Friends, I’m a little ahead of the curve this month. While the new season isn’t finished yet due to The Eternals’ long production schedule, I can already see what’s to come Marvel Snapshot (free), I think it’s relatively safe to do our July deck building guide now. It’s been a pretty good month, with some long-standing meta-champs finally being brought down by some strong OTA balance tweaks. At least a few Eternals made their way into some decks as well. We’ll do our best to help you build a winning deck and have some fun along the way. As always, remember: today’s winning deck might be tomorrow’s moldy hot dog. 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 available right now. 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.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, the last month has been an absolute roller coaster thanks to some of the balance changes brought about by The Second Supper. While not all of the new season cards have been a hit (especially the premium card Gilgamesh, which has plummeted in effectiveness), some of them have proven to be very effective in certain deck types. The next season is centered around Deadpool and his friends, and I have no doubt that some of the upcoming cards will change things, but I also believe that the biggest changes to the meta will come from the developers making balance adjustments as usual. Well, let’s see where we are now.
Katie and Xena
Contains Cards: Kitty Pryde, Xena, Shadow King, White Widow, Angela, Jeff, U.S. Agent, Sage, Cosmo, Elsa Bloodstone, Red Guard, Nocturne
So you might look at the included cards and wonder why none of them cost more than 3 points, while the strongest preset power is only 5 points. Well, this is a deck where you can build your own monsters. Even after the slight nerf to Angela, the Katie/Xena/Angela trio is now incredibly powerful, and when you add Elsa to the mix, you’ve got a real party. You also have a lot of tools here to counter your opponent’s shenanigans, with U.S. Agent dragging the power of anything that costs more than what’s in your deck, Cosmo turning off Reveal, and Lord of Shadows reducing cards that rely on power boosts Card. Very lively and interesting deck.
I’m spam
Contains Cards: Hood, Nicomin, White Widow, Jeff, Mysterio, Debree, Red Guardian, Nocturne, Sentinel, Annihilator, Circe, Mockingbird
Spam decks change quite a bit each month, syncing up nicely with changes in the meta. The goal here is still to clog the opponent’s position with trash, either directly with cards like White Widow and Debry, or indirectly with the classic Hood/Sentinel/Annihilator combo. Mockingbird gives you a big card based on the trash you throw onto your field, and Sersi is a great way to turn any questionable remnants into something more useful. The rest of the cards are useful tools that can help you build your score and cause more trouble for your opponents.
Blink and you’ll miss her
Contains Cards: Nebula, White Widow, Jeff, Quake, Red Guardian, Nocturne, Jubilee, Klaw, Leech, Blink, Red Hulk, Magneto
Blink has proven to be a very handy card, allowing larger cards to be taken out in advance. She pairs particularly well with Jubilee, basically rolling out a 6-cost card for free on top of whatever Jubs pulls. The ideal goal is to get Red Hulk and/or Maggo out as quickly as possible, but there are plenty of other toys you can use. Nebula and White Widow can help manipulate your opponent’s playing position, Quake can solve any positional issues you may have, Leech and Red Guardian can stop many games that rely on key card abilities, and Nocturne and Jeff can allow you to move Your point is a bit convoluted.
Silver Glider Never Dies
Contains Cards: Nova, Forge, Brood, Silver Surfer, Cosmo, Killmonger, Mobius M. Mobius, Phastos, Hope Summers, Makkari, Nocturne, Absorbing Man
The Silver Surfer has had some highs and lows, but he’s never far from the top, and some of the new cards in the latest season really suit him well. Regardless, there is no real scientific basis for this. 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. Phastos further enhances the cards in your deck, Hope gives you more power, and the Surfer/Absorbing Man combo gets the job done in style. You can also have a mini-universe that acts as an annoyance treat for your opponents.
Odin and Yellow
Contains Cards: Echo, Nightcrawler, Jeff, Lavona Rensselaer, Ironheart, Sage, Nocturne, Yellow, Ironboy, White Tiger, Namora, Odin
Another classic has been broken down recently thanks to some new additions. As you probably know by now, Nocturne is becoming a wild card, but movers like her, Jeff, and Nightcrawler are better suited for Namora. They can benefit from her boost and then move to a more fulfilling location when needed. The core of this deck is the usual Wong/Odin combo that lets you repeat a bunch of On Reveal effects on the last turn. It goes well with Iron Heart, White Tiger, and even Sage and Namora in certain situations. Ravona can help you bring out these cards earlier if you want, while Iron Boy can increase your chances of getting these effects.
Now, there are some fun decks for those of you who are still climbing the collecting ladder or just want to try something different.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Contains Cards: Nebula, Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, Yondu, Star-Lord, Cosmo, Groot, Drax, Blue Marvel, Ronan the Accuser, Gamora, Red Hulk
Fair warning: this is not a very effective deck if you want to win. But I like to play with everyone Marvel Snapshot Sometimes there’s no need to worry about winning, and that’s when I bring this one out. It’s just a bunch of Guardians of the Galaxy with a couple of Guardians-adjacent characters plus Red Hulk. Why Red Hulk? Why no Red Hulk? Winning with this deck depends on you predicting your opponent’s moves, but you can manipulate them a bit with Cosmos and Nebula. Ronan becomes more useful as giving up becomes increasingly difficult. I don’t know, I just love Guardians. I wish they were more effective.
Demonic Dinosaur Destroyer
Contains Cards: Nova, Agent 13, Butch Barnes, Carnage, The Collector, The Sentinel, Killmonger, Deathlok, Moonlight, The Witch, Demon Dinosaur, Odin
Well, you’re already on the collecting ladder. It doesn’t matter. Now is a great time to learn the game, and while you may not realize it, you can get your hands on some pretty awesome cards. There are some great combinations here, including Nova/Killmonger, Bucky/Carnage/Deathlok, The Collector/Agent 13/Sentinel/Moongirl, and Moongirl/Sentinel/Devil Dinosaur. Witches and Odin can weaken your opponent’s performance and double any “reveal” actions if necessary. Give it a try! You might be surprised by the results.
Here’s this month’s deck guide. We’ll have another game coming out in August to see how Deadpool’s friends and a month’s worth of balance changes stack up. It will be interesting to see what these new cards bring to the table, and whether they make real waves in the meta. It will also be interesting to see which decks will receive balance changes in Second Supper next. It could be you! But for now…happy photo taking!
