What to do with Muse
Muse is a serial killer that uses the blood and bodies of his victims to create public art displays. Will the Marvel Snap card give your Destroy decks an artistic flourish or will Muse feel derivative? Here's everything I'm excited to try with Muse!
The Many Flavors of Destroy
Muse will obviously be played alongside cards that can destroy and, since he only counts your own cards, we need things that we want to destroy. But there are a lot of different ways to play a capital D, Destroy deck beyond classic Deadpool. Historically, the newer Destroy sub-archetypes haven't often stood up to classic Deadpool Destroy, but Muse could be the piece needed to pull some decks up.
There aren't necessarily clear borders between the sub-archetypes, and some cards like Dormammu and Weapon X work best together, while others are more distinct. For each of the following sub-archetypes I went to untapped.gg, snapcomplete.com, and snap.fan to find the most successful existing version of that archetype and then changed whatever I felt was necessary to fit in Muse.
Classic Deadpool Destroy
New Destroy cards don't make the cut in Deadpool Destroy. Or at least that's the conventional wisdom. I actually believe Muse has a decent change. A couple seasons ago Knull got the boot in favor of overpowered Season Pass card Shou-Lao, and Muse might take his place now. Here's the thing about Knull. He's kinda bad in Deadpool Destroy. Sure there are games where you have 7 Energy on the last turn to play Deadpool, free Death, and Knull, but those games are few and far between. More often, you're left with Knull as a predictable single lane play. Muse is a better Moira target, can be played out early for more Power late, and might just be enough Power to justify more flexibility on the final Turn.
Thanos Death Bird
Muse has a chance to revive older sub-archetypes like Thanos Deathbird. Is Muse better than Weapon X Wolverine in a list like this? He certainly feels more reliable. 3/12 is the best case scenario for Muse, but there will be games that 3/9 Muse feels plenty good in a deck like this that can put out hefty Power otherwise. Again, Knull gets cut here in favor of Power that can be spread around.
MLF
Airwalker is the cut from this Morgan Le Fay deck. Here's the thing about Fantomex. He's not the most important card in his own decks. I'd rather have extra Power than slightly higher instance of hitting Fantomex in time. Plus, we can cut Archangel for Angel for a little bit of thinning (though Archangel is quite good and there are probably decks for him and Muse together).
Dormammu / Weapon X
Again, Knull might represent more raw Power, but Muse lets us place our power around in a more modular way while giving more of a laser focus on getting a big Dormammu out instead of a big Knull as a plan B.
Peef
Muse doesn't benefit from being revived by Phoenix Force like Sage, Cassandra, and DotM, bu he's an excellent Mother Askani target and can also be played out on the last Turn in a list like this.
Nimrod
To build a Nimrod list with Muse, it makes the most sense to take out the Panther/Zola line and tighten our focus on Nimrods production. There are plenty of good 7-Energy combinations available for Turn 7.
Cards to Amplify Muse
The key advantage Ongoing cards have is that they can be boosted by cards like Moonstone, and they're not vulnerable to Shadow King (who can be tough for Destroy decks). I love the idea of using Moonstone with Muse, but the other boosting options are probably to award to fit into a deck that is trying to Destroy a bunch of cards.
Is He Worth It?
Destroy is a famously crowded archetype and new cards have a tough time breaking into the top 12 of any given archetype, especially the classic Destroy lists. But 3/12 is good value for any deck that can reliably access it and this is one of the few new Destroy cards that I think might be able to elbow its way into this crowded archetype. He's not a slam dunk, so you might want to wait till the end of the week to see what the community has cooked up if you're tight on resources.
Of course, a new card isn't all about how it fits into existing archetypes. Could Muse bring about a new sub-archetype of his own? For the answer to that, subscribe today and check out the three novel Muse decks below!
Scott's Muse Decks
Moon Muse
We might not always get our Muse to 12 Power in a deck like this, but a 3/9 that can be doubled sounds pretty good! Something like this might be especially good if other, similar decks (Mother Askani combo stuff, Gambit Horseman) get changed in an upcoming OTA.
MLF Aurora
The ceiling has always been there for MLF/Black Swan, but the consistency just isn't quite there. Still, a nice 20+ Power final turn, with Power placed wherever it's needed, sounds pretty fun!
Super Knull
Mystique doesn't often see play alongside Knull for understandable reasons. She doesn't Destroy stuff and he costs a lot! But Supergiant or X-23 can let us copy Knull (or Muse in a pinch) with Mystique for a nice little surprise, especially against opposing Destroy decks.
Killy Surfer
Surfer Destroy has long been a dream. It probably still remains a dream, but playing the 1-Costs that benefit Maverick and his pals, while still feeling good about playing Killmonger, is quite attractive in this meta.
Amuse Me
Ok, so this isn't a novel sub-archetype, it's just the latest way to leverage the devourer of worlds. On the scale of Galactus decks, this one is pretty telegraphed, but it's always fun to do the Destroyer head fake against an opponent that thinks they've got your number.
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