on turn one while we have Adam Warlock in hand almost guarantees a turn with an additional draw.

Final Turn

So after all of this what really is “The Tragedy of Cerebro”? Well, aside from being a hyperbolic statement, it’s that a deck archetype that has so much flexibility has its potential shut down by common location RNG. Still, this game is young and there’s plenty of room to grow and experiment with an archetype like Cerebro.

If you want to chat about Cerebro or anything Marvel Snap, go ahead and leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter @itsthedmc. Until next time!