Zemo feels to me like the worst card of his own season and the most weak season card of the last seasons but i would like to try to make it better than he seems
Let's see his ability:
On Reveal: Recruit the LOWEST-Cost card from your opponent's deck to your side of this location.
So the most probably scenario is Zemo taking a 1-cost card from your opponent. Is that good? Maybe. In terms of cost - power efficiency Zemo will usually be a 3/4 + free 1/2 or 2/3 to result as a 3/6 or 3/7. Feels balanced
But maybe not enought or maybe we just want more benefit like hitting a 3 or 4 cost, more than that seems hard to get. Tools to do that:
- Yondu: Recently changed to make Zemo better, he becames his best companion. He clear the opponent's deck, making more successful Zemo's ability
- Cable: Recently changed too (I see what you're doing, Second Dinner) to help Zemo. Cable can draw a low cost card and give the chance to bluff with a snap, pretending that we drew a key card
- Grand Master / Beast: tools to replay Yondu and Cable before Zemo. Or to replay Zemo
- Gladiator: another card away from the deck and raw power. If hits a low cost card more chances to hit something big with Zemo
- Absorbing Man: maybe Zemo take out the last 1 or 2 cost card so Abs. Man can take something bigger
Do we need to play Zemo on curve? No. Waiting may help if, for example, the last low cost card (1/2 cost) is drawn on turn 4. But we are clueless about that. What is obviously good is to wait for Yondu or Cable to act first, so waiting can be ok if we didn't draw these cards
Best case scenario: we have played Yondu, Cable, Zemo and Abs. Man on curve and we have 6 cards on the board before turn 5, no matter about the recruited cards by Zemo and Abs.Man. We can finish going wide with Blue Marvel and Doom. Or we can try to go tall with Gladiator and Maximus (maybe there's no cards left to pull or draw) or Dazzler and knock out other location with Shang Chi. Cable's draw can help here too, but it's inconsistent rely on this.
Questions to make in the current meta:
Does this beat Thanos? Nope. Zemo will probably hit a infinity stone. It can counter a Blob, but maybe not a Blob in a Thanos deck
Does this beat Hela? This is tricky because Hela goes big in cards. But Zemo may hit something like Corvus or Lady Sif before hitting a big one and that can be bad for us, discarding our finishers. Or help them to find Hela
And other type of Discard decks? Maybe helps them finding Dracula, Modok and Apocalypse. So... no
Does this beat Living Tribunal? If Gladiator hits Iron Man or Onslaught it does. But feels unlikely
What about Destroy? Ok, this can win against destroy because destroy needs low cost cards to work. But it's a MAYBE
Is Zemo FUN? I think he is. The "lottery" of what is going to put on the board is a fun way to play, even if that make you automatically lose the game
Feels difficult to make it work in a competitive level. Mill as an archetype feels weak right now. Making thinner the opponent's may help them more than us
Final thoughts: Zemo feels weak as a card to build around him. Maybe fits better in others decks as a complement to disrupt, not being the core card of the deck
Suggestions (so many):
- Zabu: cheapening Shang-Chi and Abs.Man
- Falcon: to replay Yondu or take out the Zemo recruited card (can be a bad card for our interests)
- Crystal: to clear the opponent's deck and play Gladiator and Maximus without their negative effect
- Iron Lad: to reach something like Zemo, Blue Marvel or Doom. But needs to rethink the deck because Gladiator and Maximus aren't good companions for Lad
- Devil Dino: our hand can be quite large if we handle it correctly (and maybe if we add one or two generation card)
- Sera: For a last turn with Gladiator, Maximus and Shang Chi. Problem: Mobius is everywhere right now
Please, comment with your opinions about Zemo, about this deck and link your own decks to compare ideas,
Have fun
https://tenor.com/es/view/zemo-zemo-dance-zemo-dance-new-zemo-dancing-baron-zemo-gif-21085209