Better slightly late than never, eh? A fresh new season has dropped in Marvel Snap (Free), and chaos reigns once more. That means it’s time for this month’s deck-building guide to try to make some sense out of all of moving and shaking that has happened in the last month. Some big decks have taken a dive while others have rocketed to the top, and the Mad Titan refuses to go down as usual. Worry not! We’ll help you put together something to get you through the ranks. Remember as ever: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s rained-out barbecue. 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 the five strongest Marvel Snap decks of the moment, and I’ll throw in a couple more decks that don’t need things that are too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.

The Exiles have skipped on to the next dimension, but their presence has certainly been felt. Blink and Sasquatch have settled in well, Nocturne seems to be getting some play, and Sage and Namora are popping up here and there. In terms of balance changes, there have been some slight changes to how Move actions resolve, and that has altered a few strategies. Thanos also got some adjustments that seem to have put him back in play after a few weeks of struggling. It’s too early to tell how the full Eternals season will land, but we’ll have to let things settle in there. Well, let’s look at the current hot decks.

Ravonna Lockdown

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, Nebula, Angela, Thena, White Widow, Jeff, Ravonna Renslayer, Green Goblin, Sage, Hope Summers, Professor X, Cannonball

Lockdown is super-hot right now, and it has proven to surprisingly be the deck type where Ravonna Renslayer finally found her place. This deck has some of the usual Lockdown tools – Nebula, White Widow, and Professor X – plus some useful punishers for opponents foolish enough to dance to your tune, like Green Goblin and Cannonball. Ravonna’s spot in this deck is to make just about every card in it cheaper to play. If you happen to have picked up Thena from the latest season, you can easily activate her power boost while powering up Kitty and handling any other business you need to.

Spam I Am

Included Cards: Nebula, Titania, White Widow, Jeff, Ravonna Renslayer, Green Goblin, Magik, Debrii, Professor X, Cannonball, Doctor Octopus, Red Hulk

Almost no changes to the Spam deck this month, as it continues to be the best it is at what it does. The only change is dropping Daredevil in favor of Magik, giving you the ability to get rid of an inconvenient location while also extending the game, which should be to your spamming benefit. Really, your goal with this deck is two-fold. First, throw junk at your opponent using cards like Debrii, Goblin, and White Widow. Second, use cards like Nebula, Professor X, and Doctor Octopus to control the locations your opponent will play at. Your opponent might run short on places to play before the game ends, which allows you to make your big play to close things out. That could be a beefed-up Red Hulk, or Cannonball, or even just moving Jeff. Just hope that you don’t run into a Destroy deck, as they have little patience for this kind of nonsense.

Odin’s Doom

Included Cards: Nebula, Nightcrawler, White Widow, Jeff, Ironheart, Nocturne, Wong, Iron Lad, White Tiger, Namora, Doctor Doom, Odin

This deck is almost… nostalgic? Sure, there are some new cards here like Nocturne, White Widow, and Namora, but at the end of the day this is just a good old-fashioned On Reveal deck. You’ve got your Wongers/Odin/White Tiger combo that lets you shoot powerful tigers everywhere if need be, Nightcrawler and Jeff to give you some wiggle room, and Doctor Doom for an alternative fabulous finish that no opponent loves. Use Nebula, White Widow, and your movable cards to control your opponent’s placements and make sure Wong can do his thing unfettered. Just watch out for Cosmo, because he can completely ruin your day.

Hela & Corvus

Included Cards: Black Knight, Blade, Corvus Glaive, Lady Sif, Jubilee, Black Cat, Blink, Hela, Red Hulk, Magneto, The Infinaut, Death

Once again Hela is here representing Discard, which is just barely staying in the top tier at this point. This is a very standard Hela deck, so the idea is to discard your big guns and use Hela to bring them back in. Corvus helps you get there earlier, and Blink and Jubilee serve as a nice one-two combo for pulling a beefy cards. If you’ve been playing Snap for a while, you know how this works. I’ve been playing this deck a fair bit this last month, and it’s rather solid with its last-turn potential.

Lucky Loki

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, Quinjet, Snowguard, Angela, Thena, Jeff, Elsa Bloodstone, Red Guardian, Agent Coulson, Nocturne, Shang-Chi, Loki

Loki decks are really challenging to play, as you have to be familiar enough with the game to know what to do with your opponent’s cards when you get them. This particular variation runs like most of them. Spend the early game playing what you can, building up cards in play and messing with your opponent where possible. Drop Loki on turn four and do your best with what your opponent gives you. There are stronger decks, but this one holds its own very well and keeps things fresh even for veteran players.

And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.

Sasquatch Bounce

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, The Hood, Bast, Iceman, Nico Minoru, Angela, Beast, Falcon, Mysterio, Bishop, Hit Monkey, Sasquatch

I got lucky and pulled Sasquatch from a cache, so I decided to make a fun little Bounce deck based around him. Really, it’s a very normal Bounce deck except Sasquatch adds a big hitter that doesn’t require any build-up. Use your cheap cards to build up Angela and Bishop, call them back with Beast and Falcon to do it again, and make a huge final turn play with Hit Monkey. Play Sasquatch when and where it’s convenient for you, but you should be able to have him out as early as turn 4 with energy to spare.

Budget Onslaught

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Elektra, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Armor, Mister Fantastic, Cosmo, Kazar, Namor, Blue Marvel, Klaw, Onslaught

And a little refresher on a nice deck to use when you’re just building your collection. It’s relatively easy to play, and your ultimate focus is to use Kazar, Blue Marvel, and Onslaught to beef up your other cards. Klaw can give you a nice boost of power at one location, and Cosmo provides a bit of insurance. Use Armor to protect your 1-Cost cards from potential Killmonger attacks and you’re generally good to go.

And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. We’ll return with another one of these in July to see where things stand after the Eternals season has fully played out and a month’s worth of balance changes have done their thing. It’s going to be interesting to see what these new cards bring to the table, but I suspect (as usual) that the biggest swings will come from whatever balance changes Second Dinner makes. Will chaos continue to reign? Only time will tell! Happy Snapping!