Table of Contents
Welcome to my Lockdown Guide, updated for the Higher, Further, Faster! Season of Marvel Snap. When I wrote the deck guide in the Season of Bloodstone, I expected Lockdown to be a strong deck in a post-Elsa-nerf world but didn’t expect the balance patches and OTAs paired with the release of Ms. Marvel to catapult the deck to its current tier-one ranking as one of Snap’s best decks, perhaps only falling behind Loki Collector. Now, it’s time to update this guide for the Higher, Further, Faster season, arming you with everything you need to simply lock the board and win!
Introduction
There’s no doubt that Lockdown is a fun archetype to pilot in Marvel Snap. It rewards skill & practice and allows you to shape the odds in your favor by securing one lane and using tech and power to win another.
At this deck’s best, you’ll feel like a genius for predicting your opponent’s plays with cards like Gamora—amplifying your total power on the board. With plenty of unique play patterns to explore and some truly creative and flexible options, I’ll show you why this is a compelling option and one of Snap’s strongest decks in the Higher, Further, Faster season!
My preferred version of choice for Guardians Lockdown includes both Daredevil and Professor X. These two together are a powerhouse of the format, and Professor X represents one of the deck’s best ways to lock a lane and prevent your opponent from winning. Now more than ever, it’s super simple to win a lane with Professor X, especially when he’s backed by either Klaw or Ms. Marvel.
In my most recent Marvel Snap Card Meta Report, I wrote about the inclusion of Mr. Fantastic in lockdown now, a card I previously omitted from my Lockdown lists:
Along with Ms. Marvel, Doctor Doom, and Klaw, Mister Fantastic provides a way to spread total power across multiple locations with a single card. I’ve found Mister Fantastic and Ms. Marvel to be fantastic additions to the Lockdown control archetype, and I’ve adapted my Guardians Lockdown list to accommodate the changes.
The deck is more powerful than ever at staying open and spreading a lot of points across the board. Mister Fantastic, Klaw, and Ms. Marvel all start to feel a lot like variations and spin-offs of Doctor Doom in this list and strategy while supporting cards rein in your opponents and orchestrate the locations they are allowed or otherwise compelled to play to.
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Lockdown Archetype Overview
As an archetype, Lockdown attempts to win and restrict a lane from play, then use our remaining arsenal of tools to secure a second location. The Guardians variant of lockdown includes the likes of Nebula, and Gamora to great effect. With the release of Ms. Marvel, Drax has been cut from the list. Post-OTA, Jessica Jones also represents a potentially better option in the slot for players who are worried about Enchantress in a meta filled with Ongoing effects.
Traditionally, cards like Gamora were vastly underrepresented in the Marvel Snap meta, but they truly shine in this list. In this deck guide, I’ll show you how to pilot Guardians Lockdown and talk through each of the individual cards in the list.
Deck Strengths
- A strong. proactive deck that can put a lot of points on the board and maintain priority heading into the later turns in the game.
- Strong individual card quality and exceptional flexibility in how we spread points across the board.
- An extremely card-effect-dense deck allows Iron Lad to simply win some games on the spot.
- Rewards practice, metagame knowledge, and skill.
- A toolbox-style deck that can adapt to almost any situation and allows for some truly creative and brilliant lines of play. Many slots of the deck can be adjusted to help with the meta opposition.
- Location-agnostic when it comes to securing wins since this list has the tools to overcome practically any ‘bad’ location in the game.
- One of the previous weaknesses in that the deck was more difficult to snap with in earlier turns has been eliminated thanks to Ms. Marvel!
Deck Weaknesses
- Requires knowledge of the meta and what common decks and matchups are trying to accomplish at any given turn during the game. The more accurately you can predict what your opponent is trying to do, the better you will perform with this list.
- Lockdown can be susceptible to move-based strategies since they can more easily contest the Storm lane and work around Alioth as one of the closers.
- Harder to win 4-8 cube games. Oftentimes, opponents will get spooked and retreat if our game plan goes well. Lockdown is more often a 1-4 cube-winning deck.
