Another month has passed, a new season has dawned, and it’s time to check back in on Marvel Snap (Free). We’re starting to see some kind of order forming with the most popular decks after a couple of very turbulent months. We’ve also got a bunch of spiders to consider. Let’s have a look and see what’s what right now in the world of Marvel Snap decks, and always remember: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s cold lasagna. These guides are one way to keep your finger on the pulse of the scene, but they aren’t the only method you should be using.
Note that most of these decks are the best of the best at this point in time. They assume you have access to a full range of cards. I’ll once again be including five of the strongest Marvel Snap decks of the moment, and I’ll throw in a couple more decks that don’t need anything too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the addition of the new cards from Spider-Versus caused Move-based decks to pick up in popularity a bit. Curiously, it was the one card that had nothing to do with Move strategies that seemed to find a home in more decks than the others: Spider-Ham. That’s my boy! Some of the balance changes that arrived during the month saw some folks tweaking their decks, and it seems like Galactus is pretty much dead now. I can only assume the Rise of the Phoenix season will mix things up even more, but let’s see where we’re at right now for popular decks.
Control Sera
Included Cards: Sera, Nova, Angela, Hit Monkey, Invisible Woman, Bishop, Killmonger, Shang-Chi, Enchantress, Kitty Pryde, Scarlet Witch, Mysterio
Control Sera remains one of the most reliable decks in the game, even if others are starting to chomp at its heels. The ‘Control’ in this deck’s title refers to how you need to manipulate the turn order to make sure your cards are revealed last all the way up until the end. That means you have to make sure you’re losing until the very end. Do what you will for the first few turns but make sure you hang on to Killmonger for the last turn. Play Sera on the fifth turn, and deploy various combinations of Enchantress, Killmonger, and Shang-Chi to completely ruin your opponent’s party. The only change this month sees Zabu benched in favor of Invisible Woman, whose ability can help you pop your surprise at the end of the game in case of emergencies. Some players have been swapping her for other useful cards like Spider-Ham or Jeff the Baby Land Shark though, so feel free to experiment.
Kitty Pryde Bounce
Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, The Hood, Bast, Iceman, Angela, Hit Monkey, Beast, Spider-Ham, Iron Man, Mysterio, Bishop, America Chavez
Bounce has been rising up the ranks big time in recent weeks and is now arguably even more reliable than Control Sera. As you can see, this deck uses mostly low-cost cards that through a process of playing and recalling can become potent weapons after a few turns. Beast can bring your cards back, allowing you to play cards like The Hood, Spider-Ham, and Iceman multiple times to pop their effects more than once, all while adding to the strength of Angela and Bishop consistently. Since your cards are low cost and Beast’s recall makes them cheaper, you can also play a pretty beefy Hit Monkey as needed. Drop Iron Man on turn five to set up your big swing, then use The Hood’s Demon(s) and America Chavez for powerful final-turn surprises. A lively deck and one you can’t play carelessly, but it’s worth its weight in cubes.
High Evolutionary Lockjaw
Included Cards: High Evolutionary, Wasp, Thor, Dracula, Jubilee, Vision, Jane Foster Thor, Magneto, The Infinaut, America Chavez, Hulk
The High Evolutionary continues to wreak havoc, and this latest hot deck essentially works him into the existing Thor Lockjaw set-up. The only evolved cards it brings with it are Wasp and The Hulk, with Wasp being particularly useful if you can get into a loop with her and Lockjaw. Otherwise, the usual strategies apply. Get Lockjaw out, get Thor out, start looping cards with Lockjaw to try to pull Mjolnir, and make sure you get Dracula out there at some point to take advantage of any 6-Cost cards sitting in your hand at the end of the game.
High Evolutionary Lockdown
Included Cards: High Evolutionary, Wasp, Nebula, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Storm, Cyclops, Spider-Man, Thing, Professor X, Spider-Ham, Doctor Doom, Hulk
This deck has slid down a little from last month as certain cards had countermeasures developed, but it’s still strong. As a Lockdown-type deck, the idea here is to block the opponent from as many locations as possible. Nebula is great here because if you can keep the location active and locked down, she’ll just keep getting stronger. If you can take one location early, perhaps with a combination of Nebula and Storm, you only have to win one more while your opponent has to win two. The High Evolutionary backs Nebula up perfectly, allowing you to pick away at your opponent with cards in play while you focus on other business. This month sees Spider-Ham and Doctor Doom steal the chairs previously occupied by America Chavez and Abomination, giving you more interference and versatility.
Silver Surfer Sera
Included Cards: Sera, Silver Surfer, Nova, Goose, Invisible Woman, Brood, Storm, Juggernaut, Killmonger, Shadow King, Polaris, Maximus
Guess who’s back? Back again? You can’t keep a good deck down sometimes, and with a few changes under the hood Silver Surfer Sera seems to be in decent shape again. The previous strategy applies of using Sera to reduce the Cost of cards and buffing them with the Surfer, but the deck is now packing a lot of countermeasures. Killmonger and Shadow King are both very important of late for fending off Kitty Pryde Bounce, and Goose and Polaris can help you control where your opponent can or can’t play cards. A decent deck with a few big weaknesses that keep it from the top of the top.
And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.
Shaun’s Coveted Most Spider-Mans of the Week Deck
Included Cards: Human Torch, Iron Fist, Kraven, Ghost Spider, Cloak, Silk, Spider-Ham, Vulture, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Man, Heimdall
Look, I’ll fess up: I bought the Season Pass for Spider-Versus and had also saved up my Tokens diligently so that I could get all of the weekly card releases. It’s my party and I’ll thwipp if I want to. This is mainly a movement deck, using the various tricks to buff up Torch, Vulture, and Kraven. Silk goes out there and acts like an agent of chaos, sometimes buffing up Kraven if she lands on his location. Spider-Ham and Spider-Man can spoil your opponent’s strategy, and the last turn move with Heimdall becomes even more nasty when it leads to 2099 murdering an enemy card. You probably won’t win a ton of Cubes with this one, but it’s fun to use.
Big Cards
Included Cards: Sunspot, Agent 13, The Collector, Armor, Senetinel, Cosmo, Jubilee, Moon Girl, White Queen, Devil Dinosaur, America Chavez, The Infinaut
Here’s a nice deck you make from the earlier cards, and it’s another one of those that will help you learn the game. You’ve got a few grower cards here with Sunspot, The Collector, and Devil Dinosaur. Most of the other cards help to buff the latter two cards, and you can finish up either by skipping Turn 5 (giving an extra 5 Power to Sunspot) and playing Infinaut on Turn 6, or by playing Devil Dinosaur on Turn 5 and America on Turn 6.
And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. We’ll return with another one of these in August to see where things stand after the Rise of the Phoenix event has fully played out and a month’s worth of balance changes do their thing. The incoming cards are a pretty odd bunch, so I’m interested to see whether we see any new contenders for those top spots. Happy Snapping!
