It’s later this month, but hey, so is the new season. After a few days of getting used to it, I’m ready to give you this month’s deck-building advice Marvel Snapshot (free). Arishem decks have experienced a rise and a slight dip over the last month, and at least a few of Deadpool’s companions have found their way into regular rotation. Basically, everything has changed again. So we’re going to do our best to help you build a winning deck, just like we’ve been trying to do. As always, remember: today’s winning deck might be tomorrow’s melted ice cream. These guidelines are one way to keep your finger on the pulse of your scene, but they’re not the only ones you should use.
Note that most of these decks are the best decks out there. They assume you have access to the full range of cards. I’ll once again be including the five most powerful Marvel Snap decks currently available, and I’ll be adding more decks that don’t require anything too hard to get and are fun to play. You know, a little bit of variety and stuff.
It’s been another crazy month, with Arishem decks continuing to dominate until balance changes remove some of the pain points. It’s still a strong performer, but now there are other things to worry about. The Maximum Effort season has produced several really good cards that we’ve seen in many decks, and a few that haven’t seemed to find a solid footing yet. In fact, Hydra Bob probably never will. He seemed designed for Deadpool’s dinner event, and… it’s over now. So, what can you do? As for Young Avengers, I haven’t seen much impact from the cards currently available, but they seem to be designed to work together, so we’ll have to see how they fare once released. Now let’s examine these decks.
This is sand in your eyes!
Contains Cards: Nebula, Spider-Ham, Jeff, Cassandra Nova, Makari, Mimic, Nocturne, Captain Marvel, Talon, Sandman, Ultron, Red Hulk
This deck has a little bit of everything, but the centerpiece here is Sandman, who limits his opponent’s actions once you get them out of there. He will also limit yourself, but lucky you! You’re ready for it all with Ultron, Jeff, Nocturne, Captain Marvel, and Talon. Nebula will help you control the situation a bit, while Ham, Nova, and Mimic can disrupt your opponent’s strategy. You’ll need to have a fairly up-to-date collection to play this game as recommended, but if you have the cards, you have nothing to lose.
The silver surfer is still alive
Contains Cards: Nova, Forge, Broder, Silver Surfer, Killmonger, Red Guardian, Hope Summers, Macari, Sebastian Shaw, Nocturne, Absorbing Man, Gwenpool
Silver Surfer is still in rapid development, with some tweaks being made to account for balance changes and new cards. If you’ve been playing for a while, you’ll know where this is going. Once you have some classic Nova/Killmonger pairs, you can enhance your deck a bit. Forge is ideal for buffing Brood, making its clones stronger. Gwenpool enhances the cards in your hand, Shaw becomes stronger due to enhancement, Hope gives you more energy, and Surfer/Absorbing Man The combo ends things in style. The Red Guardian slides into Cosmo’s old spot as a slightly more versatile foil.
warrior princess xena
Contains Cards: Kitty Pryde, Xena, Jeff, Cassandra Nova, Red Guardian, Hope Summers, Mimic, Nocturne, Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, Gwenpool, Arios
Thena and Kitty have become a solid duo, and with them as the core of a deck, you can actually build other commonly used cards around them. Jeff and Nocturne give you a little control over the field and hopefully give you more energy, Gwenpool enhances your hand, Shang-Chi is your emergency monster killer, Cassandra Nova, Red Guardian, Mimic, and Cards like Alios can help you shut down your opponent’s plans in an instant. Just make sure you keep up the rhythm of Katie plus another card, strengthening Xena and Katie as you lay out the other cards.
Arisem and Loki
Contains Cards: Quinjet, Shadow King, Agent Coulson, Mimic, Loki, Shang-Chi, Leech, Nick Fury, Blink, Spot, Mockingbird, Alisem
Poor Arisem. He rose to the top after being raised in my last guide and has been cut down a bit before this one. But he’s still powerful, especially combined with Loki. You have to be careful because if your opponent plays Cassandra Nova, she will absolutely destroy you. That’s why you have Shang-Chi and Shadow King. Anyway, the basic idea here is to use Arishem’s extra cards to fuel the Blob, while using other cards to feed your hand or eat shit with your opponent. Between Quinjet and Loki, the cards you get from Coulson, Loki, Fury, and Alisem should be cheap as chips. Use this deck carefully and you’ll find it to be a reliable winner.
patriots return
Contains Cards: Wasp, Dazzler, Jeff, Cassandra Nova, Patriot, Brood, Absorbing Man, Iron Lad, Blue Miracle, Sandman, Doctor Doom, Ultron
In some ways, this is a cross between the Surfer deck and the Sandman deck listed above. Basically, get cards like Brood, Doom, and Ultron, then buff them with Patriot and Blue Miracle. Dazzler benefits from Ultron’s slot fill, and you can double some of those buffs with Absorber or even Iron Lad. Sandman does here what he always does when paired with Doom or Ultron: mess up your opponent’s last turn without messing with yours.
Now, there are some fun decks for those of you who are still climbing the collecting ladder or just want to try something different.
scarce
Contains Cards: Black Knight, Blade, Moon Knight, Lady Sif, Jubilee, Ghost Rider, Blink, Hela, Skaar, Magneto, Infinaut, Death
Hela has been severely nerfed, but I still find this simple discard deck to be relatively effective. Especially now that many counter-strategies are directed elsewhere. Play Black Knight first and use your first discard to make a nice Ebony Sword, bring back that powerful card from Ghost Rider, or use Jubilee plus Flicker to bring in some monsters. Finally, if you can, send out Hela and bring back whatever’s left in the scrapheap. Simple and clean.
group discard
Contains Cards: Ant-Man, Elektra, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Blade, Wolverine, Armor, Swarm, Hercules, Lady Sif, Juggernaut, Apocalypse
Another month of review, this time back to the early discard decks. With the nerfs to Discard’s best decks in recent months, you may find that you have better luck with this deck, as people will typically bring fewer tools to shut it down. Use cards like Blade, Lady Sif, and Juggernaut to eliminate Apocalypse and Swarm, which should give you a stronger Apocalypse to play on the final turn and plenty of Swarm to fill the spots. This in turn will help you power up Ant-Man and maybe even get the best out of Hercules. Elektra, Armor, and Iceman are just there to disrupt your opponent.
Here’s this month’s deck guide. We’ll have one of these back in September to see how it goes with Young Avengers and a month of balance changes complete. These new cards already look very hot and have the potential to create a new type of deck. As always, it will be interesting to see how the cards and decks in Second Supper respond to balance changes. Scary stuff, but we’ll get through it somehow. Now… happy shooting!
