Table of Contents
DoomWave is an archetype that was born at the beginning of this year. Its creation spawned, from my point of view, what we know today as the Good Cards archetype.
You might argue that the Good Cards archetypes have existed practically since the launch of the game, but it was in late 2022 when a version of Leech Leader originated by DeraJN cemented this style of deck in the meta. This deck would end up being known as Good Cards Priority.
The term Good Cards has continued to be used nowadays in archetypes that have been and continue to be very popular, such as Good Cards Stature, Good Stuff Samurai, and so on.
Beyond great synergies, powerful combos, and complex strategies, this kind of deck is based on solidity and the ability to play proactively and increase your advantage little by little, until finally closing the game with a strong play during the last turn. Good Cards DoomWave (labeled “DoomWave” by WWLos when he shared the build for the first time) positioned itself in the spring of this year as the best deck in the game. However, it gradually disappeared (like the rest of the decks that included Doctor Doom) thanks to the nerf the Doombots received a few months ago.
Today, the evolution of the meta to a hyper-flexible playing style has given rise to proactive decks, like many Good Cards iterations, having good results. Doctor Doom received a change that returned the Doombots to their original stats a few weeks ago, and that was enough to make DoomWave gradually recover the place it always had.
Decklist and Stats
Bohe
It was precisely the rebirth of Doctor Doom that made many decks begin to appear again. However, DoomWave reappeared evolved. Literally. Adding the High Evolutionary core to the equation gave new life to the archetype, and several of its versions present very significant statistics in our tracker.
A Win Rate of 63.44% and .73 Avg Cubes per game over more than 1,600 games (in just one of its successful iterations) is something that places this archetype as one of the main competitors to occupy the position of the best deck in the game.
Concept and Strategy
The general idea behind this style of play is that any card in the deck is solid on its own. This means that these types of decks do not require a particular combination of cards to win. A big advantage of this is that, by presenting an idea where each piece of the puzzle is good, any changes in the meta are not significantly impactful.
This type of deck (and Good Cards archetypes in general) tends not to have bad match ups, for the most part. DoomWave certainly has a tough match against Shuri Sauron, but the solidity with which this deck plays every turn of the game makes any other match up fairly manageable.
However, the big advantage of choosing this deck when playing is that it’s significantly more flexible and less linear than Shuri Sauron.
You can play your cards on curve and use energy efficiently, or you can decide to leave some energy floating for the benefit of Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, and Evolved Hulk.
Under the same principle, your Turn 6 (after playing Wave on Turn 5) is very powerful since you have the choice of going tall with Evolved Hulk or wide with Doctor Doom.
If you add to this the fact that you can impact locations that are difficult to access thanks to Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom, as well as develop points in already closed locations thanks to Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, and Evolved Cyclops, the result is an archetype that is capable of navigating favorably in and having solutions for any adverse situation.
Energy Floating Core
Decks with Sunspot
Decks with Evolved Misty Knight
Decks with Evolved Cyclops
Decks with Evolved Hulk
The greatest strength of playing this part of the High Evolutionary core (with the assistance of Sunspot) is that there are very few games where you have a bad turn.
If you decide to go out on a curve and use all your energy, you can have a very good game. If, for some reason, this is not the case, these cards are amazing at fixing the problem.
This part of the plan is relevant enough that you can decide to intentionally opt out of using all of your energy, which gives you flexibility and the opportunity to take or give up priority as the game dictates.
Tempo Core
Decks with Nebula
Decks with Storm
A few months ago, when Nebula was the newest card in the game, the idea of playing her in the company of Storm became very popular.
Both are solid cards in their own right, and they also synergize with other pieces of the deck. Nevertheless, I think it’s important to point them out together since playing them in the same lane forces your opponents to respond immediately or practically give up the lane.
Good Cards Core
Decks with Jeff the Baby Land Shark
Decks with Wave
Decks with Doctor Doom
Nebula and Storm could be named here, too, but sometimes they are not present in all the “Good Cards” lists. On the other hand, these four cards are usually much more popular in this concept.
