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Announced earlier this week, the metagame will finally be shaken up a bit with a balance patch due early next week. To no one’s surprise, Thanos Lockjaw and Shuri Zero should both be the focus of this patch, and the pair will likely fall from their current pedestal. So what should we focus on this week:
- Give Thanos Lockjaw and Shuri Zero a final spotlight and show one last time how good both decks are when it comes to racking up cubes?
- Try to show decks that might have a shot at being the best after the patch?
Thanos and Shuri
If you picked the first option, I don’t really know what I could add to the conversation around Thanos Lockjaw and Shuri Zero. Both decks have been the center of attention for over a month now. There are a few iterations of each archetype running around that might be worth taking a look at since they might resist the nerfs slightly better. Still, there aren’t any takes that don’t use Quinjet, Thanos, Leech, and Lockjaw, the four most discussed cards in Thanos Lockjaw. The same goes for Shuri Zero; every variation of the archetype will see the Shuri, Red Skull, and Taskmaster core included. It is hard to imagine any of these different builds survive a nerf if the main list doesn’t in the first place.
Nevertheless, if you are interested in seeing how both decks are developing lately, here are the lists I would recommend running until we have more precise information about the upcoming nerfs:
- For Thanos Lockjaw, the Killmonger – Wave – Death variation seems to do great in the mirror match, and it’s also a much more flexible approach against lane disruption archetypes. This deck won the recent Marvel Snap Zone tournament for premium members, and it’s performing quite well on the ladder.
HowlingMines
- When it comes to Shuri Zero, Nimrod was the big experiment to try in the deck as the battle pass card seemed to have some nice synergy with Shuri. It seems, though, that the basic take on the deck is still the dominant one, with the real discussion happening around Vision and whether the card deserves a spot in the deck. Someone did manage to climb to the Infinite rank with a very different list of Shuri, even if the usual suspects were in the deck:
Marvel Snap Zone
While I have very little doubt about the fact that both of these archetypes will suffer some severe setbacks in the balance patch, I can’t fault you for abusing them until the changes are live. And with these two out of the way, let’s take a look at what the community managed to cook this week while grinding cubes on the ladder.
The new ladder system makes it easy
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As a way to challenge himself, a fellow French content creator, Owi, tried to reach Infinite with only Series 1 and 2 cards. Featured above is the deck that brought home the most cubes, but more are available in the tweet below. While the decks Owi used were all rather basic inside Series 2, its the chart he shared about their cube rates that made the experiment interesting.
As we can see (and as expected), all the decks had a much better performance against decks without Shuri and Thanos. The interesting take, however, is that even while both of those decks accounted for about half of the total games, Owi managed to stay even or positive with every single deck he played. The lack of diversity is to blame here, as facing only two decks for half your games can drive anyone crazy.
We should at least note that a sound snap and retreat strategy seems to be all that one needs in the new system. The last 100 cubes of his climb to Infinite were earned in 146 games with only Series 2 cards. That is a 0.684 cube ratio, more than the average of most decks over large sample sizes.
Evergreen archetypes still got it
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Cammro also mentions Devil Dinosaur in their tweet, but I wanted to give some praise to this Patriot + Destroy hybrid deck first and foremost. At first glance, it feels a little weird to mix a synergy looking to fill the board with one looking to destroy it. Also, as both packages are quite demanding in terms of card slots, both sides are missing some of their key cards. No Mystique or Misty Knight alongside Patriot, and no Death to complement the Destroy synergy. Even more curious, the deck finds enough space for Green Goblin and Shang-Chi, two great cards in their own right that usually serve as fillers in a deck I didn’t think could afford any.
The deck makes sense when we read Cammro’s Tweet and understand that this deck is a mix of two of the most convincing decks against Lockjaw Thanos and Shuri Zero. Indeed, Patriot has made a comeback lately; the archetype doesn’t mind Leech so much, as long as you don’t hold Patriot in hand for a late turn surprise. As for the Destroy synergy, Killmonger has always been a great card against Thanos, and the card is one of its natural predators in the current metagame.
