Mold Hawk Detailed Deck Guide: Master Mold Is Much Better Than You Think

I’ve reached Infinity! Finally, after hovering in the 90 ranks for a good time, I made it to rank 100, and what a way to do it!

While looking for some inspiration for a new guide, I thought I’d like to make Master Mold work (you already know my fanaticism for the Sentinel Program). Doing some research I found a couple of points of inspiration. SafetyBlade, a Marvel Snap Zone teammate had been working a few weeks ago on a variant of Master Mold with Ronan the Accuser, and in turn, DeraJN did the same with a version that also included Darkhawk.

I got to work, and little by little I made adjustments until I managed to put together a list that, even to my surprise, had worked wonderfully. We went from 91 to 100 in less than 45 games, plus we got our first ever Infinite ticket using the same list, all in the same weekend.

Deck Presentation

Mold Hawk

Created by Bohe

, updated 10 months ago

7

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)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Wow! We put effort into it this weekend. Through a total of 53 games, we managed to maintain a 66.04% win rate and an impressive average of 1.57 cubes per game. It was fun, exciting, and also very emotional to be able to share the good results with those who were able to go through my stream. Thank you all!

Concept and Strategy

In general terms, the deck is divided into two core groups, Darkhawk‘s core, and Ronan the Accuser ‘s core.

Two huge trucks and their enablers. Korg and Rockslide help Darkhawk to become stronger while hindering the opponent’s strategy. In the same way, Master Mold and Maximus help the opponent always have cards in hand making Ronan capable of competing for locations on its own.

Yes, that’s right, many mentioned it during my stream this weekend, “Playing Maximus is not contradictory if we are playing Darkhawk?” Certainly playing both cards in the same deck has its science, but we will expand on it when we talk in detail card by card.

In addition to these two cores, the deck runs cards that make both ideas work better together. Zabu gives us acceleration, and together with Sera, it opens up very diverse possibilities for us during turn 6. Cosmo and Shang-Chi are our control and disruption tools, while Mystique and Klaw give us flexibility.

Core Cards

Variants

Master Mold

On Reveal: Add 2 Sentinel to your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Master Mold

This card deserves that we start with it. Without a doubt, since its launch Master Mold has been a controversial card. I’ve heard people complain about opening it in a cache, or think it’s just useless, but in the right deck and knowing its full potential, it certainly seems like a card worth playing in a Tier 1 deck.

It will be easy to simply mention that it puts two Sentinel in the opponent’s hand, which if played generates more Sentinels in the hand and that this benefits Ronan. The strength of this card goes far beyond that.

• On many occasions, it can prevent the opponent from drawing cards. If we play Master Mold on turn 2 and our opponent hasn’t played anything, the two Sentinels we will put into his hand will be cards six and seven, effectively blocking the turn 3 draw.
• If at any point in the game, we manage to block a card draw to the opponent, this will have benefited Darkhawk directly.
• When playing against Bounce the opponent wants to have as much space as possible in their hand when they play Falcon or Beast. If we add two Sentinel, we can make some of the opponent’s cards not return to their hand due to lack of space.
• Similar things happen when playing vs Evolved Lockjaw. If they decide to use the Sentinels in the same location as the pup, that will only make them able to draw them again. In addition to this, today this archetype plays Dracula to have an advantage in the mirror match. What do you think happens if we put two Sentinel in the hand of someone who is playing Dracula?

Reasons like these there are many more. I could mention formidable interactions like Master Mold on turn 2 or 3 + Attilan, but during the rest of the article, I will expand on the subject of Master Mold as we talk about the rest of the cards and the strategy in general.

Darkhawk’s Core

Variants

Darkhawk

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Darkhawk

Variants

Rockslide

On Reveal: Shuffle 2 Rocks into your opponent’s deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Rockslide

Variants

Korg

On Reveal: Shuffle a Rock into your opponent’s deck.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Korg

Since Darkhawk‘s release, there has been no doubt about just how powerful it can be. Even since it’s nerf when they reduced its power by 1, I’ve thought seeing him slowly disappear from the meta was somewhat abrupt. It hung around the Tier 1 archetypes for a while, but it was with the nerf to Rockslide and later to Stature that the Good Cards Stature archetype was completely unseen.

