Control Sera Guide – Series 3

I’ve been a Season Pass-only player since June – and I’ve reached Infinite every single season so far. One of the most consistent decks that have brought me to Infinite is Control Sera.

I made this guide because I love playing Control Sera. I didn’t make this deck, but it has brought me to Infinite for around 3 seasons now, including The Power Cosmic (Silver Surfer) Season. It’s currently ranked as a Tier 3 deck, but it’s so much fun to play and it doesn’t need any Series 4 or Series 5 cards.

I have all of the Series 3 cards, plus Bast, Silver Surfer, She-Hulk, Absorbing Man, and even Galactus so I can pretty much play anything I want, but this Tier 3 deck with only two Series 3 cards is what brought me to Infinite.

Control Sera

Created by kookoobah

, updated 1 year ago

108

Pool 3ControlInfiniteGuideCompetitive

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Starter Card

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Original Control Sera Guide post on reddit

Overall Strategy

Variants

Killmonger

On Reveal: Destroy ALL 1-Cost cards.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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Variants

Shang-Chi

On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards here that have 10 or more Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shang-Chi

Variants

Enchantress

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Enchantress

Goal is to get to Turn 6 with 2nd priority so that your 3 counter cards (Killmonger, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress) can do the maximum amount of damage.

The main exception is versus Wong, where you want to play Enchantress as soon as you see him.

Early game, you want to do 2 things:

1. Keep lanes open and flexible, so you have space to play Shang-Chi or Enchantress.
2. Make sure you end Turn 5 “losing”, so that you are 2nd in priority.

Priority Management

Whoever is leading in locations or total power is in priority, which means they reveal their cards first.

In this deck you want to reveal your cards last. If you are in priority on Turn 6, if you play a Shang-Chi and they play a Death or Destroyer on the same lane, Shang-Chi reveals before those cards, doing nothing. Same situation if you play a Killmonger and they play Ultron, you won’t kill anything if you are in priority (if you started Turn 6 in a winning position).

You have to make sure that you end Turn 5 “losing” so that they have priority and have to reveal their cards first.

Make sure to play your cards so that you are 2nd in priority – this can be achieved by playing your cards into lanes that you are already winning, so as not to win a 2nd lane, and make sure your points are just below theirs.

Turn Guide

Turn 1

SKIP (unless you get extra energy to play Sera or a 2-drop)

You want to play Nova on Turn 6 with Killmonger. Nova is easy to hose with Armor, Professor X, and so on. You want Nova to be a surprise on Turn 6.

Turn 2

Sentinel is the best play here. Angela also works, but Angela on Turn 6 provides a lot of surprise power. This deck can easily get Angela to max power even when played on Turn 6. That is much better than playing her on Turn 2 which allows your opponent to tell which lanes you will be strong in. An unpredictable Turn 6 Angela is much better.

You can play Lizard on a lane with a 1-drop, you will kill it with Killmonger later, or any lane you feel they will not fill up.

Play Armor on their The Hood or Nova, that’s the main purpose of Armor in this deck, other than playing it on Black Panther or Red Skull to prevent Arnim Zola.

Reserve Mysterio for after Bishop (Turn 4 or Turn 6) to take advantage of the +3 Power.

Scarlet Witch is used to change locations – Dream Dimension (+1 cost on Turn 5 prevents your Sera from being played) or any lane that limits your ability to play cards, like The Space Throne or Kyln. You want 12 card slots to play cards on.

Turn 3

Bishop, if you haven’t drawn Bishop, same lines of play  as Turn 2. I usually end the game with 2 or 3 Sentinels, sometimes 4 Sentinels in play

Turn 4

Bishop or other 2 drops here. I like Mysterio and Angela as a Turn 6 surprise if you don’t need to play your counter cards, otherwise play them here.

Consider Enchantress on Wong (if they played it on Turn 3 via Psylocke), for other decks, Turn 6 Enchantress is much better.

