Shanna KaZoo Detailed Deck Guide: Shanna Reached Infinite!
Learn how to play and build the off-meta Shanna KaZoo deck in Marvel Snap in this detailed deck guide by Bohe thinks is great to play in the current meta and catch opponents by surprise!
Table of Contents
First of all, let me thank you all for the great support you give to my Surfing Nimrod Deck Guide. Many of you send me a message about it or went to my stream to say hello. Without a doubt, this motivates me to work hard and continue bringing you the best possible content!
When I started playing Marvel Snap, one of the first archetypes with which I was statistically successful was KaZoo. Without a doubt, it’s a great deck to start playing in low pools, and improving it when entering Pool 3 is quite simple. These reasons made the archetype evolve quickly when during the first months of the game, Zabu was released.
Having the chance to speed up Ka-Zar was nice, but it was combining the idea with Dracula that made it stand out as a real option. As I mentioned in my first article, the fact that a deck can be flexible and not base its general idea on a linear strategy where without a cad we are lost, it will always be something valuable. Being able to win a location just by putting Dracula there is great! Especially in a deck where putting the rest of our hand into play is easy, allowing Dracula to always have the best possible target in our hand with no other card to get in its way.
Deck Presentation
Shanna KaZoo
Created by 
Bohe
Bohe, updated 3 months ago
1x Collection Level 1-14
2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
3x 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 Recruit Season
2.8
Cost
4.4
Power
Not many would expect a deck with Shanna to reach Infinite, but Tinleigh Nicole did it! And not only did it, she did it with an impressive record of 39 wins and only 16 losses, which marks a formidable 70.9% win rate.
After finding this deck and looking at these stats I had to give it a try and let me tell you, dear readers, it’s not only fun, but it’s also solid. Playing a deck an opponent doesn’t expect to play against lets us win 8 cube games quite often.
Concept and Strategy
The central idea of this archetype may seem simple, but understanding the three basic angles you can take for winning locations during a game is key to success:
- 2 or 3 one-energy cards + Armor could secure a location without worrying about Killmonger.
- Dracula could fight for one location by itself.
- Playing Destroyer on turn six is not a problem thanks to how Armor protects one of our other locations. Doing this is also possible if we play Destroyer in the same location with Cosmo.
- Skipping a turn for playing The Infinaut is a play we have to consider if we have Sunspot.
With all these in mind, Ka-Zar and Shanna makes the idea of playing a deck centered around one-energy cards viable.
If we play correctly, Sunspot and Nebula can grow to 5+ power in almost every game. Giving both extra power thanks to Ka-Zar makes our opponents have to compete for the locations with these cards or abandon them altogether, giving us space to win a second location with Dracula or Destroyer / The Infinaut.
Shanna may look at the center card of the deck, and it certainly plays in our favor as an unexpected factor to many of our opponents. However, after testing this deck during my stream I learn that winning many games without playing Shanna is possible. Learning how and when to play Shanna is an essential part of playing this archetype, but I will delve into it when we talk a little more in-depth about each card.
Core Cards
The One-Drops
Sunspot
At the end of each turn, gain +1 Power for each unspent Energy.
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Decks with Sunspot
Nebula
Each turn your opponent doesn’t play a card here, +2 Power. (except the turn you play this)
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Decks with Nebula
Sunspot and Nebula are the best one-energy cards in the game, of that there should be no doubt. Playing both cards here is not only logical but mandatory. The amount of power they can give to our board and the way how both make our opponent have to care about them make our early game very strong.
The Ant Man case is curious. When I was testing some other options in its spot, I ended up realizing that letting go of a card that can give us four power for just one energy in this archetype is something that complicates our games, especially when filling locations is easy thanks to Shanna. So with that being said, I firmly believe that undervaluing Ant Man in this archetype seems like a mistake to me.
