Infinite Decks of the Week – The Fundamentals of Climbing the Ranked Ladder (Late in the Season)

Looking for a sweet decklist to climb the Ladder? Every week, we scour the community for decks and highlight the interesting ones that reach the Infinite rank on the Marvel Snap ranked Ladder. We also provide commentary on each list, which allows us to discuss how the overall Marvel Snap metagame is developing and how these players took advantage of it.

Overview of the Week

It’s that time of the season again! Time starts to dwindle as players start looking for some magic deck in order to climb to the Infinite rank. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but today, we won’t talk about the juggernauts of the current meta; we have another series that does that. Instead, we will focus on the peculiar strategies you could use to rack up some cubes, and, more importantly, that might be more effective than using the widely recognized best decks.

Why so, you might ask?

First, playing the same deck as everyone else means you are bound to play the mirror match a lot, which is often an encounter that is solved by playing or drawing better than your opponent. While it might not sound so bad, the mirror match is often the most difficult one to navigate when it comes to knowing if you should Snap or Retreat at different points in the match (unless you are a very skilled player with the deck). Without the ability to fully control the most important part of a successful climb – your bets – you immediately accept that RNG might play a bigger role than you wished in your cube income.

As such, we are going to look the opposite way today and focus on decks that your opponent won’t expect. We want to create a situation where we are in total control of the stakes of a match. Yes, we might lose a little more than if we were playing a Loki or Darkhawk deck over large sample sizes, but most of our losses should be for only one cube since as the decks we will cover today have a straightforward strategy. This way, when your opponent Snaps you, it should be fairly easy to assess the situation and figure out if you have a reasonable shot at winning the game or if you should cut your losses. Similarly, whenever you see your opponent with a very popular deck miss a key turn, you can just look at your hand to know if you have what you need to bring it home and Snap.

Why am I emphasizing on this so much? Because controlling the stakes is the best way to remain under control and feel like you are in a position where your climb depends on you, not on random elements out of your grasp. It’s also because playing a different deck than the ones you are routinely facing should make the game more interesting, and probably more fun. This particular aspect is often overlooked when trying to do your best. It’s important to remember your mood will have a big impact on your ability to think calmly and make the difficult decisions that are often the ones deciding the outcome of the game.

From established decks with a little twist to them to a build that will take your opponent in every direction but the correct one, let’s explore how we can make the climb to the Infinite rank our own instead of following the latest trends.

A Simple Deck Will Limit How Many Elements You Have to Control

Infinite Lockdown Ramp

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Late in the season, most of the players looking to get to the highest rank before the end of the season have troubles with timing their Snaps and Retreats. Unfortunately, that is the most important mechanic in the game for climbing through the ranks. Even if the archetype isn’t regarded as a powerhouse right now, Ramp has the merit of providing a pretty simple game plan, which makes it easier to figure out when to raise the stakes or leave the match.

The downside of this strategy is the risk of playing a deck that the opponent could also easily recognize, making it much harder to surprise them. Unless you can throw a few twists in your deck (like Shield Agent did during their climb to Infinite), this deck isn’t really a Ramp build, as it takes a lot from the Lockdown archetype.

I guess it makes sense considering Ramp can’t really compete on points any more against the likes of Loki, Darkhawk, and Shuri (at least not on the lanes where they decided to go big). Accepting that premise and developing a different spread of points looks like a smart idea.

Here, the mix with some Lockdown concepts pushes for a deck that is able to limit the available space and still develop points on all lanes. With the current power level of Ramp, this has a much higher chance of winning against proactive decks with a high points ceiling. Plus, if you do find Electro on curve, you can always switch to a proactive game plan with Devil Dinosaur, Doctor Doom, and Alioth.

Shuri Sauron Gains Lots of Flexibility With Annihilus

Infinite Shuri Annihilus

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

We just discussed how playing a simple deck can help you figure out one of the most important parts of Marvel Snap. Being too predictable will also lead to your opponents Retreating a lot after you Snap. Then you start to enter a cycle where your good hands are only worth one cube, but you have to risk staying in other matches to collect more (and that tends to be a losing strategy).

With this in mind, throwing a little wrinkle in a very strong deck should help you keep opponents in games, as well as make it more difficult for them to pick the ideal line of play. This is exactly the reason some players have started including the Annihilus package in Shuri Sauron.

It does cost the deck a bit – Typhoid Mary, Lizard, America Chavez, and the typical Ongoing counter card (Echo or Enchantress). One might even wonder if Sauron is still needed here; it really only serves to nullify Red Skull and Ebony Maw, and the latter card can be played on the right lane since it can still be impacted with Sentry and Annihilus later on. Zero does have some synergy with Sentry, so it might be more influential in the deck.

