Cards in marvel snap don’t work like most virtual card games you may be familiar with.
Whether it’s Magic: The Gathering Arena, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel or Hearthstone, players have multiple starter decks to choose from, while Marvel Snap gives everyone access to the same small pool of cards, each based on a popular comic book hero or villain.
While it’s possible to win using decks themed around your favorite superhero teams, you’ll have to look beyond the game’s endless source material to find those must-have card combos. Here we will share with you the best marvel snap cards for beginnerssome effective deck building strategies, and how to unlock more maps for your collection.
On this page:
How to Unlock More Cards in Marvel Snap
When the tutorial comes out, you’ll probably be wondering how to add more cards to your collection in Marvel Snap.
The super-powered card fighter has a whole host of iconic Marvel characters to unlock, each with their own unique combination of stats and abilities. From America Chavez to Arnim Zola, you’ll soon spot cards in the wild that would be perfect additions to your custom decks, but how do you unlock them?
During launch, there is no way to unlock specific cards in Marvel Snap. The only time this is not true is when purchasing premium access to the game’s battle pass. This will immediately unlock the current season’s hero or villain with past examples such as Daredevil, Nick Fury and Miles Morales.
Unfortunately, you cannot visit the in-game store to purchase new cards. Instead, you can only buy variants of existing cards in your collection, spending gold on alternate artwork.
As you might have guessed, being a free TCG, your primary method of unlocking new cards in Marvel Snap is simply through play, racking up enough Collector Points to earn Collector Caches, each of the Promising Boosters, Gold, or a Random Card. At least there are no duplicates!
You earn collection points each time you upgrade one of your cards, with the number of points multiplying as they increase in rarity, from Common (gray) to Infinity (leaf). To increase the rarity of a card, you will need: a) the required number of Boosters and b) enough Credits to pay for the upgrade.
Finding ways to earn those Boosters and Credits quickly will soon become your number one priority. Although you won’t get many matches, the game’s rotating list of daily and weekly challenges provide a steady flow, as long as you complete them.
It’s a fairly standard progression system, but one that will no doubt keep you coming back. These random cards pulled from caches are also great for sparking new deck building ideas.
However, in Marvel Snap, you’ll get to a point where you know exactly which cards you want, which will make the grind all the more frustrating.
In the near future, developer Second Dinner is offering players a way to purchase cards they are desperately looking for. In response to player feedback, “Collector Tokens” will soon make their way to Marvel Snap, a new currency that can be spent on Featured Cards that rotate every eight hours.
Best Marvel Snap Cards for Beginners
Marvel Snap will kick you off with a basic deck of cards, featuring familiar characters like Iron Man, Hulk, and Star-Lord. Collectively, they don’t make for an unstoppable deck, though you’ll still find them making regular appearances even with hundreds of matches under your belt.
It goes without saying that winning strategies won’t be based on individual cards but rather how they fit together with the rest of your deck. One of the benefits of having smaller decks and shorter matches is that you can quickly experiment without committing hours of testing.
The way Marvel Snap distributes new cards has hidden limitations. The entire card catalog has been divided into “pools” that open up as you gradually increase your collection level, meaning players aren’t immediately exposed to more complex card mechanics.
After the practice wheels drop, you’ll enter pool one before moving on to pool two (level 222) and finally pool three (level 486).
The best cards for beginners are therefore drawn from this initial starter deck, as well as from Pool One. Our top picks include:
- Iron Man: (Ongoing) Your total power is doubled at this location.
- Sunspot: At the end of each turn, gain +1 Power for each unspent Energy.
- Apocalypse: When you discard it from your hand, put it back with +4 power.
- Devil Dinosaur: (Ongoing) +2 Power for each card in your hand.
- Mister Fantastic: (In progress) Adjacent slots have +2 power.
- America Chávez: You always draw this card on turn 6, and not before.
- Electra: (Upon reveal) Destroy a random 1-cost enemy card in that slot.
- Sentinel: (On Reveal) Add another Sentinel to your hand.
- Requirements: When a card moves here, it gets +2 power.
Naturally, depending on your playstyle and how you’ve set up your deck, many of these choices will be off limits altogether. The next section will cover deck building ideas, giving you a better idea of why these cards have become such favorites.