All of them are extremely solid and relevant at any time in the game. Playing Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Wave, or Iron Lad in a turn where you don’t use all of your energy is not a problem at all. Their impact is something that always matters.
Wave is normally intended to be Turn 5 solo play. While you can play Wave on Turn 3 for Doctor Doom on Turn 4, saving her to counter the decks that throw their hand on the field on the last turn is usually a better idea.
If you add this to the previously mentioned ways of taking advantage of your unused energy, the strength of this deck is hard to match.
Flex Spot
If I had to adapt the deck to a specific meta and needed to add a new card, Armor would probably be the first option I would consider removing.
It’s a very good card that responds strongly to certain interactions in popular decks and difficult locations. Still, I don’t think it is as strong as the other cards in the list, and it would be my first option in this case.
Card Substitutions
Decks with Mister Fantastic
Both of these are good options. I’ve seen versions, including the most popular one, that plays without Storm, although that seems like a bit of a waste of Evolved Cyclops, Doctor Doom, and company. However, it’s possible to replace it with another solid 3-Cost card as needed.
Decks with Luke Cage
This is one of the clear options to play instead of Armor if the meta demands it. Even without a meta that calls for Luke Cage, playing it gives any deck the upper hand when locations like Negative Zone and Jotunheim appear.
Decks with America Chavez
These two cards are good options for the top end of the deck. While there are players who are determined to continue abusing Alioth‘s power, America Chavez‘s consistency has the advantage (in terms of Win Percentage and Average Cubes).
Other Ways to Build the Archetype
Bohe
I felt it was mandatory to mention the standard list of this archetype in the article. With almost three times as many games as the list I presented, this is undoubtedly the most popular. Maintaining a 61% Win Rate in over 4,000 games is a monstrous statistic.
Cosmo takes Storm‘s place, and America Chavez takes Iron Lad‘s place. Both of these changes are, without a doubt, valid. Many cards in the deck synergize well with Storm, but being prepared with Cosmo is usually a good idea.
Something similar happens with Iron Lad. The card gives you redundancy, which is fantastic for a solid deck like this. America Chavez, on the other hand, gives you consistency. While similar, it has slight differences. Personally, I think it’s a matter of taste.
Bohe
A simple change that works in favor of some specific matches is Alioth for Iron Lad.
Keeping Iron Lad is not a crazy idea, either. A double activation of Alioth is incredibly strong. Plus, having Alioth makes you better against any deck that doesn’t play Doctor Doom. This build has a 58.97% WR with .69 Avg Cubes per game across 446 games.
Bohe
This one is for the Lockdown lovers. Adding Professor X and Daredevil is not unreasonable, especially if you already decided to play Storm. Furthermore, adding the previously proposed idea of Alioth makes the two archetypes merge for some results that are quite promising.
With a 56.8% Win Rate and .82 Avg Cubes per game across 125 games, I’m lead to believe that, when this deck can play to the end, it usually wins very consistently.
Snapping and Retreating
Early Game
It’s difficult for you to decide to Retreat in the first turns of the game. You have many cards that play well at this stage of the game.
Snapping early is not mandatory, and this deck usually plays better with a counter Snap or a Snap before a big play during the mid- or late-game.
Learning to value your opening hand and your early draws is vital. Evolved Misty Knight is usually not enough of a reason for a Snap. Sunspot is better, but to seriously consider a Turn 1 or 2 Snap I would rather have played Nebula on Turn 1, have a play for Turn 2, and have Storm in my hand.
If this is accompanied by Iron Lad, you are usually in a great position.
Mid to Late Game
As a deck that you could consider midrange in other card game terminology, it’s precisely in these stages of the game where it shines much more.
There are several situations where you can know that your position in a lane is strong enough to Snap. Storm + Nebula or Storm + Evolved Cyclops are two combinations that can practically guarantee a lane – especially if you have Doctor Doom in hand.
Likewise, having Wave in the list is extremely relevant. Snap before playing it on Turn 5 if you are facing an opponent who is playing Loki, or really against any deck that wants to dump its hand on the board during Turn 6 (or Turn 7). Wave is almost always a good idea.
