Loki Collector Detailed Deck Guide: #1 Infinite With the Best Loki List With Werewolf By Night

Few cards make the meta revolve around them. Loki is undoubtedly one of them.

Since the launch of the September Season Pass, Loki became the protagonist. His combination with The Collector is incredibly strong, and Werewolf By Night found his best home in this deck.

The interesting thing is that even after many new card releases, and even after the recent nerf to Loki and the departure of Mobius M. Mobius, the deck has been able to maintain a high percentage of victories, demonstrating solidity and consistency. And this will probably continue unless Loki eventually receives a new adjustment directly.

Decklist and Stats

The iterations of Loki decks have evolved and versions with different approaches can be seen frequently. However, small key changes can make a huge difference in the right hands.

My dear friend Lamby gave a master class on how to play this archetype recently on his stream reaching once again the #1 position in the ranking.

Since the release of Werewolf By Night we have been able to realize that getting it to 11+ power is not difficult in this deck. No other archetype is capable of taking advantage of it as much as Loki.

In this recent iteration of the deck, it is even more notable. Adding Beast and Falcon will allow us to take additional advantage of the 1-cost cards (which with Beast will end up costing 0, boosting Loki, The Collector, and Werewolf By Night at the same time.

There is so much power in this deck that it can afford to occupy two spaces for tech cards like Rogue and Shang-Chi.

Without a doubt, we are looking at the best version of this archetype.

Concept and Strategy

This is certainly not the easiest version of Loki to play.

The first part of the plan will be to use some of our 1-cost cards and start getting value, to anchor a lane with The Collector afterwards.

During the middle game, we will have to make many decisions. And this is what makes this particular list more complicated to pilot.

We have tools like Beast and Falcon that allow us to reuse our 1-cost cards while repositioning the points on our side of the field. This is extremely beneficial to the deck as a whole, allowing Werewolf By Night and The Collector to reach double digits in power. Likewise, thanks to the effects of our 1-cost cards (which we will also play multiple times) Loki‘s ability will always be of utmost relevance, giving us 5+ new cards with reduced cost.

This is where the trick comes in. Loki‘s timing is very variable depending mainly on what our opponent presents. If the opponent’s deck uses high-cost cards or you expect many counters, the ideal would be to play Loki as quickly as possible. Normally on turn 4. If, on the other hand, the opponent’s deck plays a lot of cheap cards or you expect few/no counters to our strategy, in that case, it would be best to play Loki on turn 5. This will give us an incredibly powerful turn 6 most of the time.

Anchor Core

This deck used to carry at least one more anchor before. It used to be played with Angela, but thanks to Werewolf By Night, and the changes to Angela and Kitty Pryde, this is no longer necessary.

The Collector is enough to sit in a line and let the opponent know that that card is enough to compete in the location.

It’s hard to classify Werewolf By Night as an anchor. By definition, an anchor is a card that is played in a lane and will consequently be known to be a location that will end with a relevant amount of power. Werewolf By Night certainly arrives early in the game and whatever location it ends up in will undoubtedly be one where the Werewolf player will be fighting to win, but its mobility makes it an “mobile-anchor”.

Big Hand Core

A vital part of the archetype is always having as many cards as possible in your hand. These three cards help us achieve this objective. Each nail adds its touch to the deck.

Maria Hill is the best when we want to fix our curve, giving us something to play on turn 2.

Nico Minoru serves as a jack of all trades. She can allow us to draw 2 cards increasing our hand size, but also many of her other spells are useful in many particular situations.

Snowguard works like a small Legion and gives us 2 cards. This is extremely important to maximize Loki‘s efficiency.

Bounce Core

The more I see Beast, the more I feel that his power exceeds what many can perceive in this card.

Beast is the only other cost reduction card (along with Loki) that can take cards to 0 cost.

That is why we play many 1-cost cards, so that when they return to our hand they cost 0 and we can take full advantage of their functionalities.

In combination with Falcon, tremendously powerful interactions are achieved. Not only because it has redundancy but because raising and playing our 1-cost cards over and over again does three things: Improve The Collector (beyond Loki‘s activation), help Werewolf By Night move and increase its power, and lastly, always have a full hand so that Loki‘s ability is always relevant.

Loki

Loki, for his part, is the fundamental piece that unites the rest of the cards in this deck. While the archetype can play games without Loki, playing it at the right time in the game makes a big difference.

Flex Core Cards

The first two cards are in a certain way interchangeable depending on the meta or the taste of each person.

The combination of Rogue and Shang-Chi allows us to solve the vast majority of problems that may arise in front of us without much problem. However, the important thing to note here is that, unlike other tech cards, Rogue and Shang-Chi have active abilities, which in addition to helping us solve some problems maximize the power of Werewolf By Night.

If it was extremely necessary to put a new card in the deck and Rogue and Shang-Chi were still relevant to the meta, Forge would be the card to replace.