It’s also worth noting that maps are subject to change over time – we’ve already seen Second Dinner modify a number of favorites to help maintain a healthy balance in the game.
Examples of Deck Strategies in Marvel Snap
Each card in Marvel Snap offers a unique combination of three basic components: energy cost, power, and ability. All three must be intelligently balanced if you want the best chance of winning. Going for raw power means fielding high energy cards with low (if any) abilities.
Meanwhile, trying to overwhelm your opponent with low energy cards can take up valuable space on the game board, leaving you in a bind. Picking cards with epic abilities presents another potential deckbuilding pitfall if you don’t think about how they interact with each other.
Identifying strategic synergies doesn’t take a lot of brainwork, though it doesn’t diminish the sense of reward that comes from pulling off the perfect combo to smash your opponent. Here we highlight the most popular deck builds in Marvel Snap, picking out some of the key cards needed to make them work.
Helpless Deck
You might be thinking, why would I line up a card that has no abilities attached? However, when you push into pool 3, some cards can turn a helpless deck into one that can completely steamroll an unsuspecting opponent.
Ideal cards:
- Patriot: (Ongoing) Your cards without abilities have +2 Power.
- Mystical: (Upon reveal) If the last card you played has a continuous ability, this card gains it.
- Assault: (In progress) Double your other effects in progress at this location.
Move the bridge
Outflank and seduce your opponent using cards that move between slots, pairing them with cards that receive power bonuses each time they move. Make sure you have enough space to freely move cards between slots.
Ideal cards:
- Human Torch: When it moves, double its Power.
- Requirements: When a card moves here, it gets +2 power.
- Heimdal: (On Reveal) Move your other cards one space to the left.
Current platform
Many players will start by building a deck loaded with continuous abilities. These provide handy passive bonuses that can easily stack up, increasing the raw power of your heroes and villains.
Ideal cards:
- Mister Fantastic: (In progress) Adjacent slots have +2 power.
- Iron Man: (Ongoing) Your total power is doubled at this location.
- Assault: (In progress) Double your other effects in progress at this location.
On the bridge of revelation
Reveal abilities can easily turn the tables on your opponent, you just need to know which ones to use and when. This deck is designed to multiply their effects for easy, yet satisfying wins.
Ideal cards:
- Wang: (Ongoing) Your On Reveal abilities at this location.
- White Tiger: (On reveal) Add a 7-Power Tiger to another slot.
- Odin: (On Reveal) Activate the On Reveal abilities of your other cards here.
Throw away the package
Playing certain cards in Marvel Snap requires a sacrifice, discarding other cards from your hand. Slaughtering your deck might seem like a bad tactic, although some cards take advantage of it with major power bonuses. The risk involved in playing a discard game makes it one of the most fun styles of play.
Ideal cards:
- Morbus: (Ongoing) +2 Power for each time you discarded a card this game.
- Dracula : After the last turn, discard a card from your hand. It has its power.
- Apocalypse: When you discard it from your hand, put it back with +4 power.
Destroy the bridge
Keeping your cards on the battlefield is generally a good idea, although this deck gets stronger whenever certain heroes and villains are destroyed. Just be sure to destroy the good ones.
Ideal cards:
- Dead Pool: When destroyed, return it to your hand with double Power.
- Bucky Barnes: When destroyed, create the Winter Soldier in its place.
- Venom: (On Reveal) Destroy your other cards there. Add their Power to this card.
Draw
Having more cards in your hand means having more options to play. Drawing cards can also enhance characters with corresponding abilities. Don’t get greedy, with a maximum hand size of seven, be careful not to overshoot.
Ideal cards:
- The Collector: When a card enters your hand from anywhere (except your deck), +1 power.
- The beast: (Upon reveal) Return your other cards to this slot in your hand. They cost 1 less.
- Devil Dinosaur: (Ongoing) +2 Power for each card in your hand.
As Marvel Snap introduces new cards over time (while rebalancing existing cards), deckbuilding strategies are bound to change. If you’re serious about your Season Ranking, be sure to keep an eye out for the latest patch notes to maintain a competitive edge.
Have fun playing Marvel Snap!