Table of Contents
One week ago I wrote about how excited I was for Kitty Pryde to join the game. I had big plans for her and hoped to have a refined deck ready to toss Hit Monkey into as soon as it released. Things didn’t really go according to plan, though, since Kitty Pryde had too many bugs attached to her for the development team, and the card is currently being taken care of.
I do realize that linking Hit Monkey with Kitty Pryde won’t be the reality of most players purchasing the Season Pass – you didn’t open this piece to be told you need to spend 6,000 Collector’s Tokens to enjoy Hit Monkey. And, to be fair, I don’t think you do. Still, the Bounce archetype will probably be the most mentioned in the conversation around the card. Here is the real disclaimer: Bounce is very demanding to play, and it gets demolished by Wave and Sandman.
So, what do we do now? We have established that Kitty Pryde isn’t a realistic option for most players, and Bounce has well known counters (if it even becomes strong enough to be relevant). We do exactly what we planned: talk about Hit Monkey and how the card isn’t just a gimmick.
Decks with Hit Monkey
Strategy and Potential
The On Reveal effect tells us that we have to play cards with Hit Monkey in order to make it worth. But how many exactly?
- 2/4 is the first acceptable threshold. This means that playing two cards before Hit Monkey is the starting point.
- 2/6 would place Hit Monkey among the strongest 2-cost cards, edging out Lizard and tying a maxed-out Angela (no shenanigans included). Three cards before Hit Monkey makes it a very solid 2-cost card.
- 2/8 puts Hit Monkey in the same category as Morbius as a premier 2-cost card that is able to rival more expensive cards. It also marks the theoretical limit of what most decks will be able to do since playing four cards before Hit Monkey is the maximum with six energy available and no free cards.
- More than 2/8, if doable reliably enough, would make Hit Monkey an incredible card that may be worthy of being in the discussion for best in the game. Realistically, we can’t get Hit Monkey higher than 2/12. Our hand only allows six cards in addition to Hit Monkey to play.
In order to get to the interesting numbers for Hit Monkey, we obviously have to pair it with cheap cards. At the end of the day, playing four 1-cost cards on the last turn isn’t so difficult to imagine. With the basic core of a budget Kazoo deck, we can already find a nice environment for Hit Monkey to thrive in.
Aiming for a 2/8 Hit Monkey doesn’t look so far-fetched anymore. Obviously, we won’t pull it off every single match, but there aren’t particular sacrifices that need to be made either. Thanks to Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel, we also have a good way of making our 1-costs solid enough to contribute to our points total.
Let’s see if we can push the points further than eight for Hit Monkey. In order to do so, we have to break one of the game’s basic limitations – either obtain more than six energy or make our cards cheaper so we can play more of them.
Decks with Magik
Decks with Quinjet
Sera makes Hit Monkey cheaper, allowing us to play an additional 1-cost (and throw 2-cost cards into the mix as well). Psylocke serves a similar purpose, but only with 1-cost cards; this is true for Magik as well. Quinjet would have been amazing before its nerf, but now it serves a similar purpose to Sera if we can create cards. We could even mix some of these cards together to get to the Promised Land (that is, playing six cards in the same turn). Magik on Turn 5 and Sera on Turn 6, for example, should make this doable.
Decks with Mister Negative
Decks with Beast
Mister Negative is an interesting card in the energy cheating category. Considering Hit Monkey is a 0-power card, you can’t ignore the possibility of Mister Negative tricks.
Beast is a little different as it allows creating 0-cost cards while adding cards to our hand, provided we have the space. It is probably the easiest way to increase the amount of cards we can play alongside Hit Monkey overall. Also, Beast could bounce Hit Monkey back to our hand and allow us to activate its On Reveal more than once.
Speaking of activating an On Reveal effect more than once:
Decks with Absorbing Man
Wong obviously feels logical to include in the discussion, especially since the card can be played on a different turn. Absorbing Man, on the other hand, is more of a concept here because it seems unlikely that we could get Hit Monkey to a number worth copying if we have to save energy for Absorbing Man. One can dream, eh…
Overall, we can see there are many cards to pair Hit Monkey with in order to get it to grow. It potentially fits in so many decks that our game plan doesn’t always have to rely entirely on it. This should give us several directions to build our decks.
Theorycraft Decklists
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Before we get into the more intricate builds, it feels important to mention that Hit Monkey is entirely playable with cards from Pools 1 and 2. It looks well adapted to a Kazoo type deck, and it gives us a nice reason to hold on to our 1-cost cards. In that sense, see Hit Monkey as an extra reason to be wary of an opposing Killmonger.
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Let’s start with the archetype that has already been on the comeback trail before Hit Monkey is even available: Bounce. With Angela, Bishop, and Beast naturally fitting in the build, Hit Monkey is a logical addition to the deck,. There isn’t any adapting needed to make the card feel at home. Bounce your cards, play them again, use Hit Monkey as an anchor to a lane. It all makes perfect sense.
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Let’s keep exploring decks that can mount some explosive last turns and see if we can revive an old fan favorite: Sera Miracle.
Very similar to what a Kazoo deck wants to do with its 1-cost cards, we are trying to make it happen with 2-costs here. It makes Hit Monkey much worse if we don’t draw into Sera, but it also makes the supporting cards much stronger when we do.
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If we looked at the logical allies for Hit Monkey, especially Angela and Bishop, both benefit from similar play patterns to what Hit Monkey pushes for. The She-Hulk combo archetype is another deck that can create some impressive late game turns. Also, with She-Hulk kept for the last turn alongside Hit Monkey, this deck would disguise its points spread much better than the decks we have looked at already.
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Last on the list, let’s explore Mister Negative, a usual suspect when it comes to abusing the On Reveal synergy. Most of all, Mister Negative makes Wong and Absorbing Man much more appealing to run alongside Hit Monkey.
This deck is built around an On Reveal core as opposed to the usual Ongoing core. With Hit Monkey as a 0-power card, Jane Foster might even be a consideration as well.
Closing Words
If I had to rank Hit Monkey, I would place it with the likes of M.O.D.O.K. rather than pre-nerf Zabu and Silver Surfer. As it stands, the card doesn’t feel particularly abusive. Even though we can find many decks where it makes sense, I could have listed just as many counters to those decks. Indeed, if Hit Monkey ever becomes a card to keep in check, cards like Wave and Sandman will become popular in no time, especially considering they are already a part of the metagame as we speak.
Overall, I think Hit Monkey should do well as a Battle Pass card. It seems to fit into different themes and also represents a solid option for budget decks. Right now, Marvel Snap doesn’t need a new abusive card that will warp the metagame around it. Instead, a card with the potential to push under-the-radar archetypes into relevancy is much more needed.
I hope this piece inspired you to get creative with Hit Monkey if you intend on getting the Season Pass. Join us on discord to share your creations with the community, or tag me on Twitter with your wildest builds!
Good Game Everyone.