You can also think about Snapping if your position on the board gives you confidence and you are going to play Iron Lad (and you haven’t drawn Doctor Doom yet).
Locations
Having Storm let you change complicated locations to Flooding, and Doctor Doom + Jeff the Baby Land Shark help you enter those complicated lanes. This makes it hard to find scenarios with a location that can make you Retreat.
Good Locations
- Altar of Death, Death's Domain: You can gain the upper hand by playing a card first, especially if you have Armor. You can also fight for these locations without playing a card thanks to Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom.
- Atlantis, The Space Throne: Good for Evolved Hulk.
- Aunt May's, Bar Sinister: I love to play Jeff the Baby Land Shark in these locations.
- Cloning Vats: It’s amazing to have multiple copies of Sunspot or Nebula.
- Hell's Kitchen: Most of the time, you are going to have one of your one drops in your deck, which means this location translates into an extra card.
- Kamar-Taj: Seeing this location is often a win if you have Doctor Doom.
- Kyln, Sanctum Sanctorum, The Vault: You don’t have any problems putting points in these locations thanks to Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom.
- Quantum Realm: Helps Sunspot and Nebula.
- Titan: This locations lets you play Doctor Doom + Evolved Hulk in the same game without having Wave.
Bad Locations
- Asteroid M: It’s not impossible to play when this location appears, but it can makes things a little bit awkward if you don’t have Storm.
- Crimson Cosmos: This location blocks almost half of your deck – including Storm.
- Mojoworld, The Raft, The Sacred Timeline, White Hot Room: As a deck that tends to play one card per turn, filling these locations is usually complicated.
- Morag: This is bad for the same reason as the one above: you tend to play one card per turn. In these scenarios, Doctor Doom and Jeff the Baby Land Shark help a lot.
Matchups
Loki Collector
The Loki deck started as the deck to beat during the release of this card. However, it’s thanks to Wave that Loki no longer has such an easy task.
Storm tends to make things very difficult for this deck. While they can play Loki on Turn 3 and fight the tempo battle, they are usually going to try to assemble the combo as greedily as possible. This means that Loki will often hit the field one turn before the end of the game. By this moment, Storm could have already won a lane, even if they manage to obtain a copy of Doctor Doom.
They also have Jeff the Baby Land Shark, but it’s usually not enough. In the same way, you limit Kitty Pryde and Angela. These reasons are exactly what makes me prefer Storm over Cosmo in the main list.
While this deck can play a value game without playing Loki (or playing him on Turn 3 or Turn 4), Wave is still vital in stopping Kitty Pryde. This stops your opponent from playing more than nine points on Turn 6 in more than one lane. They could play Loki on Turn 6 and buff The Collector, but that’s also not enough most of the time.
There have been versions with Devil Dinosaur just to combat the idea of Wave and not being able to put many points on the field in the last turn.
Ramp
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When it comes to playing one card per turn, there is no deck with more power than those that revolve around ramping with Electro.
Alioth made these decks gain strength again, and the inclusion of Galactus as a staple of Ramp decks gives them a pretty solid Plan B.
You have an advantage during the early game. This is important to force Ramp to play towards the lanes that you want them to compete in.
Armor is great help against Alioth, and Doctor Doom is equally excellent against that card. Galactus is, in one way or another, predictable. However, they can activate it effectively. You will normally prefer to play Evolved Hulk in response to their Wave to prevent Galactus from winning a lane.
Close a lane with Storm as soon as possible, force them to play in the lane that suits you best, and be careful with Leader. Always keeping Leader in mind is quite helpful.
Move DoomWave
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The new iteration of Move here to stay. This archetype is tremendously flexible, and, with Doctor Doom + Wave in their lineup, they are capable of taking on anyone.
They have a very good early game. However, they usually only play Nebula or Nightcrawler as 1-Cost cards (no Kitty Pryde), and Nebula is sometimes not considered. This makes it favorable to have a hand where you can quickly put Nebula, Sunspot, or Evolved Misty Knight into play.
In this case, closing a lane with Storm does not give you much of an advantage. Playing Evolved Cyclops in a lane where they have already anchored with Kraven or Angela is preferable.