If it looks like they’ll play a Leader on Turn 6, play Nova here so that you can have more power than them.

Turn 5

Sera.

If you didn’t draw Sera, same game plan as Turn 2, 3, and 4. Get your Nova and 2-drops out on this turn if you didn’t draw Sera.

Again, try to make sure you are 2nd in priority, unless you need to Enchantress a Wong or Armor for Arnim Zola.

Turn 6

WITH Sera you have a bunch of options:

• Lots of surprise power on Turn 6 if you don’t need to counter anything.
• Bishop + Mysterio + Nova + Killmonger.
• Three 1-drops + Nova + Killmonger.
• Angela can get to max power even on turn 6.

If you need to play your counter cards:

• Either Enchantress or Shang-Chi + Nova + Killmonger wins a lot of 8 Cubes.
• Enchantress + Shang-Chi is also great.

WITHOUT Sera your options are more limited:

• Mysterio or 2-drop + Nova + Killmonger is fine. 
• Enchantress or Shang-Chi + 2-drop will also be fine.

This deck hates Cosmo, so play around it, especially on Turn 6.

Turn 6 Tricks

• Mysterio is surprise 10 power (4 power, +3 Bishop, + 3 spread on Nova).
• Scarlet Witch on Wakanda + Killmonger / Shang-chi.
• Scarlet Witch on Death's Domain, Danger Room, Luke's Bar, Limbo, The Bar With No Name.
• Armor on Death's Domain and Danger Room.
• Play Lizard on full lanes + Killmonger or Shang-chi.

Enchantress Turn 6 Tricks

• Enchantress targets on Turn 6 – Iron Man, Devil Dinosaur, Armor (especially if they will play Destroyer), Patriot, Blue Marvel, Mystique, Onslaught, Cerebro.
• If you are anticipating Spectrum, Enchantress turns Ongoing cards into No Ability cards and they won’t get the buff (but you need priority here, if Spectrum reveals first, they will get the buff).
• Enchantress on Armor protected big cards + Shang-Chi is delicious. Even your own Armor. Other players will play their fatties on your Armor.
• On Washington D.C., if you play Armor, Lizard or Sera (Ongoing cards) then play Enchantress on them on turn 6. You will turn them into No Ability cards and they get the +3 buff. Cool little trick.
• Enchantress on Lizard in a full lane is also a decent play.

Example Game Walkthrough

Game 1

Sentinel in opening hand is always good. We can use Scarlet Witch on Necrosha later on if need.

Playing Sentinel on the right most lane to keep our slots open in the middle lane.

We’ll play Bishop on Necrosha because we need power there to counter the -2. We will be using Scarlet Witch on Mindscape.

Played Angela and Sentinel in the middle lane. If we don’t draw Sera, we will use Killmonger to open up the middle lane so that Angela can get more power.

Playing Killmonger and Scarlet Witch on the right most lane to open up space from the Raptors and Rocks. Games without Sera are not unwinnable.

Aero messed up our plan, but the Rocks and Raptors are still cleared. Thanks to Stark Tower, Aero is now a valid Shang-Chi target. They got our Shang-Chi, but we got theirs – and we don’t have any cards vulnerable to Shang-Chi. We got a Leader from the Mindscape and we can play it on the right most lane to win.

We Snap, and our opponent retreats – knowing that we got their Leader. If Mindscape didn’t trigger, we would’ve had a Shang-Chi and Mysterio line of play open to us. Not great, but not bad either.

Game 2

In this game, we spam Sentinels all game starting from Turn 1. Our opponent plays a Turn 4 Sandman, so instead of playing Sera on Turn 5, we need to play Enchantress otherwise our Sera is useless. They hit our hand with Leech, but we still have a Turn 6 of Mysterio, Lizard with no drawback and another Sentinel. If they hadn’t retreated, we would’ve ended the game with 5 Sentinels on the board. Great value!

