Infinite Decks of the Week – Old Staples Reinvented

The start of a new season always features a nice mix of people looking to grind back to Infinite as fast as possible and people trying their best to build around the new Season Pass card.

This season was a little odd. We got two new cards thanks to Spider-Man‘s complete rework, which gave deck builders more tools to work with. Also, because both new cards felt like they were at their best in decks that already existed, the start of “Big in Japan” quickly turned into a battle of which archetype would use Daken and Spider-Man in the most creative or effective way.

Elevating above the rest has been the Good Cards Move deck, the only “new” archetype emerging from the changes we got at the start of “Big in Japan”. Alongside this breath of fresh air (which we already discussed in other articles) are the usual suspects of the Marvel Snap metagame: Sera Control, Silver Surfer, Good Cards Darkhawk, Discard Dracula, and Thanos Control, to name a few.

Before you anticipate another similar metagame, I’d like to bring your attention to how the decks we will cover today are built. Indeed, even if the base archetype might be the same, both new cards were appealing enough to a wide variety of decks that they were required to change their build a bit. The result of this is that the old staples as we knew them are starting to reinvent themselves. Some of them for the better, others for worse.

Today, we’ll focus on those that seem to have successfully completed their transformation, as they reached the game’s highest rank in record time and already punched their ticket.

Good Cards Darkhawk Gets Flexible

good cards infinite

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

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3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.2

Cost

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3.5

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While some might consider the combination of Zabu with Darkhawk, Iron Lad, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress boring, the Good cards archetype remains a very valuable source of information about the current metagame. Indeed, by looking at the cards outside the dominant core, one can make educated guesses about the other popular decks since these extra cards are likely included for them.

The two cards to take a look at here are Cosmo and Vision. When it comes to the space dog, the card is included in various decks whenever the metagame features a little too many On Reveal abilities. In that category, Destroy continues to have quite a presence, even if the numbers don’t seem to be there to support it being the most used synergy for the past few months.
Then, Discard also made a bit of a comeback with Daken alongside Silver Surfer. Most of the current tech cards are also On Reveal abilities, so Cosmo definitely fits the bill.

As for Vision, it seems clear the goal is to pair it with Shuri since the two cards have a nice synergy together, and Vision is also a solid target for Iron Lad. More importantly, though, Vision is probably the only card that can pair with Shuri without building a full deck around the synergy (like Shuri Sauron does). Indeed, with Vision as the target, you can naturally play around an opposing Shang-Chi, while another other card would get blasted the following turn (unless you could pair it with Armor/Cosmo and priority).

Sure, Cosmo is included in this deck, which opens Shuri to buff Iron Lad or Rockslide, too, but with Shang-Chi in every deck right now, it feels necessary to have a plan if you rely on cards with nine or more power.

Move is The Synergy to Watch This Season

Move Legion

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

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3.6

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The archetype that took the meta by storm at the start of “Big in Japan”, Good Cards Move or “Silky Smoove” as some like to call it, seems to pair the two most important traits for a successful deck in today’s Marvel Snap: flexible in point development with disruption at the ready.

When a new metagame starts, it can be difficult to know what kind of synergies you want to target with your disruptive cards. You could go with the most popular ones before the changes, which would be Armor and Luke Cage in anticipation of Destroy and High Evolutionary right now. Or you can go for something which should be able to annoy absolutely everyone: card placement.

Indeed, while it started as the nemesis of Galactus (in addition to Aero being one hell of a good card in 2022), the ability to move the opponent’s cards now seems to be good in the grand scheme of things. It isn’t the core of the deck, which is focused more on Kitty Pryde, Angela, Silk, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Kraven, but Spider-Man has proven to work wonderfully with both Angela and Kraven as it can activate both cards while annoying the opponent in the process. Add Legion into the mix since your cards can reach any kind of location, and you got yourself two solid cards for their cost that can wreak havoc on the opponent’s game plan.

