Introduction
Decided to make a revision of the early version of the deck after the first week of the new season. There are some early game options this time around. This one's also a bit more accessible as the few Pool 3 cards are easy to substitute.
The deck's build around Zabu's ability to discount 4-drops, but you may also lean into Storm's ability to control the rhythm of the game.
Game plan
Ideally we want to play Zabu on turn 3 to leverage his effect and set up a powerful play with either Drax, Jessica Jones, Rescue or White Queen. Can always also choose to play Storm on either turn 3 or 4 to limit the number of locations and make it easier to benefit from Drax and Gamora or in order to get rid of generally unfavorable locations.
Armor, Shang-Chi and Enchantress are tech cards, invaluable for certain games.
Sunpot and Lizard were added to make the deck less passive in the early game.
Card suggestions
Iceman, Angela or Scorpion are also good early game choices.
Can always shuffle some of the 4-drops around as necessary, added Spider-Man for increased control of the game flow, Crossbones as a stat-stick if you're ahead or Jubilee, though she can whiff a lot of the time.
Can also swap out a part of the control package for Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
America Chavez is a solid choice for increased draw chance.
Decklist
The cards choices:
- Sunspot, one of the best 1-drops in the game. Try to keep him alive with Armor.
- Armor, protects your cards from Killmonger, Shang-Chi. Disrupts the tempo of destruction decks. Makes certain locations safe to play on.
- Lizard, good tempo for the cost and can be turned off by Enchantress later.
- Storm ought to secure a location of your choice, makes Drax and Gamora a bit more reliable, can also drop in Jessica Jones or White Queen afterwards. At times she'll play the role of a more reliable Scarlet Witch by securing Bar With No Name, Death's Domain or Luke's Bar, end the game early by ruining Limbo or extend the game by doing the same with TVA.
- Zabu, the kitty of the hour.
- Shang-Chi and Enchantress are just a natural fit for the deck, both with great utility.
- Drax rewards you for correctly anticipating the opponent's play.
- Jessica Jones is another potentially big card, play her before the final turn if you want to benefit from her effect.
- The same applies to Rescue, however she requires committing resources into her lane on the next turn.
- White Queen, good stats for the cost and can steal/scout the opponent's endgame.
- Gamora, similar to Drax and all other members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, benefits from a limited amount of locations.
Snapping
The Snap is an interesting mechanic which makes your matches similar to games of Poker. Meaning, knowing when to fold (retreat) or double down by snapping will heavily impact the amount of cubes you'll be gaining. It also means that while I'm in love with the game, I wouldn't recommend playing it if you're struggling with gambling addiction.
Snap in the midgame if you look at your hand, can already see your endgame and you like it - depending on the matchup - is the short answer on when to snap.
I'll go over some general rules I try to stick to which may help out players maximize cube gains and minimize losses, as I see a lot of them using this mechanic in questionable ways.
- Never snap before all the locations are revealed is probably the first one I adhere to. Therefore, turn 3 should be the first moment when you ought to consider snapping as you never know whether that final location will turn out to be Ego, Worldship or a location which supercharges the opponent's archetype and the whole game plan just flies out of the window. Not to mention, the opponent also has agency and will use it by playing Storm, Scarlet Witch, Aero, Magneto, etc. That also brings me to the second rule.
- I don't recommend snapping until you've figured out what archetype the opponent's playing. This can delay your decision to do so by a turn or two, but you could have the best hand in the game, but a disruptive deck doesn't care about that. This leads us to the next point.
- Watch the game, take note of what and where the opponent's setting up their plays. To be honest, this is probably the most complicated one as it requires a broader knowledge of the archetypes and it will take some time to gain enough experience. If you've considered all the options and are feeling comfortable, go ahead and snap before locking in your play on turn 5 at latest - the reason to do so is related to the next rule. The same goes for when you're feeling behind and the opponent snaps on turn 5, there's always the option to retreat. Also, if you've accepted a snap earlier or have snapped yourself, it is not wrong to retreat if you see an unfavorable outcome. No need to feel obligated to commit just because there's more than 1 cube on the line as losing 1 or 2 cubes doesn't matter in the long run as they can be replaced easily by winning just a single match.
- Never snap on the final turn. This is probably the most common thing I see when playing, the math is mostly on the table on the final turn. Be it a close game or they're ahead, the opponent snaps. Best case scenario; it may occasionally cheat out 4 cubes from a less experienced player. What it usually ends up achieving is a retreat in a close game where the other party would stay in for those 2 cubes (because now they know that they've managed to draw their finisher and people are very rarely bluffing on the final turn), making a loss of 1 cube. Worst case scenario; the finisher's been anticipated, countered and you make a loss of 4 or more cubes.
- I'll dub this one 'Avoid bad snaps', it's about snapping before making a play of small significance. One of my favorite examples is snapping when playing Armor on Nova or The Hood. Remember that the opponent has 11 more cards in their deck, was also just informed about the 'big counter' and will likely adjust accordingly.
Final thoughts
As usual, I'll leave the counters to watch out for and the way to play around them for last:
- Killmonger if you're growing an unprotected Sunspot, this danger can be mitigated by Armor.
- Cosmo, with all the On Reveal effects going around.
- Shang-Chi as we're looking to be carried by big stats, Armor can ward against the guy to some extent.
- Sandman to limit the benefit from Zabu, currently a staple in Ongoing Destroyer decks.
- Polaris, Aero and Magneto, always keep them in mind and how they'll impact the board state, especially around Fisk Tower.
- Leech, depending on the turn he's played an what he's hitting, but usually not great.
- Leader, the general advice is try being ahead of your opponent as there's not much you can do if you're already behind, though most people just love to announce that they have him in their hand by snapping on the final turn anyway.
Have fun!