- By default, this can make Conquest more difficult to play with this archetype since you lose out on some potential for huge cube games.
- Sometimes you need to take calculated risks or gambits in order to win close games.
- Requires more decisions and thinking compared to some simple lists that are equally effective at farming cubes like Shuri Sauron.
Card Overview
As a whole, Lockdown is packed with ‘good cards’ that have merit and stand on their own. In this section, I’ll break down every individual card and some of the helpful interactions and lines of play to know.
Nightcrawler has become more popular in the Archetype as backup for Nebula in the one-drop slot. Since the deck likes to be more proactive now and establish wide lane presence with Ms. Marvel (who requires at least one card in a lane to power up), Nightcrawler is a great option to help the deck stay flexible in being able to move cards around alongside Jeff. Many popular versions of the deck are choosing to run Nightcrawler for his flexibility and synergy with the Ms. Marvel strategy which has taken center stage.
Decks with Nebula
Nebula is an anchor card. As the only 1-drop in the deck, we are always happy to see Nebula in our opening hand. Unless I have a good reason to do so otherwise, I prefer to place Nebula in the third lane as an anchor that can add points to the board and pressure my opponent throughout the game.
Nebula actively incentivizes your opponent to commit play to the lane or forfeit it early on if they don’t have the means to deal with Nebula later in the game through other means.
Playing Storm in your Nebula lane can be a powerful way to win a location for only four total energy.
Decks with Daredevil
Daredevil is an exceptional addition to the archetype. Not only does it enable powerful Professor X plays that can completely shut our opponent out of a lane, but also gives invaluable information as to our opponent’s intentions for the final turn of the game. With Daredevil in play, it’s imperative to take your time on turn five and plan how you want the rest of the game to go.
Examine the contents of your deck and what your turn six may look like depending on your draw. Based on the information you have, what do you expect from your opponent on turn six? At the cost of a little bit of power earlier in the game, Daredevil provides a wealth of information and is the piece of the deck that raises the skill cap significantly. Use Daredevil to set up a strong Gamora, land Professor X to lockdown a lane, and get insight into where your opponent plans to play their points.
Medusa is the card that often gives our deck’s identity away after we’ve played a second card. Lockdown and Cerebro 5 are really the only two decks that consider Medusa at the moment. Medusa is a strong anchor card that helps us capture and retain priority throughout the game.
Because she must be played to the middle lane, we can place her early on and keep the option of stacking more points into it later in the match. Medusa applies solid pressure and must be answered, usually with more energy investment from our opponent than the two we spent to play her.
While my current version of Lockdown does not run Medusa, she is a very strong option and is included in many well-performing versions of the Archetype.
Decks with Jeff the Baby Land Shark
Jeff the Baby Land Shark Is a card that needs little explanation. In this deck, we want to play Jeff and keep him in place until at least turn five, with the intent of moving him to where he will help us win the game.
Jeff can be instrumental in securing a Professor X lane when our opponent matches or exceeds our total, or beat out an opposing Jeff played to our Professor X lane that tied the location.
Jeff can be moved on turn five to help us secure a strong Alioth play on turn 6 or even capture priority heading into the final turn of the match to ensure our opponent can’t play on-reveal effects in a crucial location.
Overall, placing Jeff and keeping him open to move until as late as possible is key.
Decks with Storm
Storm is critical to the list. Ideally, we want to play Storm on either turn three or four and use our follow up plays to win the lane. Doctor Doom, Jeff, and Klaw can help us win the Storm lane against decks like Move or in the rare case our opponent plays more power in the location than us before it floods.
One tricky play you can do to beat your opponent is play Storm to the furthest right location on turn four. On turn five (assuming you have enough power to win the lane) ignore the Storm location and play Professor X to the far left location. You can secure the leftmost location with Professor X and win back the rightmost location with either Klaw, Jeff, or Doctor Doom on the final turn.
