Infinite Decks of the Week – Guardians’ Greatest Hits Week 5: Abuse, Counter, Surprise!

When you start running out of time to reach your goal, the need to take a risk in order to climb faster starts kicking in. For most players, this need will transform into anxiety and could eventually lead to quitting for the season as the frustration takes over most of your game experience. However, for those who decide to give it one last shot, the secret ingredient to a successful climb is to take a stand.

In a metagame – especially one at the end of a season – there is a lot of information available. Precious information in order to climb. First, we have the good decks, those who have proven over a large sample size they can climb and maintain a solid cube rate if you put in the time to learn their intricacies. Then, we have the counter decks, those who, when left unchecked, take advantage of the most popular decks’ weaknesses to boost their performance.

Last, we have the surprise decks, those who nobody expects and typically do not respect, either. With these decks, we are looking to catch our opponent off guard and gain some extra cubes thanks to their uninformed decisions. Most of the time, these decks will look to explore some synergies completely unchecked in the metagame as most believe they aren’t strong enough.

The stand you take is completely up to you and your read of the current environment. Most players will typically go for the “abuse” deck, comforting themselves with the idea that it worked for so many people. The remaining majority will typically look to “counter” since they saw someone share a particularly impressive performance, which could lead to a quick and effective climb. The more daring ones go for “surprise”, aiming to get away with Snaps the opponent should never accept if they knew what was really going on.

In this piece, I’d like to share three archetypes that each represent a different way to climb the ladder. There isn’t much time left, so I hope it can help you make a decision and take a stand!

Evolved Lockjaw Runs the Show

Evolved Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Although it isn’t statistically the best deck in the game, Evolved Lockjaw has a big upside to it: it is extremely clear when to Snap with this deck. Indeed, considering the entire strategy relies on high rolling crazy amounts of power, even a new pilot should quickly pick up the promising hands that are worth raising the stakes. As such, the deck is almost guaranteed to climb (as long as you don’t take unconsidered bets with your weaker draws).

With this simple game plan, Evolved Lockjaw has become one of the most popular decks in the ranks leading to Infinite. And, as an added bonus, it also features High Evolutionary, a fan favorite just two weeks after its release.

Many competitive players have also started using the deck in tournaments, sharing their love for the archetype in the current format. As it stands, Evolved Lockjaw seems to be the deck with the highest ceiling in the game when it comes to power. It’s the perfect pick when looking to play a lot of games in a row. Indeed, once you have identified the winning play patterns, Lockjaw isn’t as demanding a deck as Sera Control or Bounce. First, the games don’t go to Turn 6 as often; your opponent often Retreats when Lockjaw or Jubilee pull a big card. Then, you don’t have many challenging turns in terms of sequencing your cards correctly or taking a gamble on whether your opponent has the perfect card to counter you.

“Abuse” the metagame.

Galactus Runs Free

Galactus

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With more decks looking to focus on developing as much power as possible, the counter cards are not so popular in the current environment. As a result of this newly found freedom, Galactus gained quite a bit of momentum in our last Tier List, and it seems to have retained most of that popularity this week in the race to the Infinite rank. Similar to Lockjaw, the archetype is fairly easy to understand, leading to simple decisions when it comes to Snapping or Retreating.

The archetype is still very much criticized in the community and is the source of many heated discussions on social media. Still, it is hard to argue against Galactus‘s solid position in a metagame where trying to counter what the opponent is doing is not a priority.

“Counter” the metagame.

Deadpool and Knull are Playing Goalies

deathstroy infinite

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Last on today’s list is the Destroy synergy, led by Death, Knull, and Deadpool.

Similar to Galactus, there doesn’t seem to be anyone running cards against the archetype lately, and the fierce competition among 2-Cost cards has left Armor to see very little play. Then, because Deadpool has always been kind of a meme deck in the Marvel Snap community, the deck gets away with a lot of cubes it should never get.

I can understand why a big Knull or a 0-Cost Death can be surprising, but I cannot wrap my mind around why someone would stay in a game where they saw Deadpool grow to double-digit numbers. What do they think is going to happen when we have a 1-Cost card able to dominate a lane on its own? That we are not going to use the other five energy to contest another lane? I don’t get it, but it’s extremely satisfying to play with the Destroy synergy thanks to this lack of respect.

Last, and the reason this archetype gets to be the “surprise” this week, is the ability to go toe-to-toe with Galactus. Indeed, we know they have Knull, but they don’t necessarily know that we do. And that is one big advantage going into the last turn of play.

“Surprise” the metagame.

Closing Words

While I am a big advocate of playing what you enjoy and trying to improve in order to reach your goals consistently, the end of the season can be a stressful time because one will focus on what little time they have left before they have to start again next season. This will increase stress, drop focus, and overall worsen the level of play, which is basically the perfect recipe if you are trying not to hit your goal.

In order to fight against this pressure, we need to have something to hang onto; a plan, confidence, or a support system. In this article, we focused on trying to craft a plan, particularly when picking up a deck to climb. Unfortunately for the confidence and support system, these are much more complex topics, and I would need to cover them in dedicated pieces.

You might not get your goal this season, but taking a stand and building a foundation for why you decided to go in a direction will give you something to improve on next season, at the very least. Then, even if you didn’t hit your goal, you should be in a better position next month when the clock starts ticking again, and you can think back on what went wrong and correct your mistakes.

I wish all of you the best of luck on your road towards Infinite. If you need some support or advice, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord. You can also find me on my Twitter page, where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.