The summer may be winding down, but the competition in Marvel Snap (Free) has remained as hot as the surface of the Sun. There have been a lot of disruptions to the meta in the last month, so we really do need a new deck building guide for all of you to check out. Let’s have a look and see what’s what right now in the world of Marvel Snap decks, and do remember: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s moldy hot dog. 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 anything too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.

The Big in Japan season bolstered the already solid Destroy deck type, but the biggest changes to the meta as usual have come from the various balance updates that arrived during the month. A lot of cards changed, which rippled out to the decks that used them, so there aren’t a whole lot of repeats this time around. One particular deck seems to have jumped out ahead, but for the most part there are a lot of options for running a viable deck in the game. That means that once again the list of decks are but five of a fairly large number of strong choices at the moment. We’re already seeing some interesting uses of Loki, the new Season Pass card, but it’s too early to make a call on the Loki for All Time season yet. For now, let’s have a look at this month’s picks!

Shuri Sauron

Included Cards: Sunspot, Zero, Ebony Maw, Armor, Zabu, Lizard, Sauron, Shuri, Enchantress, Typhoid Mary, Taskmaster, Red Skull

Shuri has once again climbed to the top of the heap with this extremely strong deck. It’s not that different from the old one, and the way it’s played is familiar. Obviously the end goal is to roll out Shuri on the fourth turn, either Typhoid Mary or Red Skull on the fifth turn, and then Taskmaster on the sixth turn. This gives you a ton of points on your last turns and that will usually win the game for you. On the first few turns, you can play things like Armor (to block Shang-Chi), Zero plus Maw or Lizard for some extra points, and of course Sauron to negate the Ongoing abilities of Mary and/or Skull. The idea is the same no matter how things work out: get your big cards out and play whatever you can to mitigate their downsides and buff them up.

Jade Cousins

Included Cards: Sunspot, Nebula, Misty Knight, Armor, Magik, Cosmo, Cyclops, High Evolutionary, Leech, Legion, She-Hulk, Hulk

This is a tricky one, and it will certainly surprise any opponents who haven’t seen it before. The aim here is to play She-Hulk and Hulk on the last turn together. You can do that by using Magik to add a seventh turn to the game and skipping turn six to reduce She-Hulk’s Cost. Of course, you need to make sure Limbo sticks around, and that’s why Legion is here. High Evolutionary’s effects plus Sunspot and Nebula’s abilities also feed into the value of skipping turns or saving energy wherever possible. Armor is going to protect your Hulk, most likely. Leech and Cosmo can help mess with any counter-measures your opponent might attempt.

X-23 Destroy

Included Cards: X-23, Deadpool, Forge, Carnage, Wolverine, Killmonger, Venom, Deathlok, Hulk Buster, Taskmaster, Death, Knull

Of all the Destroy-friendly cards added in Big in Japan, X-23 seems like the most useful. The extra point of energy she gives when destroyed can greatly assist in making the big play of Death plus Taskmaster or Knull happen. Forge and the Hulk Buster are there to strengthen one of your ramp-up cards, preferably Deadpool. Keep on destroying the Merc with a Mouth and buff him up where you can and you could potentially end up with a handful of cards with tons of points of Power on your last couple of turns. It’s also a very easy deck to play, with lots of different routes in case you don’t pull the ideal cards.

Hela & The Living Tribunal

Included Cards: Invisible Woman, Electro, Magik, Jubilee, Iron Lad, Iron Man, M.O.D.O.K., Hela, Onslaught, The Living Tribunal, Magneto, The Infinaut

Spider-Ham’s nerf in the last update benefits a lot of decks, and this one is a big benefactor. It’s a slight twist on a basic Discard deck. At its core is the basic one-two punch of using M.O.D.O.K. to discard your whole hand and using Hela to bring them all back. Invisible Woman helps you do that without, you know, discarding Hela as well. Electro will give you more energy and you won’t be playing more than one card per turn anyway. Magik gives you the chance to get The Living Tribunal in there, who is always a nasty final turn surprise. Iron Man and Onslaught are a nice way to kick up some power for the Tribunal to redistribute, and Iron Lad at gives you at least one more chance to have a “Hela" in your hand for the finale.

Sera & Silver Surfer

Included Cards: Forge, Armor, Brood, Rogue, Silver Surfer, Storm, Juggernaut, Shadow King, Polaris, Spider-Man, Absorbing Man, Sera

Some variant of this deck is in these articles more often than not, and it’s no surprise. Every month some new cards become available for Surfer’s bonus one way or the other, and the variety of choices at the 3-Cost level allow this deck to adapt very well to the changing meta. This version uses the recently-popular Forge and Brood combo, which lets you fill up a location in a hurry with 5-Power cards that will get buffed even further by the Surfer. Storm and Juggernaut or Spidey can own a location by themselves, Sera lets you put a few cards down on the last turn, and Absorbing Man can copy any of your cool On Reveal cards as needed. Sera on the fifth turn followed by Surfer plus Absorbing Man on the final turn is extremely potent. If you managed to pull off Forge and Brood earlier in the match, your little Broodlings will be rocking nine Power each. Yikes!

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

Pessimism is Playing the Sure Game

Included Cards: Bast, Kitty Pryde, Angela, Zabu, Ironheart, Morph, Mystique, Hit Monkey, Mister Negative, Darkhawk, Iron Man, Jane Foster Thor

This is pretty much a run of the mill Mister Negative deck, but I’ve been having a lot of fun playing it lately. You have a bunch of cards with 0-Power in the deck, so the aim is to get Mister Negative out as soon as possible (third turn with Zabu, otherwise fourth turn, use Jane on the fifth turn to summon all those now-tasty fish to your dish, and have an absolutely explosive final turn with Hit Monkey and all those 0-Cost cards. Bast is there as a back-up to give some Power to those zeroes in case Mister Negative doesn’t show up, and Kitty plus Angela is a reliable source of Power if you don’t have anything else to play. Depending on the flow of the game, Darkhawk plus Mystique or Iron Man plus Mystique can be the perfect cherry on top.

Swarm Discard

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Blade, Angela, Wolverine, Armor, Swarm, Lady Sif, Sword Master, Apocalypse, America Chavez

Here’s our deck for those still building up their collections this month. It’s a basic Discard deck, and as is often the case with this type of deck you’re looking to keep discarding Apocalypse to make him nice and strong for the final turn. You’re also looking to discard Swarm to bring him back in multiples with 0-Cost. Armor is there to protect Apocalypse from Shang-Chi, and everything else is just helping you arrange your points as needed. Move Nightcrawler, make sure Ant-Man has buddies to help him earn his bonus, beef up Angela, and enjoy a slightly buffed Wolverine. A reasonably competitive deck if you’ve only got Series One and Series Two cards at hand, and one that will get you used to how to play Discard decks.

And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. We’ll return with another one of these in October to see where things stand after the Loki for All Time event has fully played out and a month’s worth of balance changes do their thing. The incoming cards are the strangest ones I’ve seen in a while, so I’m interested to see if any genuinely new decks spring up. Happy Snapping!