Deck Idea - We all know that lockjaw with the infinity stones is a very powerful combo, this deck is built around taking advantage of early snapping with lockjaw in hand but also trying to maximise the decks potential when lockjaw isn't drawn
Card Inclusion Justification and how to use them:
Sunspot - Arguably the strongest 1 cost card in the game right now, in this deck it can serve not only as a 1 drop to pump into lockjaw but also as a way to gain power from below average turns.
It has synergy with she-hulk as she allows you to pass a turn to delay your play and also put power in sunspot and quinjet synergy as this allows your stones to be played without spending energy
Quinjet - A staple in any thanos deck, this card allows your to pair stones with cards on curve, A special note is this card also works with any location adding cards to the hand/deck which comes up a surprising amount
Lockjaw - The backbone of this deck, an irreplaceable card that the deck is built around
Shang-Chi - A very recent inclusion because I was struggling against shuri and darkhark, whilst this card is bad to get out of lockjaw some of the time I think he's too powerful not to run in this meta, In the version armor I would consider cutting this for Kazar for a more zoo style list
Blue Marvel - Now we get on to the 5 drops, in my opinion the most powerful cards in the deck. Blue marvel is another staple in thanos decks, whether you're getting this out of lockjaw or playing this out its almost always high value, being able to buff a full lane or a lane you cant play into can also be a nice surprise factor. This is also interacts incredibly well with locations like bar sinister, Sinister london and cloning vats
Devil Dinosaur - Another staple in thanos decks in my opnion, especially this one where most of the early curve draws more cards (the stones) and also lockjaw can allow you to cycle through the deck incredibly well. This card is consistently 5 energy for 13-17 power and can win lanes on its own. It is a little vulnerable to shang-chi and enchantress so try not to play this alongside other big cards or blue marvel in a lane
Leech - A card that usually suffers from its bad stats and loses tempo on the penultimate turn. This deck can ramp into leech on 4 with time stone, can put it in and get it out of lockjaw making the 3 power much less of a downside for an incredible meta killer. This card is very important vs silver surfer, moongirl she-hulk, Death Wave and can even be used against galactus to turn off their knull/shang/death
Aero - This slot used to be okoye as I was not sure what to put here, Aero is a flexible card that can finish off a game in a winning position. Always be aware of what your opponent could play and who has priority as this is a high skill ceiling card. Also a big card from lockjaw thats immune to shang-chi. Passing on 5 into she-hulk aero is a huge play that your opponent will find trouble playing around
Thanos - A bad stats 6 drop that shuffles 5 broken cards in the deck and potential win condition
America Chavez - This is a card that's been in and out of the deck more times than I can count. I put her back in with the shang-chi inclusion as I needed a reliable card to be able to come out of lockjaw as I was finding lockjaw to be a little inconsistent, she also improves the early curve. I rarely end up playing her on turn 6 and she is the other card I would consider cutting for any of the below
She-Hulk - A very flexible card that I usually play on turn 4 or 6, either float at least 2 on turn 3 which is super easy to do in this list or full float on 5 and play her alongside devil dinosaur, blue marvel or shang-chi on turn 6, also a great card to pop out of lockjaw
Magneto - A staple for lockjaw decks, one of the best 6 drops in the current Zabu/Surfer metagame that can mess with your opponents cosmo/dracula/omega-red/darkhawk/wong. Can be replaced with Hulk but will the deck worse
Other notable cards that fit into this deck archetype
Armor- this can help play around killmonger/shang-chi in certain metas but note is has anti-syngery with shang-chi in this list
Kazar - I had kazar in the initial list but cut him during the killmonger meta of last month, he is a strong card in the list and could be run instead of shang-chi/she hulk (if you dont have she-hulk)
Vision/Captain Marvel - Going to bundle these together as they are very similar, I also have ran both vision and marvel in variations of this list and felt they lacked power and marvel had board space issues. The movement felt a bit uneccesary with space stone and I was rarely happy playing vision from hand. Still a good card in any lockjaw deck and I may try him out again and give an update on how I feel
Hobgoblin - Another powerful 5 drop that can be pushed out early with time stone, this one is super unexpected and is rarely played around. Hobgoblin can also free up a spot same as vision if it pops out of the lockajaw I will keep testing this as I didnt have enough information before the tournament
M'baku - This is the second best m'baku deck with the best being cerebro 2. The larger deck size making him less likely to be drawn and being able to put him back in the deck with lockjaw makes him kind of consistent
Infinaut - I had infinaut in for the longest time and he does allow for some good pass 5 plays with time stone and she-hulk but his power felt unnecessary compared to she-hulk/magneto with shang-chi being around and was sometimes a dead card in hand. Still a solid option imo though
Okoye - Okoye is a great way to buff the large deck but is rarely played after turn 2, I had this in the deck initially but feel there are better options
Mystique - works with dino and marvel but its a turn 6 play and never felt optimal over other plays, also bad out of lockjaw. I would personally not run mystique
Mojo - Ive seen mojo running around in thanos decks and I really like the idea, I have not tested it though but will update when I have
Notable plays:
- ALWAYS PLAY LEECH VS A SUSPECTED SURFER
- Time stone on turn 3 allows for a 5-5-6 curve on the final three turns, also allows leech on turn 4 which I always snap before especially against a suspected surfer/deathwave.
- Saving reality for turn 5/6 can allow you to destroy a surprise location that can help win. Because of the nature of thanos they will know about the reality stone but it would feel bad still to play into something like bar with no name in case the thanos player didn't draw reality stone. Definitely the most "bluffable" stone
- I usually play quinjet on 3 instead of lockjaw as this can allow you to lockjaw and stones on the same turn with 0 cost stones
- Space turn into lockjaw allows you to move lockjaw to another lane to pump more cards into, or to move a big card into another lane to spread power
- Playing stones early to draw is usually always correct, but i often save power stone if I don't have a good curve or time stone which I mention above
- There's only two scenarios i will play time stone before 3 outside of getting extra energy from Locations, 1st is time stone on 1 if Lockjaw is in hand, 2nd is timestone on 2 if lockjaw and another stone is in hand
- Make sure to order the stone correctly when playing into lockjaw as they first 1/2 you play can come back out of the lockjaw. Stone order that I find correct is Power/Soul/Mind/Time/Space (the on reveal doesnt stack)/Reality
- If you have priority you can play other cards into locations such as shuri's lab/bar sinister/sinister London and then reality stone on the same turn to deny your opponents those effects
- If the first location flipped is a "safe Lockjaw Location" I will always play the early curve into an unrevealed location regardless of whether lockjaw is in the opening hand or not. This does run the risk of playing into a bad unrevealed location but I still want to maximise my lockjaw value if the doggo is drawn
- Pay attention to your deck size and hand size when dropping devil dinosaur and your stones, always calculate the power of the dinosaur before making your play
- Be on the lookout for killmonger as it can take away a lot of the decks power in 1 card. If the opponent snaps try and figure out if it is because of killmonger based on the other cards in the deck, for example a deck running antman is not likely slotting in a killmonger
- I snap very aggressively with this deck if I have lockjaw and 1 draw stone in hand and also snap aggressively with leech vs surfer
- Playing stone on 1 is better than playing sunspot on 1 as the sunspot still becomes the same power on 2 if you play the stone but you get less hand information by drawing on the second turn. This also plays around 1 drop into black widow denying the draw which is a common darkhawk opening
- This deck, as with many thanos decks, isn't looking to consistently play an 18 power thanos, he is in the deck for the stones and the potential 18 power is an added bonus that occasionally comes up