During Marvel Snap's first official public tournament, the Golden Gauntlet, many outstanding players and decks were showcased. However, one of the top eight decklists stood out as particularly unique and innovative. The player known as Buttsquad, or Butt (also referred to as Bu++ in-game), created a deck featuring Hulking, Pixie, and Uncle Ben, ultimately achieving a top-eight finish. I certainly didn't predict that combination of cards while considering the potential tournament meta. I had the opportunity to ask Butt some questions about his deck, so without further ado, let’s dive in.
12 Cards
Here is Butts versions with his splits -
What is the overall game plan for this deck?
The general idea is that in an open deck list format, as you get deeper and are playing better and better players, it is a lot rarer than ladder to get 4 and 8 cube wins because its generally much simpler to predict an opponents max output. But cards like Pixie, Copycat, and Hulkling nullify that because of the asymmetric information they provide- you know if you high roll, your opponent doesn’t. So if you’re disciplined about retreating and snapping well, you can typically win high-stakes games at the cost of a little bit of consistency.
Can you elaborate on your ideas about using asymmetric information to your advantage?
Let's say you’re playing a destroy gamer and you get a Hulkling Knull or a Copycat Knull, for instance. Suddenly, a deck that, when it high rolls, goes very big, will now pretty much always lose the lane you play that surprise card in. They have virtually zero way to play around with that. So even if they are very good and can anticipate plays you might reasonably be expected to make, they’re not going to factor in the unknown.
What is the purpose of each card? How do you use them effectively?
1-Cost Cards
Nico is great with Pixie. Destroy draw 2 into pixie on 2 is a snap condition. You also like having some 1 drops in Pixie decks to really let Pixie’s effect shine. But I really wanted Killmonger because of the Thanos matchup, which means there’s really only 3 1 drops I considered: Nico, Hood, Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben is, first and foremost, funny. But it really is a makeshift Hydra Bob when you’re playing Killmonger- it has the move effect and the 4 power statline. So it’s there as a 1 drop with points in conjunction with Killmonger. The move bit can be an interesting line, but really that's secondary.
2-Cost Cards
For 2 drops, Pixie and Surge are pretty straightforward- mana cheat that leads to unexpected card combos that are harder to play around. Underrated part about Surge: the +1 power means Magneto/Hulkling at 13 beat out Thanos on “highest power card gets a benefit” locations unless they have all the stones out. Sam Wilson is just a generic good card, with the benefit of the shield being RG protection for Surge/Mobius.
3 and 4-Cost Cards
Killmonger, as I said before, is there for Thanos. Mobius is good with Thanos and good with Pixie. Copycat is a generic good card that also has hidden info in open decklist format. Enchantress is there to hunt opponents, Mobius, and also I thought there would be more ongoing Thanos builds than there actually were (there was still a lot, though).
5-Cost cards
I think Legion is really underrated, and also, I think you need to have location control in tournament/conquest matches so you just don't get lowrolled by location changes. It also makes aggressive snapping on locations way more effective, even if you don't have Legion in hand.
6-Cost cards
Hulkling is hidden info, and honestly, it's just an underrated card. Magneto was for Surfer, which I didn't end up running into at all, also it's just a good, underrated 6 drop.
What are the possible card changes?
You can put in the Hood for Uncle Ben/Nico. Sam Wilson can be replaced by any real 1-3 drop you want. If you’re not playing to hunt Thanos decks, km is replaceable (and then you can play other 1 drops if you want- originally I was thinking Hydra Bob/Red Guardian over Ben/Killmonger). Enchantress, you can swap for Lady Deathstrike. For 6 drops, you can consider running Aloth or Red Hulk.
Playing the deck
What is a typical play for each turn in the game? Or what would be the absolute best draw?
The absolute best draw is Nico destroy into Pixie. Ideally, with big cards in the deck still. I think a big decision point is, when you have multiple 2 drops on hand, what do you prioritize on 2? That is an extremely convoluted answer, but to simplify: if you have your 6 drops in hand, surge over Pixie. If you don't, pixie over surge. Rarely do you prioritize sam. If you know they’re running Mobius and you don't have your own in hand, you might just surge instead. Ench you can be aggressive with on opponent, Mobius’s, that's really what it's there for (unless you’re playing a deck where you think it might ruin them on 6). If you do get your nut pixie draws, you want to hold them for surprise unless you expect Mobius.
What are the primary Snap conditions you seek early in a game?
Legion scammable locations, nico destroy pixie, high roll copycat/hulkling, that you can plan your turns around.
This was played in a tournament or a conquest format. Would you play differently on ladder, or is this strictly a conquest-type deck?
I might consider Alitoh over Magneto. Uncle Ben and Killmonger are there strictly for Thanos, so it would depend on what you’re facing.
Matchups and Locations
What about the various matchups in the meta?
Thanos felt like the easiest matchup. Move bounce is scary because you usually can't effectively drop prio to make good use of Killmonger, and copycat doesnt have good hits. Ench works great on Madame Web, though. You're hard counter, Mr. Negativ,e between Mobius, Enchantress, and Legion. Surfer is 50/50, Ajax, you’re favored. Scream can be rough.
What are some of the tough matchups?
Scream, Bounce, and Move Bounce.
Are there any locations that are instant snaps? Or instant retreats?
No instant retreats that I can think of. Legion scammable locs.
Other than Thanos, did you have any specific match-ups in mind that you prepared for?
I thought Surfer would be more prevalent, but never ended up running into it.
You faced Derek playing Bounce in the Top 8. What was your overall game plan going into one of your tough match-ups?
I’m friends with Derek, and we actually scrimmaged before the tournament and split the matchups. We played twice in the tournament, but the first game was when we were both 8-0 and locked into the top 8, so we didn't take that one seriously (I just snapped turn 1 every round) to reduce fatigue going into the final rounds. But the game plan is that you really want to Killmonger on early turns with prio before he bounces, because Derek is so good he's never going to have prio on turn 6, and it's not worth saving km in a futile attempt and wasting it. I didn’t do the best job in our semi-finals match. What I did do well was snap on locations, as he just has Nico for location control. But Derek is pretty much regarded as the best player in the EU, if not the best player in the game, so he did a fantastic job being disciplined.
General Questions
Can you describe your tournament prep with the deck?
I played it a bit on ladder, and then a bunch of top players were just scrimming for fun before the tournament to get some reps in.
What general advice would you give to players playing this deck for the first time?
It isn’t a Pixie deck, it's a deck with Pixie. And by that I mean, sometimes surge can be more effective, and you shouldn’t be playing so that you live and die by your Pixie rolls. Snap aggressively, but be willing to retreat later when those snaps don’t work out.
Are you going to play in the Second Golden Gauntlet? If so, what would you do differently?
I will not be participating. I have something happening already that weekend.
Conclusion
Butt is one of the best players in Marvel Snap. Every time I've faced him on the ladder, the matches have been enjoyable and competitive. He possesses excellent deck-building knowledge, and the brief description of his top-performing list is a valuable resource. He is active in various community Discords and is likely to answer any questions if you can find him. You can also catch him in different Twitch streams and on his channel, which he updates roughly every three months, as he puts it. https://www.twitch.tv/buttsquad888
Either way, I hope you enjoyed the showcase and give the deck a try. Let me know how it goes!