Glenn Jones, principal game designer at Second Dinner, recently said this on an appearance on KMBests's YouTube Channel:
"I know Hela is the type of card that a player who takes themselves very seriously might not be interested in exploring, but I think if you wanna win some games, Hela might be worth a little bit more of a look than she has been in the past."
Hela is an interesting card from a statistical perspective. It's raw in-deck win percentage is 50.07% according to the snap.fan Card Stats. That's pretty bad, ranking 215th, 12th from the bottom. However, it's "when played" win percentage is a staggering 71.18%, in first place. Hela is the winningest card in Marvel Snap when it is actually played. But what good is that when it loses anytime you don't play it? Well, luckily, we can leverage the snapping mechanic to use Hela to gobble up cubes. Hela's "when drawn" cube rate is 0.62, good for 6th and 1st again "when played" at 1.86, well ahead of The Infinaut in second place at 1.43. Alioth and Silver Surfer sit at 3rd (1.33) and 4th (1.1), respectively. No archetype is rewarded more for getting its combo off. Hela rewards good snapping and retreating habits. You should be retreating far more often with Hela than with other decks. Cube rate is your only concern.
So let's explore Hela.
Is Hela bad? Is Hela good? Is Hela just a 'fun' deck, or is it a legitimate deck to climb and conquer?
As someone who likes to walk the line between "serious" competitive decks and fun decks, Hela has always been of interest to me. I've hit infinite with Hela multiple times, sometimes climbing the whole way with her and sometimes just using her for stretches. I've won gold conquests with her but have not been able to get her to cooperate five times in a row (yet) for an infinity avatar, but I'm confident it's possible. Invisible Woman is the only ultimate I ever considered buying because I use her so often that she seems worth it. Now I love my inked Peach Momoko Susan Storm.
Hela has recently become a lot more viable because of the way Loki warps the metagame. Loki has a hard time using your cards as effectively as you, but he can still sting you by playing your high powered cards for 5 energy. Galactus is more of an issue, but there are some clever ways around the devourer of worlds that we'll see below.
A lot of people compare Hela and Mr. Negative. They're both big strategies that, if they go off, usually win. Hopefully, after trying some of the lists below, you'll see that Hela is a little more consistent than Negative and can incorporate some elements of counterplay. Mr. Negative has both a lower win percentage (49.12%) and cube rate when played (0.65), far lower than Hela's (1.86), and closer to Hela's when drawn rate (0.62).
Hela Tribunal
This is the most commonly played version of Hela. There are five cards for three spots here: Magik, Electro, Crystal, Jubilee, and Iron Lad. All serve the same purpose of giving you more reach towards your combo, but in different ways. I recommend experimenting to find the balance you like the most. This deck can also win without Hela by placing Iron Man, Onslaught, and Living Tribunal together in a lane (often behind Invisible Woman). Consider that your plan B.
Hela Small Ball
This is the new kid on the Hela block. I've had quite a bit of success with the above list. It can really disrupt your opponent while also having really strong turn 6 possibilities. I think this list is quite strong as it is currently constructed. Jeff is a flex spot that I haven't quite nailed down yet, but he has seemed quite good. You could try another good, low-cost card. The deck feels like it needs something else to play early or be another target for Silver Samurai in that slot. Another strong consideration for that spot is Death, so that your Sif becomes more reliable. You have to play carefully and patiently with this list. It takes some practice and is far less linear than a traditional Hela list.
Hela Small Ball V2
Another version of the "small Hela" deck from @nicolabuinamico on Twitter. This list is inspired by @KrakenNull who has also been constantly iterating on this concept as well. This is the "safe" version, where you basically never have to worry about your Hela being discarded. Morbius feels underwhelming in this version, and I am experimenting with replacements for him as well as Colleen Wing and Swarm. Possibly just adding more good low curve cards is the way to go. I know that @KrakenNull has been experimenting with a Darkhawk package in those spots, which has seemed promising in my testing.
Hela Miss
This is the version of the deck I played throughout the metagame, where lockdown decks and Galactus were rampant. Invisible Woman is the key card that makes this deck viable. Shadow King and Shang-Chi are great behind Invisible Woman. Invisible Woman can protect an Attuma from Death and no one expects Invisible Woman and Ebony Maw to be together on turn 3. As long as Hela reveals from behind Invisible Woman, your Attuma that is brought back into play will survive.
This deck is ideal for people who want to increase their win rate when they miss their combo. This deck can win without getting Hela and is better than any other Hela deck. The win rate when you whiff won't be great, but you don't need it to be great, just better.
