Marvel Snap Metagame Tier List, February 14th, 2023: Into the Quantum Realm Week 1 and Post Nerfs

Hi everyone! Welcome to our latest Marvel Snap Meta Tier List, where I take a look at the current state of the game and rank the most popular decks by breaking down their strengths in the current metagame.

The first week of the new season is always an exciting one, especially as we had some nerfs to go alongside it to promote diversity. As a result of this brand new environment, I am begging you to not take this first Tier List of February 2023 as anything set in stone. Things are still moving for almost every deck on this list, whether it is the cards they include or their matchups.

Also, because it is still early in this metagame, almost no deck has a solid 12-card list that most of the community seems to agree on. If you check the “Potential Additions” section, you will see I often mentioned other decks for the archetype. The reason can be for those missing a Series 5 card that would be a foundation to this version of the deck, like Sauron in Shuri Zero, or simply because there are several lists with similar results/popularity and picking one felt like a completely subjective take. Make sure you take a look at the full write up for a deck before making your mind about the list.

What were the highlights of this first week of play you ask?

• As expected, Shuri Zero has become a very strong deck, and Shuri can probably have a claim as the strongest card in the game right now.
• Zabu and Silver Surfer have suffered very different fates. Silver Surfer is very discreet right now, although still included in a couple of archetypes, and you can find a new build around the card in our Silent Performers of the week. Zabu, on the other hand, has gone from the best card in the game to being one of the premium 2-cost cards in the game, and it still contributes to various builds in our rankings.
• Lockjaw and Mister Negative have been the most popular win condition cards this week, although I would vouch for Lockjaw having a stronger showing (and probably a brighter future as well).
• Discard decks are very popular, but not necessarily dominant when it comes to cube average. For now, both archetypes are in Tier 3: higher than where they spent most of January, but with some lingering issues like trying to be flexible regarding the various locations and opponents.

In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive cube average using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the metagame, you can find it in the new “Silent Performers” section. There, I will highlight decks with an excellent cube per game ratio but too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength.

Decks not good enough to be considered contenders but with a good representation will be ranked in Tier 4 in our chart and won’t have their own dedicated writeup here but may be transferred to the main Tier List section. See Tier 4 as decks that are good to know about, as you should face those when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the metagame changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks aren’t noteworthy picks at the moment.

Marvel Snap Meta Tier List

Silent Performers of the Week

If I had to rank them, I would probably place all of these decks somewhere between Tier 2 and the top of Tier 3 this week. These three aren’t the best when it comes to points ceiling on a single location, and would likely lose in a point shootout to a Dracula Discard deck or Shuri Zero. Nevertheless, these builds showcase some great flexibility and use of the locations, as well as being able to disrupt the opponent’s plan.

For now, it seems like the most popular decks are the ones able to develop the bigger numbers. The ability to manipulate the board is a bit of an afterthought in this first week of play, and as time passes we can being to figure out which decks are the best when it comes purely to proactive play. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the weaker decks be replaced by these archetypes to add some disruption to their gameplan.

Tier Explanation

Tier 1

Shuri Zero 🔼

Shuri Zero (Sauron)

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

19

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: As expected, Shuri Zero rose to the top of the rankings for this first week since the deck represents the strongest unnerfed deck from the previous metagame. There are still a lot of questions around the archetype, though, and I wouldn’t claim we are in the Shuri era just yet. Indeed, compared to Zabu last month, the deck has some established counters and seems much more manageable than, for example, Zabu Darkhawk.

Shang-Chi in particular, and also Valkyrie, are great cards to counter the huge numbers the deck can slam on turn five. Galactus seems to do quite well against it, too, as it is able to simply destroy the buffed card if it does not come down on the same location and feed Knull in the process. Aero is another card that helps control where the points will end up, and if you consider the lane where a 30-point Red Skull is played as lost, moving Taskmaster there as well might be your best case scenario.

So yes, Shuri Zero did live up to the expectations many placed on the deck when we knew Zabu and Silver Surfer were on the chopping block; however, this deck might not be as dominant as the strongest decks of the previous metagame.

How to play:

The whole point of the deck is to overwhelm the opponent with impossible-to-match numbers, most of the time during the second part of the game. Ideally, one will play Shuri on turn four, Red Skull on turn five, and Taskmaster or Arnim Zola on turn six, leading to two 30-points monsters to contest two lanes and win the game. Because of this relative rigidity in the last three turns, Shuri Zero often needs to play its other cards before this point and can’t really hold too many resources in hand for a surprise later on. While Red Skull is usually the go-to card on turn five, there are other, more flexible options to consider – even if they are worth a little less points. Aero, Doctor Octopus, and Vision represent cards that can mess with the opponent’s plan as well as being strong recipients to Shuri’s buff.