Iceman
On Reveal: Give a random card in your opponent’s hand +1 Cost. (maximum 6)
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Decks with Iceman
Iceman is crucial for us, especially in a meta like the current one. It may look like Iceman is a flex slot. We don’t know what card Iceman hits as Spider-Ham does, it gives us just 2 power in the board, but let me tell you, Iceman has many good targets against the tier 1 decks: Lockjaw, Thor, Jane Foster Mighty Thor, Angela, Bishop, Sera, Beast, Storm, Cyclops, Professor X, Spider-Man, and the list could go on. Hitting any of these cards turns the game against the best decks in the meta in our favor. As a deck that bases its strategy on low-cost cards, slowing down our opponent early in the game is invaluable.
Control and Disruption
Cosmo
Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen at this location.
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Decks with Cosmo
Armor is crucial for our plans. A couple of weeks ago Killmonger was also non-existent in the meta, one of the reasons behind this deck’s success. Now, Evolved Lockjaw plays Killmonger to counter all the one-energy cards that are present in Sera Control, Bounce, and Evolved Lockdown. This certainly could complicate our games, but it’s not entirely true. Playing Armor in one location along with 2-3 one-energy cards is more than enough to make Killmonger useless against us.
Other than the aforementioned, the reason to run Armor is to protect one of our locations to allow us to play Destroyer during the last turn without consequences. It helps us to protect all our one-energy cards with the recent appearance of Killmonger, but enabling Destroyer is something we must always keep in mind.
Lastly, it’s just the absence of Armor in the meta that many decks are playing cards with destruction effects. Ramp is now playing the Black Panther, Arnim Zola combo, Knull is seen in many decks than before, and like these many other examples. Running Armor for the sake of being a good card (as it used to be) isn’t a bad choice.
Cosmo
Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen at this location.
view card details
Decks with Cosmo
The idea behind Cosmo shares the same train of tough as Armor. It’s a card that protects us at the same time that it’s in charge of disrupting our opponent’s plans. It can stop a Killmonger but there are many other cards in the current meta that have on-reveal effects that Cosmo can fight against like Thor, Jubilee, Doctor Doom, Falcon, Beast, Hit Monkey, Storm, and Spider-Man, just to mention a few examples.
Continuing with the idea of enabling Destroyer, don’t forget to always keep in mind that we can play Destroyer in the same location as Cosmo, and without a doubt competing against 18 points without consequences for us is not an easy thing for our opponents.
Zabu Core
The backbone of our deck. Having any of these cards in play is going to increase our chance of winning notoriously.
Winning without them is certainly possible. For example: having one location with Sunspot, Nebula, and Armor + another location with Destroyer. Nevertheless, our most powerful games have one or more of these cards in common.
Undoubtedly, Zabu has been one of the more controversial cards since its release. It has received nerfs more than once, and even after that it’s a card that is not only playable but one that can be capable of dictating at least one-third of a decklist. In this decklist, having Zabu in play enables very strong moves like Dracula on turn three, or Ka-Zar + Shanna on turn 6. The savage trio plays amazingly well all together and is clear that having Zabu, Shanna, and Ka-Zar in the same deck is the way to go.
Shanna can certainly have an RNG component that has created unpredictable scenarios. Learning to read the possible outcomes is vital to play this card properly. Let me give a few examples:
- If you are going for the Dracula + Destroyer / The Infinaut route, playing Shanna on turn 6 could be a wrong move, unless you are conscious that losing Dracula lane is a possibility. Shanna could put in play cards like Bast, Agent 13, or The Hood that can mess with our hand, making Dracula misses the big target or lowering the power of our six-drops to 3. This doesn’t mean that playing Shanna and Dracula together is a mistake, but keeping it in mind allows us to play around with this, even having the ability to use Dracula as bait.
- In the same way, knowing that Shanna puts an average of nine points in the table lets us have more agency when playing it.
- When we know that Dracula can be used as a decoy and the average of points that Shanna puts in play, going for Ka-Zar + Shanna together on turn 6 thanks to Zabu is a high-roll play that lets you win many games.
- Now, naturally playing Dracula, looking for Destroyer or The Infinaut to be eaten at the end of the turn is certainly something valid and powerful thanks to how easy it’s to play all the other cards in our hand. In this case, playing Shanna as early as possible helps avoid potentially unfavorable outcomes if you get cards that complicate the idea behind this route of play.
- Playing Shanna early has its benefits as we can get cards like Sunspot, Nebula, Iceman, and the like, but doing it late can also give us great results. As easy as it may seem to play a Zoo deck, actively, thinking about Shanna’s possibilities is undoubtedly key to winning our matches.
Dracula
At the end of the game, discard a card from your hand. This has its Power.
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Decks with Dracula
We already talked about Dracula and the idea behind playing it on this list. As for Ka-Zar, I think the idea is quite clear and linear, However, just as Dracula can Function as a lure and Shanna can have benefits when played early or late in the game, surprising Ka-Zar late in the game is often something opponents don’t expect all the time. Playing it early isn’t bad, but it can expose us to Enchantress, so think about it, and don’t forget that you can protect it with Cosmo.
Six-Drops
The Infinaut
If you played a card last turn, you can’t play this.
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Decks with The Infinaut
We mentioned the idea behind both cards in previous paragraphs. Both are Dracula targets and Destroyer can be played without worrying about its on-reveal effect thanks to how Armor protects one of the locations.
What would be important to note about The Infinaut is that skipping one turn for playing it is viable and a good idea in certain situations. Just remember that to think about this play, the ideal is to have Sunspot in play.
One last thing about The Infinaut. Decks like Evolved Lockjaw are now playing the card instead of other six-drops, to somewhat counter Spider-Ham. In case the pig hits The Infinaut, we can play it without having to skip a turn, which is something we can benefit from as well. Same case with Destroyer, since it enables the power to put in the field even without having Armor.
Card Substitutions
Spider-Ham
On Reveal: Transform the leftmost card in your opponent’s hand into a Pig, keeping its Power and Cost.
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Decks with Spider-Ham
What a controversy this card has generated for me. I tried it instead of Iceman and Ant Man and in both cases, I had mixed feelings.
I don’t think it’s wrong to play it if any of you readers decide to. In the right scenario, it’s very strong, tearing down powerful cards like Sera, Galactus, or Doctor Doom. However, in certain cases, I’m not entirely convinced. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad to play Spider-Ham in this deck, and it’s a strong card, but the meta is adapting and as I mentioned, hitting The Infinaut, or even Hulk doesn’t feel very good.
Storm
On Reveal: Flood this location. Next turn is the last turn cards can be played here.
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Decks with Storm
Playing Storm may seem odd here, however, locking a location having Sunspot and Nebula, the possibility of putting points there thanks to Shanna, and Dracula, that can compete with a flooded location by itself, make this idea something to consider.
Valkyrie
On Reveal: Set ALL cards at this location to 3 Power.
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Decks with Valkyrie
Having more control over how many points we’re going to have at the end of the game it’s valuable. Blue Marvel paired with Ka-Zar can be enough to make Shanna drop 15 points to the table.
In the same way, having the capability of filling up the locations easily makes Valkyrie something to consider. Besides that this takes the archetype in another direction, winning a location with Valkyrie having Ant Man and more continuous effects that pump our cards is very easy to accomplish.
I played a lot KaZero, a build of KaZoo paired with Zero and its friends like Lizard, Titania, and Red Skull, and it certainly give me very good results a few months ago. I will present you with a decklist in this direction in the next section.
Shang-Chi
On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards at this location that have 9 or more Power.
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Decks with Shang-Chi
Enchantress
On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards at this location.
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Decks with Enchantress
Lastly, having Zabu is something that lets us play Shang-Chi, Enchantress, and other 4-energy tech cards when the meta demand specific answers. Having this in consideration could let us adapt and survive against different strategies present on the ladder or in conquest mode.
Other Ways to Build the Archetype
Playing Zoo decks lets us adapt thanks to the vast options available. Many one-drops can lead this archetype in different directions. The same goes for four-energy cards thanks to Zabu, and playing Lockdown with Storm is not out of logic. Even with Valkyrie, the deck can take very innovative routes that can get our opponents off-guard.
Invisible Zoo
Created by Bohe
Bohe, updated 3 months ago
1x Collection Level 1-14
1x 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)
1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
2x Recruit Season
2.3
Cost
2.6
Power
KaZero
Created by Bohe
Bohe, updated 3 months ago
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)
2.6
Cost
4.7
Power
Shanna Lockdown
Created by Bohe
Bohe, updated 3 months ago
1x Collection Level 1-14
2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
3x 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 Recruit Season
2.7
Cost
3.3
Power
Valkyrie Shanna
Created by Bohe
Bohe, updated 3 months ago
1x Collection Level 1-14
1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)
1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)
1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)
2x Recruit Season
2.5
Cost
2.2
Power
Snap and Retreat
The most important thing when snapping is to know which are the strongest plays in a deck, and to put more cubes on the table before the opponent knows what will happen:
- During turn two if we have Sunspot or Nebula in play + Zabu and Dracula / Shanna in our hands.
- Before playing Dracula in turn three if we have Zabu + Destroyer / The Infinaut, know that playing the rest of the cards in our hand is not hard.
- On turn 5 if we can make a Ka-Zar + Shanna turn 6 play if we know that is going to be enough, even if Dracula misses.
- On turn 5 if we have a location protected with Armor + 2-3 one-energy cards and we have Destroyer or if we have Sunspot in play and passing for playing The Infinaut is enough for winning two lanes.
- Before playing Cosmo know that we have priority and we are going to snipe a key card.
Retreating is something we have to evaluate if we don’t fulfill the aforementioned conditions. Keep playing is something viable if we have favored locations or the opponent has not presented real threats. Remember; consider staying or snapping back if your opponent snaps if you meet any of the conditions listed above.
Locations
Good Locations
- Central Park: Tends to be cumbersome, but when we can take advantage of the Squirrels instead of feeling bad because they take up space is something that became favorable.
- Gamma Lab: Put 2-3 cards here before it ability triggers is easy. Having Armor and protecting more than one Hulk from opposing Shang-Chi can secure this location easily.
- Hell's Kitchen: Having multiple 1-cost cards makes this location very good for us, letting us draw an extra card 99% of the time.
- Kyln, Luke's Bar Sanctum Sanctorum, The Vault: Any restrictive location is not a problem for us, and thanks to how Shanna can put power in inaccessible places.
- Mojoworld, Muir Island, Nidavellir, The Raft, The Sacred Timeline: Locations that give benefits for playing your cards there are good for decks like Shanna Zoo thanks to how easy is to swarm the board.
- Onslaught Citadel: Give +2 to all our one-drops thanks to Ka-Zar is very good.
- The Big House: Many of our opponents are going to struggle with this location. We can play almost our entire deck in this location without any problem.
- TVA: Thanks to how good is our early game, TVA is something we don’t have to be scared about.
- Wakandan Embassy: Putting all our hand in play is very common. This let us take all the adventage of the buff Wakandan Embassy give to all the cards in our hand.
Bad Locations
- Crimson Cosmos: Even if we can maneuver around this location thanks to Dracula, Destroyer, and The Infinaut, the way it blocks all our one-energy cards + our four-energy cards if we have Zabu it’s a problem.
- Hellfire Club: Same as Crimson Cosmos… This blocks four of our cards. Playing a game with this location in the field is something we have to consider twice. Is not as bad as Crimson Cosmos, but is uncomfortable.
Matchups
Thanks to the OTA update that has recently hit the game, the meta may shift in the next few days. I’m sure we are going to see a lot of Red Skull again. In the meantime, let’s take a look at some matchups that are sure to be around on the ladder and in conquest mode.
Evolved Lockjaw
Iceman plays a major role here. The best turn to play it is on turn two. We want to hit Lockjaw, and giving them one extra draw maximizes our chances of doing it.
The best way to compete with the Lockjaw location is with Dracula. Winning the Thor location with Sunspot and Nebula is not that hard. Cosmo can make them stumble. Think twice before playing Cosmo without getting any value for it.
We can high roll with Shanna just as they do. Just be careful about Magneto. If it moves Ka-Zar and Shanna is not a big problem, but having that play in consideration saves us more than it looks.
Sera Control
If you can play Iceman on turn two trying to hit Bishop, go for it, if that is not possible, the best turn for playing it is on turn 4 aiming for Sera.
They play Shang-Chi. Using Cosmo is key for protecting The Infinaut or Destroyer. They also play Killmonger. Using Armor on 2-3 of our one-drops is the best choice it. We can even block their Nova fro mbeing destroyed.
Bounce
Similar to Sera Control, we want to contest Bishop location with Dracula, and protect our big threats with Cosmo. The difference here is that playing Iceman is good during every turn of the game. Delaying Angela, Falcon, Bishop, or even Beast for one turn is extremely valuable.
Besides protecting The Infinaut or Destroyer with Cosmo, our main goal with it is sniping Falcon or Beast. If you have priority, playing Cosmo on the location you think they are going to play the bouncers is a game-winning play.
Evolved Lockdown
Every matchup when our opponent doesn’t have Killmonger is something good for us. Playing on locked locations is easy thanks to Shanna. Playing against Storm or Spider-Man is something we can handle.
In the same way, Dracula plays very well in the same location as Storm, and playing Professor X in the same location as Dracula is virtually impossible. We play Sunspot and Nebula just as they do, making the idea of “out-tempo” their opponents don’t work so much against us.
Play carefully and think about snapping, retreating, or paying your opponent to snap before Daredevil sees your play on turn 5.
Turn by Turn Breakdown
- Turn 1: Our best plays are Sunspot and Nova. Iceman is better on turns before our opponents want to make a big play, and Ant Man is something I prefer to play on the last turns.
- Turn 2: Deciding between Zabu and Armor is easy. Zabu if you have 1 or more 4-energy cards in hand, Armor if you are going to drop more 1-energy cards the next turn on the same location.
- Turn 3 and 4: Depending on your decision on turn two, the choice between Dracula and everything else is key here. Like I said before, Playing Dracula in this deck has its tricks. If you have Dracula, you want to play Shanna as soon as possible, for avoiding a bad outcome. Also, if you have Cosmo and have to snipe something important with it, playing Ka-Zar or your highest power card is mandatory for having priority.
- Turn 5: This turn is where you have more flexibility during each game. Is the moment where you want to have everything set for your last big play. Have in mind that playing everything from your hand is mandatory in case you have Dracula, something that will let you play anything you draw on turn 6. This turn can also be skipped if you have Sunspot for playing The Infinaut on turn six.
- Turn 6: If you have Dracula, play all your cards trying to keep just Destroyer and/or The Infinaut is mandatory. If not, playing Ka-Zar and Shanna together on the last turn if we have Zabu is most of the time a power-play our opponents didn’t expect.
Closing Words
It’s been fun working with a card like Shanna. Being able to make content with unusual cards and strategies has something that makes it always interesting.
Seeing that someone has managed to reach Infinite with Shanna is without a doubt commendable, and after playing the deck I can tell you that it’s not difficult to understand the good results achieved by Tinleight Nicole. Credits to her for making this archetype work!
I hope that this guide has been interesting and fun for you and that it motivates you to play with new strategies, which at the end of the day is undoubtedly something that enriches the game and us as players.
Thank you all for the support my Surfing Nimrod article has received (and now the card just got a buff!) and I hope you find this work useful too.
Let me know what you think on my social media (links below) and like I always said, don’t forget to smile. I assure you it makes a difference.
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Bohe
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Just as fantastic a guide as Surfing Nimrod, thank you.
Boy, I wish I had Zabu or Nimrod so I could try one of these out…
Ty for your kind words, EpicPickle. <3
Do you have any suggestions for my next Deck Guide? :b
Anything you find that works! 🙂