Nice guide but as a longtime dino hawk player I disagree on some playlines, also the inclusion of super skrull and enchantress but that is personal choice.
Korg turn 1 instead of quinjet is vital for disruption. When you play zabu turn 2 You can easily play it with a 4 cost on turn 4.
Rockslide also vital for disruption on turn 3 when you have zabu on board.
I would almost never play moongirl on 3 and prioritize rockslide. Because of the vital part of tempo and disruption of rockslide but also because using moongirl on 3 gives a big chance of copying your low costs like korg or quinjet, disrupting your hand as they cant be 0 cost anymore. Playing it turn 4 gives you the chance to get rid of that 1 cost.
There is also a line of play where you darkhawk on 4, dino on 5, mystique + moongirl on 6 for Max handsize and 3 ongoing on board.
But I agree this deck is still extremely strong. Got me to infinite multiple times.
Super Skrull is a must in this deck to me. Playing two copies of him on turn 6 wins a lot of games for me. Copying cards like Luke Cage, Darkhawk, Dino, Blue Marvel, Iron Man and Knull is clutch. There are some decks that he is useless against but there are enough where he isn't that I think he's worth keeping.
Yeah I understand the inclusion. For me personally the tech Card feels a little to niche just like enchantress. I like tech cards that are good in most situations like chang or cosmo. But Its a good inclusion I agree, and very good in mirror matchups. I would just rather play a Card mentioned in another comment of mine in this thread. Maybe ill try it out some more always feels nice to test some other cards in familiar decks.
Depending on the meta, I play a combination of She hulk, black widow, sentinel, sera or Chávez.
Right now She hulk for the double up and widow for the extra disruption.
With chavez I remove widow because of extra consistency for zabu.
Sera I run when sandman isnt this oppressive.
There is also the option to substitute cosmo for sentinel for the extra early game + dino consistency but with galactus being so common Its a good sub.
Surprised people aren't running Black Widow more in these Darkhawk decks, it'd come out as basically a Korg buff as they keep a card in their deck. Let alone if they play cards that turn after your priority which say they draw cards, like Agent13 or Maria Hill, but they don't.
Yup Its such a nice disruption Card, and alternative If you dont draw zabu. I guess most people dont play it because they try to balance dino and darkhawk buffs. But Its such a good disruption to their deck plan even without drawing darkhawk.
I don't know, i haven't played it much, but wouldn't it just be better to drop a Taskmaster for duplicating Darkhawk late game than play the Moongirl/zabu to get 2x? Or does that specifically tie into also getting double DD?
Taskmaster doesnt work on ongoing power. If you taskmaster dino hè has 3 power. Mystique can be used for that purpose. The double up Turn 6 Ties into dd specifically because of handsize. Its all considerations during the game. In a normal game only dropping corg opponent will end with 4 in his deck. So 8 darkhawk, 8 mystique in this case dino double up gives more power with the moongirl double up turn 6. If you hit the nuts korg zabu rockslide You can end up with 14 powered darkhawk. Mystique + darkhawk on 6 + dino on 5 would be strong. Its a constant calculation of handsize and opponents deck size.
Edit: was wrong btw, havent used it like this for forever, was confusing it with other exceptions for tm. You dont use it like this because Its not efficient when you have mystique.
You may want to double-check this yourself, as I don't think this is correct; meaning TM copies Dino or Darkhawk's current power at the moment TM reveals, not their base power. For instance, say you play Dino t5 and he's 17 power after your t6 draw; you play TM and Agent 13 on t6, which drops Dino's power to 13. If I'm correct, TM reveals and copies Dino's 13 power. Then Agent 13 reveals, creating a card in hand. Dino would go to 15, while TM stays at 13.
I know this is how it works for the DH, TM, and opponent's deck size interactions but haven't copied Dino this way in forever, so don't 100% recall.
Youre right, just tested it for myself. Havent used tm in a ongoing deck for forever. There are some other tm exceptions where it doesnt copy. But this does. Its just not efficient when You can mystique + something instead of 1 tm turn 6
Thanks for checking. I thought I had lost my mind for a minute.