Lastly, because the deck is looking to abuse 5-cost cards most of the time, She-Hulk makes it worth to consider passing your turn on five and then slamming your 5-cost and She-hulk at the same time on six. This strategy is especially effective when you want to lose priority against an expected Shang-Chi or wait and see where your opponent would play their Galactus.

Potential additions: The archetype is quite flexible, although very centered around its theme. Cards like Doctor Octopus and Attuma are notable inclusions in the build, as well as utility cards like Luke Cage and Scorpion.

Here is another way to build the deck without Sauron, including more utility Ongoing cards like Armor and Cosmo to protect our big boys from Shang-Chi.

Shuri Zero She-Hulk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

8

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Zabu Control 🔼

Zabu Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

16

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Zabu isn’t gone from Marvel Snap; pretty far from it, actually, as the card pushed several archetypes this week. The best performing one, albeit not the most popular, is Zabu Control, a deck using the energy reductions from Zabu and Sera to counter the opponent on turn six. With both cards in play, you can easily play Shang-Chi and/or Enchantress to deny a lane to the opponent while also pushing another lane with your proactive cards.

A very similar archetype existed in the last metagame, but the deck never really made it to being a contender. During this first week, we have seen a ton of decks relying on sheer power to beat their opponent, which creates the perfect environment for such a build to rise in the rankings.

The biggest factor in this ranking is the ability to get 8-cube wins. Indeed, most decks currently reveal their strategy on turn four or five (Shuri, Mister Negative, Patriot….), which gives Zabu Control all the information it needs to know if staying in the game is worth it or not based on their hand. Also, because you haven’t done anything specifically threatening until this point, there is a good chance your opponent doesn’t feel the need to retreat.

How To Play:

Here’s the deck’s typical game plan:

• Zabu on turn two.
• Bishop on turn three.
• Rescue on turn four.
• Sera on turn five, behind Rescue.
• Explode on turn six, either countering the opponent or developing our own points.

If we look at this scenario, there is really only one turn where we have to be flexible in our thinking since the rest of the game arguably serves only as a set-up. In that sense, during the first five turns, one should focus on trying to gather as much information about the opponent’s plan as possible to figure out where they intend to develop their points. Also, if we’re missing one of our go-to cards during a turn, we can always play a card we don’t intend to use on turn six so we spend our energy efficiently.

Potential additions: Here is a more proactive take on the archetype that uses Darkhawk for generating points.

Zabu Control Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Zabu Devil Darkhawk

Zabu Devil Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

4

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: A deck that managed to rise to the top of the rankings in the previous metagame hasn’t suffered too much of a fall (yet). The biggest difference from the previous iteration of the deck is that disruptive cards are much harder to use since we can’t cheat energy as effectively as we did in the past. Nevertheless, Zabu on turn two and Rockslide or White Queen on turn three make for some very strong early turns, strong enough to build towards our win condition in the second portion of the match.

There might be several reasons why this deck is still being ranked so high. First, it could be that Zabu wasn’t nerfed hard enough and still feels like a premium card when played on turn two. Second, the trio of Devil Dinosaur, Darkhawk, and Mystique is incredibly strong when it comes to developing points on several lanes, and Aero is one hell of a good card to seal the deal when already ahead.

Finally, it feels like this deck has more than just good win conditions. The support cards are amongst the best in the game:

• Quinjet and Sentinel together give you a three power card for one energy to play every turn.
• White Queen and Agent Coulson serve to find options if we are missing something, and both represent solid points in addition to feeding our Devil Dinosaur.
• Moon Girl and Quinjet are a deadly duo, and when Zabu is added it transforms our copied 4-cost cards to 2-cost cards, and we know what happens in this timeline.

If Shuri Zero is the best proactive deck when it comes to sheer amount of points developed, Zabu Devil Darkhawk probably takes the crown for the best proactive-yet-flexible deck.

How to play:

The goal in this deck is to be very efficient with our energy while also keeping our options open for the last few turns. We have three main win conditions: Darkhawk, Devil Dinosaur, and Aero. Mystique could represent a fourth win condition when she copies either of our two huge Ongoing cards. When we find Zabu on turn two, we are able to keep Darkhawk and Mystique together for a turn six play, creating a solid one-two punch with Devil Dinosaur on turn five. Otherwise, it will typically be Aero that is kept for the last turn as a way to protect our lanes from reactive answers the opponent might have.

