This article will be about Cannonball decks and how it got me into the Infinite rank in Marvel Snap. Climbing the ladder is always fun and challenging, especially if you are a F2P player like myself. Not having the seasonal pass card is a bit of a handicap, but it can be easily overcome with right deck setup. Today, I wanted to share my experience on how I used Cannonball deck type and got from 78 to 100 in less than 48 hours. I will also provide some tips and deck archetype regarding this new card – let’s see what Cannonball has to offer!
Cannonball Strategies and Card Synergies
Let’s see what Cannoball actually does – the card text states “On Reveal: Move the highest-Power enemy card here away. If you can’t, destroy it with a Rock.” Let’s clarify that – so first off all, it will always be the strongest card, not the highest cost one. He won’t move negative cards (unless they are the only ones on a location). A stone will appear once Cannonball destroys a card (you can utlize this effect even more with Hazmat).
There are basically two types of cards that Cannonball works well with: Most offensive move cards and clogger cards. Since there are plenty of articles about Cannonball move deck, today I will just focus on cards that synergies with clogger/toxic deck archetype. For more info on similar decks, you can check my Annihilus deck guide. Anyway, bellow you will see the list of potential card synergies and uses:
- Nebula: A must have in most Cannoball decks. The reason is the predictability of your opponents play as you force them to play on that lane in order to prevent Nebula from getting enough power. This is especially efficient in clogger decks as it’s super easy to clog the lane with goblins or Debrii.
- The Hood: Another great card for clogger decks. Works perfectly with Annihilus. Even if you don’t manage to destroy it or toss it over to your opponent you still get +3 power.
- Hazmat: The whole point of this deck is to overwhelm opponents with stuff on his side of the board (rocks, goblins etc). It is safe to say the more often than not, your opponent will have more cards on his side of the board than you will. This is where Hazmat comes into play as his effect can tip the scales in your favor, especially if played on turns 5 or 6.
- Luke Cage: Since Hazmat is in the deck, Luke Cage is the obvious synergetic card that you should have. It is a very powerful combo, especially because you can play both of these cards in one turn.
- Debrii: Debrii is so cool to play and can completely mess up your opponents play. Plus, if you are in for some memeing time, you can always play her on Bar Sinister: That’s always fun, even if you lose!
- Green Goblin: I can’t say for sure, but I think that Green Goblin literally won at least 10 ranks just by opponents retreating on turn 3 after I play him. This card is a must for all toxic decks.
- Black Widow: Generally speaking, you want to put as many things as you can on your opponents side of the board in these decks. Black Widow helps with this, plus it is a nice tempo card as it can completely ruin opponents play on turn 3.
- Viper: Probably my favorite card of all times: 3 cost, 5 power and amazing on reveal effect that works marvelously with pretty much any card in this deck. Sometimes I even use her to toss Hazmat over if in doing so I clog the lane completely.
- Sentry: There’s no need to talk about this card too much as the synergy between him, Viper and/or Annihilus is obvious.
- Annihilus: The same thing can be said about Annihilus – it’s a staple card for clogger decks and a must have.
- Hobgoblin: Obviously, tossing a -8 is a good thing to do in clogger decks and Hobgoblin is another card that can help you with that. Although this card might seem like the strongest one, be sure how you use this as you don’t want it stuck on your side. Potentially, this card is the only one that is replaceable in the whole deck since you should be able to clog at least one lane before turn 5 and not risk him getting stuck on your side. You can use Typhoid Mary instead of Hobgoblin if you feel that you need more firepower.
Cannonball Decks Weaknesses
These decks have only one weakness: Destroy decks. The good thing is that, since you are climbing the ladder, you can simply retreat as soon as you see X-23 or Deadpool. There is only way to win against these decks, and that’s with aggressive clogging. If a location is in your favor (such as raptors or pretty much any location that puts cards on it) you can go for that. What you should never do is try to outpower Destroy decks – there is simply too many counters that you might face (like Killmonger) and you will surely lose the cubes if you try that.
Besides Destroy decks, there aren’t many weakness to this type of decks. Perhaps some locations, such as End the game on Turn 4 or Cards played here are destroyed can be a problem but there is a always a way around that.
Cannonball Clogger Deck
Key cards: The Hood, Nebula, Debrii, Green Goblin, Viper, The Sentry, Cannonball, Annihilus
Support cards: Hazmat, Black Widow, Luke Cage
Deck code:
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Ok so, time to see how this usually works. This is the ideal scenario: The Hood and/or Nebula or Turn 1 and 2. Black Widow, Debrii or Green Goblin on Turn 3 on the same location where Nebula is (usually middle or left as you don’t want to ruin your Sentry + Annihilus play). On Turn 4, you can go with either Sentry or any 3-power card that you have. It doesn’t matter that at this point it seems like you are loosing – also, snap! On turn 5, it’s Annihilus time if you have anything negative to toss over. If you don’t, go with any 3 power card and Hazmat (Hazmat first unless you have Luke Cage on the field, than it’s all the same). On turn 6, Cannonball should strike the location that your opponent is sure that they will win – and with some RNG luck, you should get the cubes easily.
Deck Analysis & Tips
Things don’t always go as planned, I know. Here are some tips on how to utilize this Cannonball deck most efficiently:
- Usually, you should save your Demon until turn 6 as you don’t want him to get hit by Killmonger and you don’t have any 6-cost cards in the deck .
- Play Nebula on a location where you asume your opponent doesn’t want to play on.
- Stones that you get from Debrii can be tossed over once you use Hazmat so don’t play Luge Cage until you toss them.
- Generally speaking, if you can choose, you should clog middle location to disrupt players ongoing abilities (like Ms.Marvel).
- Don’t be afraid to toss Hazmat or even Black Widow or Debrii. Your primary win condition is clogging effect.
- Sentry and Annihilus play is a very predictable one so try to avoid it if you can use Viper and Hazmat instead.
- Cannonball will always move the highest power card but keep in mind who has priority on a turn that you play him on
- Snap if you have Nebula on turn 1.
- Snap before you see that you can clog one lane (opponents will most likely retreat).
- Sometimes you would get a mirror deck to play against. In that case, NOT having priority is your main priority as you want your Annihilus to activate last.
- Try not to play anything on right location so that you can toss Void more easily or simply go for a win on remaining two locations.
- Snap if you see any kind of location that puts cards on it (Raptors, Monsters etc.)
Conclusion
Cannoball deck is like playing with fire, quiet literally. Often you would have negative cards, rocks and similar things on your side of the board and it might look like you are about to lose. This is actually your strongest weapon as opponents will often snap or have a false sense of security once this happens – not many players will expect Cannonball on turn 6. Whatever you do, you will surely have fun with this deck – in my experience, this is one of the most interesting decks that I have ever assembled. I hope this article helped: Good luck snapping!
Image Credits: Marvel Snap
