5 great decks to use for Marvel SNAP’s new Featured Location, Valley of the Hand

Marvel SNAP rolled out the first Featured Location of its new Big in Japan season, Valley of the Hand, and we’re sneaking in with some awesome decks for you to try out there. Featured Locations, for those unaware, typically change over on Tuesdays and make a specific Location more likely to appear. They are usually worth some deck adjustments if you’re looking to win some matches.

Let’s take a look at some great deck lists to give you a helping… hand while Valley of the Hand is the Featured Location, though all of these decks will work to your benefit whenever you encounter the Valley of the Hand Location in the future.

What is the significance of the Valley of the Hand in Marvel lore?

Before we can discuss the Valley of the Hand, we need to examine who “The Hand” is. They are a secretive group of ninja warriors and definitely #NotACult. Some claim the group formed in the 16th century when a young Kagenobu Yoshioka, who had know much tragedy and heartache in his young life, including finding his mother brutally murdered. After a life of wandering, he joined the Ishiyama Sword School. Many years later, his dying teacher charged him to take over the school. Yoshioka saw this as his opportunity. Taking his best warriors, he formed the Hand. He used his personal emblem — a bloodied handprint from the violent loss of his mother — as the inspiration for the name of the group and much of its symbology.

The Valley of the Hand is the ancestral home and base of operations for the organization. It is a mist-shrouded valley located between the the mountains of Mercy and Wrath in Japan. Those who dared enter the valley without permission faced a quick death. That didn’t stop a young warrior named Gorgon from seeking them out in Wolverine v3 #26. The Hand found him a formidable foe and quickly accepted him into their ranks.  They would later set their sites on New York where they would cross blades with Electra in in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #424, and they even tried to forge an alliance with longtime Iron-Man foe, the Mandarin, in Uncanny X-Men v1 #256.

What’s the key to winning when the Valley of the Hand is up?

The Valley of the Hand provides a revive effect for your destroyed cards on turn five. This means you need to have destroyed some cards on turns one through four to get the most out of it. The timing is interesting. The cards are revived after turn five is over. Also, cards that are destroyed but return to your hand, like Sabertooth and Deadpool, don’t count. Valley of the Hand will not revive them. One important consideration is that if you destroy your opponent’s cards, they get revived as well. Yondu, Electra, and Spider-Man 3099 might not be great picks while the Valley of the Hand is your location.

Great decks to use on the Valley of the Hand

Standard Destroy

Deck code:

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This is the Deadpool, Bucky, Sabertooth, Carnage package. It’s got all your standard Destroy tools.

Move Destroy

Deck code:

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This is a high variance deck, but when it hits, it will be one of the best with the Location. Your goal is to destroy Multiple Man, then Phoenix Force him. Valley of the Hand then revives Multiple Man giving you another one to move around the board. You also get access to Nimrod as a backup plan.

Draken and his Lady

Deck code:

eyJOYW1lIjoibGFkeSBEZXN0cm95IiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5vdmEifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IllvbmR1In0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJCdWNreUJhcm5lcyJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQ2FybmFnZSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiV29sdmVyaW5lIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJLaWxsbW9uZ2VyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJWZW5vbSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRGFrZW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRlYXRobG9rIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJMYWR5RGVhdGhzdHJpa2UifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IktudWxsIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJEZWF0aCJ9XX0=

This takes the standard Destroy shell and adds new of the newest cards introduced to Marvel SNAP: Draken and Lady Deathstrike. Both of these cards have strong Destroy synergies, and Lady Deathstrike is the first card in Marvel SNAP than can counter your opponent’s Dracula.

Negative Destroy

Deck code:

eyJOYW1lIjoiRGFrZW5lZ2F0aXZlIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlBzeWxvY2tlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJDYXJuYWdlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJXb2x2ZXJpbmUifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik15c3RpcXVlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNYWdpayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiVmVub20ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRha2VuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNck5lZ2F0aXZlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJJcm9uTWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJOaW1yb2QifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFybmltWm9sYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiS251bGwifV19

If you’ve been following my posts for any length of time, you know of my love for the incredibly fun, but rarely ever better than Tier 3, Mr. Negative Decks. This decks takes the Mr. Negative shell and grafts him into a Destroy package. You still get Mr. Negative staples like Iron Man and Mystique. You can even use Carnage to take the -1 Power Mr. Negative off the board.

Counter Destroy

Deck code:

eyJOYW1lIjoiT25nb2luZyBLYXpvbyIsIkNhcmRzIjpbeyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBbnRNYW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkljZW1hbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTmlnaHRjcmF3bGVyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJSb2NrZXRSYWNjb29uIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBcm1vciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTXJGYW50YXN0aWMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkNvc21vIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJLYVphciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTmFtb3IifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Iklyb25NYW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkJsdWVNYXJ2ZWwifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlNwZWN0cnVtIn1dfQ==

I expect you’ll see a ton of Destroy themed decks over the next couple of days. This deck features Armor and Cosmo, two cards that make it difficult for Destroy decks to execute their gameplan.

What are your ideas?

Destroy has been a staple archetype for the entirety of SNAP’s existence and is an essential part of nearly every metagame. You could play almost any Destroy themed deck and be fine regardless if you get Valley of the Hand in your Location pool or not. That’s a good thing because even as the Featured Location, there will still be matches that you don’t see Valley of the Hand. You have to make sure your deck is flexible enough that you don’t have to retreat if you don’t get Valley of the Hand in your Location pool.

Whether Valley of the Hand is in your Location pool due to the event, one of the randomly chosen ones after the event, hopefully these decks and tips help you win!

What other great decks have you used with Valley of the Hand? Let us know in the comments.