Arnim Zola is an infamous scientist and the right hand man of Red Skull. He’s the culprit behind a lot of bad deeds that Hydra has committed, but in Marvel Snap he’s a really useful card with an interesting ability.
Arnim Zola’s effect destroys a single card on a location, and then adds 2 copies of that card to other locations. We can see that his effect pairs best with really powerful cards, or cards with really good On Reveal effects, that can get you a lot of value.
We’re going to take a look at some of the best decks that rely on Arnim Zola. It’s good to keep in mind that he’s not one of the most meta-deciding cards in the game, but he’s still a really fun card that opens up a lot of possibilities for fun and interesting plays. He was dominating the meta a while back, when Black Panther was just released, but now, Arnim Zola finds his place a good alternate win condition in a lot of decks.
5.Mister Negative Galactus
This deck is by no means a viable option for climbing, since it relies on a lot of your plays falling perfectly into place and it’s vastly inconsistent. However, Galactus and Mister Negative are a fun combo, and I love seeing fun decks like this that make you have to think out every part of the game, to have a chance at success.
This deck has multiple win conditions, and it doesn’t rely solely on Galactus like most other Galactus decks. Galactus is a niche win condition that can come in useful once every few games, but he’s not the main card that will bring you cubes. Arnim Zola actually plays a really big part in this deck, especially if you swap his power and cost with Mister Negative, he’s able to make really good cards like Black Panther and Knull even better! Or, an alternate way to win the game, would be playing Nimrod and then Arnim Zola to swarm the board with Nimrods and, hopefully, overpower your opponent.
What This Deck Excels At:
- It’s a fun and unique strategy, that’s why your opponents won’t know what to expect, since this isn’t a popular meta deck, but rather a versatile Mister Negative deck, keep in mind that like all other Mister Negative decks, this deck can be inconsistent and you shouldn’t shy away from retreating if you think your hand won’t cut it
- Arnim Zola is a key card in this deck, since he pairs great with a lot of cards like: Venom, who can grow really big if he destroys a lot of things, Black Panther, who will almost certainly be bringing you a lot of power whenever you play him, Nimrod, who can swarm the board and in rare cases - Knull who will benefit a lot from being destroyed and replayed twice
- Galactus is a useful card that you can often play out on the 5th turn (if you draw it by then), and then you can place all of your powerful cards that have had their power swapped on that single location and overpower your opponent
- Psylocke and Zabu are great at helping you play Mister Negative a turn earlier, to get even more value from his effect, but they can also be used solely for bringing out Galactus earlier like Electro
Card List:
- Psylocke
- Wolverine
- Zabu
- Venom
- Electro
- Mister Negative
- Shuri
- Black Panther
- Nimrod
- Arnim Zola
- Knull
- Galactus
4.DeathPool Knull
This is a good Destroy list with a lot of the cards necessary to play a good destroy deck that can reliably play out a powerful Deadpool and Death each game. You’ll always have some useful cards in your hand and be able to do some combos early in the game to get the lead, and then you can finish the game off with cards like Death, Knull and Arnim Zola.
The goal with this deck is to destroy cards as much as possible in the early game, to proc useful effects from cards like Deadpool and Bucky Barnes, while also lowering the cost of Death and increasing the power of Knull for the late game. Arnim Zola’s role here is to duplicate either Knull or Death (preferably Knull) at the end of the game, you have Magik in the deck, to make that a little easier for you to pull of, but beware, since you need to leave a location empty with only the card you want to copy there, so that you can copy the most powerful card available at that moment.
What This Deck Excels At:
- This deck is really good at setting your board up early, while also making your late game plays more consistent as you keep destroying cards
- Deadpool can be a really good option to play out on turn 7, since you’ll be able to play a 6-cost like Arnim Zola and Knull alongside your, hopefully, buffed up Deadpool
- Death is really consistent in this deck, since almost every turn you’re going to be destroying something on the board
- Knull can grow to really high power in this deck for the same reason as Death, and he is a great card to combo with Arnim Zola, since the power of the Knull that’s going to get destroyed by Arnim Zola, gets added to the 2 new Knulls that are going to get added to the board
- Magik is a really good card in this deck, and she will give you a lot of value each time you draw her before turn 6, she makes it possible for you to play Knull and Arnim Zola in the same game, and she also sets it up so that you can play a 6-cost card and Deadpool on turn 7 to finish the game off
Card List:
- Deadpool
- Nova
- Yondu
- Bucky Barnes
- Carnage
- Venom
- Killmonger
- Deathlok
- Magik
- Arnim Zola
- Knull
- Death
3.Wong Panther Zola
This is a fun deck that doesn’t require too many pool 3 cards to run it. The main card that generates a lot of value in this deck is Wong - he makes cards like Black Panther, Arnim Zola and Doctor Doom which already give you a lot of power on the board, generate even more value.
Like mentioned above, the cards that you use for generating value are Black Panther, Arnim Zola and Doctor Doom. Your deck is built around making sure that you’re able to get even more value from these cards, while also being able to restrict your opponent’s playstyle enough for them to be unable to overpower you. Storm and Goose are good cards that can prevent your opponent from being able to play out powerful cards on those locations, while Arnim Zola and Doctor Doom are still able to give you more power on those ‘restricted’ locations. If you also manage to play Wong, you’re almost surely going to overpower your opponent, just beware of unwanted Cosmos that can shut down your main combo.
