It's a brand new meta, which means it's a brand new day, and we're all going to get sick of those puns after about a week. This is the fun week. Everybody gets to experiment with new things and new cards. My first job is getting Aunt May's weekend missions done without giving up the flexibility I want from the deck.
Weekend missions mean playing Aunt May
You've got weekend missions to finish, and you need a deck for them because you're going to have to play Aunt May. Spider-Man Brand New Day is incredibly plug-and-play and flexible. Overall, I'll call him a better Nightcrawler, with niche instances when he isn't. His double move is a lot better than people realize for allocating power. Moving twice matters more than the plus one, especially in a deck that wants those movements to happen, like this Hydra Stomper idea.
I've gone back and forth with these Aunt May builds, and I already have a love-hate relationship with them. The hate side is winning, but you need to love the deck for at least a couple of games this weekend. In my testing, it felt like one card and one move at a time. That's not what a normal Hydra Stomper shell looks like. A normal shell has Silk moving around and ramping up the Hydra Stompers, plus the Sam Wilson Captain America shield that's already here. Replacing Silk to play Aunt May and chase the reductions makes the deck thick.
Hope Summers is the missing piece
I took a lesson from the Captain Carter combo decks: Hope Summers and that play line. I think it's the missing piece that makes this deck good and viable. Mary Jane could probably take Spider-Punk's slot, but I think that's a downgrade because of the Aunt May synergy. You could also remove Web Sling, but I'm a big Web Sling believer. I think he's incredibly underrated, and he's good in a deck with Hope Summers.
This is my favorite build right now. Aunt May has three big targets: Spider-Punk, Nocturne, and Vision. That's enough. She doesn't also need Rocket and Groot or Mercury. I first tried a Mercury and Cannonball shell. It worked, but the deck didn't need to keep destroying things once Hydra Stomper supplied enough points. With Hope Summers in the build, even one more energy on the final turn can let you play Vision plus Nocturne. It's a wide, unpredictable deck with a lot of green power.
Other Aunt May versions can work. You'll see the Mercury and Cannonball version do well, and you'll see builds that load up on every movable card. But if you want flexibility and points while finishing those missions, don't miss the energy from Hope Summers or the power of Web Sling.
Peni Parker on two means trouble
The move combos work. At the beginning of the meta, a scaling combo deck can still go over the top. The second I see Peni Parker on turn two, I know I'm in trouble. Over the previous three or four days, every time I saw Peni Parker on two, I lost. Zero hesitation. The combos in this Man-Spider Black Panther package are ridiculous.
This is my non-Magik variation of the Man-Spider Black Panther deck, with Jennifer Kale instead. Jennifer Kale and Luna Snow still give me the same lines, so I can pick and choose between big-ass Black Panthers and big-ass Man-Spiders. Either way, they're two big asses and another reason to say the words big ass. I expect the package to do incredibly well because it can put up a ridiculous number of points.
The reason I call it Mobius Free Points is Ravonna Renslayer. Man-Spider, Arnim Zola, and Taskmaster all become one cheaper. Luna Snow and Jennifer Kale are both in there too. For a climb without spending the weekend working out your favorite Spider-Man Brand New Day package, this is probably the safest type of build.
Shadow King is the counter I'm watching
These decks can be fragile to certain cards. Shadow King is probably the only one you need to worry about right now. Stardust isn't much of a problem, and players haven't started teching in Cosmo at the beginning of the meta. They haven't worked out the optimal deck for all the new cards yet. Once I know that deck, I need a counter for it. That cycle plays out a lot of the time, and about seven to ten days later, people start playing Cosmo again.
I'm not worried about Shang-Chi. I'm not worried about Valkyrie. And I'm definitely not worried about Gambit Horsemen of Death. Right now, Shadow King is the card that matters against this load of points.
Stormbunal starts with an opponent's idea
My third deck came from a version I faced once. I couldn't find the list anywhere afterward, so I rebuilt my own starting point. I still want to credit whoever created it if that person can be identified, because the idea is so silly that it's genius.
I'm calling it Stormbunal. It's my Living Tribunal variation for the beginning of the season. A lot of people like to play Living Tribunal decks then. I also just said there isn't much Cosmo around. An opponent took Beta Ray Bill into the 200-plus area, then played Living Tribunal and went crazy on me. I loved the play and had to make the idea work. I've got to say, it's good. Surprisingly good.
The deck has thinning, and Adam Warlock gives it extra draws. The setup I'm looking for is Firehair with Misery. That combination gives me more Stormbreaker procs than any expensive Wong-Odin combo. Psylocke is in here too. Hope Summers helps make sure there's enough energy on the final turns for the combos and Living Tribunal. The deck can put up a sneaky amount of points. You're building around Beta Ray Bill more than anything else, then getting enough power and dispersing it later.
To my regular commenter who loves Beta Ray Bill: this one's for you, man. The build still has a semi-classic Jane Foster Hammer Bros backup plan, but the Tribunal Bros are cool. Wong can take Thor's slot when you want to go all in. Silver Surfer First Steps can replace Psylocke. I tried several ideas in this build, and the result was silly, fun, and a ridiculous amount of power. This build is a starting point.
One important, one unfair, one new
This week has one important deck, one "oh dear god, that's unfair" deck, and one "oh, that's new" deck. Now is the time to experiment with the meta, figure out how to climb, do something different than last season, and have some fun with it. I walk through all three decks in the original episode.