The early game should serve as the foundation to these strong final turns. We can either:

• Develop our energy-cheating cards (Quinjet into Zabu into Moon Girl is downright stupid) for explosives turns later on.
• Work on taking initiative for Aero to be at her best, either by keeping a large hand (Sentinel, Agent Coulson, White Queen) for Devil Dinosaur or disrupting the opponent’s deck (Korg, Rockslide) for Darkhawk.

Overall, this deck simply allows playing every turn with the idea of advancing one or several of our win conditions. As such, the earlier you decide the direction you want to follow, the easier it will be to make informed decisions.

Potential additions:

You can mix ideas with the Zabu Control deck above and include reactive cards like Shang-Chi, or look to invest more in the Devil Dinosaur package with cards like Maria Hill or Agent 13. Lastly, this is the closest build to a “Good Cards” archetype on our list so far, so overall strong performers can be a consideration. This can include Magneto, Polaris, Doctor Doom, Armor, Cosmo…

Lockjaw On Reveal 🔼

Lockjaw On Reveal

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

47

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Already a solid Tier 2 deck at the end of last season, Lockjaw has been one of the best win conditions during our first week in the Quantum Realm. For now, it is unclear whether the Thor or the Thanos deck is the better one when looking at the numbers. My guess is that Thanos is likely a deck with a higher ceiling because the Stones bring some flexibility to the equation. The Thor version, though, is more widely played and probably a bit more reliable in getting the big cards from Lockjaw. No matter which one you pick, it seems that Lockjaw On reveal is currently the best deck with a Pool 3 card serving as its foundation.

This success can probably be explained by the very proactive metagame we have seen in this first week. Lockjaw is great at disguising its true potential until the moment we go all in behind the card. Compared to Shuri or Discard decks, it does a better job of hiding the total amount of points it can develop and makes it harder to counter for opponents who look to gather information before committing their key resources.

How to play: Based on its signature card, the deck aims to use cheap, weak cards behind Lockjaw in order to summon much stronger ones without paying the required energy. In that sense, Lockjaw’s lane is often very strong, and it is important to keep in mind how to win another one and not get caught up in abusing Lockjaw.

The first three turns of the game can be very quiet for a Lockjaw deck as we aren’t looking to do much. If you have Lockjaw in hand, you could even consider not playing Sunspot in order to cycle it for a bigger card later on. Ideally, the player would go all in on Lockjaw on turn five and dedicate turn three to Thor so there’s time to find Mjölnir. This opens turn four to play Dracula or Jubilee, both good cards to anchor a location. Usually we will throw the cheap cards behind Lockjaw in the last two turns, so Dracula isn’t so difficult to abuse in the deck.

Once in the final two turns of the match, the goal is to think about our best outcomes and how we can high roll enough to win the game. If ahead, a simple Magneto play could be enough to secure the win. If behind, it is important to know the chances of winning Lockjaw’s lane based on what is left in our deck while counting how big we can get Thor and Dracula to challenge the second lane.

Potential additions:

Lockjaw Thanos

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

4.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Tier 2

Galactus 🔼

Galactus

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

4

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

4.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: In a field where most decks are looking to force a strategy onto their opponent, Galactus seemed to have a great week punishing careless players. Also, Spider-Man disappearing from the metagame pushed the deck back to the top of Tier 2. The deck was very close to Tier 1 ,to be fair, but the others above are much more flexible in the way they can snap and retreat.

Now that Galactus is popular enough for players who completed Pool 3, it is probably the deck with the biggest amount of matches that end in a retreat. Nobody wants to stay in a match where you know you don’t have the tools to win the sole lane of the match. On the flip side, an opponent able to punish you will likely do it on turn five with Aero, Professor X, or Cosmo, leading to the Galactus player retreating.

Based on this inability to find eight cube wins, and being forced to collect cubes only two at the time (with an aggressive snap strategy), Galactus feels like a great deck but not much suited for Marvel Snap betting system.

How to play:

The deck really has two key turns: four and five (or four and six depending on our hand). This leaves the rest of the game to be flexible in order to try not to make too obvious what we are playing.

If we play Electro on turn three, our next turn should be Leech or Doctor Octopus. Both cards serve the similar purpose of disabling the opponent’s hand and making them unable to compete when we play Galactus on turn five. Snap timing is absolutely key in this game plan as most opponents will retreat once they understand what is going on.

The other way of getting Galactus out is through Wave on turn three. We then have a flexible turn five, and we can often play Spider-Man or Doctor Octopus as a way to lock the lane and know precisely what we need to beat on turn six.

We rarely want priority on turn six as it opens Knull, America Chavez, and Death to be removed by an opposing Shang-Chi. It also makes our own Shang-Chi much less effective as it would reveal before the opponent’s cards.