What This Deck Excels At:
- Goose and Storm can lockdown some locations and make it so that your opponent can’t easily get a lot of power there, while your powerful cards can still get you power there
- Playing Black Panther on a location with Wong, will get you a lot of power to that location, but that’s not all, since you can play Arnim Zola there next turn (he will also have his effect activate twice) and destroy both Wong and Black Panther to make his effect trigger again - this almost surely gives you enough power to overpower your opponent unless they have some specific tech cards that can counter you
- Doctor Doom pairs extremely well with the control that this deck has, since if you lockdown locations early, your opponent won’t be able to get more power to those locations, while DoomBots will be able to secure you some more power
- Arnim Zola can also be used in combination with Doctor Doom, to give you a lot of 5 power bodies on the board on the last turn of the game, however, this is only possible if you’ve played Magik already and extended the game to 7 turns
Card List:
- Ebony Maw
- Goose
- Okoye
- Nakia
- Storm
- Wong
- Jessica Jones
- White Tiger
- Magik
- Black Panther
- Arnim Zola
- Doctor Doom
2.Nimrod Destroyer
This deck is based around giving you multiple win conditions on turn 6, with a properly set up board. You have two distinctly different win conditions that don’t mix too well, in the form of Black Panther and Arnim Zola, and Destroyer, Shuri and Nimrod. This deck requires a lot of planning ahead like any Destroyer deck, but this one is even more inconsistent since you’re not playing Armor and Professor X who can prevent Destroyer’s downside.
Since you have Electro, you can be a bit more flexible with your late game plays, since you can play out two 6-cost cards. You have some really nice combos with Wong since this list is pretty similar to the previous deck that was featured on the list. Your most consistent win condition is surprisingly playing Shuri out early in the game and then playing Nimrod and swarming the board with him. Destroyer is really useful in those situations, since your opponent can’t reliably overpower Destroyer and two Nimrods with 10 power each if you’ve set up the board with Storm previously.
What This Deck Excels At:
- This deck can be played like a usual Black Panther and Wong list, but it also has a different win condition in the form of Destroyer
- Nimrod is a great card in this deck, since you can pair him up with Shuri and destroy him a few times to get the most out of him, whether you’re destroying him with Arnim Zola or Destroyer makes a huge difference, so don’t get carried away and make sure that you can calculate your opponent’s power before playing Destroyer
- Doctor Doom is a really great and versatile card that can get you 5 power on all locations, this goes a long way, especially against control decks that don’t expect you to be able to go wide on the last turn of the game
- Zabu can help you play out your important cards like Shuri and Wong early and Electro is great for games when you need to play out two 6-cost cards like Doctor Doom and Arnim Zola, which can get you a lot of value
Card List:
- Sunspot
- Zabu
- Electro
- Storm
- Shuri
- Wong
- Black Panther
- Nimrod
- Arnim Zola
- Doctor Doom
- America Chavez
- Destroyer
1.Electro Sandman Ramp
The best use for Arnim Zola, lies exactly in Electro Sandman Ramp decks. As you can see, the goal of this deck is playing Electro, then Sandman to make both players be able to play 1 card per turn, while your deck is built around playing powerful cards each turn and overpowering your opponent.
You have a lot of powerful 6-cost cards in this deck that work well together. Electro makes it possible to play out two 6-cost cards on turns 5 and 6, while your opponent will probably be heavily impaired by the 1-card-per-turn rule that Sandman will create. Playing Leech early in the game, makes Leader a great play for the last turn. Doctor Doom and Odin can swarm your entire board with DoomBoots and Arnim Zola works great with Black Panther, and Doctor Doom.
What This Deck Excels At:
- Once you lock your opponent into playing only one card per turn, their deck is usually going to be significantly worse than it would be otherwise, while this deck thrives and needs to play only one big card each turn
- Aero on the last turn can win you the game as long as you’ve got Sandman on the board and are winning two locations. You can play her on the location that you’re losing anyway and move your opponent’s only card that they can play to it and make them lose the game
- Playing Doctor Doom and then Odin is a great way to get a lot of power on all locations. This combo will add 2 DoomBots with 5 power each to 2 locations, while also adding 13 power on the location with Doctor Doom and Odin
- Arnim Zola pairs really well with Black Panther, since after playing both of them, you’ll be left with 2 Black Panthers with 16 power each, which isn’t a small feat
- In some games, you can play Leech earlier in the game and then finish the game with Leader, who will copy the strongest card your opponent plays. Alternatively, if you have Sandman on the board, Leader will copy the only card that your opponent can play.
Card List:
- Ebony Maw
- Cloak
- Electro
- Wave
- Leech
- Sandman
- Black Panther
- Aero
- Arnim Zola
- Leader
- Doctor Doom
- Odin
You May Be Interested In:
- [Top 10] Marvel Snap Best Ongoing Decks For All Pools
- [Top 10] Marvel Snap Best Decks For The Current Season
- [Top 5] Marvel Snap Best Devil Dinosaur Decks And Why They're Good
- [Top 3] Marvel Snap Best Knull Decks And Why They're Good
- [Top 5] Marvel Snap Best Sera Decks And Why They're Good
- [Top 5] Marvel Snap Best Destroy Decks And Why They're Good
- [Top 3] Marvel Snap Best Galactus Decks And Why They're Good
- [Top 3] Marvel Snap Best Collector Decks And Why They're Good
- [Top 3] Marvel Snap Best Invisible Woman Decks And Why They're Good
