Deck of the Day – My Infinite Thanos Control Revealed!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Deck of the Day! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and every weekday I’m going to be highlighting a different deck for you to try out!

Today’s deck is a deck that both my and the global win rate for is 72%. I rode it to Infinite with absolute ease! The deck features Iron Lad, as so many of these do, a card that’s probably worth picking up due to its strength and ubiquity in powerful decks. Jeff the Baby Land Shark is another very powerful card in the deck, though he is more replaceable. Spider-Ham is the only Series 4 card featured here, but it’s not as important as the Lad. Thanos is obviously a requirement – the whole deck is built around him.

Intro + Disclaimers

This is a real top-level potential Tier 1 deck.

Sometimes the decks featured in this article will be Tier 1, the most competitive decks in the metagame. Sometimes they will be fun tier. Often, they will feature Series 4 and 5 cards (which is hopefully less of an issue with the Card Acquisition change), but sometimes they will be Series 3 or even lower.

Additionally, these decks can come from anywhere – they could be homebrews, a really cool idea from your favorite content creator, a tried and true meta deck, and sometimes, well, we won’t really know where the deck came from. We endeavor, however, to credit original deck creators whenever possible, so if we miss one, please do let us know! Want to submit a deck for consideration? Email me [email protected].

The Deck

9. Phoenix Season Infinite (Thanos Control)

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 10 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck History

We went over the History of Thanos last week.

Since we did that, let’s dive a little bit deeper into how we got to this build by starting with Valhalla.

5. Nimrod Season Infinite Deck (Valhalla)

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 11 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

During the Nimrod Season, right after the first round of Thanos nerfs, Shuri Red Skull was clearly the #1 deck of the meta. Lamby, widely considered the best player in Marvel Snap, updated the Thanos list to be able to prey on those Shuri-Skull decks. What he came up with was the deck above, Valhalla.

Let’s look at how the idea of Thanos control has evolved from Valhalla to now.

The cards that were in Valhalla that are no longer there are the Hood, Bast, Daredevil, Bishop, Beast, and Valkyrie. That’s a full half the deck!

Variants

Daredevil

On turn 5, you get to see your opponent’s plays before you make your own.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Daredevil

Variants

Bast

On Reveal: Set the Power of all cards in your hand to 3.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Bast

Variants

Valkyrie

On Reveal: Set ALL cards here to 3 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Valkyrie

This change is largely due to combatting meta forces that are different from the previous deck. Instead of facing Shuri and Red Skull over and over, we are facing Bounce and Lockjaw. Lamby, in his most recent Thanos-build, tries to compete along the same axis as these Bounce decks (again, see last week’s article), this deck attempts to do to those decks what Valhalla did to Shuri Red Skull.

The Hood, Bishop, Beast, and Bast formed a combination within the deck to grab early power. That combo is taken out in favor of Spider-Ham, Killmonger, and Wave. The Ham is great to let you know how to compete while also being a great way at stopping opposing cards like Sera or Doctor Doom that could cause you trouble while Killmonger and Wave both do a great job of frustrating Kitty Pryde decks, with Wave also surprisingly good against Lockjaw (no hammer, no Wasp).

But that’s not what this deck really leans into. The previous deck had a great combination of cards that could let you lock a lane early, and this leans even further into that idea. Spider-Man and Professor X are joined by Jeff the Baby Landshark instead of Daredevil, as this way you can just go bigger into those locked lanes. Doctor Doom is another way to get into the Spider-Man played lane while Wave also allows Professor X a turn early. Iron Lad can copy any of these for an extra shot at the lockdown.

Variants

Kitty Pryde

When this returns to your hand, +1 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kitty Pryde

Variants

Lockjaw

After you play a card here, swap it with a card in your deck. (once per turn)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Lockjaw

With Lockjaw and Kitty Pryde developing their power late, stealing lanes early is to this meta what Valkyrie was to Red Skull.

How to Play

This is a control deck, through and through. The core concept is to lock down a lane and then use powerful cards like Devil Dinosaur, Thanos, or Shang Chi to claim another.

Without Daredevil, the guessing game for Professor X and Spider-Man can be a challenge. That’s a part of why Jeff is here, and if you aren’t sure and have the choice, Spidey is a safer choice.

