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Quite frankly, it’s been a long time coming. Squirrel Girl was always supposed to be a meta-dominating threat...
Marvel Snap’s Zoo deck has been a mainstay of the new player journey since Wave was headlining the closed beta season pass. Ant-Man, Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel enter your collection within a few games of learning how to play and form the backbone of this linear strategy. Look to fill all your locations with small bodies and then bump them all up with anthem effects. Easy, right?
This archetype used to fall off dramatically as opponents unlocked Killmonger in Series/Pool 2. However, several of the games newest cards help to champion a return of this fan-favourite deck – primarily Gilgamesh, the Season Pass card from The Celestial’s Finest. Thanks to this rejuvenation, we’re seeing Shanna and friends all over the Infinite Rank once again with some very impressive results.
Today, we’re going to review what the current version of the Zoo Deck looks like, the cards you need to make it work, and the matchups you’re hoping to see or avoid to find success playing it yourself.
What Is Marvel Snap’s Zoo Deck?
See, Gilgamesh made such a big difference that we’ve renamed the whole archetype after him!
At the highest levels of the Infinite Rank, the Gilgamesh Zoo deck holds itself firmly in the top level of our Tier List and is far and away the most popular deck amongst those in the A Tier with a whopping 9.2% share. Despite that popularity, Gilgamesh Zoo is in contention for the highest average cubes and winrate in all of Marvel Snap, only losing out to the Namora shells at the very top of the tier list. For an archetype many would consider budget friendly, that’s one hell of a testament to its power level!
Key Cards
There’s a wide selection of cards that are auto-includes if you’re looking to build the Zoo deck:
To the surprise of nobody, the heavy hitter is Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh rewards you for doing everything this deck already wanted to do with a gigantic body that rivals Red Hulk. That’s often enough to win a location all by itself, even if it rarely needs to do so. Gilgamesh really is the reason to play this deck right now, so I can’t recommend doing so if you skipped out on The Celestial’s Finest.
Thankfully, most of the other cards you’ll need have been in your collection since the start. Blue Marvel and Ka-Zar are here to anthem up all your smaller characters and turbocharge Gilgamesh. Ant-Man wants to be at a full location and also adds a little juice to the namesake card, while Squirrel Girl is just the cheapest and most efficient way to create multiple characters that can all be buffed up by Ka-Zar (often doing so alongside Shanna).
Finally, Dazzler is the ultimate reward for filling up every location – something that’s very easy for us to do each game. She’s locked inside Series 3 and doesn’t see heavy play outside this specific deck, which does leave some players without her. While she’s not mandatory like Gilgamesh, I would consider spending your free Series 3 card on Dazzler this month if you want to play the Zoo deck on the ladder.
Best Deck Lists
Highest Cube Average has always been my preferred metric to measure a deck’s success, so let’s take a look at the Gilgamesh Zoo decklists that are raking them in for top players:
The top contender is supplementing our core game plan with a whole lot more beef. Mojo is yet another card that rewards us for stacking up a lane and discourages our opponent from doing so, whilst Cull Obsidian and Mockingbird reward us with more above-rate characters for meeting their conditions with ease. We’re just looking to go all-in on the sheer amount of points we can distribute on board above all else (with some bonus flexibility and location toolboxing from Nocturne, who can prevent Squirrel Girl or Shanna from filling a location forever if you don‘t want to)
In contrast, the second-best performing list sacrifices some of that beef for more points of interaction. Caiera is a pivotal tool in keeping natural predators like Killmonger and Shang-Chi at bay and keep Dazzler and Gilgamesh at their largest sizes at the end of turn 6. Shadow King offers a way to push back at decks including cards like Thena and Angela that may be able to contest the amount of stats we put into play. We also don’t have to be mindful of where we put it, as all of our buffs increase base power passively instead of overwriting it.
I think both of these options are fantastic choices currently, and you should choose one based on the metagame bubble you find yourself in. Lots of anti-zoo tech? Go with Caiera. Opponents playing on your level with Makaari and Annihilus? Slam those stats instead.
Good and bad matchups with Gilgamesh Zoo
Well, wouldn’t you know it – we've got a brand-new matchup matrix here on Untapped.gg with over 210,000 games of data at the highest Infinite Ranks (and over ONE MILLION games at lower ranks. SHEESH).
You can find it in all its glory right here if you’d like to study some other criteria, but we’ll use it to take a closer look at the Zoo deck with the same criteria as before.
We’ve got the slightest of edges over the various Namora shells, and are overwhelmingly dominant against Shuri. Having a positive cube average into both of the other top contenders is a slam dunk if you’re bumping into them all over the ladder. We also have a great matchup into the various Makkari shells built around Sandman – after all, we’re happy playing one big card on turns 5 and 6. The board is already full!
In exchange, we have to struggle against the decks most likely to pack Killmonger and/or Shang-Chi. Silver Surfer has been growing in popularity as of late and the deck is a natural home for the knife-slinging three-cost. Cerebro-3 and Destroy are a similar story, with the former likely to be playing both of our predicted problem cards if deemed necessary. As a result, you may consider a different deck choice if you’re regularly seeing those on the other side of the board.
Beyond those matchups, the Gilgamesh Zoo deck has a resounding matchup spread with positive cube averages against nearly every other top contender. I can see it remaining toward the top of the mountain for some time to come.
Final Thoughts:
It’s lovely to see a longtime stalwart of Marvel Snap at the top of the metagame. Zoo plays a mostly fair game fundamentally and has obvious pain points if you’re looking to defeat it – those are great criteria for any ”best deck” to have. Hopefully, this guide gives you a more rounded idea of the do’s-and-don'ts if you’re looking to pick it up.
But what do you think? Is Gilgamesh Zoo here to stay? Let us know your thoughts over at @UntappedSnap on Twitter/X. Alternatively, come and chat with the wider Marvel Snap Community in our Discord Server!
If you’d like an extra helping of me, you can find me over at @HowlingMines for all things card games. You also may find me on the Ranked ladder. You’ve been warned!
Until next time – I've been HowlingMines, you’ve been amazing.
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