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Marvel Snap beginner decks guide

We all start somewhere.

Marvel Snap is a great deck-building card battle game for beginners, as it has a relatively small set of basic rules. But there is also plenty there for the advanced player. The longer you play, the more cards you get, opening up new strategies for decks built around more complex combos. The best way to get to those cooler combos fast is to win a high percentage of your early games. So here, we’ll walk you through Marvel Snap’s best beginner decks guide.

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The best starter decks in Marvel Snap

When you start playing Marvel Snap, you’ll slowly build up a card collection built from Pool One cards. This pool is the same for every player, but the order you get the cards is random. Because of this, you may not be able to fully build the decks below from the start, but as you play you will quickly acquire every card you'll need for them. Also note that some decks in the higher ranks can get away with a strange Energy curve, but when beginning the game, the best decks you can make are ones that have a good early game that build into some turn six bombs.

Related: How to play Marvel Snap for beginners – Tips & Tricks

Series 1 Discard

Though Discard options are quite limited in Series 1, low-to-the-ground Discard decks still do well in the early game due to the high Power and low Energy cost of the package. Thus, with this deck, you'll want to prioritize flooding the board and finishing off your opponent with a buffed Apocalypse. The cards you'll need for this deck can be found below:

  • Ant-Man
  • Blade
  • Elektra
  • Nightcrawler
  • Rocket Raccoon
  • Angela
  • Wolverine
  • Lizard
  • Lady Sif
  • Swordmaster
  • Apocalypse
  • America Chavez

Your strategy will be throwing out your low-cost cards into neutral or beneficial locations, but if you start the game with Angela in hand, you should pass turn one and then play her so you can use other cards to buff her. Past that, you want to try to target Apocalypse for Discard triggers if possible so that he will be huge come turn six.

You can find the deck code here: eyJOYW1lIjoiTmV3IERlY2siLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQW50TWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJCbGFkZSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRWxla3RyYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTmlnaHRjcmF3bGVyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBbmdlbGEifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlJvY2tldFJhY2Nvb24ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IldvbHZlcmluZSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTGFkeVNpZiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3dvcmRNYXN0ZXIifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFwb2NhbHlwc2UifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFtZXJpY2FDaGF2ZXoifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkxpemFyZCJ9XX0=

Related: Marvel Snap – Featured Location Altar of Death, explained

Series 1 Ka-Zoo

Classic Ka-Zoo decks are good at all levels, but in the early ranks Killmonger doesn't exist, making them one of the best decks for early play. The idea of the deck is to play the plethora of strong Series 1 cards at your disposal, then buffing them up with Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel to swarm your opponent. The deck list is as follows:

  • Ant-Man
  • Elektra
  • Hawkeye
  • Squirrel Girl
  • Nightcrawler
  • Rocket Raccoon
  • Blade
  • Angela
  • Wolfsbane
  • Ka-Zar
  • Iron Man
  • Blue Marvel

Your strategy is simply to flood the board with your low-cost cards and then slapping down game-shifting cards like Ka-Zar, Iron Man, and Blue Marvel. The only one-drop you usually want to hold off on playing is Blade, as he will potentially get rid of one of your powerhouse cards. Blade is best played on the final turn alongside Blue Marvel or Iron Man.

Copy the deck code for your own use here: eyJOYW1lIjoiTmV3IERlY2siLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQW50TWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFbGVrdHJhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJIYXdrZXllIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJTcXVpcnJlbEdpcmwifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5pZ2h0Y3Jhd2xlciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiUm9ja2V0UmFjY29vbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQW5nZWxhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJCbGFkZSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiV29sZnNiYW5lIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJLYVphciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSXJvbk1hbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQmx1ZU1hcnZlbCJ9XX0=

Series 1 On Reveal

More of a mid-range style deck than the previous two swarm styles, Series 1 On Reveal is looking to leverage powerful card abilities to take games with huge power spikes. It does so by being greedy and utilizing the abilities of its cards when they are most powerful. The card list is as follows:

  • Ant-Man
  • Nightcrawler
  • Rocket Raccoon
  • Angela
  • Medusa
  • Mister Sinister
  • Ironheart
  • Wolfsbane
  • Jessica Jones
  • White Tiger
  • Spider-Woman
  • Odin

The idea with this deck is to play out your On Reveal cards at strong points for them. For example, you only want to play Ironheart when you have two or more cards on the table already. The same goes for Wolfsbane, who will be best when she's the last card played at a location. You want to be mapping out how your plays will affect your board state, especially when you have Odin in hand, as leaving room for him to come down and trigger your On Reveals a second time can be game-ending by itself.

To use this deck, copy the code here: eyJOYW1lIjoiTmV3IERlY2siLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQW50TWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBbmdlbGEifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5pZ2h0Y3Jhd2xlciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiUm9ja2V0UmFjY29vbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTWVkdXNhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNclNpbmlzdGVyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJJcm9uaGVhcnQifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IldvbGZzYmFuZSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSmVzc2ljYUpvbmVzIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJXaGl0ZVRpZ2VyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJTcGlkZXJXb21hbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiT2RpbiJ9XX0=

Series 1 Ongoing

The last deck to try is Series 1 Ongoing, which is similar in play style to the On Reveal deck in that it's looking to get the most out of its cards' abilities by playing them in optimal positions. The difference between the two is that On Reveal is looking to leverage combos with Odin and other cards, while this Ongoing list can take many games simply by playing its cards out correctly and on curve. The deck list can be found below:

  • Ant-Man
  • Angela
  • Armor
  • Colossus
  • Lizard
  • Mr. Fantastic
  • Captain America
  • Cosmo
  • Namor
  • Iron Man
  • Professor X
  • Spectrum

This deck excels at putting good power into play using Angela, Captain America, Ant-man, and Iron Man to leverage filling locations. Simultaneously, the deck can also steal some locations with Namor or Professor X, forcing only one card out of you for huge value while increasing the location's pressure with Mr. Fantastic. Lastly, Spectrum on turn six is the deck's strongest play, buffing all of your Ongoing cards and taking most games easily.

The deck code can be copied here: eyJOYW1lIjoiTmV3IERlY2siLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQXJtb3IifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkNhcHRhaW5BbWVyaWNhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJDb3NtbyJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTGl6YXJkIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJOYW1vciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiUHJvZmVzc29yWCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTXJGYW50YXN0aWMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlNwZWN0cnVtIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJJcm9uTWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBbnRNYW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkNvbG9zc3VzIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBbmdlbGEifV19

We're here to help at Pro Game Guides if you're starting out in Marvel Snap. Read on to find out How does Discard ability work in Marvel Snap and How to increase your rank fast in Marvel Snap.


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Author
Image of Jaret Knox
Jaret Knox
A gamer born and raised, Jaret's first two video games were Contra and Super Mario Bros. 3, two games released before he was even born. He attributes these games to his wide-ranging interest in varying genres, and also credits them with his love of gaming in general. This led him to starting a career in video game writing, and now he can be found freelance writing for Pro Game Guides, spending time with his fiancé, playing video games, or reading a good book.
Author
Image of Chris Marling
Chris Marling
Chris Marling is a writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience across newspapers, magazines, and websites. Based in the UK, he has written professionally on everything from tech to tearooms. But his real passion is gaming, going right back to the Atari 2600 - and especially RPGs and MMOs. He cut his teeth on games such as The Realm and Anarchy Online. But 20 years on still gets excited about exploring each new world. When not online, you'll find him gaming analog-style around the table. Chris has had five of his own board games published, including Pioneer Days and Armageddon.