Potential Additions: Most of the flexibility of the build comes in the one- and five-cost cards since the rest are somewhat mandatory to run. Leech and Doctor Octopus make the most sense as Electro follow up, and Nightcrawler is a flexible one that we can move to another lane if needed.

Lately there have been more builds looking to bait the opponent, and the final three slots in the deck should be the ones to play with in order to accomplish this.

Zabu Negative 🆕

Negative Surfer

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

4

1x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

0.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Mister Negative once again finds a reason to be amongst the most abused cards at the start of a new metagame in one of the most popular decks this week, largely because a good hand means a Snap on one or two and then the ability to force a high stakes game early onto our opponent. This time, the deck’s popularity is due to Zabu serving as a second Psylocke effect, helping us get Mister Negative on turn three more often. This core idea is great, but the rest of the list is very difficult to figure out for now, and there are currently many different takes on it.

The pairing with Silver Surfer was the highest ranked in our data compared to the others featured below, so we will go with this one as the default build this week. Amongst all the decks on our list, however, Negative Zabu Surfer might be the one to doubt the most. In the last metagame, the pairing already existed, and subsequently lost the battle to Seracle Surfer in the end with the deck almost disappearing completely by season’s end.

It is way too early to tell the fate of Mister Negative in this particular metagame, and figuring out the best list is probably the next logical step anyway.

How To Play: If you can, your first three turns will always include Bast on turn one and Mister Negative on turn three. With this start, you open a world full of possibilities in the second potion of the game. You will also want to snap with such an opening and focus on how the opponent could counter what is coming when you use your negatived cards.

If you don’t get the cost reduction, you can play a 3-cost card and still play Mister Negative on turn four, then continue with your basic game plan. There aren’t many proactive plays in this particular build, but with Discard taking over 20% of the metagame right now, Rogue on an opposing Morbius is pretty sweet. Feel free to include Bishop or Mister Fantastic in the list otherwise to help with that problem.

If you don’t draw into Mister Negative, there are very few play patterns that deserve staying in the game; taking the one-cube loss and moving on is often safer. If you feel like gambling, here are a few ideas:

• Zabu on two -> Wong on three -> Mystique on four -> Psylocke on five alongside a three cost. You should have 10 energy for the last turn, enough to play Brood, Silver Surfer and another 3-cost card.
• Use Psylocke on turn four to get six energy both on turn five and six. This allows playing five 3-cost cards total in the game, and if one is Brood that may be enough to challenge two lanes.
• Brood on three → Wong on four → Iron Man behind Wong is on five → Mystique and Silver Surfer with Wong and Iron Man on six. You get 32 on that lane and 18 simply from Brood being buffed twice.

Potential additions: Magik and Blue Marvel are the two cards worth mentioning in the Surfer deck, outside of playing around with the 3-cost cards. In that category, proactive cards are the most necessary, such as Bishop or Mister Fantastic.

Even if very popular, it doesn’t seem like the new Bast – Zabu – Mister Negative trio has found its go-to list so far. Here is another take around the same core, using Wong, Black Panther, and Arnim Zola as a way to generate points.

Negative Panther

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

0.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

There also are other takes floating around, like one using more 4-costs cards to abuse Zabu outside simply getting Mister negative on turn three (with a notable Darkhawk):

Negative Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

0.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

DeathWave 🔼

DeathWave

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

31

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: The destroy synergy was expected to make a comeback after Leader’s nerf. DeathWave finally being able to go back to its Wave on five, Death plus She-Hulk plus Aero on six is quite annoying. The comeback did happen if we look at the deck’s popularity, second to Dracula Discard since the start of the new season.

When taking a look at the deck’s cube average, though, we are much further from that second place, far behind the likes of Shuri, Zabu, and Lockjaw. So how do we explain this?

• Armor is still a great card, and it sees play as a default 2-cost card in many decks.
• The deck’s most punishing turn is turn six, and most opponents know what is coming by then so they only stay in the game if they have a real shot at beating it.
• Death also sees play in Galactus and Hela Discard, while She-Hulk is slowly becoming a staple. As a result, Wave isn’t so disruptive for the average opponent.

How To Play: The whole point of the deck is to get two destroy effects while having reveal priority going on turn six. This should be achieved with a simple on-curve play during the first four turns, as the destroy synergy is able to generate solid power through its signature cards like Bucky Barnes, Deathlok, and Carnage.