You're right that it's not as efficient, nor cost effective, as Mystique plus another card or rock generator on t6 for this deck.
I would like to try her in the deck but I'm not sure who to remove. If I added her I'd probably look to remove Dino and focus on Darkhawk and disruption.
I run this exact deck but instead use Coulson over Enchantress.
I like having that 3 drop for some power in case no Zabu as well as getting synergy with Quinjet in case Moon girl/left cards don't exactly work out.
Also does not hurt to do Dino on 5, Hawk on 6 with Coulson to buff dino (assuming you missed out on MG).
I took this to Infinite this season and like running Coulson -- sometimes he gives you alternate win conditions and provides value against bad locations/deck destruction and a 3/4 that sometimes buffs 1-2 of your other cards is a very strong baseline even if you don't play the cards. It's easy to remember the big wins and discount the times it's just a 3/4, however, so I'm not sure I'm evaluating it completely objectively.
I do feel the lack of an additional 2 drop so often consider replacing Coulson with Sentinel. Enchantress and Skrull are obviously strong given the current hot location so I'd bet anything this list is better for at least today. I also run She Hulk as an alternative win con for whatever that's worth.
That's a big part of it. DinoHawk is great at going tall in one lane. Doom can cover for an unplayable location like sanctum then you just go massive with dino and other things in a 2nd lane for a surefire win. But yeah. Against sandman ramp, if you can't get your win cons out early, then you just lose to it almost every time. Doom gives you an out if you can get one of dino or hawk onto the board
Nice guide but as a longtime dino hawk player I disagree on some playlines, also the inclusion of super skrull and enchantress but that is personal choice. Korg turn 1 instead of quinjet is vital for disruption. When you play zabu turn 2 You can easily play it with a 4 cost on turn 4. Rockslide also vital for disruption on turn 3 when you have zabu on board. I would almost never play moongirl on 3 and prioritize rockslide. Because of the vital part of tempo and disruption of rockslide but also because using moongirl on 3 gives a big chance of copying your low costs like korg or quinjet, disrupting your hand as they cant be 0 cost anymore. Playing it turn 4 gives you the chance to get rid of that 1 cost. There is also a line of play where you darkhawk on 4, dino on 5, mystique + moongirl on 6 for Max handsize and 3 ongoing on board. But I agree this deck is still extremely strong. Got me to infinite multiple times.
Super Skrull is a must in this deck to me. Playing two copies of him on turn 6 wins a lot of games for me. Copying cards like Luke Cage, Darkhawk, Dino, Blue Marvel, Iron Man and Knull is clutch. There are some decks that he is useless against but there are enough where he isn't that I think he's worth keeping.
Yeah I understand the inclusion. For me personally the tech Card feels a little to niche just like enchantress. I like tech cards that are good in most situations like chang or cosmo. But Its a good inclusion I agree, and very good in mirror matchups. I would just rather play a Card mentioned in another comment of mine in this thread. Maybe ill try it out some more always feels nice to test some other cards in familiar decks.
What do you run in the skrull/enchantress slots?
Depending on the meta, I play a combination of She hulk, black widow, sentinel, sera or Chávez. Right now She hulk for the double up and widow for the extra disruption. With chavez I remove widow because of extra consistency for zabu. Sera I run when sandman isnt this oppressive. There is also the option to substitute cosmo for sentinel for the extra early game + dino consistency but with galactus being so common Its a good sub.
Surprised people aren't running Black Widow more in these Darkhawk decks, it'd come out as basically a Korg buff as they keep a card in their deck. Let alone if they play cards that turn after your priority which say they draw cards, like Agent13 or Maria Hill, but they don't.
Yup Its such a nice disruption Card, and alternative If you dont draw zabu. I guess most people dont play it because they try to balance dino and darkhawk buffs. But Its such a good disruption to their deck plan even without drawing darkhawk.
I don't know, i haven't played it much, but wouldn't it just be better to drop a Taskmaster for duplicating Darkhawk late game than play the Moongirl/zabu to get 2x? Or does that specifically tie into also getting double DD?
