Infinite Decks of the Week – The Power Cosmic Week 3: Creativity Isn’t Dead!

Currently in Marvel Snap, there is a bit of frustration around certain cards, leading to numerous players asking for a balance patch in order to return to a meta environment where innovation would be rewarded. Mostly, cards like Leech, Leader or Aero are being criticized for being too effective at what they do, and limit the play experience of many players. It is hard to go against these arguments lately, as the amount of “Priority” or “Good Card” decks is increasing daily, especially amongst those looking to achieve their ladder goal before going on the Christmas break and the next season in January 2023.

However, we didn’t create this series to just celebrate those merely reaching the Infinite rank, although it is an impressive feat and should be acknowledged. We started the Infinite decks of the week to highlight the capacity to reach the highest rank in the game with a different take on the game, and show our appreciation to the players who found a way to beat the current metagame with their own take on an archetype, or innovative brews.

In the current metagame, finding such players isn’t easy. The frustration of losing to the same cards on repeat, and the sight of the Infinite rank looming on the close horizon, can drive a lot of us crazy. Pushing those without a strong belief in their deck to change side, and join the Leader army. Despite that, I managed to find three players who did the impossible, and climbed to the Infinite rank without Leader, Aero, or Leech in their deck.

Today, we celebrate Christmas, and the creativity of these players!

Zero and Dracula meet in the Kazoo archetype!

Zerocula

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

46

Pool 3Meta

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

I saw this deck mentioned by Tian Ding on in a post about good decks, and many more of this build since then. Still, @HandongChoi reported this deck on December 19th as the one he used to climb Infinite, so he gets the credit in my book.

In this new take on the Kazoo archetype, the deck includes two of the biggest cards in the game, Red Skull and The Infinaut, as huge point contributors. As a way to support these, there is Dracula, which is usually looking to discard The Infinaut, the latter being easy to isolate in hand thanks to our low curve. Red Skull is paired with Zero, a well-stated 1-Cost which fits nicely in a Kazoo deck, and also able to cancel Lizard‘s ability at times. Maximus could be a card to consider as well in the deck with a similar synergy.

The rest of the deck is made of the current annoying duo of Armor and Cosmo, which benefits from being played with priority most of the time and the basic shell of Kazoo. There is also the surprising Sunspot inclusion, which also makes sense considering The Infinaut being in the deck.

Overall, the Zerocula deck seems to make sense in the current environment, as it is very flexible and shouldn’t lose much energy during the game. However, it still isn’t so predictable thanks to cards like Dracula or Red Skull that can come in and contest a lane on their own. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this take on Kazoo become much more popular in the near future.

Silver Surfer has yet another archetype?

Lockjaw Surfer

Created by den

, updated 5 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 Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Silver Surfer has been one hell of a card since its release earlier this month. With very strong pairings alongside Mister Negative or Sera, nobody felt like the card needed another archetype to be a key part of. Yet, @snapBBoMods decided to test the latest Battle Pass card with another usual suspect when it comes to abusing On Reveal type of effects: Lockjaw.

Granted, this deck is very close to both Sera or Mister Negative builds around Silver Surfer, but you can only do so much when two thirds of your deck have to be 3-Cost cards. The big difference here is that the payoff card associated to Silver Surfer is also a 3-Cost itself. This results in the deck being able to be dangerous on Lockjaw lane in addition to contest flexibly the other two. If we compare with the Mister Negative build, for example, whenever you see Psylocke followed by Mister Negative on a lane, you know it should be an easy one to get by the end of the game.

If we think about it, there are several synergies that could feel weird in this deck. First, pulling Silver Surfer or Brood with the first card we play behind Lockjaw might be a little disappointing. I guess it means we want to develop our lanes with 3-Cost cards and keep Lockjaw for the later stages of the game.

Then, even if Lockjaw allows for extra 3-Cost cards in exchange for Iceman or Bast. The highest ceiling for the deck feels like it would be much more difficult to achieve compared to Mister Negative or Sera enabling some stupidly strong turn six plays.

Nevertheless, I found this build quite ingenious, and it must be worth something if it allowed its pilot to reach the highest rank in the game.

Darkhawk makes its presence felt!

Wolwiloreal Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

5

1x Collection Level 1-14

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)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This exact list has been shared by two separate streamers on the day of the card’s release, Bynx and @wolwiloreal. While the first one praised it for its power level and very annoying play patterns for the opponent, it’s the latter who climbed to Infinite with the deck, so he gets the nod for this time.

In this On Reveal shell, Darkhawk serves as the big scoring card of the deck, and enables Mystique to become a second one as well. While you could believe the deck is built in order to maximize Darkhawk efficiency, which it does in a way, there are many more play patterns available to it:

• Black Widow → Wave → Odin on the same lane just locks the opponent draw for two turns.
• Wave → Doctor Doom → Odin allows playing on every location, while having a flexible turn five in between.
• Sera allows for sweet miracle turns on six, such as Darkhawk plus Mystique plus Lizard, or simply Darkhawk plus Rockslide.

In addition to these, the cheap cards in the deck, such as Iceman, Korg or Armor, simply are annoying for several decks currently. Overall, the deck feels well-rounded, and has more support to be played past the simple “Darkhawk is a nice new card” gimmick.

Closing Words

I can easily admit the metagame can feel a little stale if you are playing on ladder every day, as you might face the same deck a lot. Destroy with Death, Electro with Leech, Aero, Leader decks are really popular and most people tend to default to those when lacking a better idea. Yet, compared to what a stale metagame on other card games can be, Marvel Snap still feels more diverse than other dominant card games on the market. And even 3 weeks into the Cosmic Power metagame, I still easily find some creative brews for this series.

So even if from the inside, Marvel Snap isn’t feeling as fresh as it was a couple of months ago, and the ladder is much fiercer as well, leading to more homogeneity in terms of deck lists. I guarantee there still are some creative brews to be found, browsing discord or social media. And I hope I’m giving these players the credit they deserve with this weekly series.

Want to appear on the next one ? Make sure to tag me (@den_CCG) on Twitter when you reach infinite, It’ll be my pleasure to showcase your build ! Otherwise, find the whole Marvel Snap team on our community discord.

Merry Christmas, and Good Game Everyone,