Infinite Decks of the Week – January 22, 2023: Savage Land Week 3

If the first week of a Marvel Snap Season is often the time to know which decks climb the fastest, and week 2 where we start seeing some trends, week 3 is where the metagame can start feeling a little stale, and players looking to climb the ladder tend to pick amongst the already existing options. As a result, this week’s submission will focus on decks that you probably have heard about already, but with maybe a little twist, or archetypes that were not labelled as competitive for the past few weeks.

Overall, it feels quite difficult to not fall prey to a metagame that has developed around its strongest cards already, and it is understandable for players struggling a bit to turn towards the established better decks. However, joining everyone else on the most popular decks can create even more frustration, as we are effectively joining the pack, and letting some random elements separate us from the other players with the same strategy. If you aren’t very solid on your Snap and Retreat game, this strategy can quickly become a very frustrating one, as you will end up not climbing with what is seemingly the solution for everyone. The thing is, there is a ceiling to every solution, and it can be the problem if it becomes overused.

This week, then, let’s look at those who managed to find an alternate route to the Infinite rank, using a different deck than the ones dominating the ladder in terms of popularity.

Sauron is a good card – confirmed?

Sauron Zero Shuri

Created by den

, updated 1 year ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The new Series 5 January 2023 cards have caught a lot of heat recently. In addition to their prices and odds of opening one, most of the community finding them out of reach, the cards also were deemed not impactful enough to be worth considering as an investment. Despite all this bad publicity around it, Sauron still found a way to make an impact and make its presence felt in one of the current best archetypes in the game: Shuri Zero.

Variants

Sauron

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sauron

Arguably, Sauron is a mass Zero, removing the capacities to all your Ongoing cards, which are the ones you would be targeting with Zero most of the time. It only makes sense then, to see the card included in an archetype where Typhoid Mary or Red Skull were staples already. It isn’t anything ground-breaking so far, but it shows the card has found a home quickly, and can be experimented around in the archetype.

Also, the card truly feels like it serves a real purpose in the deck, mostly because it is played in the first half of the game. Indeed, with turns four, five, and six completely inflexible due to trying to abuse Shuri‘s ability and trying to copy the big card created this way. In order to include a new utility card to the build, it had to be one with a cost of three energy or lower, which made Sauron perfect for the role.

Alynis added me on Discord to share their deck and have a chat, so we don’t have a direct link for this one, sorry folks.

Lockjaw On Reveal makes a comeback

Lockjaw is back

Created by den

, updated 1 year ago

5

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

4.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Lockjaw On Reveal is a deck that has had his fair share of struggles in the past. Cosmo being a popular card in Silver Surfer decks, the average power ceiling increasing in the last two months, alongside annoying locations being added to the game. It hasn’t been easy to be a good boy lately for Lockjaw.

Over the last week, though, it seems like the deck picked up some nice momentum, and it’s making a strong comeback in the metagame. We will of course go into more details as to the reason of the comeback, but today, let me hear you cheer for Jamminz-Gaming and their Infinite rank!

In this take of the Lockjaw archetype, we are going back to the roots of the deck, with Thor and Jane Foster Might Thor as the key cards, taking their place instead of the more recent Thanos direction around the deck. The rest of the deck is quite standard, with cards aiming at cheating big, powerful cards, and said powerful cards we are looking to get on a discount. The maybe weird inclusion could be Hobgoblin, which usually would be Vision or the cheaper Green Goblin. The card still makes sense in the deck, and could be nice to pull as well, disrupting the opponent’s ability to play on our Lockjaw lane. Just be careful not to have it discarded by Dracula on game’s end.

Another interesting inclusion is Aero, arguably still a top card in Marvel Snap, even after losing a power. I wonder why the card was included, whether if it was to drag potentially disruptive cards away from Lockjaw, or to force the opponent onto Lockjaw‘s lane, one we usually expect to win, whenever we would pull Aero.

If you would be looking for more ideas on Lockjaw On Reveal, but also Shuri Zero, JeeseJames kindly climbed to Infinite with both decks, a perfect summary!

Your own collection will do just fine

No leader, No problem

Created by den

, updated 1 year ago

4

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

A bit of Destroy synergy, a pinch of disruption, a couple of tech cards and Aero, White Queen to represent the Good Cards crew, I have no idea how to simply explain this deck. It looks like a patchwork of several packages thrown together, but in a harmonious way. The Destroy synergy, helped by Sunspot and Viper, take care of the early game, when the end game is covered by White Queen, Aero and Doctor Octopus, mixing points and disruption. In the middle of the build, we have three disruptive cards in Green Goblin, Cosmo, and Shang-Chi, providing some reactive punch and adaptability going into the late turns.

Is this a deck that will make it into the Tier List, clearly not. Is it a deck I would vouch for, and tell the community to take as it is super safe to climb with, not sure about that either. But I still love this deck because it shows the most important trait of a Marvel Snap ladder grinder currently: Perform with the cards you have.

Of course, some of us have it way better than others, and seeing people share their opinion on cards or decks I can’t think about getting in the next week isn’t the most pleasant experience. On the flip side, it also creates these kinds of Cinderella stories, where players managed to reach their goal with a complete off-meta build that made sense in regard to their card collection and play style. It also makes the Infinite climb even more deserved in the end, so congrats Jimmy Gorham!

Closing Words

Overall, this was a quiet week when it comes to innovating to climb the ladder. I expect it to be the natural course of things, as the middle of a season usually mostly sees players trying to finish their climb, so they can get on their crazy ideas once the Infinite climb is over especially with an extra incentive to do so this month.

Even without much waves, we still got the chance to see Sauron in action, have an old timer come back to relevancy and see how to use an unrefined collection, so this week isn’t all lost either.

Hopefully, next week will have more spice to it, as less competitive decks will see less of the usual Zabu or Silver Surfer decks below the Infinite mark, and be able to wow us with some innovative play patterns. Even better, maybe a counter to those decks will emerge and something will cruise to Infinite and blow our minds with their creation.

No matter what happens, we will be around to tell you all about it. Until then, find the whole Marvel Snap Zone team on Discord, and myself on Twitter.

Good Game Everyone.