Post-Patch Paper Discard Collector Combo – Infinite Rank – July 2022

Hey I’m Paper, a 3x Infinite Rank player and streamer, and this is the Discard deck that got me into Infinite in Closed Beta Season 3. I personally think this is the strongest deck in the game currently and is only really countered by things like Cosmo or the rare Dr. Octopus.

The main point of this deck is to discard Swarm and Apocalypse multiple times while having Collector on the board to benefit from all of the additions to the hand by Apocalypse and Swarm. Extraneous win conditions included are Morbius and Dracula, the latter adding more power to 3 of your cards after the game has ended for a pretty consistent swing in your favor.

This deck is fairly straightforward to play and has clear play patterns that become evident after only a few games. Generally, you want to hold your 3 discard cards (Blade, Lady Sif, and Hell Cow) until turn 5 so that you can have your hand in a place that benefits your discard combo as much as possible. If you play Wong on turn 4, make sure to play him on an empty lane so you can follow up with these 3 discard cards for double the discards.

Tech Choices

This deck is fairly rigid, though I know that most peoples’ collection are not the same so some cards may not be available. The only pool 3 card that I feel is absolutely necessary in this deck is Hell Cow. You could potentially make this work with a Moon Knight or Colleen Wing, but having 2 discards on one card is extremely powerful, especially with 6 power on the card at 2 cost. The other options cost 3 energy which makes a turn 5 play of Blade, Sif, Hell Cow (for 4 discards) impossible. Wong makes Moon Knight or Colleen Wing more playable since you’re getting more discards out of the deck.

In this updated version of the deck, I have removed Okoye for Wong, but if not, another 1-cost card like Yondu or Iceman to disrupt your opponent’s deck will work just fine. The deck’s play patterns are pretty rigid and there’s not much room for different plays on 4, 5, and 6 so any additions really need to be from 1-3 cost.

Wong is a great addition to this deck if you have him. I’m currently running both Wong and Dracula but this deck can work both ways with and without either. I created this deck during Kamar Taj hot location and having my 4 discards on turn 5 turn into 8 discards created some monstrous Morbius and Collectors. There’s no way to get a double Nakia on Wong so don’t worry about that, as you’d likely have to forfeit that lane in the end anyways.

Gameplan

• Turn 1 is pretty basic, Sunspot if you have them. We’re only running 1 card that’s playable in the first turn outside of an Elysium location so it’s no biggie if you can’t play anything here.
• Turn 2 you want either Morbius or The Collector (ideally The Collector) to hit the board. Morbius’ effect adds up no matter if he’s on the board or not, so it’s not a big deal if he doesn’t hit the board early. The Collector, however, will only gain his power from Apocalypse and Swarm discards if he is on the board, so in most cases if I do not play him on Turn 2 or 3, he does not get played.
• Turn 3 is Nakia or a 2-cost and 1-cost, whatever you have. Nakia is mainly here for buffing Swarm and your discard cards. Hell Cow, Lady Sif, and Blade all have higher power than usual for their cost, so adding to that with Nakia bolsters their power even more. They can typically win a lane on their own if they have the Nakia buff.
• Turn 4 is really the only turn that a decision needs to be made. Both Dracula and Wong have a strong argument here which is why both are included in this list. Dracula is great if you have Apocalypse in hand and no Collector on the board. If you foresee yourself winning a lane with a Dracula+Apocalypse combo you can play him. If you’ve come into turn 4 with just a Morbius and The Collector on the board with at least a Swarm in hand, Wong can be a better play. As I said above, Wong with your 3 discard cards on turn 5 makes your 4 discard play into an 8 discard play. Morbius and Collector both become powerhouses if you can pull off this combo. Having Swarm in hand is necessary for this, however, or else you’ll run out of hand.
• Turn 5 is when your combo begins. Play Lady Sif, Hell Cow, and Blade usually on the same location to soft-lock it down. 19 power is usually enough to win a lane on its own. You want to have only Swarm and Apocalypse left in your hand after playing these 3 cards so that those are the only cards left to discard. If you cannot get rid of every other card before turn 5, keep in mind the ordering of your plays.
• Turn 6 you draw America Chavez and you should have a bunch of 0-cost Swarms to toss around the board in whatever way fits. Dracula will discard your last remaining card (Apocalypse) and will likely end the game somewhere around 16-24 power. Sometimes your Dracula lane will be okay with just 10 power from America Chavez, so playing Apocalypse in another lane could be an option, but most of the time it is safer for Dracula to discard Apocalypse because he cannot be hit by Shang Chi.
• Note: Dracula gains the power that Apocalypse has AFTER the discard so if you end the game with a 20 power Apocalypse in hand, Dracula discards him, gives Apocalypse +4, and Dracula becomes a 24.

Discard Order

Paying attention to the order that your discard effects will happen is a major strategy point of this deck. You always want Apocalypse and Swarm to be the targets of your discards and if there are additional cards in your hand on Turn 5, you want to make sure you have the highest change to discard those two cards as much as possible. Swarm will add more copies of himself to your hand, so you always want Swarm to be discarded after the rest of your cards are gone. Since we cannot specifically target cards to discard, the order of your play matters.

One of the most common situations that occur in this deck is playing all 3 of your discard cards and having 1 Swarm and 1 Apocalypse in hand. In this situation, you want to make sure Blade is played before Apocalypse. This is because Blade discards 1 card so there’s a 50% chance that he discards Apocalypse. If you played him after Hell Cow, who would have discarded both Swarm and Apocalypse, leaving 2 Swarms and 1 Apocalypse in your hand, Blade’s discard chances on Apocalypse would go down.

Now this all can change if you’re trying to buff The Collector over buffing Apocalypse for Dracula. If you’re looking to get more power on The Collector for whatever reason (whether he’s in Kyln or Sanctum, etc.) You’d want to play Hell Cow first so that Blade has a higher chance of getting rid of a Swarm. These are small things that make a big impact on the flow of the deck and your win rate. 

Additionally, if you hit turn 5 with no Apocalypse in hand but your 3 discard combo in-hand plus Swarm, make sure you’re playing Sif or Blade first so they can get rid of a Swarm and allow Hell Cow to discard 2 Swarms instead of just 1.

20/07/22

Play Discard card on turn 5

Win a location thanks to Angela, The Collector, Morbius, Hellcow and Lady Sif

Win another location thanks to Apocalipse or America Chavez and Swarm