The March open has concluded and the results are ready to be shared. I also had individual conversations with all of the top-4 winners, and will pass on what was said by them.
Winning Decks
Within the top-8, 6 Thanos decks were present, which was not unexpected. Perhaps a little surprising is that Shuri was not represented at all. Both of the 2 non-Thanos decks were running Killmonger, which I suppose gave them a small edge over Thanos, especially the lists running Blue Marvel or the like (wanting power from Stones). One card was present in all 8 decks - Aero. Again, I do not think this is suprising. Before I get into the top-4 specific decks and interviews, I would like to talk about Aero's history throughout the beta.
I've often heard claims that beta players just didn't really understand how to build decks correctly, in part due to the fact that Aero got a buff (from 6 to 8 power) right around the worldwide release. The reality however, is that the game and meta were just in very different places. One of my favorite decks at the end of last summer was build around Swarm. Back then, Nakia granted her buff to your entire hand and Hellcow only cost 2 energy (still 6 power). On top of that, Strong Guy was a [2/3] with his same ongoing effect and Lady Sif was a [2/4] (Bishop was a [3/2] and Angela a [2/1] for what it's worth).
The result was this deck could, with decent realiability, play 3-4 Swarms with 5 (or more) power each and a Chavez on turn6. Aero as a [5/6] just didn't really do much there. The deck would also run Mysterio and could regularly end with 11 or 12 slots filled. So just due to simple facts like this, she was not near as powerful as she is today. The nerfs that I have mentioned (and plenty more, such as Mysterio for example) have changed the landscape of Marvel Snap. Today, we see decks that are looking to make singular large plays on the last turn, Shuri style, which are very much vulnerable to Aero. There have of course, been a ton of other balance changes and card additions since then, but what is good is very much dependent on the meta surrounding it. And yea, Aero is quite good right now.
Worth noting, I am writing this before the upcoming balance changes...so keep that in mind!
First Place Winner
Our first place winner was a Korean streamer, going with the English handle of Johnson. I really like the spin that he took on a Thanos list. His full list is:
I very much like the Killmonger include, as it pretty heavily counters Blue Marvel / Infinity Stone stratgies. Once you have that in the deck, Death becomes a solid addition as well...oh, and once we have Death, we all know how good the Wave interaction is there. Johnson can play 2 cards on the last turn (one being a huge Death) and the opponent can play 1. Wait, did I say 2 cards? With the most highroll of situations, we can actually play Death, She-Hulk, and another card. She-Hulk can also cover for Death if we do not draw her. As you can see, there is a lot of overlapped synergy here, which is something that I (and others) have always claimed is the best thing to look for in a strong deck.
Once we have Wave, Doom, and Odin are solid followups. Odin can simply trigger a 2nd Wave to limit opponent plays, trigger a 2nd Doom activation after Wave helped us cheat Doom into play early, or be a 2nd Aero trigger to have Aero go off on turns 5 and 6. Worth noting that without Killmonger to clear the stones, Thanos decks fill the field too much to make Doom as good as he is in this deck. Johnson also points out that Odin dodging Shang-Chi is a nice added perk to the card, since Shang is quite heavily played at the moment.
To quote Johnson, one of the best things you can do in Marvel Snap is be able to claim "I play more cards and/or the other person doesn't play cards." Makes sense, of course. And Killmonger kinda counts as denying the opponent their playing of cards.
Finally, one may notice the exlcusion of Leech. In the Asian scene, Johnson said that he expected Infinaut counters to be played by people. The recent Mayo cup in Korea was won by an Infinaut/Lockjaw/Thanos list in fact.
You can find him on twitter @twitchirimmm and on twitch here.
Second Place
Second place went to a well known player and friend, Torikun. He played the stock Thanos list seen below:
Torikun has been very active in all sorts of tournaments, and just went with what he felt was the most consistent and reliable deck in the meta. His goal was to earn an invite for the Snap.fan invitational, and placing above that was just icing on the cake. He considered playing Kang, but said "why bother fixing what isn't broke, right?"
We've all joked about Ego deciding a tournament game...well, it did for Torikun. If you want to check out his twitter (a strong, successful player), you can even see a video of said game. You can find him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/TorikunSnaps.
Top 4
These were both pretty stock Thanos lists. We did not have a 3rd place game, so they are equivalent and listed here in no particular order.
Lele had 1 more unique card in his Thanos list - Vision. If you compare to Torikun's list above, Vision replaced Chavez. Lele is a big fan of Vision because he can unlock a lane, has counter-play against Aero, and helps enable his own Aero. Vision movement is also not predictable in general, which he founds a lot of value in. On top of that, he feels that Chavez does not really do much to help the deck, and Vision dodging Shang-Chi is an added perk.
Levi also had 1 more unique card in his list - Kang. Again, comparing to Torikun's list above, Kang replaced Blue Marvel. There was a good discussion in our conversation around Kang. Levi very much likes the mind games around Kang and felt it increases skill, especially once it is a known part of the deck. He thinks it's important to not always just snap on turn-6 and play Kang, as that becomes too predictable.
If one wants to use Kang well, they should follow some poker strategies of just shifting play patterns, sometimes play Kang without a snap (with the goal of more info), sometimes play with a snap (as a free bluff), sometimes snap without a Kang (and the opponent may try to conceal a play and just lose). There is a lot going on, for sure!
Final Words
I think the tournament went quite well, but we still have room to improve (and we plan to do so!). As a reminder, we currently plan to have an open every month this year, with our invitational early in 2024. Top-4 in each open earns access. There are other ways to qualify as well, which you can read about here. Also, feel free to join the snap.fan community discord to get in on all the discussion, etc.
And of course, we expect a patch today (hopefully) with new bundles, balance changes, new token system and more. You can read my thoughts on that here and expect another news post with updated information later today!