"I am fire! And life incarnate! Now and forever--I am Phoenix! " - The Phoenix Force
When originally presented, many members of the community, myself included, were skeptical about the power that The Phoenix Force will have on the meta-game. Will it fit in? Will it be competitive? Is Move + Destroy like oil = water? Most of the community was leaning towards an emphatic "NO". However, things change...
The Phoenix Force IS a force to be reckoned with. I'm happy to report that a LOT of us were very very WRONG. The Phoenix Force -IS- a competitve deck right now in Marvel Snap. The combination of Move & Destroy works when balanced with the idea of multiple outs, not multiple maybes. The flexability that she provides is surprisingly consistent, and this new hybrid archetype could be one that grows into the tournament scene as well. There are a few key card synergies I think are worth noting for The Phoenix Force:
Human Torch - The play here is to move Human Torch as many times as possible before destroying him on either turn 3 or 4. Then revival on turn 5 via The Phoenix Force, followed by yet another move. This can build up to a minimum of a 16-power Human Torch, but we're seeing as high as 72 in certain combinations.
Multiple Man - Similar idea here, where the idea is to ramp up his power prior to his destruction. This can be done with cards like Hulkbuster (a personal favorite) and Forge. Then destroy and revive via The Phoenix Force. When synergized with the major move package cards (Iron Fist, Cloak, Ghost-Spider, Heimdall) you could see anywhere from 2 to 8 Multiple Men on the battlefield.
As new cards and new decks come out on Day One, I compile a few select decks from the Snap.fan community that I think are worth showcasing and are worthy of much more playing and/or testing for Day Two. If you'd like your deck showcased, just build one here in the Snap.fan Deck Builder! After 24 hours, I go through play rates, win rates, cube rates, successful synergies, unique synergies, online content and more and pick out five decks that I think are worth talking more about here in our Deck Showcase.
With that said, here are five decks I think are worth highlighting after 24-hours of The Phoenix Force:
#6 - Am I Dreaming - Revis
This deck is the most unique in the sense that it is not playing into the projected Move + Destroy package which is working throughout the rest of this article. This deck focuses on the high roll of Lockjaw playing into random destructions. Between Arnim Zola & Venom, the deck leans into some unique lines that will revive multiple cards. Plus, the Knull can rack up quickly and play out for cheap with successful mechanics from Jubilee additionally. It's a fun deck, and let RNG-sus be your guide.
#5 - Phoenix Force: Destroy Master - Alex Coccia
This specific deck form this video caught my eye as it features the ever-so-humble Spider-Man 2099. I love the Taskmaster synergy as well with Human Torch being revived for turn 6. However, this deck falls at #5 right now as this deck leans into many great curves for turns 5 & 6. However many of those lines do not overlap so be careful in ensuring you stick to the line you're attacking, or retreat. A great deck by Alex once again.
#4 - Destroy + Move Phoenix - ninaisnoob
I personally would've named this deck, "I Like the Way you Move". Its essentially a very strong move deck with a solid 3 card destroy package in Venom, Deathlok & The Phoenix Force. We know from last season how well a move deck can do when build using cards of only 1, 2 or 3-cost. So, trying to stick to that pattern plays well into adding in The Phoenix Force to keep 10 out of 12 of the cards in this deck to that equation. With the primary target being Multiple Man, knowing that you have Human Torch, Dagger & Vulture as back-up plans leans to some solid consistency. I like how this deck is a low risk combo and plays smoothly due to that.
#3 - Twin Suns - Cozy Snap
This is where the spice begins. When we mix in the equation of 3-card combos being our friend and overlapping around them where we would LIKE to play The Phoenix Force, we begin to see more lines. Shuri, Red Skull, TaskMaster is a classic trio. So, layering that as a win condition into the deck feels organic and successful. Arnim Zola reappears again too as we look for multiple ways to spread out some huge power via Shuri or The Phoenix Force as a turn 6 swing into some difficult locations. With a back-up plan in She-Hulk being sprinkled into that Taskmaster combo, we could see some high risers with this deck this week.
#2 - Phoenix Nimrod v1.0 - RezSnapper
And there he is...Nimrod. In my opinion, Nimrod is the perfect comparison to how I feel about The Phoenix Force. Narrow use, but strong when used. You build a deck that embraces the mechanic, and primarily that mechanic. Shuri into Nimrod has most recently seen making rise in Galactus decks (post-nerf), so seeing this simple win condition integrated into the deck makes complete sense when you think of how many 2 or 3-cost destroy cards you have in your deck already to run The Phoenix Force. This makes my (sort of) top spot because with ramping and duplication mechanics in multiple places, the deck is surely able to succeed.
#1 - Pheonix - Ratsou ft. ItsGuestGaming
ItsGuestGaming - YouTube- Twitch- Twitter
Ratsou_p - Twitter
Okay, once again this isn't shameless self promotion. This isn't my deck, but check out the stats as I ran the deck for 47 games last night...
In 47 matches, nearly 80% win rate more than 2 cubes per game on average. This deck takes the best of all the decks above and merges them together. Here are the perks:
- No worries about being Killmongered on turn 6 since we're not ramping Human Torch.
- Embraces the multiplication mechanic as the primary win strategy via Multiple Man & Nimrod.
- Plays the 11-card deck strategy by integrating the America Chavez consistency factor.
- Keeps strong defense by hiding the legendary Shang-Chi as a surprise turn 6 play that can be foreshadowed by a Ghost-Spider to move a ramped and risen Phoenix Force.
- Keeps opponents on their toes as Heimdall is less anticipated given the lessened quantity of move cards in the deck.
The deck overall played incredible well and lead to 20 ranks in four hours. If you want to see the full run, you can check out the Twitch VOD HERE.