Introduction
Fun, draw dependent and doesn't quite fit the meta are the words I'd use to describe this deck. It makes use of both Beast and Falcon to scale at least two out of trio (Angela, Collector, Bishop) to insane sizes.
Game plan
The game is played in a style which is similar to a Zoo deck, but rather focuses on Angela, Collector and Bishop as the primary win conditions. Beast and Falcon are used to feed them extra power by returning the 1-drops back to the hand, giving them another chance at being played.
Card suggestions
Mantis or Cable can serve as a replacement for The Hood or Agent 13 (if you don't like her randomness). Korg as additional disruption or Moon Girl for doubling the hand size. You can shuffle the cards that generate cards as you wish. In my experience, two card generators and the two bounce effects are usually enough to keep my hand full.
Decklist
The card choices:
- The Hood generates a Demon which benefits from the Quinjet discount. If you're planning to play him only once or playing him the second time, try putting him into a low priority lane.
- Agent 13 doesn't lose you a card after playing her and synergizes with The Collector. Not a great turn 1 play so try to get her on the board later.
- Iceman, ought to be played on curve to cause some annoyance or potentially kill the opponent's combos.
- Quinjet, nice to have with the Demon or Agent 13.
- Rocket Raccoon, the last 1-drop, great if you pull off the effect. Benefits from both Beast and Falcon so he has the potential to become an 8 power card.
- Angela, great scaling potential.
- The Collector, the other turn 2 priority play, can also go nuts thanks to Agent 13, The Hood, Beast and Falcon.
- Beast picks up all cards at a location, usually netting you a hand full of 0-cost cards.
- Falcon, can be played to pick up all 1-drops regardless of location (buffing Collector), giving them a chance to be replayed and add more power to Angela and/or Bishop.
- Bishop, to be played on curve, the philosophy behind him is that if you're already playing a lot of cheap cards why not get some additional benefit.
- Shang-Chi, very few (if any) decks can currently afford not running him in their lineup.
- America Chavez, increases the chance of drawing your combo pieces earlier (drawing most of the cards in this deck on the final turn just feels bad anyway). Also, if you've positioned your hand correctly, you won't be drawing her at all at times.
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. 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, 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
Watch out forl:
- Killmonger, the nightmare of every deck which relies on 1-drops, even if just to play, bounce and replay them. You ought to expect him when playing against Sera Control and Death Wave.
- Cosmo as the deck is heavily reliant on On Reveal effects, especially Beast and Falcon.
- Elektro or Wave on turn 3 usually means a Galactus is around the corner. I recommend teching in Aero if you see a lot of him and just pull him to the location where they have cards if you hold the initiative. Wave on turn 5 against Death Wave can also ruin you if you're planning to vomit your hand on turn 6.
- Shang-Chi if you've managed to grow a large Angela, Collector or Bishop.
- Polaris, Aero and Magneto as they can just yoink one of the win conditions into an unfavorable location.
Have fun!