Nimrod Theorycraft, Strategy, and Decklists: Reinventing Destroy

Decks with Nimrod

Table of Contents

Strategy and Potential
- Potential Score
Starter Decks (Theorycraft)
Who is Nimrod?

Strategy and Potential

Nimrod potentially opens up some new avenues for destroy decks. As a 5 energy card, it doesn’t fit very well into what we currently know as a Destroy deck. Playing Nimrod on 5 and following up with Carnage or Deathlok just to make copies on the other two locations doesn’t feel powerful. So we need to look at the way it works and see what we can do to modify how Destroy decks look to incorporate Nimrod.

First up, we obviously want to destroy the card. As a 5 energy card, we either have to cheat it out early using Psylocke, Electro, or Wave, or we have to use a 6-cost card to destroy it. If we can cheat it out early, any destroy effect will do, but a safer option would be to follow up with a card that can Destroy Nimrod and provide other benefits.

Venom

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards at this location. Add their Power to this card.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

Decks with Venom

Destroyer

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

Decks with Destroyer

Galactus

On Reveal: If this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.

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

Decks with Galactus

Arnim Zola

On Reveal: Destroy a random friendly card here. Add copies of it to the other locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

Decks with Arnim Zola

These choices limit the deck building opportunities with the card, and you may have also noticed that all of those cards are Series 3 and above. Destroyer, Venom, and Arnim Zola seem to be the most promising directions to create unique Nimrod focused decks.

Galactus looks like an interesting turn six play, especially when combined with Shuri. This could be easier to play than previous Galactus decks but may suffer from predictability.

The question then becomes: is destroying one Nimrod to add ten power to the board really worth the deck building restrictions, or do we need more pay offs? There are two other ways we can use the duplicated Nimrods to our benefit. Since the Nimrods are exact copies of the original, we can either buff Nimrod prior to the Destroy effect or buff the copies after they are created. Cards that could be used here include Shuri, Forge, Hulkbuster, and the crowd favorite Cerebro.

Forge

On Reveal: Give the next card you play +2 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

Decks with Forge

Cerebro

Ongoing: Your highest Power cards get +2 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

Decks with Cerebro

Hulkbuster

On Reveal: Merge this card with a random friendly card at this location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

Decks with Hulkbuster

Shuri

On Reveal: Double the Power of the next card you play.

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

Decks with Shuri

If we are looking to buff Nimrod before we destroy it, the card might slot nicely into versions of the Destroy archetype that include Deadpool and Knull. This way we create buffed copies across the board and we make our Knull stronger for our final turn.

If we choose to go Cerebro, we can combine Nimrod with cards such as Doctor Doom, Deathlok, and Titania alongside Arnim Zola to flood the board with a swarm of five power cards.

For a card which may seem limited, there are actually a ton of directions to try to use the card. The question mark surrounding Nimrod is the power level. For all the positives we’ve covered, there is one really big weakness: you will usually have to play Nimrod a whole turn prior to activation. This leaves you open to counter play from Cosmo, Aero, even Armor. Your opponent will be able to see exactly what you’re trying to do, and revealing that much information in Marvel Snap can be dangerous over time. Therefore, we need to focus on maintaining priority with our Nimrod decks to mitigate this downside.

In summary, Nimrod represents another Destroy card that opens up new lines of play for older cards and adds power to some existing decks. Most of these decks feature a lot of Series 3 cards, unfortunately, so newer players will not get as much immediate benefit from this month’s Season Pass card.

Potential Score

Below are some potential starter decks for Nimrod with brief descriptions.

Starter Decks (Theorycraft)

Nimrod – SS DeathDestroyer

Created by

, updated 30 days ago

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Season Pass

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Starting things off we have a classic Electro Destroyer list. This list plays the usual suspects you would find in the DeathWave deck with a modified top end. The goal here is to play Electro on three, Nimrod on four, then Destroyer on five. After that you can follow up with further destroy effects on the Nimrod lanes.

We also play Wave and Death as a strong back up plan that still synergizes with our other Destroy effects. This version is running Taskmaster over Arnim Zola due to the energy cost (we can run it alongside Demon on turn six if we miss on our other effects, for example).

Nimrod – Buff Nimrod

Created by

, updated 30 days ago

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Season Pass

4.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The first of two Galactus decks, this one focuses on buffing Nimrod with Shuri and then hitting it with Destroyer or Galactus, preferably on turn five.

We carry the usual Death and Knull to use as potential finishers, but Nimrod may help the back up Destroyer plan be more consistent and put significantly more power into Knull for turn six.

Nimrod – Turn 6

Created by

, updated 30 days ago

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Season Pass

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The second Galactus deck focuses more on the final turn. We use the Goblins to lock out our target lane as much as possible and play Nimrod on (hopefully) the left most lane. Then we can Galactus to the right and Nimrod should copy twice and fill the Galactus lane with a minimum of 15 power.

The problem with this version is predictability; the game plan quickly becomes too telegraphed and is then easily countered, so proceed with caution.

Nimrod – Cerebro 5

Created by

, updated 30 days ago

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Season Pass

1x Starter Card

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This may end up being a first week meme, but we couldn’t not feature a card with 5 power without considering Cerebro 5! This version tries to Wave our Nimrod into play on turn four. We can then use Deathlok to copy it immediately or Magik to buy us some time, following with Doctor Doom and/or Cerebro + Mystique. The rest of the deck focuses on the best five power cards and tries to keep the curve low so we can play as many of them as possible.

Nimrod vs Deadpool?

Created by

, updated 29 days ago

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Season Pass

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This version combines Nimrod with both a Deadpool and a Black Panther shell in order to provide redundancy for our combos. This allows us to play an early game of buffing and destroying Deadpool, then transition to either Nimrod or Black Panther being buffed on turn five for Arnim Zola.

Remember, Venom can activate Nimrod‘s ability on turn six and also keep some power on the location.

Knullified Nimrod

Created by