Zeno convinced me to post this after going 10/10 in high infinite. Not too much to explain, but there are a few new takes here from most discard lists. Basically this deck combines the reliability of classic discard with a little disruption and the surprise factor of ramping into Heli cards for snap equity.
- Stature is a better Miek now, fitting into a T6 play with MODOK
- Moon Knight helps consolidate the deck by doing two things: bringing much needed tech to the deck, and essentially combining Colleen and Sif, allowing you to both create more Swarms for your scalers to pop off, or to discard Apoc or Heli like Sif would. The main concern here is discarding Drac, but the chance is worth it and tbh Drac isn't a focus in this deck anyway. Just pay attention to your playlines and which of them might lead to a win.
- On the topic of Drac, don't hyperfocus on it. If he gets discarded, it's not usually a big deal. He is just one of many paths you can take to win. One of my favorite things to do is what I call the "drac juke" where you just raw play Apoc down on another lane or build your scalers by discarding Swarms while the opponent ignores or overcommits to Drac lane.
- And last but definitely not least, we have to address Helicarrier. Heli is one of the silent carries of the deck, giving you some unpredictability that you would normally never have in an archetype that people often think of as extremely linear. It gives you snap equity that you would normally not have by giving you cards the opponent can't possibly account for, and Corvus allows you to play them with relative ease.
You have to decide each game if you're gonna be doing crazy Swarm + Scaler stuff, Apoc + Drac stuff, or Corvus + Heli stuff, or some combination of all those. Sometimes you may have to take chances with Moon Knight or Dracula, but just do your due diligence in assessing the odds correctly and you should come out very positive across a large sample size. Can always play it safe and retreat as well, because the games where Heli pops off more than make up for it. Also, on a general note, because this seems to be something people struggle with in discard: don't be afraid to not play anything and skip turns if you don't have proper discard targets or if it's too risky. You can easily make up the tempo loss later most of the time.