Snap Into Marvel: “Weapon X” Wants Destroy Decks To Be The Best There Is

It’s been awhile since the last X-Men-centric season of Marvel Snap, though with Wolverine a force in his own right, “Weapon X” is probably more rightly a Wolverine-centric season. As such, given the card’s usual spot in either Destroy or Discard decks, those are the archetypes into which a lot of this season’s cards fit. Will those archetypes dominate and benefit the way Move did last season? Before diving into the next batch of cards, let’s take a look at how the “Arachnid Anarchy” season shook out.

1. Web Sling (3) — Not surprisingly, the pure Move card did well in the Move-focused season.
2. Superior Spider-Man (7) — Ramp decks are experiencing a bit of a renaissance at the moment, likely supporting this card.
3. Spider-Man Noir (9) — It’s almost not worth ranking this one; the original version was so bad it already got a major rework. Its stats relative to the rest of the season are a result of that rework.
4. Spider-Punk (4) — This is certainly the card from “Arachnid Anarchy” that is played against me the most – thought being the Season Pass and and able to provide value outside Move helps.
5. Prowler (6) — Has found a decent spot for itself in a Kate Bishop-style role.
6. Man-Spider (5) — Probably the most fun card of the season but it falls so hard to tech it’s hard to rely on.
7. Chameleon (1) — Well, *I* love it as a useful tool in Cerebro 3 decks.
8. Deafening Chord (2) — Still think this card is better than its current numbers. It may have just gotten crowded out and will find its place later.
9. Hydro-Man (10) — About as bad as expected, though the push to play 5-cost cards with Chamber has at least increased its presence if not its capabilities.
10. Ezekiel Sims (8) — Like Deafening Chord, this not-terrible card may be just be struggling to push itself into Move decks in favor of more established elements.

Destroy and Discard metas — and that’s clearly what we’re going to get this season based on the cards being released — aren’t always the most popular (a lot of players find them boring). I’ve long held a soft spot for Discard and am excited to try some of these new cards, and I can’t deny there’s a primal pleasure in just blowing up a bunch of cards.

More interesting, though, is the way a subset of this season’s cards seem to be pushing a Discard/Destroy hybrid. While it wasn’t uncommon in the game’s earlier days to see Wolverine slotted into a Discard deck, it got pushed out as more targeted Discard cards were added. Marrow, Wild Child and Fantomex are all geared toward supporting a Discard/Destroy hybrid (with support from Aurora). Will it be enough to launch a new archetype?

Here’s where the rank the season’s cards.

1. Fastball Special — It’s just a Destroy tool, but a powerful one. Under the right circumstances, it can singlehandedly win a lane. And it could be applicable outside of Destroy as well.
2. Adamantium Infusion — Another “Destroy” only card, it has the advantage of being useful across multiple flavors of Destroy (imagine a T4 Shuri, T5 Nimrod, T6 Fastball Special & Adamantium Infusion playline).
3. Maverick — One of the season’s few non Destroy/Discard cards, this ranks high because it’s a 3-cost, which means Surfer decks. The way it functions as a transition card — taking a buff but also passing that buff along to the next card — will likely make it a must-play in Surfer. As someone who hates playing against Surfer, I am not looking forward to that week.
4. Weapon X — A Season Pass card that gets the nod more for what it is — the titular card — and less for what it can do, this is a card that will likely play better in lower ranks than higher ones, where its ability to hold down a lane is more easily countered.
5. Weapon H — Nothing wrong with a cheap 14 power card and/or an alternate Dracula target to Apocalypse.
6. Chamber — I’m cheating a little bit, writing this column later in the season than usual and thus having watched Chamber create a whole new 5-cost-focused Ramp archetype, but that’s more a case of Chamber making players realize there’s a lot of useful 5-cost cards worth getting out early than it is a statement of Chamber being a powerful card in its own right.
7. Wild Child — Easily the best of the hybrid Discard/Destroy cards, it’s an easy 2/9 in such a deck and being an Ongoing, can be played for full value on turn 6.
8. Aurora — Not sure yet if this will be the next Spectrum or the next pre-rework Spider-Man Noir.
9. Fantomex — More powerful than Wild Child but also cludgier; as a 4-cost Activate, the window to play it for full value is limited.
10. Marrow — The new (original) Black Cat, in that it’s a card that is more valuable not being played than played.
11. Wade Wilson — Another card that might play better in lower ranks. As is, it’s not a bad card, but it’s not good enough to dislodge any of the standard cards in the basic Destroy build in which it would fit best.