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Jeff the Baby Land Shark will be hitting Marvel Snap on April 18, 2023 as part of the Animals Assemble season. This card will initially be available as a Series 5 card. For many reasons, it is one of the most anticipated Marvel Snap cards of all time! Let’s dive into how it works, strategies, and decks it can fit into – is it worth the purchase?
Decks with Jeff the Baby Land Shark
As a reminder, Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens or opened via the Collection Level Track at a 0.25% drop rate in Collector’s Caches and Reserves. Jeff is a two energy, three power card that has the following ability: You can move this once. Nothing can stop you from moving or playing this to any location.
Strategy and Potential
During my time with Marvel Snap Zone, I have never been as concerned about expressing an opinion as I have with this card. Jeff is already beloved, even before he has seen a single game, and for good reason. There is no character in Marvel as adorable as Jeff. Some are already calling him the best 2-drop in the game, a must-buy that can lead to winning games.
Well, here’s everything we know he should be able to do:
- Can be played from hand into ANY location that does not have four cards (this includes
Sanctum Santorum and The Space Throne). - Can be moved from any location into ANY location that does not yet have four cards.
- Can be played even if there is an effect restriction such as Sandman or Electro.
Decks with The Space Throne
Decks with Plunder Castle
This is an impressive and unique list. No other card breaks Electro and Sandman synergy, and no other card can get into a locked down lane. This could also break into Plunder Castle and other lanes to break ties.
Decks with Electro
There are several decks where Jeff can fit in naturally. Cerebro decks and Lockdown game plans are the most suitable for utilizing Jeff’s effect to win games. He provides more flexibility in your play as he adds another moving piece that is not restricted. There are also potential lines in Sandman or Electro style decks where he can be a surprise three power play that isn’t expected.
Jeff also fits into Move and Zoo/Flood gameplans, but he may not be a core piece of these decks.
Decks with Professor X
Jeff’s effect is indeed interesting and powerful; no other card in the game can do what he does. The ability to move once also allows us to use Jeff to buff cards like Angela before moving away and filling the lane behind him. There are also more niche things that can be done, such as moving Jeff out of the Professor X lane to steal another lane.
In practice, it seems more likely that we will be able to easily replace Jeff from any deck he is added to with minimal to no downside. While the effect is powerful and the surprise factor of dropping him where your opponent thinks they have already won can lead to winning games and cubes, the number of games won because of Jeff instead of Lizard may not be high enough over a large enough sample size.
In Marvel Snap, decks only have 12 cards, and “splashing” in an average 2-drop with three power that lacks synergy with most decks is more likely to hinder you. From Turn 2 onward, playing cards that work towards a game plan is simply better in most circumstances. To maximize the power of this card, you need plenty of ways to lock lanes from your opponent, and these strategies are limited.
The utility of Jeff’s one move has already been proven to not be that useful unless you are building towards it. Consider how many Nightcrawler or Vision cards you see played every day. Jeff’s ability is slightly more useful due to hard-to-access locations, but not by much.
Yes, winning due to this adorable little shark will feel great, but there are several reasons to consider Jeff as just an average 2-drop that you may want to cut often. We should consider Jeff a tech card rather than a build around or independently powerful card you play in every deck. This should be good enough, though, as no other shark can fill Jeff’s role.
Conclusion
In short:
- Is Jeff’s effect powerful? Yes.
- Is he playable? Yes.
- Will playing the card be fun? Most likely yes.
- Is Jeff a must-buy card? No, there is no deck that requires Jeff to exist.
Potential score
Below are some possible starter decks for Jeff with brief descriptions.
Starter Decks (Theorycraft)
Cerebro and Valkyrie
SafetyBlade
Cerebro 3 is the easiest place to justify Jeff. The archetype relies heavily on one key trait: cards must have three power. We can play Jeff on curve and have the full ability to move the card into any other location, including a locked down Professor X location or somewhere like Plunder Castle later in the game.