Turn five should be a Wave play and nothing else. If we have She-Hulk in hand, the card can be a 2-Cost on the next turn and be paired with Aero or Leader. If we manage to get to four destroy effects, Death becomes free and both her and She-Hulk can be played in addition to another card. Squirrel Girl being destroyed by Killmonger is usually the way we get our four destructions in time.

Outside this basic play pattern, the deck is quite flexible and is able to develop points even without drawing into Wave. The destroy synergy shines especially well when it comes to cleaning up annoying cards that appear on our side of the board.

Potential additions: The deck usually rotates through four different 1-Cost cards: Nova, Yondu, The Hood, and Squirrel Girl, and each has its own merits. Moon Girl is a notable inclusion, as duplicating She-Hulk or Death often opens some stupidly strong turns.

Patriot

Patriot

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

7

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: In a new environment, every one likes a good ol’ reliable deck, and that’s exactly what Patriot provides. If you are very high in collection level, like above 4000, you probably are not seeing the archetype too much. However, if you are still collecting cards in Pool 3, (let’s say below the 3000 mark), then Patriot is probably part of your daily routine.

Because Discard is so popular, and there is no space in those decks to include tech cards such as Enchantress, Patriot can reliably develop its game plan in most of its matches. Sure, the occasional Rogue in Mister Negative or Enchantress in budget Shuri Zero decks can ruin your day, but the global environment feels quite good for Patriot right now.

Killmonger in the DeathWave deck could be considered a problem, but losing priority and playing Ultron on turn six while you already have Patriot and other buffs in play usually solves that problem.

How To Play: Patriot is an archetype that enters each game with a specific idea of what it wants to accomplish, and it barely has any tools to interact with the opponent outside of Debrii. As such, your main focus during the game is making sure your Patriot, Ka-Zar, and Blue Marvel are doing their job, followed by which locations you want to contest.

Most of the time, the location where you will play Patriot (and Mystique if possible) will be quite weak. You might get Onslaught or two vanilla cards to help, but you should rarely get it to more than 15 points. This premise implies the need to be very strong on the other two locations, where most of your vanilla cards will be. On game’s end, Shocker and Misty Knight can easily be the size of your opponent’s four or five cost cards, but don’t go crazy thinking you will challenge The Infinaut either.

Thanks to Ultron, you can reach any location on turn six, which can lead to some easy wins if you anticipate your opponent not being able to do the same. Also, it reduces the need to play your cheap cards aggressively and give your opponent a chance at interacting with those.

Potential additions: Cosmo is a card with a lot of value for Patriot since the deck is able to contest most opponents on sheer amount of points but crumbles whenever an Enchantress or Rogue come in to ruin the party.

The Surfer variant is still playable, and makes the deck much more resilient against cards like Rogue and Enchantress. It is a little less reliable at executing the core game plan, though, even if Cosmo makes even more sense in that version.

Patriot Surfer

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Tier 3

Discard Lockjaw 🔼

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

7

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: The king of the Discard synergy, Dracula and Lockjaw seem to have out shined Hela in this first week of play and gained M.O.D.O.K.’s favor. Currently, the archetype represents more than 20% of the metagame and can be seen built a little differently depending on whom you ask. All ideas seem to share a common trait: they all want to high roll a good hand and snap early on.

If the deck got better compared to before MODOK joined it, the lack of flexibility to adapt to what the opponent does or the locations still hurts a ton. As such, the best way to rack up cubes with the deck seems to be Snapping early with a good hand and at least getting two cubes when the opponent realizes they aren’t going to beat your absurdly big Morbius and Dracula.

Unless someone finds a way to add more flexibility to the builds, It is hard to imagine Discard rising higher than the top of tier 3 in the current setting. Maybe playing Doctor Doom instead of The Infinaut could help in that regard.

How To Play: The deck relies on a simple spread of its points:

• Dracula takes care of a lane as long as you have Apocalypse in hand.
• Morbius takes care of another lane as long as you have MODOK activate.
• The third lane serves for Lockjaw cycling through your Discard effects.

Lockjaw can be played on turn five, especially if you can discard Swarm with Colleen Wing on turn two and get Lockjaw online right away. Otherwise, turn two and four are locked for Morbius and Dracula, and turn five is often M.O.D.O.K.’s turn if you have him. As such, you really only have turn six to be flexible in what you want to play, and you will usually devote that to playing Chavez and free Swarms if you used MODOK the previous turn.

This big lack of flexible play patterns can feel bad, but it does help with quickly visualizing your chances in the upcoming game. See it as a chance to snap early in the game with solid information, before you start revealing your threats to your opponent.

Potential additions: A safer approach to the deck that allows for better hand management but less high roll potential:

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.5

Cost

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1
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5+

4.3

Power

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1
2
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5+