I think that despite this, the idea of playing Darkhawk is still tremendously powerful, and the results show it. Rockslide has lost 1 power, but still puts two Rocks into the opponent’s deck, even from turn 3 thanks to Zabu.

Reassessing the situation and thinking about playing this trio of cards together, even though Stature’s departure has certainly paid off.

Ronan’s Core

Variants

Ronan the Accuser

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ronan the Accuser

Variants

Maximus

On Reveal: Your opponent draws 2 cards.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Maximus

We must not forget that Master Mold is also part of this Core. Having already spoken of it, it’s appropriate to expand a little on Maximus.

If we weren’t playing Darkhawk in this deck, Maximus would certainly be an obvious choice when playing Ronan the Accuser, but doing so nonetheless has been key to the success of this deck. The first reason to try something new is the fact that I don’t have Iron Lad in my collection, which is a fairly played card when it comes to Darkhawk-based decks, but after playing this deck with the presented list, I think even with Iron Lad I would think twice before making any changes.

Looking for something that would fit with the overall idea of the deck, I was reminded of Maximus. I’ve played Ronan the Accuser a lot in the past, and I was reminded of how potent they are when we play both cards together during turn 6 thanks to Sera.

As we have mentioned in previous guides, flexibility is something that certainly allows a deck to compete despite adverse circumstances. Iron Lad excels in a deck like this where the vast majority of its targets are good, but it could miss. Maximus, on the other hand, is solid by any measure:

• If we already played Master Mold and our opponent has 7 cards in hand at the begging of turn 3 will mitigate Maximus‘s drawback by half most of the time, which transforms the idea of playing it on a curve into something that frequently gives us priority in case we need it.
• Playing Cosmo allows us to play Maximus in the same location without making our opponents draw cards and reducing Darkhawks power.
• As I mentioned before, having Maximus in hand as a turn 6 option if we have Sera in play is very powerful on its own.

As for Ronan the Accuser, things are a little easier to explain. For a long time it has been difficult for it to stand out, however, in this deck, with all we mention about how good is Master Mold against the current meta, thinking about playing Ronan it’s something that ends up falling into the obvious path.

With the help of the Sentinel granted by Master Mold, Ronan the Accuser has a permanent +4 power, Maximus allows us to make it even stronger if necessary, and with the help of Sera and Mystique, the options are vast. Even the recent buff to Nick Fury is relevant for Ronan. Devil Dinosaur decks are back. In this sense, having a diametric effect means that if we face Devil Dinosaur, Ronan is always strong enough to face it.

Ramp and Discount

Variants

Zabu

On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, your 4-Cost cards cost 1 less.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Zabu

Variants

Sera

Ongoing: Cards in your hand cost 1 less. (minimum 1)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sera

These two cards together create some really powerful scenarios in this deck. Zabu not only doesn’t allow us to speed up our four cost cards one turn, but in conjunction with Sera, it can enable a flexible and powerful last turn.

Playing both cards in the same deck means that regardless of whether one of them is missing, our curve is solid and powerful in all games.

Control and Disruption

Variants

Cosmo

Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cosmo

Cosmo is a logical choice when playing trucks like Darkhawk and Ronan the Accuser, as it allows us to protect them from opposite Shang-Chi. In addition to this, the current meta is in a state where it’s quite useful to have Cosmo in our deck since it allows us to have a direct response against many meta cards, and at the same time, it’s not difficult to play.

Despite having our On Reveal effects in our deck, we also have a lot of continuous effects in addition to Ronan the Accuser and Darkhawk that can be played in the same location as Cosmo without any problem.

Variants

Shang-Chi

On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards here that have 10 or more Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shang-Chi

On the other hand, Shang-Chi is essential in the current meta. As I have mentioned in previous articles, playing it is almost a necessity. The vast majority of Tier 1 decks have more than one target that Shang-Chi can gain a location on, and this is something that together with Zabu and Sera we can take advantage of by investing very little energy in the final turns.

Variants

Mystique

On Reveal: If the last card you played has an Ongoing, copy its text. (if it’s in play)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mystique

The last two cards of the deck. Mystique is a card that has long accompanied cards like Devil Dinosaur, Darkhawk, and Ronan the Accuser, allowing us to have a virtual second copy of them in a smaller version.

