The Domino Effect

Many people believe Quicksilver and Domino to be bad or unplayable cards. The key factor in this thought is that these cards reduce the chance of you drawing other cards by a certain amount per turn, and also that there are stronger cards for the cost. I believe that Domino is one of the better 2-Cost cards in the game from a deckbuilding perspective. I’m here today to make the case for one of my favorite cards in Marvel Snap.

Variants

Domino

You always draw this card on turn 2, and not before.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Domino

Domino is a 2-Cost 3 power card that is always drawn on turn 2, and not before. This means that you will never skip playing a card on the second turn of the game barring any sort of discard like Yondu or weird location luck. Even through Subterranea, Domino prevails.

Domino’s Probability Manipulation

In the comics, Domino‘s power involves having good luck and giving her enemies bad luck. This “probability manipulation” translates aptly to her card in Marvel Snap. The idea behind Domino not being a good card comes from the fact that her guaranteed draw lowers the chance of drawing a specific card for the rest of the game. The math on these chances, provided in this video, supports the fact that your chances are slightly reduced. (For more on calculating card drawing probabilities, see this article).

You can see that America Chavez actually increases the chances to draw the rest of the cards in your deck since your deck is essentially 11 cards deep with America being guaranteed on turn 6. For Domino however, coming out on turn 2 means skipping a draw in a sense. The chance reduction is relatively minimal making Domino an option worth considering. So why would we ever opt for playing Domino in a deck when we can gain more power/effect from other 2-Cost cards in the game? The answer comes down to a combination of consistency and added freedom in deckbuilding.

A key aspect of deckbuilding with Domino is the added freedom she gives you in not having to worry about building around a curve. You can include Domino in a deck with no 1-Cost cards and no other 2-Cost cards and the deck will run just fine. Domino allows for more experimentation in deckbuilding by allowing you to run more cards above 2-Cost, allowing you to build decks with themes while also being able to include counter cards that have become so important in the meta.

Does Turn 1 Matter?

Through the first 4 months of Marvel Snap, one thing became quite clear to me when skipping turn 1: it didn’t matter. Skipping turn 1 typically has no effect on the outcome of the game if your deck is built with cards that can make up for a slight difference in power early on. On the other hand, skipping turn 2 mattered a lot, especially if you find yourself against an opponent with a popular opening strategy such as Iceman + Scorpion or Sunspot + Angela and Armor.

The difference in power by skipping turn 2 usually becomes too much to overcome without optimal draws. This means playing strong cards on each turn, controlling your opponent’s board with control cards, or having the ability to spam the board with units throughout the game.

Domino Midrange Control

Created by Paper

, updated 6 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Domino works best in midrange control decks that can maximize each turn by either playing cards that have great stats/control effects such as Polaris, Thor, and Aero. The idea behind running Domino in this sort of deck is that you have more room to run control cards like Shang-Chi, Enchantress, or Killmonger so that you always have an option to counter what your opponent is playing.

In this deck in particular, I really wanted to maximize the usage of Daredevil, but he isn’t as good of a turn 2 play as Domino (and of course I can’t guarantee myself to draw him for turn 2). Very often I would play Domino on 2 and Daredevil and Angela on turn 4.

One of my favorite play patterns that I noticed happening a lot in the Warriors of Wakanda season is that people would often skip turn 1 and play Angela or Bucky Barnes on turn 2 with the intention to combo into them on turn 3. Playing Domino guaranteed on turn 2 gives you priority over those plays on turn 3. Having Polaris allows you to pull Angela or Bucky (or any other turn 2 to 3 combo) away from a potential combo play by your opponent.

Infinite Tigers

Created by Paper

, updated 6 months ago

11

Pool 3ComboInfinite

3x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Recruit Season

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

One of the other decks that I’ve achieved Infinite with was a Wong Ongoing deck utilizing cards like Thor, White Tiger, and Doctor Doom to create wide boards for victory. The benefit of running Domino in this deck was that I could fill the rest of the deck with additional combo pieces without having to worry about the early curve.

Skipping turn 1 is fine, and then I will always have a turn 2 play going into the beginnings of my combos starting on turn 3. Lizard was included here as another 2-Cost card, but he was never played on turn 2. Instead, Lizard’s purpose was to be played with Shang-Chi on turn 6 for a large swing play.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it will be up to the community whether Domino will be used at a higher rate as the game moves on. Domino’s effect offers great utility and freedom in deck building especially if you’re okay with losing out on a 1-Cost play at the beginning of the game. With the rise of specific styles of decks, it is becoming more and more helpful to run counter cards such as Enchantress, Cosmo, and Shang-Chi, and using Domino, these cards become much easier to include.

What do you think about Domino? Let us know in our Discord community or the comments below if you’ll be trying out Domino, or if you have any other uses for the luckiest mutant.