This does not mean that it does not perform a tremendously important job in the deck. Its on-reveal ability maximizes Werewolf By Night in addition to increasing the power of any other card we play after it. Doing it on a card that we will take to our hand with Beast or Falcon will give us a lot of power at a low cost to reposition added to the bonus that Werewolf by Night will receive from having played a card with this type of effect.

America Chavez

The more I see America Chavez in the more competitive Marvel Snap decks, the more I think that sooner or later they will end up making a change to her.

It may seem unnecessary or a flex card. The reality is that this is not the case, and it makes decks where we want to draw certain low-cost cards as soon as possible more likely to happen.

When the game uses 12-card decks, this extra 2% of finding each card per game makes the difference between a deck with Chavez or without it very noticeable. Normally we see each of our cards in 75% of the games (playing until turn 6). With Chavez, this percentage rises to 77%.

Card Substitutions

Some lists are still playing Quinjet. Although it is a tremendously powerful card in combination with Loki, in the words of very skilled people playing this archetype they mention that the card feels like a “win more” card, meaning that, when it works, we normally would have been able to win without it anyway.

The strongest drop 2 in the game. Playing it is never a mistake.

Devil Dinosaur is one of the main options for winning no-Loki games. With many cards that give us more cards, DD is most of the time a pretty big T-Rex.

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are among the most popular inclusions in Loki decks when you miss a card. Agent 13 can be played instead of Snowguard and Agent Coulson is amazing for filling the curve during the mid-game. Nick Fury has seen some play in a Helicarrier Loki build.

They give us varied game options, and cards on hand to maximize Loki‘s effect, and playing with the Devil Dinosaur also tends to go very well.

Both cards are usually played in Loki iterations. However, besides the benefit these cards could give us, not costing one is detrimental in this particular iteration of the deck.

There are versions of this deck that still play with this core of cards. The reality is that despite multiple nerfs it still feels consistent.

Other Ways to Build the Archetype

This is the version with the best winning percentage of the Marvel Snap Zone Tracker. When this version is about to win a game, it does so very solidly thanks to Quinjet. Mirage and Agent Coulson give this list a pretty strong midgame start. Keeping Falcon allows us to continue playing around Werewolf By Night.

61.45% of WR in 1,600 games confirm that playing without Beast is possible.

Playing without Werewolf by Night might seem like a mistake. However, 60.49% of WR in almost 950 games let us know that the Kitty Pryde core is still solid enough to compete.

I had the opportunity to play against Johnson in a tournament and this player from South Korea never ceases to amaze me. His Loki list is quite innovative and fun. In addition to being tremendously powerful. If you are tired of playing the same old Loki, I highly recommend trying this version.

Snapping and Retreating

The perfect hand that can lead us to snap very aggressively would be any one-energy card, The Collector, and Loki. We could add Snowguard to the equation in the first two draws.

If none of the locations are detrimental, having these cards at the start of turn 3 is practically an instant snap if the opponent hasn’t played any direct counters.

You can snap earlier, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching Lamby pilot this deck and play on my own, it’s that sometimes we can wait a little if getting additional information isn’t costly.

It is enough to have an anchored lane to remain in the game even if our opponent has snapped. The combination of Beast + Falcon and our one-drops is reason enough to keep playing. The same is true if you have The Collector + Loki. Counter-sapping is possible if you have one lane anchored + Werewolf By Night + Loki and Snowguard.

Good Locations

• Camp Lehigh, Cloning Vats Daily Bugle, The Hub: Adding cards to our hand is always good.
• District X: If we are playing Quinjet, having it in our first hand or first two draws, it can make us win games where this location appears easily.
• Hell's Kitchen: We have three one-drops in our deck. Having an extra draw is nice.
• Kamar-Taj: If you play Loki here The Collector is going to become enormous. Snowguard, Maria Hill, Agent Coulson and all the Agents of Shield are also great here.
• K'un-Lun: Amazing for Werewolf by Night.
• Quantum Realm: Any of our anchors can be played on this location without a problem.
• The Big House: This is most of the time a winning lane. 10 of our cards can be played there, including our two anchors.
• The Triskelion: Similarly to District X. If we are playing Quinjet have it in play, this is most of the time beneficial. If we draw Loki later is also good thanks to how we are going to have our hands most of the time.
• Wakandan Embassy: Amazing for us thanks to how we play all our had most of the time.

Bad Locations

• Crimson Cosmos: This location blocks 10 of our cards
• Fisk Tower: It’s hard to maneuver with this location in play because of Werewolf by Night.
• Shuri's Lab: We make our cards big. Other decks have cards that already have a lot of power, having the upper hand when this location appears.

Versus Lockdown

Lockdown is a deck that has found a way to remain relevant over time. This is key to identifying which archetypes are solid and capable of being part of the evolution of Marvel Snap despite everything.

Polaris is back, and this is a problem when we try to raise a lane with Beast and Polaris moves one of the objectives. Play around this card if you see Nebula, Medusa, or Jeff the Baby Land Shark in the first two turns.