In this deck, this is not Mystique‘s only trick. It can allow us to double Cosmo if necessary, blocking many strategies while we develop powerful ongoing effects over it. Double Zabu is also an option if we have a hand full of four costs, letting us pass priority and play many of these cards together when needed. However, without a doubt, the thing that has won me the most games is double Klaw on the final turn of we have Sera on the field.

Variants

Klaw

Ongoing: The location to the right has +6 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Klaw

Speaking of Klaw, I think it’s a card that may surprise many. Both when you see it on this deck and when you see it on the field in front of you on the final turn making you lose 8 cubes. Originally other iterations of this archetype used to play Doctor Doom and no wonder. Without a doubt, Doctor Doom was (and probably still is) the most-played six-cost card in the entire game. It’s extremely solid and consistent regardless of the archetype where you play it.

Nevertheless, thinking a bit about it after the nerf a few days ago, I remembered how a few months ago it wasn’t played much, and I used to wonder why, since to me it had always seemed like a 6/15 with many added benefits.

With this in mind, I thought of Klaw and how many times it won games for me. I’ve always looked at it as a 5/10 without drawbacks, and being able to play it for 4 energy thanks to Sera makes it without a doubt the best 4/10 card in the game above Attuma, Sentry, Strong Guy and similar cards that to be able to achieve those stats sometimes requires additional effort on our part.

Even without playing Sera, it seems like a good card to me, but being able to have one more last-turn option in Klaw + Mystique (or any other two-cost card) is without a doubt something very powerful, especially playing against lockdown type decks.

Card Substitutions

Variants

Iron Lad

On Reveal: Copy the text of your deck’s top card.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Iron Lad

Without a doubt, playing Iron Lad in this deck is not a bad choice. This deck has a lot of strong cards. It certainly can miss and copy a Mystique or Shang-Chi at a bad time, but outside of that, the other 9 objectives are valuable.

As I said before, I don’t have Iron Lad, and trying Maximus instead has given me good enough results to consider keeping it in the deck. However, trying one option or the other is up to you and whatever you prefer: maximize the idea of playing Zabu early and have an additional target for it or preferring making Ronan and your turn 6 stronger overall (without the possibility of missing a good target for Lad). Early game vs late game, your call.

Variants

Enchantress

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Enchantress

Enchantress is certainly always a great option when the meta demands it, especially if we are playing Zabu and Sera. A few weeks ago it was undoubtedly the preferred option as we were forced to have answers against Good Cards Stature, basically the Tier 0 of the moment. Now that the meta has shifted, I prefer Shang-Chi instead, but I wouldn’t hesitate to swap between the two cards if necessary.

Other Ways to Build the Archetype

Playing versions with Master Mold and Ronan the Accuser without Darkhawk is possible. In the same way, we can find solid deck lists with some changes that are worth mentioning.

Obey Your Master – SafetyBlade

Created by Bohe

, updated 10 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Moldin W/ The Lads – DeraJN

Created by Bohe

, updated 10 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Mold Hawk HamWave

Created by Bohe

, updated 10 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Snap and Retreat

This archetype features plays and snapping moments that might not be as clear-cut or similar to a conventional deck. Let’s review them calmly so that you can get the best out of them.

• During turn two if you played Korg on turn 1, have Zabu for turn 2 and Rockslide + Darkhawk in your hand.
• At the end of turn 2 if you played Master Mold and your opponent hasn’t played anything, which means that they lose their draw of turn 3 + you have solid cards to continue the curve.
• Before playing Cosmo knowing you have priority and you are going to snipe an on-reveal effect OR after playing Cosmo and you blocked a key card for your opponent during the early game.
• During turn 3, 4, or 5 before playing Shang-Chi against a truck.
• If you played Korg and you are playing against Lockjaw, snap on turn 3 or 4 before playing Rockslide.
• Return the snap if your opponent thinks they have won a closed location and you have Klaw in your hand.
• During turn 5, before playing Sera know that you have the capability of playing 2+ cards during turn 6.

Retreating isn’t rocket science with this deck. Just be disciplined and avoid playing very greedy games or staying after an opponent’s snap if you don’t have Sera, Ronan the Accuser, or Darkhawk with enough power for competing a location, or Sera on turn 5.

