Infinite Decks of the Week – February 12, 2023: Into the Quantum Realm Week 1 – Thanos Takes Over

Marvel Snap’s February 2023 Season is still very new, and both MODOK and the new iterations of Zabu and Silver Surfer don’t feel completely solved yet. Still, several players already completed the climb back to the Infinite rank, showcasing different takes on the current metagame alongside ways to attack it in order to rack up cubes.

After the nerfs, we have seen various archetypes make a comeback with players looking to find what might be good now that Zabu and Silver Surfer are not the core of most decks. Both cards found new homes it seems, with Zabu being feature alongside Mister Negative or in a Sera control shell. Silver Surfer is a little more quiet, although the card still exists in some decks that organically have lots of 3-Cost cards.

The real stars of the new metagame, though, apart from the surge of discard decks because of the theme of the current Battle Pass, were Thanos and Lockjaw for the first week of Into the Quantum Realm season. Lockjaw is simply a great way to cheat energy and summon big cards for a reduced cost. Thanos, on the other hand, has been an outstanding card this week, seeing play in several decks and supporting different strategies in the process. As a result, I decided to give a big spotlight to Thanos this week and feature various decks using the card. I know it is a Series 5 cards, making it a controversial topic in the community, but the card is showing important traits of this forming environment. Notably, the flexibility it provides to the decks that include it.

Power was the name of the game with Zabu and Silver Surfer in January, with decks focusing on how many points they could develop first and foremost. With that power ceiling lowered (although the new Zabu + Mister Negative decks could have a claim on that one), we might be entering a different era where flexibility is the significant trait to capitalize on. In that regard, Thanos and his Infinity Stones definitely seem to have a part to play.

A New Ongoing Archetype

Ongoing Thanos

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2x Recruit Season

3.3

Cost

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5+

3.3

Power

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In the Tweet from the author, KrakenNull, you can also see a new Silver Surfer deck starting to get popular. Let’s focus on the “Dazzler Thanos” deck for this one, as it is the first Ongoing deck to exist since the Ongoing Destroyer archetype started declining.

In this deck, we are seeing a different approach at the Ongoing synergy based around developing all three lanes simultaneously. In the previous builds, Warpath would require us to play only two. As one would expect, we find the staple Ongoing cards Armor, Cosmo, Spectrum, and Ant Man included. The more innovative part, however, is the “going wide” package with Quinjet, Mojo, Thanos, Ka-Zar, and Blue Marvel, alongside the recently released Dazzler, a card that I have not seen featured so far. In this second portion of the build, Thanos is the glue, and none of the other cards mentioned would make sense playing without Thanos.

As part of the Ongoing synergy, I would imagine the Power Stone and the Soul Stone are the two better ones to find during the game. The other stones play a key role by helping the deck mix things up and fill the locations for Dazzler to eventually activate. They can also benefit from Ka-Zar‘s and Blue Marvel‘s buffs and even serve to round out energy usage during a turn. Amongst some nice synergies, we can utilize the Space Stone in order to reposition Mojo onto a full lane, or the Time Stone to be able to play Thanos and Spectrum in the same game thanks to the extra energy.

The Ongoing archetype has always been a very “basic” one compared to the more synergistic Destroy and Discard, or the combo approach pushed by the On Reveal archetype. Over time, the Ongoing Destroyer build has stopped surprising anyone as most of its play-patterns were relatively easy to guess once you recognized the deck. A new archetype around the synergy could help mix things up for the opponent’s perspective. Between Quinjet reducing the cost of the Infinity Stones, Zabu of the 4-Cost cards, and global buffs to a wide board with Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel, and Spectrum, this definitely seems much sneakier in terms of play-patterns.

Lockjaw Among the Best Win Conditions So Far

Thanos Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

3

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

4.4

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Lockjaw and Thanos aren’t a new pairing in Marvel Snap. The archetype had a surge in popularity in December before Lockjaw reunited with Thor and Jane Foster later on. For the start of the new season, it seems like Thanos has been the preferred option alongside Lockjaw, and the duo are making strides again.