Usually, it’s more consistent to play Storm on curve on turn three, but this is a potential option if she’s drawn later or you do want to play a different sequence early on. A strong Storm play (with hopes of winning another lane) can be a compelling reason for an early Snap.
Decks with Gamora
Gamora is a great and powerful card that help swin priority throughout the match and put better-than-average power into play for correctly guessing the opponent’s plays. Gamora is a great turn five play in many situations, especially with Daredevil’s help in taking the guess work out of the equation.
Iron Lad is probably the best card in the deck with the rest of the lineup. There is so much density of card effects that you’re bound to hit something powerful when Iron Lad is played. I prioritize playing Iron Lad at my Storm location. Hitting Professor X, Alioth, or Doctor Doom with Iron Lad played on turn four can often win the game on the spot.
Hitting one of these effects with positive results is often a reason to snap—you can also try to snap preemptively if you think the odds are highly in your favor of hitting an effect that will tip the game in your favor. Because there is always the possibility of hitting Medusa if we haven’t seen her yet (and she is in your decklist), you may want to consider trying to play Iron Lad to the middle lane to avoid hitting the singular potential ‘dead’ card in the deck with his effect. Since Ms. Marvel is also extremely impactful when played to the center location, if you haven’t seen her card yet, that’s another reason to target Iron Lad to the middle location if it’s feasible.
Decks with Ms. Marvel
Ms. Marvel is the strongest addition to Lockdown since the deck’s inception. Her ability to help the deck go wide and act as an extra & early copy of Doctor Doom has made Lockdown a true menace to many different decks in the meta. It is quite simple to set up Ms. Marvel, and once you get the hang of keeping your locations compliant with her effect, you’ll be in great shape to handle a lot of what the meta can throw at you.
Unfortunately, this is an ongoing-heavy deck, so opposing cards like Enchantress and Super-Skrull, or even a well-placed Rogue can lead to some upsetting blowouts. Fortunately, the reward often beats the risk and it’s clear from the performance that Lockdown is and should continue to be a strong meta option going forward.
Decks with Professor X
Professor X allows us to win more lanes, at the expense of a slightly higher average energy cost for the deck. When used with other cards in the list, he is instrumental in helping win lanes or securing key locations. Professor X allows for a lot of snap potential if you’re confident he will improve your overall odds. Daredevil helps the equation tremendously. Ms. Marvel + Professor X now equals eight total power, and drastically helps the equation of when to snap and take a chance in games. The inclusion of Ms. Marvel in lockdown has drastically improved the efficacy of Professor X as well as improve the overall cube rate for the deck thanks to more consistent (and confident) snaps.
Decks with Doctor Doom
Klaw + Doctor Doom can serve as powerful finishers and provide additional means to split your power across multiple locations. Klaw can amplify power to Storm’s location or your Professor X lane and can easily catch your opponent by surprise if they win the Professor X lane. This scenario leads to the majority of the 8-cube wins for the deck, just watch out for an opposing Alioth!
Finally, Alioth is the tool that can help close out games and win the second location. Moving Jeff to your planned Alioth lane or on turn five to gain priority heading into turn 6 can be essential to winning. The better you can predict your opponent’s plans for the final turn of the game, the stronger Alioth will be.
Against Move decks, it’s usually best to prioritize oDoctor Doom or Klaw to spread your points around more. Against decks that play fewer cards per turn or don’t have moving pieces on the board—Alioth can truly shine, even post-nerf.
Example Turns
All probabilities shared calculated via Hypergeometric Distribution.
Turn one: Ideally, play Nebula to the rightmost lane (or the left lane if there is a compelling reason to do so.) Nebula will be available on turn one in a third of your games and can be a helpful indication for an early snap.
Turn two: Jeff, or Daredevil. Nebula can be played as well if drawn on turn two.
Turn three: Storm, or one of your lower cost cards if Storm is not available. You will have some games (although infrequent at only 12.1% of total games) where you don’t have anything to play on turn three after playing a card on either turn one or two. This is totally acceptable and the list can easily overcome missing turn three. Storm will be in your hand by turn three in 50% of your games.