Winning without Ronan the Accuser or Darkhawk is possible thanks to Klaw, Mystique, Shang-Chi, Maximus, etc, but most of the time you need Sera to fight two locations at the same time.

Locations

Good Locations

• Attilan: One of my favorite locations for Master Mold. If you play Master Mold on turn 2 or 3 and Attilan is in play, consider snapping. This location would shuffle 2 Sentinels in your opponent’s deck no matter what happens, making your opponent draws horribly in combination with Korg and Rockslide Rocks.
• Dark Dimension: I’m usually comfortable playing with Dark Dimension on the table. I play Invisible Woman in this deck for a while. It’s very useful for protecting our trucks. Plus: Makes Shang-Chi effective no matter who has the priority during the last turn.
• Negative Zone and similar locations are not a problem when we can fight for them with just one card like Darkhawk or Ronan the Accuser + Klaw.
• Something similar happens to Flooding, Kyln, and similar locations. Play any of our big guys there + Klaw tends to be enough. Even in some situations, Klaw is just enough (and otherwise we also have Mystique).
• Kamar-Taj is amazing with Korg and Rockslide. It’s also very good for Master Mold.
• Speaking of Master Mold, Machineworld is something I love to see. This is like putting three Sentinels in your opponent’s hand. And if they return the play to us, they are just losing a turn.
• Quantum Realm does wonders for Ronan the Accuser, Darkhawk, and Mystique.
• Onslaught Citadel is a location from which we can make the most of it
• Warrior Falls: We can take control over Warrior Falls during turn 3, making any opponent hesitate about contesting it until the last turn.

Bad Locations

• Asteroid M it’s usually uncomfortable. Many of our cards cost 3 or 4 energy, and our 4 and 5 cards can get discounts, making them also cost 3 or 4. You can play a game with Asteroid M in play, but you have to think twice more than normal.
• Dream Dimension means no Sera. If we don’t have Sera available, things are certainly not as simple as they usually are when we have favorable locations like the ones mentioned above.

Matchups

Evolved Lockjaw

Unlike other occasions, it’s precise with this deck that I would like to face all day non-stop.

Putting Rocks in our opponent’s decks would make Lockjaw and Jubilee have a hard time trying to pull something relevant. They don’t play anything during the first two turns, making Master Mold on turn 2 blocks their turn 3 draw 100% of the time.

We have Shang-Chi for Hulk and any other big threats and they don’t have any form of protection for it. Dracula as the new tech in this archetype is something we have to take into consideration, but besides that… bring Evolved Lockjaw against us all day long!

Bounce

Another match where Master Mold can shine. As I mentioned before, Bounce uses the number of cards in their hand as a resource. They need to always have control over that variation to be able to continuously bounce their cards without problems. When Master Mold puts two additional cards in their hand, which also cannot be removed, they start to have serious problems with not having enough space and not being able to raise all the cards they want at the time they need.

In the same way, if we have priority, we can do a similar trick with Maximus. If we make them draw before they resolve the effect of Falcon and/or Beast, then they won’t have space, and while they will have new cards, the ones they want to bounce are going to stay in play and their plan will then to go awry most of the time.

Sera Control

Being a deck that tends to give up a lot of priority, managing to block its draws with Master Mold is also something simple. But we must be careful since unlike other archetypes, Sera Control can take advantage of these Sentinels in a much better way. I would seek to block the draws if I notice that they are giving me priority, but I would take into account that both Sentinels will undoubtedly arrive at the game, and they will probably do so accompanied.

Oblivious to this situation, it’s not difficult to compete for points against Hit Monkey, Bishop, or Kitty Pryde. You just have to be very careful that now they are playing Invisible Woman. This is usually done to enable Shang-Chi and/or Enchantress 100% effective. Ergo, if you see Invisible Woman, play your trucks in a location where you can see whether or not an answer is coming, or just play Cosmo there.

Iron Patriot

First guide where we mention this archetype, and rightly so! This weekend I ran into it a lot more than usual and it certainly seems to me that it’s already competing in popularity with Evolved Lockdown.