This is the easiest suggestion that can be made for playing Jeff, so what if we lean further into the lockdown strategy? We can use Jeff as our difference maker, making this more of a Valkyrie deck including Jeff than a Cerebro 3 deck. We have Luke Cage and Storm in the deck along with Wasp and Bast. These are flexible cards that set up multiple other avenues to create lanes to win with Valkyrie. Jeff can then come in as the surprise finisher on a locked down lane, or just be another three power card for the Cerebro buffs.
Quake and Storm
SafetyBlade
The key improvement here is not actually Jeff, but the ability to more confidently make plays based around Quake and Storm due to having three extra power that you can move to where you need it to go. This flexibility allows for some control in all the chaos.
Our aim here is to lock down all the lanes and then win with Jeff (if needed). We also carry the Wave, Doctor Doom, and She-Hulk Package as these synergize well with Storm. One card I would love to add into this build is Kitty Pryde (if she comes back with this patch, drop Iceman and try her out) to add to the Wave strategies.
Move
SafetyBlade
Another card that can move means we have to revisit the Move archetype. Plenty of versions of Move will appear with Jeff over the next few days, and this deck is my own personal favorite version of the archetype.
This is Miracle Move, and Jeff gives us one more card that is great with Angela and Miles Morales. The goal here is to buff cards like Dagger, Angela, and Human Torch multiple times, pick them back up with Beast, and explode onto the board on the last turn.
As well as synergizing with this strategy, there are edge cases where we drop Jeff back down into unexpected locations that may come up, and reducing Jeff’s cost to one with Beast may actually be a very powerful play in this deck. There is plenty of room to explore with this one in the Move archetype.
Sandman and Electro
SafetyBlade
The last interaction to try getting around is the Sandman and Electro restriction. Jeff should be playable with either or both of these cards down. This direction may not be strong enough in practice, but the general idea is to play one of these cards with your opponent only expecting one card after, then play a combination with Jeff.
This first deck looks to use a Zoo play style with Sandman on Turn 5. This limits the opponent’s ability to counter play while you can play either Ultron or Shanna and Jeff on Turn 6.
SafetyBlade
This deck aims to play Electro on Turn 3 and Sandman on Turn 4. This deck leans into the idea of playing Jeff with a 5-drop on Turn 6 as a way to remain flexible while your opponent is restricted. Given this change of play style, the theory is we can play some extra 5-costs and other tech cards alongside Jeff.
This version is running Shang-Chi, Aero, and Valkyrie as three different ways to win a lane alongside Jeff. Professor X may be too greedy, but it’s here as a back up after playing Electro to lock down a lane that you can still play into on Turn 6.
Who is Jeff the Baby Land Shark?
Jeff the Baby Land Shark is a one-of-a-kind creature in the Marvel Universe who defies expectations at every turn. Part shark, part land-dweller, Jeff’s origins remain a mystery, but his adventures are anything but ordinary. Jeff was adopted by Gwenpool during her time on the West Coast Avengers, and later ended up with Elsa Bloodstone, who promised to always take care of him (both currently unreleased cards).
Decks with Elsa Bloodstone
Jeff’s primary power is his incredible adaptability. He can swim through water with the grace of a shark, but he’s equally at home on land, using his sharp teeth and powerful jaws to bite through obstacles. He’s also surprisingly agile and can navigate tricky terrain with ease.
Jeff’s lovable nature and friendly demeanor have won him many allies who appreciate his unique abilities, including the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. His insatiable appetite for fish has also made him a target for some of Marvel’s marine heroes, like Namor the Sub-Mariner, who see him as a potential threat to the seas.
Jeff’s adventures have taken him on unexpected journeys across the Marvel Universe, from battling underwater villains in Atlantis to assisting in cosmic conflicts against formidable foes. He’s also made some memorable cameo appearances in various Marvel titles and surprising readers with his unexpected appearances.
Don’t forget to watch out for his trademark fin popping up in unexpected places, signaling that Jeff is never far from the action in the Marvel Universe!
Good Luck Have Fun and Stay Safe!
