Jean + Thanos = Jeanos?
Background
Summary
Thanos Spectrum is a fun deck that is already well positioned to tackle the many destroy decks roaming the meta. I sought out to make a list featuring Jean Grey and this is the most fun version that I've come up with so far. The main idea behind it is that normally you only get one turn of true disruption when deploying Armor or Cosmo against a Destroy deck. After you play those cards, those players will tend to actively avoid the lane they are in and focus on the other two. There are also times where you'll play Cosmo and miss your opponents key OnReveal or they will have priority and it will still fire. Jean Grey helps you get more value from both cards and this is especially apparent in the Destroy matchup.
This list can work on ladder, but what I've found is that the longer format of Conquest benefits a list like this because there is so much disruption and almost all of it gets better when you know what cards your opponent has as well as their patterns. With that being said, lets get into the card choices and piloting tips.
Card Synergies
Jean Grey
Overall Jean feels really good in Thanos Ongoing. I don't play her every game that I draw her, and that's actually been a bit of a learning curve because there are certainly times where you do not want to play her. However, having her out on the field going into turn 6 feels amazing. I immediately know that if my opponent wants to contest me on one of the non Jean lanes they can't do so with all of their resources. Since she is the card I modified this list around I'm gonna break down some of her synergies in more details.
Jean -> Prof X in a different lane. Works really well if you play Jean to cap a lane on turn 4.
Jean -> Stone + Cosmo to cap lane and force opponent to lose OnReveals. Always remember to play the stone first and THEN Cosmo. I definitely lost a game once because I played a Stone into Cosmo 🤦🏾♂️
MOJO -> Jean. People tend not to play into a lane you just put a Mojo in. It usually makes more sense to put a single higher power card there than multiple mid and lower powered cards. This has good synergy with Jean because you can play her into Mojos lane on 3 and there's a good chance your opponent didnt which means more disruption for them.
Try to put a disruptive card in the lane with Jean to screw your opponent based on their deck. Armor, Soulstone or Cosmo are your 3 good options and they're all Ongoings that can be boosted by Spectrum later.
Thanos
The stones are great. I don't need to say much about why Thanos Ongoing works because it's well established but I'll mention a few cool Jean related things the stones let you do.
- Fill up your Jean lane and move one thing out on turn 6 with Space Stone. Playing Armor or Cosmo into Jean and then moving it out on turn 6 so I can Shang Chi the big cards my opponent thought were safe is a sneaky and satisfying play.
- Play Time Stone followed by Cosmo to cap off your Jean lane on turn 4 so that you can near guarantee a lane with a Stone + Prof X on 5 (esp the Power Stone).
Spectrum
She synergizes well with Jean because she helps the Jean lane stay ahead and then Jean weakens the opponents' presence in the Spectrum lane by drawing some of their resources away.
Professor X
It's fitting that Professor X has excellent synergy with his most powerful student. Jean makes Professor X a lot safer of a play by forcing the opponent to contest her lane. Even if they do play into the lane you Professor X, Spectrum and Blue Marvel let you add power to that lane on turn 6.
Devil Dino
This card is needed when you just gotta go tall.
Blue Marvel
Necessary for empowering the stones and adding power to your Jean lane after you cap it early
Armor
Fantastic into the Destroy meta. Devastating when you play Jean onto your Armor location on turn 3. Even against non Destroy decks, if you save Space Stone for turn 5 you can sometimes surprise your opponent by removing Armor and blowing up what they have there.
Cosmo
Conflicts with Jean so you have to make the call on which is the right one to play. There are some 3 cost cards that are VERY valuable to stop if you have priority. Blocking a Brood is often worth more than playing Jean. You can always play her on 4 but typically the order is Jean -> Cosmo.
Mojo
Great with Jean as she allows you to play him on curve and still pull off his effect. Even better, if Mojo is played on 2, your opponent is less likely to play their turn 3 card into the Mojo lane. This means Jean has a higher chance of hurting them over the course of the game (since it might take an additional turn for them to cap the location) AND it means that your turn 3 Cosmo becomes more likely to hit the target.
Other Options
Shang Chi
Best tech card in the game imo but I think he could be cuttable here given the fact we run Armor and Cosmo.
Ghost
Not a bad option but overall I don't like her because she removes the ability to proactively stop OnReveals and Destroy effects with Cosmo, Armor, and Prof X. Jean helps mitigate this by forcing your opponent to play into the lane with those tech cards on the following turns but I still like the surprise factor.
Ghost does synergize with Shang and Valk though.
Valkyrie
Valk is good but she's a bit expensive and this deck has enough impactful 5 cost cards that I have a hard time fitting her in. I know she works in versions of Thanos Ongoing but I struggle to make her work with Jean. Playing her on turn 6 she'll either be in the Jean lane and I'll win that one but lose the other two orI fill the Jean lane early and then play Valk on turn 6 somewhere else and lose the Jean lane. Most likely a piloting issue but that's been my experience so I don't run her.