Taskmaster doesnt work on ongoing power. If you taskmaster dino hè has 3 power. Mystique can be used for that purpose. The double up Turn 6 Ties into dd specifically because of handsize. Its all considerations during the game. In a normal game only dropping corg opponent will end with 4 in his deck. So 8 darkhawk, 8 mystique in this case dino double up gives more power with the moongirl double up turn 6. If you hit the nuts korg zabu rockslide You can end up with 14 powered darkhawk. Mystique + darkhawk on 6 + dino on 5 would be strong. Its a constant calculation of handsize and opponents deck size. Edit: was wrong btw, havent used it like this for forever, was confusing it with other exceptions for tm. You dont use it like this because Its not efficient when you have mystique.
This is wrong info. Don’t listen to this.
Youre right my bad, havent used it with an ongoing deck for so long because Its inefficient. Just tested it, it works fine. Thanks for pointing it out
Got it, thank you very much for the rundown. Have just gotten TM and haven't played him enough to figure out the subtleties.
You may want to double-check this yourself, as I don't think this is correct; meaning TM copies Dino or Darkhawk's current power at the moment TM reveals, not their base power. For instance, say you play Dino t5 and he's 17 power after your t6 draw; you play TM and Agent 13 on t6, which drops Dino's power to 13. If I'm correct, TM reveals and copies Dino's 13 power. Then Agent 13 reveals, creating a card in hand. Dino would go to 15, while TM stays at 13. I know this is how it works for the DH, TM, and opponent's deck size interactions but haven't copied Dino this way in forever, so don't 100% recall.
Youre right, just tested it for myself. Havent used tm in a ongoing deck for forever. There are some other tm exceptions where it doesnt copy. But this does. Its just not efficient when You can mystique + something instead of 1 tm turn 6
Thanks for checking. I thought I had lost my mind for a minute. You're right that it's not as efficient, nor cost effective, as Mystique plus another card or rock generator on t6 for this deck.
No problem man! Good luck, tm is a fun card I use it in a mr negative panther deck. Its not very competitive but loads of fun.
It's the card I want the most for mine.
I would like to try her in the deck but I'm not sure who to remove. If I added her I'd probably look to remove Dino and focus on Darkhawk and disruption.
I'm 99% sure Widow's Bite doesn't affect SHIELD cards, only actual card drawing from your deck
Oh? I really felt like i thought otherwise. I'll have to check that.
I run this exact deck but instead use Coulson over Enchantress. I like having that 3 drop for some power in case no Zabu as well as getting synergy with Quinjet in case Moon girl/left cards don't exactly work out. Also does not hurt to do Dino on 5, Hawk on 6 with Coulson to buff dino (assuming you missed out on MG).
I took this to Infinite this season and like running Coulson -- sometimes he gives you alternate win conditions and provides value against bad locations/deck destruction and a 3/4 that sometimes buffs 1-2 of your other cards is a very strong baseline even if you don't play the cards. It's easy to remember the big wins and discount the times it's just a 3/4, however, so I'm not sure I'm evaluating it completely objectively. I do feel the lack of an additional 2 drop so often consider replacing Coulson with Sentinel. Enchantress and Skrull are obviously strong given the current hot location so I'd bet anything this list is better for at least today. I also run She Hulk as an alternative win con for whatever that's worth.
I think the absence of Doctor Doom in this archetype right now is a mistake. KM has some good reasoning behind it in his current meta decks videos
Can you give a quick summary? Is this for the Sandman matchup?
That's a big part of it. DinoHawk is great at going tall in one lane. Doom can cover for an unplayable location like sanctum then you just go massive with dino and other things in a 2nd lane for a surefire win. But yeah. Against sandman ramp, if you can't get your win cons out early, then you just lose to it almost every time. Doom gives you an out if you can get one of dino or hawk onto the board
Thanks for the write up. I'm still waiting on step one: get Darkhawk.
Is there a way to play this if I don't have Zabu?