Darkhawk and Ronan the Accuser don’t need much help to contest the combo location. Curiously it’s already rare to see them play Mystique, so the location of the combo will normally be Patriot + Blue Marvel + Ultron, which only means twelve points. Even adding a full buffed Dazzler that would make that amount rise to 18, something not too hard to fight for Darkhawk and/or Ronan the Accuser.

Iron Patriot rises again in the mate as an answer to Evolved Lockjaw, and it certainly is a good deck, but in this particular case, Patriot needs a bit of high roll to compete with high-scoring archetypes like us. Just be careful against Iron Man + Onslaught which is going to win the location they are played together. Keep an eye on Iron Lad, is something that can go amazingly well as a turn 4 Onslaught or horribly wrong as a turn 4 Ultron.

Turn by Turn Breakdown

Turn 1

Unlike other decks where we can evaluate whether or not to play our turn 1 cards, here we play Korg if we have it, as simple as that.

Turn 2

The choice between Zabu and Master Mold is key to success. If we have a chance to block our opponent’s turn 3 draw, Master Mold is usually the right choice.

We would prefer Zabu if we have Rockslide + Darkhawk in hand or one of them would suffice if blocking our opponent’s draws are not possible or if we have Ronan the Accuser and want to save Master Mold for a last-turn buff.

Turn 3 and 4

If all is going as planned, our options are Cosmo, Maximus, Darkhawk, or Rockslide. Playing Cosmo without priority or blindly doesn’t usually make much sense unless it’s our only option, at which point we have to use it as the first step to protect Darkhawk or Ronan the Accuser. It is better if we try to do it when the situation is favorable.

A clear example of a good early Cosmo would be against Evolved Lockjaw trying to snipe a location where Thor or the dog will be played. Same with Electro or Wave against Ramp or Galactus, where we are going to usually have priority early.

Maximus is usually better if we save it for the last turn, although playing it on curve after Cosmo usually works well. It’s also not a mistake to play it on curve after Master Mold if we can block a draw which will mitigate Maximus‘s drawback. Play Darkhawk and Rockslide is much more intuitive than Cosmo and Maximus.

The important thing to note would be to mention that Darkhawk on turn 3 although it means exposing us to an early Shang-Chi, can also allow us to pressure the opponent hard and allow us to know if they have the card or not depending on how they decide to spend resources on it. Even if they have an answer it’s usually not a problem, since we’ll know that plays like Ronan the Accuser + Mystique on turn 6 will have no response from the opponent. Even playing Darkhawk without having played Korg and Rockslide usually protects him from Shang-Chi. If you have this in consideration you can save Korg and Rockslide for the last turn, something viable in certain situations.

Finally, a midgame Mystique is not a bad option. Just evaluate if it’s worth it. Normally double Zabu isn’t that relevant, and I would only play Mystique on turn 3 if double Cosmo is, or on turn 4 if I played Darkhawk on turn 3 and I’m sure that one of the two has a location practically won.

Turn 5

Sera is your number one choice without hesitation. Thinking about playing Ronan the Acusser or Klaw it’s something that will only happen if we don’t have Sera available or if for some extraordinary reason going with Sera won’t allow us to play 2+ cards last turn.

Turn 6

Thanks to Sera (and sometimes Zabu too) we can have amazing combinations on the last turn like Darkhawk + Mystique + Korg, Ronan the Accuser + Mystique, Darkhawk + Rockslide or Klaw + Mystique, and Maximus + Ronan the Accuser, just for naming a few. The possibilities are many.

Think calmly that you will undoubtedly have a fairly wide range of options on many occasions, especially where you can mix in Shang-Chi or even Cosmo on the final turn.

Closing Words

Thank you for staying with me until the end! I’ve just finished the article and I’m realizing that I could have extended too much, but I think that without a doubt the options that this deck can give us are wide, and knowing its operation in depth will allow you to get the best possible results with it.

That is without taking into account how exciting it’s to have managed to reach Infinite and also get an Infinite Conquest ticket with Master Mold!

I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did writing it. I think this deck is very well positioned to take on the current meta, and if you decide to try it! I do not doubt that you will surprise more than one with the results. Don’t forget to let me know your opinions on my social media (links below), and like I always said, don’t forget to smile. I assure you it makes a difference.