This deck deals with Cosmo quite well and is decent in conquest mode. Opponents will often think they've got you check-mated with a Comso in front of your Invisible Woman, only to see an Ebony Maw and Attuma come out at the end of the game for a 20+ power lane. This deck is especially good at getting opponents to snap, netting you 4 or 8 cubes via hubris.
Shang Chi and Shadow King are meta-considerations. During Bounce's reign, I had Killmonger and Shadow King. You could also go with just one of the tech cards and put in another big card like Magneto or Giganto. I played Captain Marvel in that slot a lot in the past. Another good 5-cost, like Gamorra, could be another consideration, as it allows you to win more reliably when not going for Hela.
My Current Build
There are essentially two ways to go about "breaking" Hela. Improve the win rate when you whiff (see the list above) or try to whiff less often (see this list). This is my current go-to Hela list, and it's very consistent (well, for a Hela deck, I mean).
Ideally, you get Invisible Woman, M.O.D.O.K., and Hela. But if you don't, the three discards from Blade and Hellcow are often enough to win, provided they're the right discards. Blade's change was a major boost for this deck, as you no longer need to play him behind Invisible Woman as often. Hellcow will generally get placed behind Invisible Woman on 5 if you don't have M.O.D.O.K. in hand, but you can play him out on 4 if you have neither Hela nor M.O.D.O.K. yet.
I generally hide Shadow King behind Invisible Woman on 3 if it seems likely to have an impact. This is especially good versus Cyclops, on Shuri's lab and Muir Island, or across from an opposing Angela or Collector. Shadow King puts in work in this deck, and I would never consider cutting him. I've had him in that slot for months, and he's only gotten more flexible with the change to two costs.
If I have everything in place except for Hela herself, I'll generally stay in and go for it with Iron Lad or Jubilee as long as I have a 1 in 3 to hit Hela. I'll snap if it's 1 in 2.
Hela Lockjaw
Hela Lockjaw is just a chaotic and crazy-fun way to play Marvel Snap. If you draw well early, you can often just play the deck out like a traditional Lockjaw deck by throwing Swarms into Lockjaw. This deck is not super reliable but has huge high-roll potential if that is your style of play. Silver Samurai + Moon Knight is a new disruptive combo the deck has gained, but Gambit is also good for a high-roll now and again.
Unserious Destroy Hela
At heart, though, we're still deeply unserious Hela gamers. This is a fun Hela-Destroy deck. Will your cards ever come back in the right order? Probably not, but imagine if they do. M.O.D.O.K. into Hela behind Invisible Woman is really just an occasional game plan if you happen to draw into it on the first turn or so. Otherwise, a destroy card behind Invisible Woman early can be a great way to get multiple Nimrod destructions later. You can hide things behind the Invisible Woman to protect them from the Destroyer, as he'll destroy the Invisible Woman but not what she's hiding. Also, X-23 can allow us to play a six drop early or to play Blade and Hela together on turn 6.
Hela has been inspiring creators since the game started, and below is a dump of some of the most interesting ideas from your favorite content creators.
Loopy's Ongoing Hela
This is my favorite creator-made Hela Deck. This deck is just an amazingly fun ball of chaotic energy. According to Loopy Fist, you should probably put Living Tribunal and Chavez in here. But I think the sheer madness of this list is worth trying out.
Revis' Alioth Hela
Bynx's M.O.D.O.K.T.
This deck aims for a "one-turn kill" by playing both M.O.D.O.K. and Hela on the same turn. Hard to hit, but will definitely win when it does.
Jeff Hoogland's Surfer Thanos Casino
This deck obviously takes a hit with Black Cat going from 3-cost to 4-cost. Try Thor, Moon Knight, Daken, or another 3-cost in that spot.
Final Notes
- Learn to maximize your cube gains with proper retreating, and Hela can be a reliable cube earner.
- Captain Marvel was at one time a common inclusion in Hela decks. If she gets changed again, keep her in mind.
- If the Dark Dimension is ever a hot location, Hela is the play. Hela is also surprisingly good on Mt. Vesuvius, as you should know if you're likely to get your combo before turn 5 and can snap on turn 6 to trap your opponent in for free cubes.
- Cosmo is obviously a problem for the deck. Echo has been proposed as an answer. Cozy was a proponent of Wave into Magneto when M.O.D.O.K. first came out. I think it's probably best to just take the loss to Comso and try to be smart about retreating when it seems probable that your opponent's deck includes Cosmo. Also, Cosmo isn't being played a ton at the moment, if that changes, Hela obviously becomes worse.
- Decks with Helicarrier and Hela seem really fun, but I haven't been able to work out a list that is satisfying. Hopefully, one emerges in the future.
- Iron Man is a huge liability against Loki. If you'd like to shore up that matchup, consider replacing him, but it's difficult because he's so good in most versions of the deck.