For good measure, keep Shang-Chi and Enchantress in the mix. You never know when you might need them…

Thanos Control Shifts Focus to Points

Thanos Infinite

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

4

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3.8

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Thanos Control was the hottest deck for the second half of July after Bounce relinquished its grasp on Marvel Snap due to a targeted OTA against it. However, since Good Cards Darkhawk re-emerged and now Move is red hot, the deck seemed to struggle to remain a solid contender in Marvel Snap. In this new take on the deck, Vision and Angela have joined to help the points total rather than the ability to disrupt the opponent. Although, you can still see Professor X, Psylocke, Blue Marvel, and Devil Dinosaur, as they’re considered staples in the archetype.

Most of the current decks are quite flexible. They’re able to move their cards, drop high power 3- or 4-Costs, and generally buff cards in Professor X‘s lane after it’s been locked. It only makes sense to see Thanos Control make these adjustments – especially because it seems to be working out with at least two players using the deck to reach Infinite already.

Discard Dracula Finally Innovates

Dracula infnite

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
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5+

3.7

Power

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It’s no secret that Discard Dracula has been struggling for the last two seasons. A lack of new cards to include, a deck everybody knew about, and decks with a higher ceiling were too much to overcome for Apocalypse and his crew. However, with Daken now in the game, the archetype picked up in popularity, and, apparently, the performance followed as well.

The deck has a few upsides to it, such as Dracula, Daken, and Morbius nicely dodging Shang-Chi. It also the ability to challenge all three lanes in a game, which is an important trait to mitigate the impact of decks able to move their points with Captain Marvel or Vision. Plus, I believe Discard Dracula to be the easiest deck to pick up among the current top decks in the metagame. The archetype has been around forever, you can play proactively almost every turn, and there are very few important interactions to understand to pilot the deck well enough to shoot for the Infinite rank.

Compared to Move, where just figuring how best to use Silk can take a whole day, someone without the ability to invest several hours into learning a new deck might enjoy the “plug and play” feeling of Discard Dracula.

With Silver Samurai joining Marvel Snap at the end of the month, this archetype might have the biggest comeback of the season.

Silver Surfer Builds Around Daken

Daken Surfer Infinite

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

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5+

2.9

Power

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It is still too early to say which of the Silver Surfer builds will emerge victorious in this three-headed battle between the traditional build, the Mister Negative build, or the new Daken build. For now, Daken is brand new and it is still early in the season, so the build with the Season Pass card is logically getting more hype than the other two. While everyone will have their opinion on the matter, I believe the deck with more tech cards will do better over big sample sizes. The latest iteration of the deck has been putting up some nice results in this first week.

It was certainly helped by the unconventional cards it runs for a Silver Surfer deck, which should surprise a few opponents. Indeed, Brood is really the only card that could tip the opponent off about your deck before Turn 5, so it’s possible to catch a few players off guard when you go for the Wong plus Gambit or Silver Surfer late game combos. Plus, thanks to Absorbing Man, you can grow Daken to a 16-Power card, which is big enough to challenge a lane on its own.

Up until this point, I have been disappointed by the new card in Destroy; eight power for four energy felt a little weak. Daken did look much better in Discard, though, since there is no need to spend energy for the Muramasa Shard. Still, the card is at its best when you can grow its power to the double digits – preferably on Turn 6 to avoid a devastating Shang-Chi. In this deck, you can hold both Shards and pair them with Killmonger and Silver Surfer on the final turn to create pressure across two locations. Otherwise, just use Colleen Wing to discard your sole Muramasa Shard.

Closing Words

With balance changes almost every week, we never know when a new archetype might emerge and rattle Marvel Snap’s metagame. The new Spider Man already completely changed the fate of the Move synergy, which has lead to other decks adapting a bit (such as seeing Enchantress less often). And although it has not led to a dominant build yet, Daken has been experimented around in various archetypes, and it’s posted decent results in most of them.

Overall, I think it is safe to say the start of Big in Japan has felt more refreshing than the previous season where Bounce and High Evolutionary dominated the fray, thereby limiting a lot of what could be played. It might not even be necessary, but I am eager to see what balance changes the team at Second Dinner has in store for us in the coming weeks. Their recent changes have felt like a hot streak of home runs.

It will be my pleasure to let you know all about those future changes and keep updating what the metagame looks like through these articles. Until then, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.