Turn four: If you were able to play Storm on turn three, follow that up with either Iron Lad or Ms. Marvel if able. Otherwise, play what you can and work to secure the Storm location later on with Jeff, Klaw, or Doctor Doom. Without Storm, trying to set up Ms. Marvel or play a standalone Iron Lad to apply pressure are perfectly valid plays.
Turn five: turn five and six are really where the complexity of the deck opens up and all the different possibilities are introduced. As you grow more comfortable with the list, you can spend less time on these turns—but really thinking them through can help secure more wins.
Use turn five to build priority and commit to where you want to land your points through the final turns of the game. If you did not win your Storm lane, it’s time to plan to win it back with Jeff, Klaw, Ms. Marvel, or Doctor Doom, or proceed without the location if you’re confident you can win the other two.
With Daredevil in play – try to use the information to win a location. Professor X and Gamora should be prioritized, but you should also try to craft out your turn six and anticipate your opponent’s before committing your play. If Ms. Marvel isn’t in play on turn four, she should be prioritized to play on turn five, provided you meet the criteria for her effect in at least one lane.
Without Daredevil – try to land a powerful Gamora guess, move Jeff to seize priority into Alioth, or play Iron Lad as needed.
Turn six: Now, to close the game. Depending on how the other turns have gone and what is available in your hand, you will want to play Alioth, Doctor Doom, or Gamora. The closer you can predict what your opponent will actually do on turn six, the more confidence and effectiveness you can build in closing the game and also understanding when a retreat is in order.
Card Substitutions
The beauty of Lockdown is that many different cards can fit into its strategy. I’ve seen variants with cards like: Jessica Jones, Rogue, Legion, Vision, America Chavez, Rogue, Super-Skrull, and many other interesting cards and effects!
I’ve even seen Lockdown decks with post-nerf Mobius M. Mobius to help with the Loki matchup, one of the hardest challenges that Lockdown is currently facing on the ladder. There are enough flexible slots within the list that you can experiment and shift things around to try to tailor the deck to the meta you are facing. But one thing that is certain is that its proactive approach has really allowed the deck to shine. I expect Lockdown to continue to be an incredibly strong control option going forward, and this update will help you navigate the changes the list has undergone to go from a fringe tier-three deck in the Bloodstone season to a tier-one threat in the first week of Higher, Further Faster!
Series Three only!
It is possible to pilot a Lockdown deck with only series three cards. Of course, the deck is at its most powerful state when you have the series four+ cards that are prioritized for the list. In all of my content, I try to present options and substitutions for players who may not have all the cards in the list within their collection. This deck is still playable with only series three cards but does gain a lot of power with some of the higher-series cards as they work together.
As a newer player, here is the version of the list that I would pilot with only Series 3 cards:
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If you plan on picking up the season pass, Ms. Marvel will significantly raise the power level of the deck.
Here are some potential substitutions for series four or five cards in the list:
- Nebula > Nightcrawler or Sunspot.
- Jeff the Baby Land Shark > Luke Cage, Armor, or Nightcrawler.
- Iron Lad > Crossbones.
- Alioth > America Chavez or Magneto.
Annihilus Core
Annihilus has consolidated a new core of cards in Marvel Snap. The Lord of the Negative Zone has already been seen in the company of The Hood and Sentry in multiple archetypes, including Lockdown!
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Debrii plays an important role against decks that base their plan on Werewolf by Night. For its part, Ms. Marvel, which has already been released as of this edition, has solidified this archetype and profiles it as one that will remain over time.
With a Win Rate of 62%, there should be no doubt that Annihilus and company work wonderfully, complicating the game for our opponents and giving us unconventional lines of play for what anyone would expect from this archetype.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoy this powerful and fun control-style decklist. It is a deck that greatly rewards practice and meta-knowledge. Once you get the hang of it, you will be amazed at some of the lines of play you’ll discover and stun your opponents with when playing this deck. Good luck with your games!
Have any questions about piloting the deck or any of the card choices? Drop a comment below or follow me on Twitter!