Game 3

Nova, Killmonger and Enchantress opening hand. We skip the Turn 1 Nova and save him for a surprise.

Death's Domain is a sure win for us with Scarlet Witch, but we won’t play it on Turn 2. We’ll save it for a surprise and open the game with our Angela.

We draw Armor, another card that can win the game for us on Death's Domain. We play Armor to bait out their big cards and 1-cost cards. We’ll Enchantress it later and kill them through the Armor ability.

On Turn 4 we play just a Sentinel since we wanted to keep our cards secret for Turn 6. We get a Lockjaw from our opponent and on Turn 5 we play that and a Sentinel hoping to high roll into Sera. If we don’t luck into Sera, we can go with Scarlet on Death's Domain, and Nova + Killmonger.

We highroll into Sera and now our Turn 6 is going to be beautiful. We will Enchantress their Morbius, pump up Angela hoping to beat the Dracula high roll, then Nova and Scarlet Witch on Death's Domain.

Enchantress turns into Mysterio thanks to Lockjaw, and hits Morbius along the way. Nova is going to buff 7 cards for great value.

Their Dracula RNG is not good, and we win all 3 lanes. Even if they hit their Big Apocalypse, we would have still won thanks to Scarlet Witch.

Game 4

This last game is a great example of how to keep adjusting and reacting to the opponent and the board.

Great opening hand. We have the Nova + Killmonger combo, and Lizard can easily be played in a lane with 1-drops thanks to Killmonger. Again, we skip Turn 1 to keep Nova as a surprise on Turn 6.

We play Lizard on Necrosha, a lane that will probably not be filled up. Unfortunately, Sokovia hits Nova. We also see that our opponent discards The Infinaut via Sokovia. We just need to keep going and adjust our plans.

We’ll play Sentinel on the left to develop our board position and put some power on the lanes.

Our opponent plays Thor just as we draw our Shang-Chi. So our gameplan has shifted from doing Nova + Killmonger, to winning the rightmost lane with Shang-Chi and finding another lane to win.

We need to make sure we end Turn 5 in a losing position so that we can hit the Thor in case they play Mjolnir on Turn 6 also.

We will play Sentinel to develop power on the Thor lane, while staying under their 4 power. We will not fully play out our energy, wasting 2 energy, but keeping the surprise going for just another turn.

Our opponent plays a Dracula on the middle lane in Turn 4. So on Turn 5 we play the Angela we drew on the left lane (adding zero power to that lane), and Scarlet Witch on the middle lane which we were already winning. We do this so that there’s a lesser chance we will end Turn 5 in the lead.

On Turn 5, our opponent played Lockjaw, Yellowjacket, and Wasp, highrolling into Mjölnir and Ghost Rider, which revives The Infinaut.

We don’t have Turn 5 Sera, but this board situation is still very winnable.

We check their hand and they still have 3 cards. So there’s a chance we can still win the Dracula lane.

We play Shang-Chi on The Infinaut and play Mysterio to get an extra buff on Angela just in case they have Silver Surfer, Mister Fantastic or Ironheart.

They play Magneto on the right lane, and Dracula doesn’t get enough power to beat us in the middle lane. Shang-Chi would have won either left or right lane for us.

