The main purpose of War Machine inMarvel Snapis to work as a counter card, specifically targeting lock down decks and locations. This is due to War Machine’s on reveal ability, which allows you to play anything anywhere next turn, as long as you have the energy to do so.
Yet that ability is one you can build your deck around, since, unlike Shang-Chi or Enchantress, War Machine isn’t exclusively reactionary. A deck focusing on War Machine’s ability is one that wants to lock down several locations, letting only you play in those flooded places.
7Storm
The Central Piece Of The Deck
A deck heavily focused on War Machine’s ability works like a Mr. Negative deck, in the sense that you need to draw your key pieces if you want to win. In this case, that key piece would be Storm, since she’s a cheap card that can prevent a location from being developed by your opponent.
Professor X is another card that locks down locations, but he’s hard to work around with War Machine considering his cost.
Storm replaces a location with a flooding one, making the flooding complete on the next turn and not letting anyone play any more cards there. The idea is to flood somewhere early, then gain access to that location with War Machine and play whatever you want there.
6Nebula And Jeff
Storm’s Loyal Companions
You won’t always be able to pull off the Storm and War Machine combo, either because you flooded too late or you didn’t draw War Machine. In those scenarios, you’d want ways to add power to the unplayable areas, hence why Nebula and Jeff are ideal for the deck.
Nebula gains powerif your opponent doesn’t play a card at her location, so flooding the place Nebula is in is ideal. Jeff, on the other hand, doesn’t need War Machine to be played anywhere, so he can add his small power to edge out your opponent and steal the win.
5Ms. Marvel
Adding Power Everywhere
With or without War Machine, you’re going to need a way to have power in at least two locations. Ms. Marvel allows you to send extra powerto places you can’t normally reach, as long as you meet your condition; doing so makes her a mini Doctor Doom.
Yet having Ms. Marvel on your deck will make you play differently, since no matter if you draw her or not, you need to play around the possibility of her being in play. This is because her ability can only trigger if two or more cards are in adjacent locations, and if those cards are of different costs, so if you don’t play accordingly and draw her at the final turn, she becomes a dead draw.
4Ebony Maw
Disregard His Text
Ebony Maw brings a lot of power for only one energy, but alongside that power come plenty of restrictions. He can’t be played after the third turn, and once placed, his ongoing ability makes it so you’re able to’t play any more cards at his location.
War Machine ignores all of Ebony Maw’s abilities, both in hand and while in play. The turn after playing War Machine, you can either add cards to Ebony Maw’s location, or play him while ignoring his restrictions; the swing a late game Ebony Maw can make is often enough to win you any game.
3Absorbing Man
Double The Floods
Absorbing Man is often included in combo decks, since his ability to copy on reveal abilities can make him quite the powerhouse. His main use is to copy Storm, letting you close off two locations and enter them on the final turn thanks to War Machine.
If you plan on using plenty of 4-cost cards, consider adding Zabu.
Alternatively, you’re able to play War Machine on turn four, followed by Absorbing Man and Ebony Maw on turn five, allowing you to surprise your opponent with high power plays in multiple turns, and baiting things like Professor X by making them think you can’t enter his location.
2Grand Master
No One Expects The Master
Grand Master serves a similar purpose as Absorbing Man, but the Master’s way of doing it is slightly different. Instead of copying an on reveal ability, Grand Master moves a card with an on reveal ability to the middle location, and then makes it do that on reveal ability again.
Much like Ms. Marvel, having Grand Master on your deckwill make you play differently, even if you haven’t drawn him yet. Particularly, you’ll want to focus Storm and/or War Machine placements to the side locations, since Grand Master has no effect on cards already in the middle.
1Dracula, Giganto And The Infinaut
A Big Finish
Giganto and The Infinaut have a lot in common, being the highest power cards for six energy, and being highly restrictive in how they can be played. Giganto can only be played on the left location, and The Infinaut is only playable after skipping a turn, but with War Machine all those restrictions are out the window.
Yet even with the restrictions gone, you’ll often have to choose between playing one card or the other, hence why Dracula is included here. Dracula discards one of your cards and gains its power, so whatever you left in your hand (maybe both big boys if War Machine wasn’t played) will add its tremendous power to the popular vampire.