Echo
I don't have her but she's basically like Cosmo but for Ongoings. That is, you play her into your Jean lane and then you screw over your opponent by turning off their Ongoing cards. The only problem I see with her is that we aren't really in much of an Ongoing meta. There are so many more OnReveal cards that you'll just get more value on average by blocking those rather than blocking Ongoings.
Piloting Tips
This deck is hard to pilot. There are a lot of different choices to make because on any given turn you can often play so many cards. However, given the tech cards we run, this deck legitimately has an answer to most other decks in the meta. The answer won't always be great, but you're typically not helpless. The key is recognizing your opponents deck and understanding how to play the matchup
- Sometimes your Jean lane is the lane you sacrifice and other times it's a lane you want to try and win. You'll get a sense for which way a game is headed based on whether you were able to play cards like Mojo and Antman into her lane or if it's filled with stuff like Space Stone and Luke Cage.
- If you have Time Stone, the correct answer is almost always to save it for turn 3 (to ramp into Prof X) or turn 4 (to ramp into Thanos -> Spectrum). However, if the rest of your hand sucks, you probably need to play it on 1 or 2 and just hope you draw into some good stuff.
- Be mindful that each of your Ongoing cards can potentially have 3 more power than you see on the card (Spectrum + Blue Marvel). Keep that in mind when choosing which lane to play cards in so that you understand your power ceiling in a given lane.
- On that note, be careful with overcluttering your board with stones. We don't run any destruction so you can end up effectively throwing a lane if you play 3 of your non Ongoing stones in it.
- Professor X is so so so so important. Being able to flat out steal a lane is key. You'll win a lot of games without ever playing Jean by simply stealing a lane with Prof X on 4 and then playing Dino -> Thanos or Dino-> Spectrum.
Matchup Specific Tips
Vs Silky Smooth
The matchup against Silky Smooth is tough but a couple things help:
1. Prof X - he is a great counter to move. Let's you gain near perfect accuracy on where their Silk will end up. He also stops Captain Marvel in her tracks.
2. Jean - knowing where your opponent has to deploy their resources helps with landing Prof X and also throwing off their plans
3. Dino/Thanos - against this deck you will often need to cheese one lane and then beat them in a second lane. These two help with the latter. Try to throw priority or get Cosmo/Armor down first so that you can't get blown up or Spidey'd
4. Shang - a smart player won't get caught by Shang BUT sometimes Kraven will scale to 10 power or more due to the unpredictability of Silk and Spidey. Shang helps win those games.
Vs Destruction
As long as you manage priority effectively, you should just win here. Like, there's nothing they can really do if you have even a halfway decent draw. Armor, Cosmo, Jean and Professor X just make things miserable for them. Be sure to Snap early because once you Cosmo their Carnage or Venom they might leave if you Snap.
It's VERY important on turns 1 and 2 to play into different lanes UNLESS you have a solid read on an Armor play. The reason you want to do this is to try to go wide and seize priority so that by turn 3 or 4 you can stop their Destruction plan from snowballing with a priority Cosmo. Professor X is extra deadly in this matchup because Destroy decks tend to telegraph the lanes they're going to play in on turns 3-5 (Hint: it's the lanes with the cards they want to destroy)
Vs Cerebro
This matchup isn't bad but they can definitely outpower you if they pop off and you don't draw into your Dino or Thanos. Try to save Reality Stone for their Storm or Magik lane and save Soulstone for a lane with 2 of their cards. You want to deny as many cards as possible their Cerebro boost. You want to go tall against them so stack your strongest Ongoing cards plus Soul Stone in one lane and then win the other lane with your big boy Dino or Thanos. Jean is helpful here because if you play her and Cosmo in the same lane you deny them a Mystique boost.
Vs Patriot Surfer
This matchup is TOUGH. We have all the pieces to defeat them but they have all the pieces they need to steamroll us as well. Forge -> Brood -> Abs Man is tough to deal with. You can typically steal priority early by playing stones in two different lanes. However Cosmo can only stop Brood or Abs Man. You can't stop both. Honestly this matchup makes me seriously consider teching in Shadow King. With the buff to Forge and all the cards that boost their power in Silky Smooth, I think he might finally be at a place where non Surfer decks should be considering him over Shang.
Vs Shuri
Another tough matchup but we do have better tools for this one than Patriot Surfer. Namely, Jean Grey and Cosmo in the same lane. That denys them Taskmaster. Professor X can lock down a lane on 5 nearly guaranteed because we know where they're playing on 5 (the Shuri lane). We also have Shang if we want to throw priority and then blow up their other big card. Still, we can't easily go taller than them so if we miss our disruption or lane lock down things can get out of hand quickly.