Reading this piece, you might think this deck is just a worse Shuri Sauron since some synergies aren’t optimized any more. But this is exactly what could bring you some cubes; your opponents will usually only see one part of the deck and rarely suspect the other. For example, if you see The Hood into Armor in the first two turns, you will rarely think about Shuri. Then, if your opponent does Snap, you might wonder if they will stay in the match with those decks in mind. Then, when Shuri comes down on Turn 4, your opponent already accepted a match worth two cubes.

It might seem like this is nothing if you look at just the one game, but over a few dozen games you have suddenly picked one or two ranks for free with that trick.

Phoenix Force Still Has Game in a Proactive Environment!

Infinite Phoenix Force

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

If deckbuilding isn’t necessarily your strong suit, and adapting a deck to open new play patterns feels too difficult a task, you can always pick an unexpected and already built archetype. Bonus points if you can pick one with a simple Snap and Retreat strategy so it fits today’s theme as well. In that regard, Phoenix Force is a great synergy to explore since most of your Snaps will be entirely based on your early draws. Plus, the deck packs natural counters to some popular synergies, and it easily plays around Storm (Move) or Annihilus (Destroy) while giving difficult cards for Loki to use as well.

It might take a few games to learn how to navigate the various patterns in the deck, but once you figure it out you’ll have enough points to challenge most of the current top tier decks. Their disruption will rarely impact you if your early draw leads to The Phoenix Force on Turn 4.

Of course, the deck isn’t a powerhouse in the current meta. If it was, it would probably see more play. Still, you don’t necessarily need a stellar win rate when you routinely win four cubes while managing to lose only one or two. In this scenario, the goal is to understand the climb to Infinite is about finding a strategy you believe in, not necessarily find the strongest deck and playing a ton with it.

Indeed, if you decide to go for that second route, you need to be better than your average opponent because you will need to win some mirror matches to climb reliably. Also, since you are playing a very strong deck, you are enticed to stay in most matches and be confident about your ability to make magic happen, which is often a recipe for disaster that tilts your way to losing ranks in the end.

If you have enough time on your hands to learn one of the best meta decks and grind this way, it will definitely get you to the Infinite rank eventually. However, I doubt this is the most optimal way to do it if it hasn’t worked already this season – especially if you are starting to lack time as the end of the season gets close. It is probably more effective to find a deck you can manipulate your cube income with and focus on the bigger picture rather than trying to win every single game.

A Total Misdirection

Infinite genius deck

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2x Starter Card

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This kind of deck is why I created this weekly series, as I keep finding absolute gems that managed to sneak their way into the game’s highest rank. This week, we have a Patriot build with a ton of cards you wouldn’t think have a reason to be in the deck, but it actually makes sense:

• Ebony Maw has tons of support, particularly the two 6-Cost cards that can summon cards behind it.
• Green Goblin and Hobgoblin follow a similar logic because you should be able to fill lanes quite easily with Ultron in your deck. Then, instead of playing cards on your side of the field (which won’t have much of an effect on the end result), you might as well impact your opponent’s side of the board.
• Armor makes sense alongside both Goblins in the Annihilus meta because it prevents the opponent from sending them back if you fill your side of the lane.
• It is impressive to still find some room to fit both Super-Skrull and Shang-Chi after we already discussed four cards that typically aren’t part of a Patriot deck.

Is this deck going to be the next meta defining archetype? Nope. However, I do think there is a lot to learn from it if you are trying to reach Infinite and the conventional decks aren’t working out. We discussed creating opportunities to win more cubes than you lose, even at the cost of playing a peculiar deck. This feels like the perfect example; there is a clear strategy, and it definitely makes sense if you think about it for a second. However, if you don’t know about this list, there is very little chance that you have the slightest idea of what is coming next.

Closing Words

Unless the reason you couldn’t climb to Infinite before was because you didn’t have the time to play, I have some bad news for you: you might have to accept that you’re not suited to play the same decks as everybody else and have to be a little sneakier than your competition. Fortunately for you, you picked the right game to do just that. Marvel Snap’s Ranked mode does not require you to win a lot of games, just a lot of cubes. If you can find a way to make every win be worth two or even four cubes, you can have an abysmal Win Rate and still make it into the Infinite rank.

This different approach from simply picking a top performing decks and playing it for hours can take various forms. You can fit an unexpected tech card into a deck to change a match up and aggressively Snap when you are favorably paired; you could include a whole new play pattern into an archetype people think they know everything about to completely wreck their typical way of playing against it; or you might walk the extra mile and build your own deck that is based on an original idea, leveraging the fact that your adversaries have no idea what they are up against.

No matter what your decision is, I wish you a lot of luck (and fun) to reach the Infinite rank before the season’s end. If you already did, feel free to help the others through sharing your deck in the comments, on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or tag me on Twitter where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.