What to do with Punisher War Machine
If you thought James Rhodes could do some damage with the War Machine Armor, imagine what Frank Castle will do with it! Is the latest Snap card an irresponsible risk, like Nick Fury Jr. handing the armor over to the Punisher? The latest card in Marvel Snap is designed to get ahead fast and stay ahead to win the war. Here is everything I'm excited to try with the new Punisher War Machine card!
How Does He Actually Work?
Punisher War Machine is an Objective card, but he's a quirky one from an functional standpoint. When drawn, he'll mark a location, visible to both players, as soon as you draw him, but to get the extra Energy you will need to be winning the marked location and have PWM on board. In other words, if you're winning the lane at any time, including while he's in your hand, it will show the Objective as fulfilled (1/1), but that will drop back down to 0/1 at the start of the next turn if he's still in your hand. He will only choose an empty location, so if you use something like Squirrel Girl before you draw him, he won't choose a location at all.
How often will you draw him on Turn 1?
33%, a third of the time, you will draw Punisher War Machine on Turn 1. You could then play out your Martyr on Turn 1 and PWM on Turn 2 to get an immediate Energy boost for Turns 3-6. This situation is what makes PWM a truly threatening card. Your deck will need to be built for the other 66% too, but the best PWM decks will be built to win the marked location by playing him out on the second turn following a big 1-Drop. These decks will be nasty and allow aggressive snapping.
Location Winners
I've made the case for trying to win the marked location as early as possible and here are the cards that will be the best at achieving that.
Low-Cost, Big Power
Long a personal pet card of mine, even when she had 5-Power, the cat is out of the bag with Martyr. She's already been seeing a lot of play this season in Techno-Organic Virus decks, Shadowlands Daredevil decks, and decks playing both. Expect to see a ton of Martyr throughout next week. Yellowjacket is a sneaky way to get even more power out on an empty location. Will people begin playing Ebony Maw in an arms race to out-power all of the Martyrs?
Move and Win
Remember, unless Punisher War Machine is in your opening hand, you don't want to play one of your big 1-Cost cards because PWM will choose an empty lane. Nightcrawler can help solve that problem since we can just move Nightcrawler into the empty lane whenever we draw PWM. Bob may be too unreliable at this, but he's another moving option.
Turn 3 Winners
Because PWM is a 2-Cost, you will often want to curve out with Nightcrawler into PWM into a strong 3-Cost card to get the extra Energy for turns 4-6. Any PWM deck is going to want strong 1-Cost cards, but they'll include high-Power cards to play on Turn 3 as well. Martyr into Punisher War Machine into Wilson Fisk (with an energy to spare) is a very threatening line. Gladiator is probably a little too risky for the current meta, but that could change.
Extra Energy, but for What?
What are we spending all of this extra Energy on? It's tricky because our deck needs to be built to aggressively fulfill PWM’s Objective, but still have juice left to take advantage when we do.
Check out some of the cool play-lines I'm looking forward to pulling off with Punisher War Machine’s help.
4 Energy on Turn 3
- Marvel Boy + 1-Cost
- Debrii + Techno-Organic Virus
There are plenty of good 4-Cost cards to immediately ramp into. The real question will be how reliable your deck is at getting the extra Energy and how aggressively you want to build towards playing a 4-Cost on Turn 3. There are plenty of fun 3+1 plays as well, which is a less risky combination to build for.
5 Energy on Turn 4
The 5-Cost slot has some of the most powerful cards in the game, many of which become a lot better if you can play them out a turn early.
6 Energy on Turn 5
- Skip for fully free She-Hulk on Turn 6. Now with 100% less Limbo!
- 2 3-Cost cards in a Silver Surfer deck.
- Knull, ready to be Zola'd the next Turn.
There are a variety of powerful ways to use extra Energy on Turn 5, but the best will probably be just more cards rather than a specific 6-Energy combo.
7 Energy on Turn 6
- Juggernaut + Cosmo
- Silver Surfer + Absorbing Man
- Shadow King + Shang Chi
- Red Hulk + 1-Cost
There are so many ways to use your extra Energy on Turn 6, but tech becomes especially powerful when your opponent is forced to play around combos they don't normally see.
Scott's Punisher War Machine Decks
Sand Virus
Devil Virus
I am confident that PWM will be good in a Martyr/TOV package, the only question is if we go with an Ozymandias deck or if PWM will be consistent enough in a Shadowlands DD deck. Do not be afraid to play your Virus on the first Turn, if your PWM isn't in your hand yet!
Galactus with Martyr
Martyr has been one of my favorite Galactus cards for a while, with the way it secures priority and works so well with Fastball Special. PWM is basically taking Jennifer Kale's spot in this list and PWM's extra Energy makes me feel like I can fit Hobgoblin into the deck without losing a step. Venom plus Fastball Special is a powerful play to follow up with Galactus.
Movie Zombies
I'm planning to try non-Martyr concepts too, I swear. This deck is going to get extra Energy come hell or high water, whether it's from PWM, SSM, or both.
Galactus on the 1s and 2s
You may be shocked to learn it is actually legal to play Martyr without Techno-Organic Virus and Wiccan without Domino and Quicksilver. The game plan for this deck is simple: play a Galactus First Steps out on Turn 5 (or earlier) and either protect it or disrupt your opponent with Cosmo and Juggernaut.
War Boys
If everyone is playing Martyr, at a certain point it becomes necessary to play Ebony Maw to get ahead of them. Plus, how can we pass up a chance to build a deck with both War Machines?
Is He Worth It?
Not every deck can use PWM. Your deck needs to be built in a way to get use out of him. But I do think PWM will be a new Engine in a variety of top competitive decks and he won't be replaceable in those decks. You're going to want this card.
Below, supporters of Fourth Location will find 5 more Punisher War Machine decks, including a really sweet Dormammu/Morgan Le Fay deck I'm excited about. If you're planning to explore all of the interesting ways to leverage this powerful new engine, or if you're interested in supporting ad-free written Marvel Snap content, consider joining today! For even more PWM cooks, come join us in the kitchen channel on the Fourth Location Discord! Also, check out all the cool clips and conversations on our YouTube channel.