4 Cubes without Sera, a solid win that required a lot of tactical adjustment plays.

Location Guide

Scarlet Witch targets

• Attilan – if you already have Sera, otherwise let it trigger to try to draw Sera
• Danger Room – Armor can help here too
• Death's Domain – play here on Turn 6 for the surprise win
• Dream Dimension – the main reason Scarlet Witch is in the deck
• Elysium – your cards are low power, so this benefits opponents more
• Fisk Tower – Armor can help here too
• Storm‘s Flooded – limits your slots
• Gamma Lab – dont change it if you already have Shang-chi, otherwise, it’s a good target
• Kamar-Taj – none of your on reveal effects benefit from being doubled (double Sentinel might keep you from drawing your counter cards)
• K'un-Lun – benefits your opponent more
• Kyln – limits your slots
• Lechuguilla – clogs up your draw
• Limbo – play here on Turn 6 for the surprise win
• Luke's Bar – play here on Turn 6 for the surprise win
• Mindscape – you need your Turn 6 swing cards
• Miniaturized Lab – limits your slots
• Sinister London – benefits your opponent more
• Bar With No Name – play here on Turn 6 for the surprise win
• The Space Throne – limits your slots (can also win with Shang-chi here
• The Vault – limits your slots
• Titan – benefits your opponents more
• Wakanda – you want to be killing cards on Turn 6
• Warrior Falls – your low power cards lose to your opponent’s
• Weirdworld – annoying

Enchantress / Shang-Chi / Killmonger targets (don’t play Scarlet Witch here if you already have the counter card)

• Onslaught's Citadel
• Atlantis
• Baxter Building – can help push cards into Shang-chi range
• Gamma Lab
• Mojoworld – Killmonger and Shang-Chi are easy wins here
• Monster Island
• Muir Island – Killmonger and Shang-Chi can swing this lane
• Nidavellir
• Shuri's Lab
• Stark Tower
• Washington D.C.
• Xandar

Matchups

This deck can beat:

• Shuri Wong decks (Enchantress, Shang-Chi for Black Panther and Red Skull, Armor for Arnim Zola)
• Ramp decks or any decks with big cards like Hela (Shang-Chi)
• Devil Dinosaur decks (Enchantress + Shang-Chi, and Killmonger for Agent 13 and Quinjet)
• Zoo decks (Killmonger)
• DeathWave / She-Hulk Baero (Shang-Chi, and since you can fill up most of your slots, Aero can be played around)
• You get to play 2 counter cards on turn 6 so you still have a chance
• Patriot Ultron (Enchantress + Killmonger)
• Cerebro (Enchantress)
• Spectrum Destroyer (Enchantress and Shang-Chi – watch out for Professor X)    

Turn 6 Leader is countered by:

1. Angela, your lanes get extra power, they don’t.
2. Mysterio since their copy has 0 power, yours is 4 power.
3. Nova + Killmonger (better if Nova is played before Turn 6) or you can try to make sure to play Nova in lanes that are full, so they don’t get to copy, and then Killmonger will only buff your cards.
4. Shang-Chi because it doesn’t hit any cards on your side.

Card Notes

• Nova – better on Turn 6, play earlier if you don’t draw Sera.
• Angela – reserve for Turn 6 for surprise power, but is fine earlier. Helps vs Leader.
• Armor – counter Hood, Nova, Bucky Barnes, Arnim Zola. Can be a flex slot.
• Scarlet Witch – Dream Dimension, Kamar-Taj, Death's Domain, Space Throne, etc. Any location that prevents you from playing cards.
• You also want to Scarlet Witch Kamar-Taj since none of your on reveal cards benefit from it. Check out the Location Guide for more tips!
• Sentinel – play as many as you can.
• Mysterio – play after Bishop, Turn 6 surprise with Nova.
• Lizard – play on lanes where they have a 1-drop or a 9-power card, then use Killmonger or Shang-chi to open it up.
• Bishop – play as early as you can
• Killmonger – combo with Nova, help Lizard, crush Zoo and Ultron
• Shang-Chi – play on Turn 6 for 8 Cubes, help Lizard, kill fatties (Hela, Shuri, Devil Dinosaur, Destroyer decks, DeathWave, and so on)
• Enchantress – play on Turn 6 for 8 cubes, turn off Wong as early as you can
• Sera – play on Turn 5. If not, retreat unless you have a good read.

