Introduction
Discard is another archetype which becomes more consistent throughout Pool 2 and 3. The Discard archetype gets some amazing amazing support in especially Pool 3, spawning several additional archetypes. This is a more modest version compared to the crazy combos you'll be able to pull off later with Hell Cow, Dracula, Lockjaw, Ghost Rider or Hela.
Game plan
The main payoff of the deck is Apocalypse and Swarm, with the support of powerhouses such as Angela, Morbius or Bishop.
The first 2-3 turns are all about setting up your board, turn 4-5 you ought to be focused on discarding cards, hopefully hitting Swarm with Apocalypse and on the final turn you're unloading your hand as needed with either Apocalypse or America Chavez and a bunch of 0 cost Swarms.
Card suggestions
I've chanced upon Colleen Wing early, but if she's missing from your collection, as she's a Pool 3 card, replace her with:
- Wolverine, to be honest not that great, but has some discard synergy, so why not.
- Scarlet Witch a good tech card, will play her occasionally to turn the tide of the game.
- Okoye can buff your whole deck which includes Swarm, but gets significantly worse if not played on turn 2.
- Collector can be fun if you can consistently hit Swarm/Apocalypse.
You may choose something else entirely, just a few decent options.
Dracula and Hell Cow are the cards from Pool 3 which, in my opinion, synergize best with this type of Discard deck so if you've opened either, try adding them to the deck. Having Dracula on board enables you to play Chavez on the final turn instead of him, Dracula will then discard him one last time including the additional 4 power of the final discard. Hell Cow is basically Sword Master, but will go off twice for an extra energy cost.
Decklist
Let's go over the cards:
- Nightcrawler swapped in for that extra flexibility and potential +2 power on Angela. Can play him on turn 1 for tempo if you're not holding Iceman.
- Iceman, probably the best 1-drop in the game. The sooner you play him, the better. Play on turn 1 even if you're holding Angela.
- Blade, cheap discard enabler. Never play on turn 1 unless you're holding both Swarm and Apocalypse or you're just feeling lucky.
- Morbius, greatly benefits by every discarded card, play on turn 2 if you're not holding Angela. His ability being Ongoing is both great (you don't have to play him early) and a weakness due to Enchantress and Rogue being a thing (though I don't see them too often). Down the line (turn 4-5), if you don't see yourself getting him to at least 4 power (you can check the amount of discarded cards on your avatar), you can choose to not play him at all.
- Angela, best 2-drop in the game, play on curve and you don't even have to focus too much on buffing her over the course of the game as you can always distribute stats on her location on the final turn. Moving on.
- Swarm, synergizes with Colleen Wing and Bishop or Angela once you have multiple discounted copies of him. Especially great if he's in your hand when Wakandan Embassy (replacing a 3-drop for Nakia would also work but getting the ideal situation is difficult and probably not worth the effort) is revealed as he retains his buff after being discarded, same applies for Scorpion but with the negative power. I recommend holding the 0 cost copies until the final turn to see which locations need the additional power boost.
- Colleen Wing, targeted discard effects are great as you can always expect a fixed outcome. Try to hit Swarm if possible, otherwise play on turn 5 at latest for the 4 power.
- Bishop, benefits from every additional card you play, especially the 0 energy Swarm on the last turn. Play on curve.
- Lady Sif, her only purpose in the deck is to discard Apocalypse, if she can't fulfil this purpose you can just prioritize other cards with better stats.
- Swordmaster, good stats for the cost, discard synergy, what's not to like? Usually played on turn 5 after you've played your other priority cards.
- Apocalypse, the finisher, if buffed will almost always win you a location even on his own. Great with Titan as you can just play him on turn 5 and then follow him up with America Chavez on the next one.
- America Chavez, your other finisher who'll increase the chance of drawing your other cards earlier and will let you plan your turn 5-6 plays in advance. Play her over Apocalypse if you didn't manage to discard him even once.
Final thoughts
When to snap: you usually want to do so after a successful early game (you played Iceman, Angela and Bishop on curve as an example) and you're making your power play (start discarding Apocalypse and Swarm), so either turn 4-5 would be a good option (take note of what the opponent's setting up or you're just feeding him cubes) as on turn 6 the math is usually on the table and the opponent will just retreat.
Tech cards to watch out for:
- Shang-Chi is the most important one as he can ruin your turn 6 play (based on initiative).
- to a lesser extent Killmonger (may be annoying but it's usually fine as our real power plays come from the discard synergy) and Enchantress (if you're counting on that 6-8 power Morbius to carry a lane).
- Aero, if you see that the opponent's playing a disruption deck she'll likely come down on the final turn. Luckily she can be somewhat played around, as you'll usually have 2-3 Swarms in your hand. Try to have the location already slightly contested and play your Swarms before dropping Apocalypse/Chavez to pull them away from the prioritized locations instead.
If the opponent's snapping on turn 6, one of these is likely going to come down. Just do the math (consider how much you can grow Angela, Bishop, what other cards you can play around to counter, etc.) and if you don't see a way to win just retreat (better to lose 2 cubes and get 4 in a later more favorable match).
Have fun!