In this archetype, the concept is extremely simple: use the Infinity Stones to summon big cards behind Lockjaw and cheat a ton of energy in the process. Obviously, there are flaws to this game plan like when a stone summons another stone or when we can’t find Lockjaw (because the deck has more cards in it at the start of the game). When you get a 1-Cost Magneto, though, it opens a lot of flexibility on how to plan the rest of the match.

Due to the nature of Marvel Snap rewarding players for being smart about their snaps and retreats, Lockjaw Thanos seems to be a nice early contender. The trick is to be careful with the low rolls while looking to get as many cubes as possible from the high rolls along the way. At the start of a new season, when players are looking to grind their way back to Infinite, they often have to do so in a completely new environment. The ability to pilot a deck with a simple snap and retreat strategy, then, can be a hot commodity. It alleviates the need to have a perfect read on each game, something extremely difficult to do when most of your opponents are trying new decks of their own.

In addition, the deck is really based around three key cards: Lockjaw, Thanos, and Quinjet. This opens a ton of room to adapt to your environment and pick the right tech cards for the opponents you expect to face the most.

The Infinity Stones Can Complement Any Strategy

Valkyre Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Recruit Season

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Including myself in this series isn’t something I thought I would be doing to be honest, but I reached Infinite with a Thanos deck, and since it appears to be this week’s theme, here we are!

Similar to what the Ongoing archetype was trying to do, this deck sacrifices some points potential to add much more disruption to the equation. In this build, the point of the Infinity Stones is to provide cheap, useful units in order to gain leverage before we lock our opponent out of options. Alongside Quinjet, or after being bounced back to hand with Beast, the Stones cost nothing. This means we can use them at the same time as Spider-Man, Professor X, Storm, or Valkyrie to immediately try to take over a lane. Thanks to their flexibility, the Infinity Stones provide a great way to add points to lanes we are looking to block before the opponent can play their bigger cards. Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel can always come as support later on to buff those stones if needed.

In addition to their points contribution, the ability of each Stone is incredible for a Lockation deck:

• The Time Stone allows for Storm or Professor X to come a turn earlier, catching most opponents off guard.
• The Space Stone allows us to reposition our units for a better spread of points or to reach Storm‘s otherwise unplayable lane.
• The Soul Stone and the Power Stone are just great for contesting a lane, especially because they are just 1- or 0-Cost cards.
• The Reality Stone helps with location management by changing a lane when our cards wouldn’t stick (Death's Domain, Altar of Death, Luke's Bar…) and denying beneficial ones for the opponent.

Closing Words

I know how starting the new season and immediately being told about yet another Series 5 card rising to be dominant isn’t the scenario a lot of players wished for. Rest assured, there are still great cards in Pool 3 that won’t break your bank in order to acquire them. Cards like Aero, Magneto, Polaris, and Sera are incredibly valuable and sometimes define archetypes on their own. Thanos showing up as a popular card early in the season mostly means that the focus of the popular archetypes might have changed and points to flexibility playing a bigger role than it did during the last two months.

There are still a lot of good decks based around developing a pre-established game plan. Shuri Zero, Zabu Negative, Galactus, Dracula Discard, Patriot, and DeathWave enter the game with a precise idea of where they are going and what they will try to accomplish. It is completely normal to have these decks dominate the popularity rankings; their proactive nature helps with grasping their concepts and makes them look more accessible.

Still, seeing more flexible decks emerge over the “play as many points as possible” decks is great news. It’s proof that there isn’t a card simply dominating the way Zabu did in the second part of January. Today, I wanted to credit these strategies because they might be much more discreet when looking at larger sample sizes for the upcoming Tier List.

Have your own original creation you want to share with us? Find the whole Marvel Snap Zone crew on Discord. You can also contact me directly on Twitter.

Good Game Everyone.