Card Replacements

Variants

Magik

On Reveal: Replace this location with ‘Limbo’. Doesn’t work after turn 5.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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For Sera, Magik is not so bad. You’ll use turn 6 to play more 2 drops and Nova. Your turn 7 will be Killmonger and Shang-Chi or Enchantress.

Variants

Domino

You always draw this card on turn 2, and not before.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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Variants

Scorpion

On Reveal: Afflict cards in your opponent’s hand with -1 Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Scorpion

For Mysterio, Domino is fine. It’s a safe 2-drop, and it’s not super bad. Statistically, you’ll draw Sera and your counter cards less often though.

Scorpion is another card that just works, though it doesn’t play too well with Shang-Chi.

Variants

Maximus

On Reveal: Your opponent draws 2 cards.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Mister Fantastic

Ongoing: Adjacent locations have +2 Power.

Collection Level 1-14

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Variants

Cosmo

Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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For 3 drops, Maximus is great, since you will just counter whatever they draw anyway. It’s Series 3 though.

Mister Fantastic is decent, and it provides power that is sorely needed.

Cosmo is another solid card, but you have a lot of On Reveal cards that you will need to be careful with.

Variants

Red Skull

Ongoing: Enemy cards here have +2 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Red Skull

Red Skull can be great. It’s another 5 drop in case you don’t draw Sera – and it’ll boost up some cards into Shang-Chi range. Great to play in a lane that has 1-drops (that we will kill with Killmonger) or 7 to 8 power cards (that will now be vulnerable to Shang-Chi). Alternatively, you can also play Enchantress on Red Skull on Turn 6 to remove the Ongoing ability.

• Domino
• Maximus
• Red Skull
• Cosmo
• Scorpion
• Mister Fantastic

Snapping and Retreating

I Snap on Turn 5 with Sera in hand and 1 counter card that will swing a lane unexpectedly.

I retreat when I don’t have a Turn 5 Sera and at least 1 impactful counter card.

I will play a game out even if I don’t draw Sera if I can still swing a game with a counter card. No Sera games aren’t unwinnable, but definitely consider retreating.

Changes for Savage Land and Zabu Meta

Variants

Zabu

On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, your 4-Cost cards cost 1 less.

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

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Variants

Drax

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

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Absorbing Man

On Reveal: If the last card you played has an On Reveal, copy its text. (if it’s in play)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Spider-Man

On Reveal: Move to another location and pull an enemy card from here to there.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Crystal

On Reveal: Each player draws a card.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Option 1 – stick as is, Turn 4 Enchantress on Zabu is great, it turns off their surprise Turn 6 moves.

Option 2 – add Zabu and another 4 drop.

Zabu and Sera together makes your 4-drops cost 1 Energy on Turn 6.

Zabu alone without Sera let’s you play Enchantress and Shang-Chi plus another 4-drop or a 2-drop. Good times.

I’d cut Armor and Bishop to add Zabu and Drax. I like Drax better than Jessica Jones and Rescue because Drax works as a Turn 6 surprise whereas the others have to be played either on Turn 4, which might push you into first priority coming into Turn 6, or on Turn 5 which messes up your Sera turn on top of the same problems as playing them on Turn 4. Drax can be played on Turn 6 easily.

Scarlet Witch could be cut also to up the total number of 4-drops. Mysterio is another card that can be removed if Bishop is removed since they synergize well together.

Absorbing Man is also a good option for extra Shang-Chi or Enchantress on Turn 6.

Spider-Man is another option. It gives you a solid Turn 5 play if you don’t draw Sera. He will lock up a lane and force your opponent to play into the lanes that you want, for easier Shang-Chi and Enchantress predictions.

Lastly, Crystal is a card we can play on Turn 4 after a Turn 3 Zabu to help dig for that Sera or your counter cards.

Conclusion

Control Sera is a deck that teaches you good Marvel Snap skills, and gives you the tools to win any matchup. You will never be in a matchup that is impossible to win. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I enjoyed writing it, but not as much as I enjoy playing Control Sera.