Prioritize Iron Lad on Turn 4 over any other play (unless a Wave has gone down on Turn 3 and you have Doctor Doom/Evolved Hulk), and don’t forget that Armor and Doctor Doom are amazing against Alioth.
Turn by Turn Breakdown
Turn 1
I’m usually going to prefer playing Nebula if I have Sunspot and/or Evolved Misty Knight as options. Remember that playing in the location on the right, even if it has not been revealed, is quite useful if you have Storm in hand. This lets you change the location if it’s unfavorable, and it usually gives you a very relevant tempo advantage.
Turn 2
The decision between Armor and Jeff the Baby Land Shark has many variables. If you can stop a destruction effect (like Bucky Barnes, for example), Armor will be better. Likewise, I’ve always thought that Jeff the Baby Land Shark is better when the opponent hasn’t seen him.
Now, if you have Storm + Iron Lad + Wave in your hand, that’s a specific case where I would prefer to play Jeff 99% of the time. This is because there would be no other time to play him other than this turn.
Also, remember that playing 1-Cost, 1-Cost, 2-Cost in the first three turns is completely valid if Evolved Hulk and/or Evolved Misty Knight will benefit from the unused energy.
Turn 3
Storm is a priority in the vast majority of scenarios. Try to play it together with Nebula, or have Evolved Cyclops ready to accompany it.
If you don’t have Storm, it’s perfectly valid to play a 2-Cost and float energy if you have Evolved Hulk or Evolved Misty Knight. You can also think about this if Sunspot is on the field.
Thinking about Wave into Doctor Doom or Evolved Hulk isn’t unrealistic, either. I’d rather save this play for Conquest or a time when I’m pretty sure an early Wave won’t favor my opponent too much.
Turn 4
The two ideal plays would be Evolved Cyclops in the lane where you played Storm, or Iron Lad. It all depends on whether you need to float one energy or not.
You could also play a combination of your low-cost cards. Armor in a lane where you intend to play Evolved Hulk + Jeff or Sunspot is a good example. Consider that Turns 4 and 5 are the best moments to not use all your energy and take advantage of the benefits of your Evolved cards and Sunspot.
Turn 5
Your main play to defeat many decks nowadays is just Wave. It certainly puts a damper on any archetype that tries to play more than a single card on the last turn. Performing this move while in a closed location with Storm and Doctor Doom in hand is usually enough to win a large number of games.
If Wave is not available or you are playing against a deck that will not play more than one card per turn (like Ramp), playing a 4-Cost and leaving an energy floating will typically be beneficial for you. You can play Evolved Cyclops on Turn 4 and Iron Lad on Turn 5, for example, and the deck is going to work wonderfully.
Turn 6
If everything has gone according to plan, your decision here should not be difficult. Doctor Doom if you want to go wide, or Evolved Hulk if you want to go tall.
If these options are not available, the reality is that this deck is capable of playing a good role thanks to the fact that playing “off curve” is part of the main plan. For example: Iron Lad + Evolved Misty Knight + having Evolved Cyclops in play is worth 11 power across different lanes (not counting the possibility that Iron Lad could reveal Doctor Doom). And this is just one of several possible combinations that don’t involve your 6-Cost cards.
Closing Words
Few cards are as strong and meta-defining as Doctor Doom. In combination with how powerful Wave is for stopping unfair decks, we see the rebirth of an archetype that had already dominated the game some time ago.
DoomWave is undoubtedly a deck that is capable of facing anyone. We’re beginning to see it again to fight Loki thanks to the last change to Doctor Doom and how Loki takes the Evolved cards without the abilities granted by High Evolutionary. Then Wave splits Loki‘s greediest plan in half. Things on the Ladder and in Conquest have become more even, and there’s no longer a single king of the hill.
Likewise, although this deck was reborn because of Loki, the fact that it also has a great match against decks with Alioth means that choosing it as an option will undoubtedly give you the upper hand against many of the most powerful decks in the game.
Thank you, dear readers, for joining me in this guide and reading this far. As always, it’s a pleasure to write for you. I hope this guide has shed some light on this archetype.
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