Discard decks have gone through Cambrian levels of evolution recently. For about a year, traditional discard decks played a set of 2 to 4 low and mid-cost discarders like Sif and Colleen Wing, a couple of low and mid-cost discard payoffs like Morbius, Swarm, Wolverine, and Dracula. They would then finish with M.O.D.O.K, leaving only Chavez and Apocalypse in hand, perhaps with some Swarms if they were included. The deck was very tight and had one flex spot (I liked Storm; some people played an extra discard payoff like Wolverine or Daken). The deck was strong but predictable. It rarely changed much and had a devoted following of players who would show off fully inked or solid gold decks. As mentioned above, the deck had a pretty predictable play pattern and played very “face up.” Your opponent usually knew your exact hand on turn 6. More than any other deck at the time, it was also incredibly reliant on America Chavez. Without her, you could end up with nothing to play on turn 6, and she smoothed out your draws. The deck often failed when it didn't draw Apocalypse. After Chavez was reworked, the deck fell off hard. Discard die-hards were concerned that it might never fully recover. Fast forward to today, and the deck has emerged from the wilderness with a higher power ceiling and more unpredictability, thanks to some vital new tools. It's arguably the best deck in format at the moment.
Hela, meanwhile, settled into a shell of Invisible Woman and M.O.D.O.K. It was a casual casino deck and a fun deck-building challenge. You could do fun and unexpected things like play Ebony Maw or Attuma behind your invisible Woman to beat the ubiquitous Professor X and Cosmo (believe it or not, people played a lot of Cosmo back then!). We got consistency boosts when Iron Lad was released, Blade was buffed, and Crystal was reworked. When Living Tribunal came out, the deck reached an incredibly high power ceiling. Unfortunately, Alioth seamlessly destroys any Invisible Woman shenanigans. Fast forward to today, Hela is at the top of the meta, doesn't need either Invisible Woman or M.O.D.O.K., and few decks are playing what countered the deck before. Lockjaw was a big part of Hela’s meta takeover, but she still has a few tricks despite her favorite dog getting a cost increase.
Discard has been transformed to the point where decks that take advantage of the upside from this mechanic would be almost unrecognizable for someone coming back to the game after six months. Discard is in the best spot it's been in for a long time. The primary reasons for this are meta changes that have made the environment more friendly for discard decks and, more importantly, new and buffed cards!
New Tools
Miek surprised some people with his effectiveness upon release, but the real story here is the addition of the Black Order power couple, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight. Corvus has been used in a wide variety of decks, even some with relatively few discard payoffs. Proxima is solid as a free 7-power and is the last step in making up for the lost power of America Chavez. The Chavez change has ended up being a blessing in disguise as discard is now more unpredictable and has a range of powerful turn 6 outcomes.
Buffed Cards
Black Knight received the most massive buff in Snap's history—or rather, his sword did. Immune to Shadow King and Shang Chi, the Ebony Blade is great for putting down safe, early power and is useful for getting into Death's Domain and Altar of Death.
The change to Blade is massively underrated. Hela decks were already solid right after he was changed; it took a slight meta shift and time for more players to catch on before he became a meta tyrant.
Swordmaster and Hellcow are left in an awkward position. Discard has become so centered on reliability that, even buffed, these two aren't seeing much play. However, I think the archetype is so strong and reliable at the moment that these two are worth additional experimentation. If we can utilize the quite significant extra power of either of these while staying consistent enough, that could give us an edge over the competition.
Key Cards
Today, we'll examine how discard decks currently function with various strategies and focus on fundamental concepts. We hope this evergreen guide will be a useful starting point regardless of future nerfs, buffs, and new cards.
The Big Payoffs
There are two major discard payoffs that most discard decks build toward. Decks usually go one of two ways. They build a giant Apocalypse, usually to discard it with Dracula, or they discard with the goal of bringing cards back with Hela. Apocalypse strategies are generally called “traditional discard,” and they don't include Hela. This isn't always true, and we have a sweet list with both of the big payoffs below and several effective concepts that use neither.
Targeted Discard
In addition to getting some new cards, discard has also steadily ascended as it has been able to use targeted discard more often. Below is a list of targeted discarders and what you most often target with them.
Blade
As mentioned above, the Blade change has been huge. He has made discarding Infinaut, in particular, much more viable. Don't waste him! Do not be afraid to skip turns to wait for a good target.
Best targets
Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing has been seeing a little less play than she did in the Chavez discard heyday, but her play rate is rising again.
Best targets
Lady Sif
Sif has seen her importance and number of targets grow over time.
Best targets:
Silver Samurai
Silver Samurai is lightly played at the moment. However, he has been the subject of some very creative ideas in recent times, so keep an eye on him. Darkhawk used to see some play with him, but with Darkhawk’s change, he has fewer good targets. Silver Samurai could also fit in the next category as a tech card since he is good at attacking opposing Tribunal decks.