You might think it strange to see Killmonger without Death in a Thanos list, but you control when and where you play the card, so just use it fairly carefully. This deck does play a lot of Stones, so remember to use Soul Stone and Power Stone either late or where you plan to Professor X, so that they are safe and provide maximum value.

Variants

Soul Stone

Ongoing: Enemy cards here have -1 Power.

Unreleased

view card details Start a deck Decks with Soul Stone

Variants

Power Stone

Ongoing: If you’ve played all 6 stones, Thanos has +10 Power. (wherever he is)

Unreleased

view card details Start a deck Decks with Power Stone

The popular card deck not discussed in the above section is High Evolutionary Lockdown. Against that deck, if you have Reality Stone, you can ruin their whole game plan by changing flooding. Wave on 3 in this match also makes it so that the Cyclops, if played, gets no extra value as Spider-Man and Hulk the next two turns take up all of the remaining energy. Finally, if Storm does go off and you didn’t play there, a Jeff moved over on Turn 6 with Doctor Doom usually wins the lane… just be wary of their own Doom. Luckily, you have Spider-Ham for that!

Variants

Spider-Ham

On Reveal: Transform the leftmost card in your opponent’s hand into a Pig, keeping its Power and Cost.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Ham

Here are the play lines:

• Turn 1: I’d play any draw Stone but reality here. Ideally, that’s Mind Stone, but I’d play Soul, Space, or even Time just fine. After that, Spider-Ham is the priority, followed by the Power Stone.

• Turn 2: More Stones to draw is the goal. If not, Jeff is fine.

• Turn 3: This is the first complicated turn. You’ll need to have read the opponent well to know what to do. If you have Professor X, you often want to Time Stone or Wave to get a lane locked. I snap here, and if I miss, I just leave. Killmonger is rarely the play unless Nebula is out – Kitty decks often take this turn off to play Bishop, so Killmonger here is dangerous. Jeff and a Stone or Jeff and Spider-Ham are an excellent play here.

Variants

Wave

On Reveal: All cards cost a maximum of 4 until the end of next turn.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wave

Variants

Time Stone

On Reveal: Give Thanos -1 Cost next turn. Draw a card.

Unreleased

view card details Start a deck Decks with Time Stone

• Turn 4: If you couldn’t get Professor X off early, then this is the Iron Lad turn. Play him on a lane you’ll be pretty sure you’re winning, so if he’s Professor X or Spider-Man, you just win. If it’s Spidey, you’ll need to play the actual card next turn.

• Turn 5: The lockdown turn almost always comes now. If the Lockdown went off and you can’t get another (if Professor X was on 4, you almost always want to Spider-Man on 5). If you can’t Lockdown and didn’t play Iron Lad, play him here with a Stone. He should be fairly likely to hit.

• Turn 6: Read the board. If you’re behind, figure out where to Shang Chi and what else you can play. If you need power through the board, Doctor Doom. If you want something big, go with Devil Dinosaur and a draw stone.

Variants

Professor X

Ongoing: Lock down this location. (Cards can’t be added, removed, etc.)

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Professor X

Variants

Spider-Man

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

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Man

Card Substitutions

Jeff the Baby Land Shark is the card that is cleanest to replace. If you don’t have him, run Daredevil. I’m less likely to play this without Iron Lad, but if you must, try Klaw as a way to get power into locked-off lanes. Spider-Ham could be a lot of different cards – Iceman is usually a clean fit. I think I’d try Shadow King out though, personally.

Variants

Daredevil

On turn 5, you get to see your opponent’s plays before you make your own.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Daredevil

Variants

Klaw

Ongoing: The location to the right has +8 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Klaw

Variants

Shadow King

On Reveal: Set all cards here to their base Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shadow King

Please don’t play this deck without Thanos.

Other Thanos Decks

If you want to try other decks with the new season pass card, check out these great videos right on my YouTube:

• Two Thanos Decks – one with a 75% win rate!
• Thanos Move Combo Destroy
• Thanos Invisible Woman Combo!?
• Thanos Evolutionary
• Classic Thanos Lockjaw

Conclusion + Video

This deck is, as the kids say, the nut. Go try it and see just how powerful Thanos Control can be!

If you’d like a video discussion of this deck, check my page out. Watch my video on the deck here: