Sleeper Decks of the Week – Top of Infinite Ladder Decks, Grand Master Secretly Great

Hello everyone and welcome to Sleeper Decks of the Week! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and in this article, I’m going to take you through all of my favorite Sleeper Decks this week. In addition to the podcast (this week’s episode has a wishlist for new Snap features with LaurenWhatevs and Shneerp!), I do my own daily videos where I scour the darkest corners of the net (ahem Twitter and the various Marvel Snap sites) to find the best decks in Marvel Snap before the meta notices.

Remember: Each deck title will take you to a video explanation of the deck, so don’t be shy – check them out!

Top of the Meta To Ya

The post-Blob meta has been absolutely wild. Here are two decks that sit consistently within the top 50 of the post-Infinite ladder.

Dott.Geo Annihilus Bounce (Spyro Version)

Deck Thoughts:
Dott.Geo has been in the top 10 with his Annihilus Bounce deck, and Spyro sailed into the top 20 with the same build with one card change (Iceman for Spider-Ham).

The list combines three game plans – we have a Zabu deck that can use counter-cards like Enchantress and Shang-Chi. That overlaps with Werewolf By Night – which allows a Bounce package – which runs The Hood, allowing for another four – Sentry, which means Annihilus is great.

It takes time to learn which of these plays to switch between, but once you do, little in the meta can handle competing with all of your options. How does one play around a Werewolf at 8 to 12 power, a negative 10-power The Void, and an Enchantress all at once?

Annihilus and Werewolf are needed. Nico can be Spider-Ham or Hawkeye while Zabu is, likewise, a must-have.

HuskyPuppies Hela Lockjaw

Deck Thoughts:
HuskyPuppies is a Hela genius and this is probably the best and most consistent Hela has ever been in Marvel Snap.

This isn’t Thanos – we don’t just throw random cards into Lockjaw. Lockjaw is a way to unclog busy hands and keep space on the board. The discard here is all targeted – Lady Sif could hit Hela, but Death is in the deck, and so are 4 other 4-cost cards.

Blade would have to come out of Lockjaw to be a problem, and Silver Samurai will usually hit Blob or Jubilee. That last card into Lockjaw to end the game all but guarantees you a Hela, and with Hela all but assured, opponents will have a really hard time staying in.

Silver Samurai can be Moon Knight or Gambit, but then cut Blob for Skaar or She-Hulk. If you don’t have Blob, but have Samurai, then the card to play is Iron Man. Everything else here is Series 3 or lower.

Mylee Loki

Deck Thoughts:
Mylee is such a cool deck creator – he flew to the top 20 with this Loki build.

This is a relatively simple deck compared to the other two near the top. Your main goal is to win by doing Loki things – Snowguard, Mirage, and Agent Coulson fill your hands while Quinjet and Zabu make Loki better and more consistent.

The tech cards chosen this time are Shang-Chi and Rogue with Ms. Marvel adding power. The real big wins here though are when you don’t get the Loki. As opponent’s guard against him, they get creamed by Professor X and then Alioth. It’s brilliant and powerful.

Loki and Zabu are musts for the deck. Mirage can be Sentinel. You probably need Ms. Marvel and Alioth, since those two working together are how this deck steals cubes.

Grand Master

You’ve probably heard Grand Master has underwhelmed – well, he’s not a meta-breaker, but he’s absolutely great in the right decks. To me, he feels like Nico Minoru. He doesn’t make decks, but he makes good decks better.

Tuccrr’s The Grand Monkey

Deck Thoughts:
The Grand Monkey, by the Pirate King Tuccrr is an absolute blast to play!

This one is built around two different game plans that complement one another (sensing a pattern?). This one has a Sera Hit Monkey game plan that’s amplified by cards like Mysterio and Bishop.

The other plan is Thor and Jane Foster Mighty Thor, cards which likewise work with Hit Monkey. The Monkey and Mjölnir are your big targets for Grand Master, as the extra power on either Thor or the Hit Monkey steal extra cubes.

