I’m getting a little ahead of the curve this month, friends. While the new season has yet to drop thanks to the rather lengthy term of The Eternals, I’ve seen what is coming in Marvel Snap (Free), and I think it’s relatively safe to do our July deck-building guide right now. This was quite the month, with some long-standing tyrants of the meta finally taken down by some strong OTA balance tweaks. At least a couple of the Eternals have found their way into some decks as well. We’ll do our best to help you put together a deck that can win, and have some fun along the way. Remember as ever: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s moldy hotdog. 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.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, this last month has been an absolute rollercoaster thanks to some of the balance changes Second Dinner came out with. While not all of the new season cards were a hit (notably the paid one, Gilgamesh, has fallen flat on its face), a few of them have proven to be quite effective in certain deck types. The next season is built around Deadpool and his friends, and I have no doubt some of the upcoming cards will change things up, but I also believe the biggest changes to the meta will come from the developer’s balance tweaks as usual. Well, let’s see where we’re at right now.
Kitty & Thena
Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, Thena, Shadow King, White Widow, Angela, Jeff, US Agent, Sage, Cosmo, Elsa Bloodstone, Red Guardian, Nocturne
So you might be looking at the included cards and wondering why not one of them is more than 3-Cost and the strongest default Power is a mere 5 points. Well, this is a deck where you’re going to build your own monsters. The Kitty/Thena/Angela trio is extremely powerful right now even after a mild nerf to Angela, and when you throw in Elsa you’ve got a real party on your hands. You also have plenty of tools here to counter your opponent’s tricks, with US Agent dragging down the power of anything that costs more than… anything in your deck, Cosmo shutting down On Reveals, and Shadow King cutting down cards that relying on power augmentation. A very lively and fun deck.
Spam I Am
Included Cards: The Hood, Nico Minoru, White Widow, Jeff, Mysterio, Debrii, Red Guardian, Nocturne, Sentry, Annihilus, Sersi, Mockingbird
The Spam deck has changed quite a bit month over month, moving nicely in step with the meta. The goal here remains to clog up your opponent’s locations with junk, both directly with cards like White Widow and Debrii, but also indirectly using the classic Hood/Sentry/Annihilus combo. Mockingbird gives you a big card to play based on the junk you throw onto your own field, and Sersi is a nice way to change any problematic remnants into something more useful. The rest of the cards are useful tools for setting up your own points and causing further trouble for your opponent.
Blink and You’ll Miss Her
Included Cards: Nebula, White Widow, Jeff, Quake, Red Guardian, Nocturne, Jubilee, Klaw, Leech, Blink, Red Hulk, Magneto
Blink has already proven to be a very handy card for getting out bigger cards ahead of time. She pairs particularly well with Jubilee, essentially rolling out a 6-Cost card for free on top of whatever Jubs pulls. The ideal goal is to get Red Hulk and/or Mags out as soon as you can, but you have plenty of other toys to work with here. Nebula and White Widow can help manipulate where your opponent plays, Quake can shake up any location issues you might have, Leech and Red Guardian can shut down a lot of plays that rely on the abilities of key cards, and Nocturne and Jeff let you move your points around a bit.
Silver Surfer Never Dies
Included Cards: Nova, Forge, Brood, Silver Surfer, Cosmo, Killmonger, Mobius M. Mobius, Phastos, Hope Summers, Makkari, Nocturne, Absorbing Man
Silver Surfer has some peaks and valleys but he’s never far from the upper tier, and some of the new cards from the latest season really go well with him. At any rate, there’s no real science to this one. You’ve got the classic Nova/Killmonger pair for boosting your cards a bit once you have some out there. Forge ideally boosts Brood so that its clones will be stronger. Phastos further boosts the cards in your deck, Hope lets you get more Energy, and the Surfer/Absorbing Man combo is there finish things off in style. And you can have one Cosmo, as an opponent annoyance treat.
Odin & Wong
Included Cards: Echo, Nightcrawler, Jeff, Ravonna Renslayer, Ironheart, Sage, Nocturne, Wong, Iron Lad, White Tiger, Namora, Odin
Another classic has been tearing it up of late, thanks to a few new additions. As you might be gathering by now, Nocturne is becoming an all-purpose card, but movers like her, Jeff, and Nightcrawler are even better with Namora. They can benefit from her boosts and then move to fuller locations if needed. The core of this deck is the usual Wong/Odin combo that lets you repeat a bunch of On Reveal effects on your last turn. It goes great with Ironheart, White Tiger, and even Sage and Namora, situationally. Ravonna helps you get those cards out earlier if you want, and Iron Lad improves your odds of getting those effects into play.
And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Included Cards: Nebula, Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, Yondu, Star-Lord, Cosmo, Groot, Drax, Blue Marvel, Ronan the Accuser, Gamora, Red Hulk
Fair warning: this isn’t a very effective deck if you want to rack up wins. But I like to have fun with Marvel Snap sometimes without worrying about winning, and that’s when I pull this one out. It’s just a bunch of the Guardians of the Galaxy, with a couple of Guardians-adjacent characters plus Red Hulk. Why Red Hulk? Why not Red Hulk? Winning with this deck relies on you predicting the moves of your opponent, but you can use Cosmo and Nebula to manipulate them a bit. Ronan has gotten a bit more useful with Discard dropping off as hard as it has, too. I don’t know, I just like the Guardians. I wish they were more effective.
Devil Dinosaur Destroyer
Included Cards: Nova, Agent 13, Bucky Barnes, Carnage, The Collector, Sentinel, Killmonger, Deathlok, Moongirl, Enchantress, Devil Dinosaur, Odin
Okay, you’re on your way up the collecting ladder. That’s fine. It’s a good time to learn the game and while you might not realize it, you have access to some really great cards. You have some nice combos here, including Nova/Killmonger, Bucky/Carnage/Deathlok, The Collector/Agent 13/Sentinel/Moongirl, and Moongirl/Sentinel/Devil Dinosaur. Enchantress and Odin are there to weaken your opponent’s play and double up any On Reveal actions as needed. Give it a try! You might be surprised by the results.
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 Deadpool’s pals 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, and if they’ll make any real waves in the meta. And it will be equally interesting to see which decks Second Dinner’s balance adjustments come for next. It might be you! But for now… happy snapping!
