Welcome to Big in Japan!
The newest season to hit Marvel Snap, and like all the seasons before, it comes with a flurry of new cards ready to shake up the meta. This time around, we’ve been graced with the son of Wolverine, Daken. Daken has created a large boon for both Destroy and Discard archetypes, giving both decks an interesting pivot point that allows for those awkward draws to not feel as awkward anymore. But before we dive headfirst into what these decks have to offer now, let’s take a look around and see what the main players are that you can come to expect in your ladder climb and conquest runs.
*Note: all statistical references are collection level 3000+, ladder levels 80-99, and gold conquest since the start of the Big In Japan Season*
To kick things off, we have the most abundant deck you’ll come across regardless of whether you’re playing Ladder or Conquest; Darkhawk.
With a near 13% appearance rate in both modes, Darkhawk archetypes have mostly settled on the above list as the most common rendition. It is designed to be a deck that is able to generate solid power on it’s own, while having a plethora of flex spots to attack any meta that’s thrown at it. Due to our recent Thanos Ongoing meta, Enchantress finds herself prevalent, though I would expect to see less of her moving forward. I talked about this deck at insane length last month, so if you want to read about the deck in a more nuanced way, go check out the last Navigating Limbo, but for now, we mentioned Thanos Ongoing...
Thanos has been pulled a bit thinner in recent weeks, no longer leading the charge in meta percentage nor having narrowed down the definitive Thanos list. Previously, the Ongoing variety was king, utilizing psyloche to act as an additional time stone effect that you ideally would play on turn 3 in order to drop your plethora of 5 drops such as Prof. X, Blue Marvel, and previously, Spider-Man. Spider-Man's change brought a large dip in play rate to this particular version, resulting in a large split amongst the other Archetypes. Destroy, Move, Control, Zoo, and Ongoing variations make up a grand total of just over 8% of the metagame. Time will tell which Thanos deck ends up being the best, but for now, there’s a new Mad Titan in town.
Never did I think I would see two archetypes that I thought I’d either see a lot less of or flat out never see again in high-level play mashed together. Infinaut strategies are far and away some of my favorites in all of Snap, as it was the deck I piloted throughout the entirety of my Series 2 experience. I also adored High Evo decks in the lockdown variety, but with the Changes to High Evo not so long ago, as well as the Infinaut decks not seeming up to snuff in high CL, I never could have predicted this deck. Taking the wonderful combo of slamming down a final turn consisting of an Infinaut and a 0-cost She-Hulk, and mashing it together with one of the best early game decks in Marvel Snap, High Evolutionary. It makes sense, as Sunspot was always a staple in Infinaut strategies due to the need to float energy on t5, so why not expand on that idea? Then, of course, the recent Magik change just ties it all perfectly together, making the need for psyloche on T4 (or in the deck at all) no longer necessary. Especially now that we have a built-in pseudo-Psylocke effect in Shocker! High Evo also gives access to Hulk, which can be nearly as big as Infinaut fairly often and acts as a solid plan B point slam to go along with She-Hulk. (fitting!) Perhaps my favorite inclusion, however, is everyone's favorite green friend, Leech. Playing him on 5 with Limbo out, allows us to completely turn off all cards in our opponent's hand, float energy on t6, and reap the benefits on turn 7. This line of play results in a deck with a 60% winrate in conquest! Just be careful of cards like Storm!
Oh, I’m sorry, did you think Daken was only for Destroy and Discard?
Well, not only is Daken obviously a 3-drop, but Surfer decks were more than happy to have been running the Killmonger/Nova package, so Daken slots in incredibly easily. Of course, Magik is flexing her muscle here as well, allowing Surfer decks to fully enjoy cards such as Wong and the newly buffed Absorbing Man to create massive power swings in the late game. Some lists, like the one shown above, may include Colleen Wing in the 2-drop slot over cards like Jeff or Goose, to really make use of Daken. I don’t mind it, though it’s hard to argue with the classics. With 8% representation across the classic Sera Surfer, Negative Surfer, and Surf and Destroy lists, this deck will continue to be a force to be reckoned with. Oh, and Brood just gained a new best friend in Forge.
You didn’t really think I’d forget about the deck that won the most recent Snap Open event, did you? Lamby piloted this creation that has been fine tuned and worked on across the entire game for the last few weeks, ever since Lamby first introduced the list. Since then, it’s boasted a staggering 68% win rate on conquest thanks to it’s tempo style play, highly above curve power production, and overall ease of play. To quote my cohost of Snap on Ego Chris Bootman, “The deck is just f****** idiot proof.”
Before we get to the stars of this season, let’s take a quick look at the best decks so far!
Darkhawk really cemented his status as the 3x value card, but I guess he should be 4x value now, seeing that this deck leads in 4 categories across Ranked and Conquest statistical categories! The most seen deck for both modes is at 13% in each, with the highest win% and AVR Cubes in Ranked at 59.5% and 0.62, respectively. Other notable decks are Lamby's Silky Smoove deck, which tops the Conquest Win% at an insane 68%, while C3r3bro made a surprising appearance at Avr Cubes with 1.92! It looks like retreating for 1-cube losses for the majority of your games while sticking it out for 8-cube wins really skews the average in your favor!
Now for the Stars of the Show: Discard and Destroy
The absolute definitive home for Daken and where he has undoubtedly shined the most. Of course, Surfer may be the best deck that features him, but he could easily be cut from the deck and Surfer would continue to perform well. Meanwhile, he has given a genuine boon to the double D archetypes of Discard and Destroy. Starting with Discard, we’ve seen a miriad of different lists, ranging from Absorbing Man to try and get double shards to discard away with a turn 6 MODOK, to lists that actually feature Strong Guy in them. You read that right, Strong Guy! To put it in perspective, Strong Guy has gone from the least played card in the game at a Seen rate of 0.12% to 0.44%. Now, that is still abysmal, but a near-half percentage jump due to the potential idea and testing was thanks to Daken.
But of course, the most played version now has landed on that Abs Man helping you generate a second shard and Daken become a 3/16. As I stated earlier, Daken allows these archetypes to bridge the gap in the midgame when you may have awkward draws. This couldn’t be more true for Discard, as it’s the deck that struggles with this immensely. How often would you find yourself on turn 3 with a Lady Sif in hand but your highest cost card being MODOK? You're forced to take the turn off and completely disrupt your curve. With Daken, it gives you a fallback plan for those “Do nothing” turns that can easily result in an end game in which you end up with a 3/8 on the board. Daken, in my opinion, truly shines to his full potential in Discard, more so than any other deck. However, Destroy is still the better archetype of the two. Here is the list that I piloted myself from 73 to 100 this season:
Daken may not have been the star of the show as he is in Discard, but he was an integral piece to my overall climb. Providing fuel with the shard for destroy fodder allows for a turn 3 play when I am unable to draw a destroy card for my destroy targets or when I have destroy cards in hand, but no fodder to feed them. Just like Discard, Daken was the ultimate bridge to keep things moving smoothly as you set up for the endgame. The deck's overall consistency has shot up tremendously, all thanks to a simple stopgap such as Daken. Oh, and as for stats?
Discard: 57.75% WR
Destroy: 55.2%
So maybe Discard will end up being the better of the two after all? Only time will tell as we find more finely tuned lists.