Best targets (both your and your opponent’s):
The Wild Cards
The discard archetype doesn't generally have room to play traditional “tech” cards like Shang Chi, Enchantress, Shadow King, or Killmonger. However, discard has its own meta-dependent tech cards that we can use to interact with our opponent. Gambit excels in metas, where your opponent depends on cards being on board or creating a particular board state. He is also especially effective in metas with fewer but bigger cards, so his odds of hitting something large is higher. It's also nice to snipe an important early piece like a Zabu. Moon Knight excels in metas where players hold combo pieces or against intricate multi-card combo decks. Their random nature has made players shy away from these two cards. However, they're disruptive to the opponent and can occasionally win a game on their own. Gambit is currently seeing an uptick in play since most decks have become so consistent that they can afford a splash of randomness at this point. Most importantly, these cards are an absolute blast to play!
Apocalypse Decks
Dracula Discard
This is a straightforward discard list and an excellent starting point. I like the consistency of Blade, the interaction of Gambit, and the unpredictability of Helicarrier, but those are the flex spots. Helicarrier has value even without the Collector. Collector is great in this list, even if you cut Helicarrier. However, I went with this 12 because we showcase Collector in the list below. There are many other ways this could be modified and tinkered with. You can try Swordmaster or Hellcow for more power. Other off-meta considerations are Miek, Wong, Moon Knight, Daken, and Wolverine.
Collector Discard
This deck fully leans into the synergy that Discard has with Collector. Snowguard is a cheeky choice to mitigate bad locations and deal with Limbo when we want to, but he could be swapped for Miek, Mirage, or Gambit if you prefer.
Parry Manilow’s D-Zola
I first saw this concept from an opponent in game and went looking for a list. That led me to Parry Manilow on Twitter, who has been tinkering with this concept for some time. The synergy between Daken and Zola is very clever. It is also exceptionally fun to Zola a Dracula and hit two Apocalypses. The newest innovation from Parry is to include Supergiant to enable the Daken combo more often when you don't have Ravonna down by hiding M.O.D.O.K. on 5 to go off last. If you have Supergiant, try her in place of Proxima.
Discard Storm
Storm is an excellent ally for the discard archetype these days (whether she's in your deck or your opponent's). This deck remains a relatively traditional discard list while trying to take advantage of closing off a lane. Other more experimental Storm Discard lists use Nebula, Sunspot, Goose, and She-Hulk. There is also a recent crop of Silver Surfer discard lists taking advantage of 3-cost cards like Corvus Glaive, Lady Sif, or Daken. The best versions of those include Storm.
Gambit Daken
Discard decks that can repeat their abilities multiple times often find the most success. This deck uses both Wong and Moon Girl to potentially get some repeated effects. Getting enough Gambit effects to clear your opponent's board, or enough Muramasa Shards to giant Daken's, or some combination of the two, is incredibly satisfying.
Big Miek
This deck's star is Miek, and it's built around getting a great, big Miek. Miek thrives most in discard decks that include Wong.
Hela Decks
Hela Ramp
Possibly because he released a week before his bride Proxima Midnight, the community’s immediate use for Corvus Glaive was as a ramp card. It turned out to be far more than just a one-week placeholder, and it is the current best version of the ramp archetype. Hela is more of a high roll than the only game plan. This deck has options and some really strong play patterns. Corvus, then Hela, then Odin all in one lane is a game-winning three-card combo. Corvus into Sandman, followed by Doom into Odin, beats a lot of decks right now as well.
BK Hela
Black Knight has seen a small reduction in play as Corvus Glaive builds have taken over the meta. But decks built to leverage BK are still very powerful. Again, Hela is not the only game plan here. She does provide amazing bang for your buck in this build, though. You can often win even if Hela only brings back one or two cards.
BK Jaw Hela
This list is pretty much unchanged, despite the nerf to Lockjaw. His cost change hasn't killed the deck since he still performs his primary function of digging deep for Hela even if you are only activating him late. Black Knight is strong in this list, but he's more of a plan B. You can play around with replacing him with cards like Sunspot, Swordmaster, or M.O.D.O.K.
Both Apocalypse & Hela
Bofa Discard
Who says we can't play both Apocalypse and Hela? This greedy list has quite a bit of cube equity because of the way it starts slowly but can explode late.
Neither
Anni Rider
Discard payoffs with neither Hela nor Apocalypse are still strong. This deck can put out a ton of stats. Skaar is probably the flex spot, and you could try Enchantress, Selene, Armor, Iceman, or Spider-Ham.
Blood Swan
With only Blade and Dracula it's hard to say this is a discard list. Still, Dracula shows how powerful he can be on his own in a list like this and other Dracula Zoo builds. You can try Cull Obsidian over Strong Guy as well.
Opponent Discard
Oppo Discard
Want to get rid of your opponent's cards? This deck includes all the cards currently in Snap that can do that. The deck relies on a turn 2 Zabu, but when you draw perfectly, you can have some fun games (fun for you, at least).
ZT4 Samurai
This list is from Discard master ZT4 and showcases the power of Silver Samurai. This is another list that can surprise your opponent with how much power it can add in the final turn of the game because of Zabu or the extra energy from X-23.
Conclusion
The future of discard is bright. As it stands now, there is still a lot of experimentation to be done. Optimal balanced lists are still being discovered, and the archetype is far from being solved. Play-test your lists to put them through their paces, and ask the tough questions about your lists. How much randomness can a given list tolerate before negatively affecting cube rate? Are lower curve cards necessary for consistency, or do they lower the power cap too much? Is your list too predictable or linear? How does “face up” play, i.e., do opponents know exactly what's coming? There is room for various builds, and the discard archetype will be a major meta player in the foreseeable future.