Even though they can lock locations with Storm and Professor X Even though they can lock locations with Storm and Professor X and we don’t have many ways to get into locked locations, Rogue is wonderful at stealing Ms. Marvel’s ability.

Shang-Chi can take out a 12-point Gamora, and if we’ve resolved Loki, having Alioth or Doctor Doom to deal with the opponent’s last turn will be quite common.

Versus Move Alioth

Movement Core continues to solidify itself week by week as a set of cards strong enough to combine with almost any other set of cards.

As I mentioned above, Kitty Pryde, Angela, and Elsa Bloodstone demonstrate week after week that despite the nerfs they are solid enough to make a difference in the meta.

This deck adapts quite a bit to what its opponents present, however, thanks to Werewolf by Night we can play the same game as them without a problem. Prioritize playing the Wolf quickly and increasing its power turn after turn.

Like the previous deck, Alioth and Doctor Doom are the star players’ last turn. Cosmo. Loki would help us most of the time to find the best way of closing this match.

Turn-by-Turn breakdown

Turn 1

The options are greater compared to many other decks. Snowguard will be the best when we have the perfect hand, that is, Loki and The Collector.

Maria Hill will be the choice if we don’t have this combination of factors, and Nico Minoru will be our play when she has the “Draw two cards” spell. If that doesn’t happen, saving Nico for the mid-late game can save us in many cornered situations.

Forge is Werewolf By Night‘s best friend. Nevertheless, giving +2 to any other relevant card on turn 2 is not bad if we have a way to bring him back to our hand.

Turn 2

Again, many options. Having this wide repertoire of cards and possibilities is what makes this deck one of the most difficult to play properly.

Deciding what to anchor a lane with is not easy. However, The Collector if we have Loki is most of the time the way to go.

If not, building a good lane for Beast should be your priority.

Turn 3

Playing Werewolf By Night is our main goal this turn.

Having a good turn for Beast is also a very good option. Think that in each turn, the options from the previous turns are valid and interchangeable. That is, it is not bad to play The Collector + Snowguard this turn, for example.

Turn 4

Here is the breaking point. Normally playing this turn means that you have the tools to win the game.

This archetype is quite peculiar and does not have any four-cost cards besides Loki, so the order in which you have played your cards and the possible combinations are very relevant.

The most important thing would be that you think about using your energy efficiently, that is, using all 4 energy points this turn if possible.

Playing Loki is our priority if we think that our opponent can stop us later. However, saving Loki for Turn 5 is a good option if our opponent is not playing any counter and has many cheap cards in their deck.

If you played Loki this turn you should begin to evaluate the options that the cards obtained by Loki‘s effect may present to you before taking any action on turn 5.

Turn 5

If you haven’t played Loki yet, now is the time. Ideally, the opponent does not expect a powerful Loki, and accompanying this play with Snowguard or Maria Hill would be ideal.

If you played Loki on the previous turn, try to keep in mind that the cards you have in hand are cards that your opponent can play against you. Play around it and reduce energy costs, calculating your opponent’s options compared to yours.

Turn 6

It is possible to think of a scenario where we have to choose the best way to play our cards during the last turn. However, most of the time, if everything has gone fairly well, it would be difficult to give guidance on how to play the last turn when it will focus on playing with the cards that Loki has put in our hand.

The best advice I could give you is to always play this turn around the opponent’s powerful plays. Having Alioth, Doctor Doom, as well as the more powerful cards you expect from your opponent will certainly help with ensuring victory.

Closing Words

Loki seemed like a deck destined to die after the release and the changes of Mobius M. Mobius. The reality has been different, and quite different.

First, his popularity dropped a little thanks to how hard is to play this archetype and everyone wanting to play with the the new cards we get week after week. And then Mobius seemed to put the nail in the coffin. The truth is that Loki has managed to remain one of the best decks in the game.

Indeed, its statistics may currently be less favorable than other tier 1 decks, but I think this is because of its popularity, its high level of game understanding needed to pilot it, and it is one of the most complex decks to play in my opinion.

The number of decisions to make may not seem to be that high, but the truth is that it involves much more than it seems at first glance.

I hope this guide has been able to help shed some light on the archetype and allow you to achieve your goals by playing this deck. I send greetings from here to Lamby. Thanks to Lamby’s ability to play it, I have been able to share with you today what I think is the best Loki list to date.

Let me know your thoughts on the Marvel Snap Community Discord, my Twitter, and my Stream. I also love to read your comments at the bottom of each article! Even though I sometimes cannot answer all of them, I’m always happy to read them and take your opinions into account for my future work.

Don’t forget that the Premium subscription to Marvel Snap Zone gives you access to exclusive features on the web as well as additional services. Also, I have started providing personal coaching services for Marvel Snap. If you want to contact me, you can look for me on Discord as bohettv, on my Twitter, or via email at [email protected]

Thanks for reading, and as I always say, don’t forget to smile; I assure you that it makes a difference.