Hit Monkey is needed, but this works fine with Iceman or Nico Minoru spot. Forge is the other add if you’re missing both.

The CounterGuy Surfer

Deck Thoughts:
We know that when Silver Surfer was +3 power, it was busted. Well, this CounterGuy deck makes Surfer give +4 power. All you really need to win lanes with that combo is Sebastian Shaw and Brood.

The rest of the deck can have control pieces, and the best of those for this deck are Storm and Juggernaut. They get a lane win and then the extra power from the other cards wins the game.

I don’t think Nico Minoru is right – I’m running Goose instead right now. Sebastian Shaw is pivotal here, as is Grand Master.

Darkhawk Time!

Deck Thoughts:
This is the current deck I’m winning most with. I built it myself, but it was an easy one to come to.

The Grand Master here is great! On turn 4, a Grand Master to copy Rockslide or Black Widow goes amazingly with a Zabu or Ravonna Renslayer. Heck, on turn 2 played on a Korg, it’s quite disruptive.

The rest is simple – Darkhawk and Mystique get big, Iron Lad helps you with stuff you missed, and Ms. Marvel lets you go wide. You combo that stuff and you win!

You’re going to need Zabu, Ravonna, and Darkhawk here. You can do Jeff the Baby Land Shark or Medusa for Grand Master and Absorbing Man for Iron Lad. Ms. Marvel will have to be Enchantress, but that’s a huge loss.

KM Worst Double Alioth

Deck Thoughts:
KM Worst here wants to win priority and then use Alioth to kill two lanes. It’s the worst!

The whole point of this deck is to take priority going into turn 6. Storm and Mister Fantastic try to get a lane done early. Nebula and Lizard help control where they play. Jeff moves somewhere to steal priority. Echo stomps out opposing Ms. Marvel… Iron Lad helps you when you miss something, and Wave and Sera let you play Alioth with Grand Master. When it comes together, it auto wins.

You need everything here but Echo – sorry. Nightcrawler or Martyr could replace Nebula.

Miscellaneous Decks

These decks don’t fit into any other categories, but they’re still great and worth playing.

Benjamin Roller Discard

Deck Thoughts:
It seems like Discard has found its build again thanks to players like Desmond Roller this week and Desmond last week, as a solid B-level deck.

This one does nothing new or fancy. Morbius, Daken, Colleen, and Swarm – all these cards are big for their costs. Stature can be huge for her cost, and even MODOK just has a good number attached to him. You discard and get a nice big Apocalypse with all these good tempo cards, then you win by dropping a huge Apocalypse with some Swarms. Easy and straightforward.

You don’t need Miek here. Nebula or Iceman will do. Daken would be Dracula, who’s okay, not great. The Silver Samura is Gambit or Moon Knight.

Ika Move Blob

Deck Thoughts:
I love Ika decks. This is the best of the Silky Smoove style builds. In it, Ika does all the simple Silk move plays – get Kraven big with move cards and shrink the opponent’s cards with Kingpin using Spider-Man, Aero, or Polaris.

There remains a lot of tempo to that, and then at the end of the game, most of the time, you’ve drawn either Magneto who, with Kingpin can be a 6-16 or so, or Blob who is just the biggest play on 6. You’re generally safe from the opponent’s interaction until that last turn, too. This plays great.

You need Silk or Jeff – the other can be Cloak. You’ll also need Blob.

Lamby Bounce

Deck Thoughts:
Hey! Cool! The best player in the game built his bounce list off of mine! The only differences here are Iceman for Spider-Ham (a lateral change) and Shadow King for Hawkeye – a change I originally had but added Shadow King because it kept winning me the Destroy match-up.

The deck is relatively simple for a bounce deck. Play cards for disruption and power – prioritizing a Bast on Mysterio and Iron Man along with multiple Demons. If you can do that, you end the game with a huge Hit Monkey and twenty-power everywhere. It’s so strong when the draws don’t betray you.

Nico can be any good one – Iceman or Spider-Ham or Korg, but you do need Hit Monkey.

Closing

Thanks for reading! Check back all next week so much more great content from Marvel Snap Zone!