This week’s Marvel Snap Hot Location is Wakanda: Cards here can’t be destroyed. This is a hot location for Marvel Snap’s May 2023 season, Guardians’ Greatest Hits. For the next 24 hours, it will now have a 50% chance of showing up in games. Let’s find out what the best strategies, cards, and decks are for the new meta!
Strategy and General Tips
Wakanda may seem simple, but the implication of a free Armor location in 50% of your games is very likely to be felt. Decks that can go tall on the location and then take advantage via copying effects like Taskmaster can be more effective during this time. Shuri also gains a lot from Wakanda as the location allows you to have more consistent Shuri activations without as much Shang-Chi interaction.
Decks with Taskmaster
Decks with Shuri
Countering the location is possible. Location altering cards can transform Wakanda, allowing for use of Shang-Chi once again. This can lead to Sera Control style decks being well placed as they can play the transform effects while efficiently using the counter cards later. Another approach is to rely more on cards like Valkyrie and/or Shadow King to surprise your opponents and maybe steal some high cube games.
Decks with Shang-Chi
Decks with Shadow King
Finally, another way forward is to flood the board and use the location to protect your 1-cost cards from counters like Killmonger. Junk can also use Wakanda in a similar way to protect their location blocking cards like Green Goblin and Debrii.
Decks with Debrii
Deck Ideas
SafetyBlade
The natural plan with Wakanda is winning the location with overpowered cards. This is still best achieved by Shuri. We have many ways to use Shuri here, and our plan is to pick the one that is best for the locations that show up. Another advantage of Wakanda is being able to rely on our 1-drops surviving in the location. We can use these cards to challenge Wakanda and potentially Shuri on another lane.
As this strategy is naturally expected when a location like this is featured, if you’re ahead going into Turn 5 you should start considering what can go wrong and whether the skip into She-Hulk and Taskmaster on Turn 6 plan is better than dropping your big card on Turn 5.
SafetyBlade
SafetyBlade
Sera Control can be built in many ways for this location as long as you’re including either Scarlet Witch or Storm as well as Shang-Chi. Enchantress should also be a key card as Devil Dinosaur and Darkhawk can hide in Wakanda too. The featured build has all these cards.
We are also including Jeff the Baby Land Shark as a way to add power in Flooded locations later on. The basic plan is turning off unfavorable locations early (if needed), but you’re hoping to hold and set up Scarlet Witch into Shang-Chi using Sera and Zabu.
As well as the more traditional Sera and Zabu build, there is an example of a list built to try and take advantage of the flooding location and Wakanda and be less susceptible to counter play from opposing Shang-Chi and Enchantress plays. This relies on flooding the board with Shanna while using cards like Shang-Chi and Enchantress as counters.
SafetyBlade
This Thanos Junk build is notable for foregoing Daredevil. This is because we can rely on the predictability of our opponents due to Wakanda and aim to lockdown another lane and set up victories using Spider-Woman on another lane. The flex card included instead is Mojo due to the synergy with Nebula and Green Goblin leading to some incredibly strong lanes for very little energy investment.
Additionally, these cards can be protected by Wakanda. Nebula into Mojo into Green Goblin creates an awkward lane for your opponent as well as diverting attention for the lockdown lanes.
SafetyBlade
This build looks to use Sandman on Turn 5 to force counter plays and greedy Shuri decks into only playing one card while your one card, Ultron or Shanna, goes wider and wins the game.
The rest of the plan looks to play as many cards as possible before that turn in order to set up a situation where these cards can win the game. Wakanda protects them more often than normal, meaning we could have Wakanda locked down when we play Sandman. More often than not, the added power from our go wide cards overwhelms our opponent.
Pool 2
SafetyBlade
Devil Dinosaur plans are the best way forward in lower collection levels for this location. This allows you to set up a big lane and try defend it with Cosmo. We can then try to lockdown another location with Professor X and/or Storm. Another benefit of Professor X during these locations is being more confident on Turn 5 where cards are being played so you can try to lock down another lane instead.
Onslaught is our X Factor here. We want to use Onslaught to surprise our opponent by doubling the effect of Devil Dinosaur, Mister Fantastic, or Captain America for more power than expected – hopefully leading to more cubes.
What is Wakanda?
Wakanda is a remarkable and vibrant country in the heart of Africa known for its breathtaking landscapes, rich culture, and advanced technology. But there’s more to Wakanda than meets the eye.
Beneath its surface lies a hidden kingdom, home to one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world and the source of a rare and powerful metal known as Vibranium.
For centuries, Wakanda has kept its secrets well-guarded, but in recent years, it has emerged as a powerful player on the global stage, playing a key role in the fight against some of the world’s greatest threats.
Closing Thoughts
Remember, at the time of writing these decks are untested. These are theorycraft ideas to get you going, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for Wakanda. Make sure to leave a comment below, share your ideas on our Deck Builder, and discuss with the community on our Discord!
Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!