It is still difficult to understand exactly how to navigate the deck and not destroy cards that we would like to see buffed by Patriot without actually playing the deck. Still, this is some serious next level concept deck building here.
Master Mold, Maximus, and Ronan the Accuser: A New Powerful Trio in Marvel Snap
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It is quite rare to see a recently released card immediately be talked about in the community, and even more rare amongst people grinding for the Infinite rank. Most of the time, players tend to stick to their comfort picks and will only experiment once they reached their goal. Granted, the deck that added Master Mold isn’t a brand new one; Darkhawk has been a player in Marvel Snap ever since its release in late December. Still, ditching the Devil Dinosaur package to include a Ronan the Accuser support group wasn’t on many people’s radar.
Maximus could seem a bit weird alongside Darkhawk because the card empties the opponent’s deck and weakens our Darkhawk, but going for the Darkhawk win condition probably means you’re not playing Maximus this game (unless you manage to lock the opponent’s hand with Master Mold or Black Widow). On the other hand, the card seems perfect with Ronan the Accuser. Indeed, it not only grows Ronan, it is also the perfect complement to Mystique on Turn 6, after the X-Girl has copied Ronan the Accuser‘s Ongoing ability.
As for Master Mold, the card seems to make a ton of sense in the deck. Obviously, it is great with Ronan the Accuser in order to grow its power. It also is able to lock the opponent’s hand and prevent a draw, buffing Darkhawk. In that case, it could also make Maximus be a raw 3/7 card as an opposing full hand would deny its ability.
Overall, I love this new trio of Master Mold, Maximus, and Ronan the Accuser. There is power with Maximus and Ronan, disruption with Master Mold, and also potential bridges with other synergies thanks to Mystique. Also, it isn’t so demanding in terms of deckbuilding as compared to Devil Dinosaur, which usually requires more cards (or at least Moon Girl and Agent Coulson, both of which are more expensive than Master Mold and Maximus).
As more people get Master Mold in the future, I think we should see more of this synergy being splashed in decks with an Ongoing theme already.
Closing Words
I won’t lie; for many of us, the new ranking system made the climb to the Infinite rank fee like taking candy from a kid. This lead to many needing a little extra challenge on the way. Currently, even in the dreadful metagame that we have, playing it very safe against Thanos Lockjaw and Shuri Zero while abusing bots and consistently beating other decks should allow a steady climb to the Infinite rank. The decks shared this week looked like those we would witness during week three or four in the previous seasons, a testimony to how the new system has made the climb easier overall.
Nevertheless, even if you are amongst those still struggling to rank up, the chore might be over soon as, hopefully, this is my last installment where Thanos Lockjaw and Shuri Zero were over half the decks posted online. With the patch looming, I would recommend anyone on the verge of going crazy to just take a step back and recharge the batteries to go full force once the patch goes live.
I hope we will have a few days of complete nonsense because these are my favorites times in a metagame. Then, some good decks that were previously held back should start gaining popularity and becoming new staples. For example, Sera Control, Electro Ramp, Zabu Darkhawk, DeathWave, or even Patriot might become dominant enough for the player base to look to counter them, sparking a new dynamic in Marvel Snap. And who knows what might happen if we get some buffs alongside the expected nerfs. Some new archetypes might be pushed into relevancy.
Considering how little space the two juggernauts have left to other decks, it is anyone’s guess what will happen when they are silenced or, at least, brought down to the domain of other decks in terms of power level. So, if you are having a hard time on Marvel Snap, brace yourself; change is coming, and we can’t wait to tell you everything about it as soon as we know more.
As usual, join the Marvel Snap Zone community on Discord, it should be buzzing on Tuesday when we finally know exactly what is in the patch. As for myself, find me on Twitter, sharing decks and discussing everything Marvel Snap.
Good Game Everyone.
