Introduction
With the advent of Vormir I've decided to revisit one of my earliest Pool 3 decks, giving it a bit of a glow up reflecting the growing card collection. The core remains intact, however this is a more tame version compared to the previous one. Instead of focusing on pulling off combos for insane stats there's an increased interaction with the opponent's board.
Game plan
The basic strategy of the deck is the same as before, gaining tempo over the course of the game to play a cheap Death. It's just that this time there's less urgency involved in pulling off specific combos, like the one with Moon Girl from before.
Deadpool and the others provide ample targets to make those destruction effects go off with an upside.
Shang-Chi, Magneto and at times even Killmonger (if the opponent's deck is heavy on 1-drops) are included to mess with the opponent.
Card suggestions
Depending on the available cards, there are so many paths you can choose to take with Death - all the way up to Pool 5. You can lean into making a huge Deadpool and copy his stats with Taskmaster, there's the classic Death Wave further upgraded with She-Hulk, Galactus or even a version with Thanos to name a few.
With a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, I'll also recommend Leader, the guy's everywhere these days.
There's a case to be made for America Chavez in this deck as well for increased draw consistency. Personally though, when I already have a 6-drop in my deck that I don't need early (such as Apocalypse for Discard decks), I like having the chance to top-deck it on the final turn.
Decklist
As we're moving deeper into Pool 3, there also more cards from it included in the deck. The card choices:
- The Hood, great fodder for the deck which provides a cheap and powerful card that can be played down the line.
- Deadpool, consistent, priceless in a world where you've failed to draw any other target for your destruction enablers as he can become one every turn while also getting a bit stronger. If you can play Nova before him and pop them at the same time he'll already have premium stats on his first return to hand. I usually hold off on playing him turn 1 as getting Armored just feels bad.
- Nova, he'll leave a buff for all others cards once he's destroyed, great to pair his effect with Deadpool and Sabretooth.
- Yondu, my preferred turn 1 play along with The Hood, makes Death cheaper by both playing and destroying him while you're also gambling on hitting a high priority card of your opponents or just thinning their deck for them.
- Bucky Barnes, early tempo with destruction synergy.
- Carnage, Killmonger and Deathlok are synergy enablers which also provide tempo with a decent statline.
- Sabretooth, extra flexible stats on the final turn which you can decide to distribute as you please if you had the leeway of destroying him once prior.
- Shang-Chi, the guy also synergizes with Death by destroying your opponent's cards. However, you'll be rarely playing him on curve. A more common scenario is dropping him on the board on the final turn as a surprise along with Death or Deadpool and Demon - with all the disruption effects in the meta (Leader, Aero, Wave, Magneto, etc.) he gets easily overlooked.
- Magneto, I feel like the "If do right, no can defense." line from Mr. Miyagi applies to this card the most in all of Marvel Snap. The guy provides an interesting alternative win condition, one that focuses on shifting the opponent's power from a key location. This ability can be a double-edged blade though as it can just create another path for the opponent's victory. Sometimes you'll just be playing him into a full location for pure stats.
- Death, the big payoff of the deck, usually played on the final turn. You can do so earlier if you really need to push for that extra 12 power from Magneto on turn 6, however this leaves her vulnerable to Shang-Chi.
Final thoughts
What to watch out for are the same cards included in this deck - Killmonger (if we're relying on Deadpool and Demon), Shang-Chi (if you have initiative) and Magneto (depends on initiative and what you did with Deathlok, Killmonger and Sabretooth). Other cards to keep in mind:
- Armor and Cosmo in the early game which can ruin your tempo.
- Wave is terrible when she's denying your Deadpool, 0 cost Sabretooth on the final turn (will almost certainly make your Death cost 0, but they're likely playing one as well with a She-Hulk and possibly along with Leader or Magneto).
- Aero or Leader if you're behind as one will force your cards away (especially deadly with Fisk Tower) and the other will just steal your tempo if you're not winning by 5 power or more on two locations (if the opponent's losing by a small margin and just snapped on the final turn, it's 100% certainty he's coming down). To play around him, try to win the location where the opponent has a lot of cards, play your weaker ones first, fill their location and play Death last, will depend on the situation.
Have fun!