The Best Marvel Snap Strategies

Deck-building games like "Marvel Snap" are generally more complex than they may look on the surface. For example, "Marvel Snap" only has 12-card decks, but there are numerous different mechanics between cards and locations that bring as much strategy to the table as some of the most complex "Pokémon TCG" or "Magic: The Gathering" decks out there. With so many different mechanics, finding the best strategies can be hard.

"Marvel Snap" is all about freedom – with plenty of ways to earn credits and a ton of options for things like changing your avatar, the game lets players do a lot without spending money. Likewise, the best strategies and decks don't require any money to be spent in the game. Some can even be accessed pretty quickly.

The top strategies in the game largely rely on the player's Collection Level, which determines what cards players have unlocked. However, each pool has meta decks that are viable against higher-tier decks. There's also a large variety of cards that can be played in the best of decks depending on each player's playstyle.

The Ongoing mechanic in "Marvel Snap" is basically just a way for the game to signify that certain abilities on cards continue to exist. For example, Blue Marvel's Ongoing ability gives the player's cards +1 power, meaning that every card on the player's side of the battlefield will get the buff for the rest of the game, including cards that are played after Blue Marvel.

Spectrum is a six-drop card that gives every card with an Ongoing ability +2 power. Considering the fact that there are cards at every level that have Ongoing abilities, a deck that utilizes Spectrum is very accessible even to beginning decks. There are a lot of potential ways to make a Spectrum deck even better with different pools of cards, making it one of the best strategies for consistently climbing ranks.

MarvelSnap.io user Egg created an Ongoing deck with Onslaught, a six-drop card that doubles Ongoing abilities at its location. That deck also includes popular and powerful Ongoing cards like Ant-Man, Colossus, Lizard, Mister Fantastic, The Punisher, Captain America, Namor, and Iron Man alongside the classic Spectrum and Blue Marvel. Armor can be used to protect the cards, making a pretty well-rounded deck most people can recreate.

Devil Dino decks are incredibly popular, especially in early tiers. And it's for a good reason – Devil Dino is a five-drop card that has an Ongoing ability that gives it +2 power for every card in the player's hand. It has amazing synergy with other cards in the game, and it can quickly become a tyrant. Moon Girl is one of these, which is a four-drop card that duplicates the player's hand. In fact, they're so synonymous with each other that both cards have Variants that feature the other character.

When it comes to other Draw cards, there is a decent amount to choose from. There are some that are generally considered better because they have a low cost or have abilities that also synergize with Drawing cards. For example, The Collector is a two-drop card that gets +1 power each time a card goes into the player's hand that didn't come from their deck. Many Draw cards pull from the opponent's deck, and creating cards works as well, so The Collector can ramp up pretty quickly.

Other notable cards that make this work are Cable, White Queen, and Agent 13. Players can also leave room for protection cards, like Shang-Chi and Armor.

Inverse created an Infinaut deck that's pretty impressive. It has a more in-depth strategy that revolves around utilizing Storm, a three-drop card that Floods a location (meaning that cards can't be played there after the next turn). Combined with Sunspot, a one-drop card that gains power for every unspent energy at the end of a turn, this is a pretty cheap and easy way to take over a location.

The Infinaut is a six-drop 20 power card that's the win condition for another location. However, no cards can be played on turn five in order to use The Infinaut. The one bonus is that this also powers up Sunspot, so it all works out in the end.

In case a player doesn't have the correct cards they need early game in order to secure a lane, the rest of the deck from Inverse is filled with alternate win-cons, like Jubilee, a four-drop card that has an On Reveal ability to put a card from the player's hand at the same location. America Chavez, a six-drop nine-power card that is guaranteed to be pulled by turn six, is a good backup in case The Infinaut never makes it to a player's hand.

When it comes to "Marvel Snap," nothing is more busted than surprising the opponent because they can't react to a card, and the player has the advantage. Sera, a Pool Three five-drop card that has an Ongoing ability that makes cards cost one less, is amazing at creating combos that take people by surprise.

It's hard to tell exactly what kind of deck it is at first glance. Many popular decks, like a Devil Dinosaur deck, are dead giveaways from the start, which makes them easier to counter. Sera decks are generally about setting up in the first few plays in the turn, but turn six is generally difficult to predict. There are some cards that are generally always included because they thrive off of low-cost setups, like Angela, Bishop, and Mojo.

There are plenty of different builds for Sera, so there are ways to have fun with it no matter what kind of decks a player enjoys. For example, Sera has a great deck for playing low-drop cards right at the end to take people by surprise. There's also a really great Discard deck that revolves around getting the player's hand to zero on turn six, which works better than many may realize. She even does well with a Destroy deck as a last-minute surprise.