How to Build Your First MARVEL SNAP Deck

Read up on this guide to building the best MARVEL SNAP decks, straight from the game creators themselves!

The word is out! MARVEL SNAP is the best new card battler on the scene and if you haven't tried it out already, you're in the perfect place to get started. Available now on mobile and PC devices, Nuverse, Second Dinner and Marvel Entertainment's latest collaboration is making waves as it brings exciting gameplay and fast-paced action to Marvel fans everywhere. Players all over the world can finally experience the adrenaline-pumping, superpowered card battler game that lets fans assemble a Marvel dream team of heroes and villains, before battling their way through the multiverse to glory—all in just three-minute play battles.

We sat down with Kent-Erik Hagman, Associate Design Director of MARVEL SNAP, who gave us some tips, tricks, and everything you need to know to build a great deck!

Can you go over the starter cards you will get in Series 1?

Some of the exciting cards you will unlock early are Ka-Zar, Mr. Fantastic, and White Tiger. Ka-Zar empowers your 1-Cost cards, making them punch above their weight. Mr. Fantastic will let you threaten all three locations at once, keeping your opponent on their toes! Finally, White Tiger will create a powerful tiger in another location, which can be incredibly strong into locations you can’t directly play into!

What are a few types of starter decks that you can make? What are the advantages to each type?

Here are some of the starter decks you’ll be able to make quickly.

First up is the Spectrum deck. Spectrum, when she reveals, gives +2 Power to all of your cards with an Ongoing effect. So go ahead and put a bunch of Ongoing cards in your deck, and finish with a big explosion of Power when Spectrum hits the board!

Next is the Odin deck. Odin will re-activate all of the On Reveal effects of your cards at that location, which can be particularly strong with cards like Wolfsbane, White Tiger, and Spider-Woman.

Finally there’s the Blue Marvel deck, which wants you to play as many cards as possible. This deck wants to have a lot of low-cost cards and pairs well with Ka-Zar to power up all these low-cost cards.

How many locations do you need to win a game?

Each game features three locations, only two of which you have to win! What’s important is to understand which location you’ll be okay giving up to your opponent, so you can properly focus your resources elsewhere!

How do the Cosmic Cubes factor into the gameplay and ranking system? How do they affect the stakes of each game?

Earn Cosmic Cubes from your opponents to increase your Rank! Starting at Rank 10, it takes 10 Cosmic Cubes to gain 1 Rank.

Each game of MARVEL SNAP has 1 Cosmic Cube at stake when the game starts. After the final turn, the amount of Cosmic Cubes always doubles.

In addition, at any point during the game, either (or both!) players can “SNAP” the Cosmic Cube, which will double the amount of Cubes at stake starting with the next turn.

This means that while each game starts out only playing for 1 Cube, with a single SNAP, it’ll jump to 2 Cubes, and with a second SNAP it’ll jump to 4 Cubes, which after the final turn would double to 8 Cubes!

If your opponent SNAPs the cube, or it’s the final turn, and you’re not confident, it might be a good idea to retreat, and only lose half as many cubes!

What are some things to keep in mind when building a deck?

It’s very important to have a good spread of cards that cost different amounts of energy. In addition, it’s important to have more lower-cost cards than higher cost cards.

For many decks, this looks like having around three 1-cost and three 2-cost cards, while maybe only having a single 6-cost card.

It’s also important to think about how your cards can work together, and finding cards that can play off of each other.

If you feel like you’re losing to a specific strategy over and over, there are usually cards that can work to counter that strategy. Cosmo is a card that blocks On Reveal effects from happening, and is great if you are having trouble against Odin or White Tiger.

What kind of mind games can happen when you “SNAP!”?

You can use the SNAP mechanic, and its timing, to get into your opponent’s head.

If you're confident you’ve secured victory, you should SNAP to get double the Cubes from your opponent!

You can also SNAP to bluff your opponent into thinking you have the perfect combo or finisher, even when you don’t!

You can also SNAP right after an impactful Location reveals, one that could play right into a strategy you may be running…and if your opponent is savvy, they may retreat, giving you an easy victory.

What’s the secret to victory? Just kidding. How can players enjoy all the features MARVEL SNAP has to offer?

After each game, you will earn Boosters for a card from your deck. Use those Boosters and your Credits to Upgrade those cards, which increases your Collection Level, which unlocks new cards! So be sure to upgrade your cards as often as you can to keep getting new cards to play with!

Every 8 hours, you get 2 new Missions which you can complete to get Credits which you’ll need to upgrade those cards. You can check on your Mission progress from the main screen, and make sure the decks you’re playing can complete them quickly. You can hold up to 6 missions at a time, so be sure to keep some room empty to receive the next 2 missions!

In addition, there’s large Credit Rewards to be received by completing Missions throughout the week! If at any time you feel you are falling behind on that, you can use Gold to purchase 2 new Missions to catch back up.

Every month, there’s a new Season in MARVEL SNAP, which includes a new Season Pass. While you can purchase the Season Pass to earn the premium rewards (which always includes a new card right away!), there’s also a variety of free rewards on the track for all players. Be sure to complete your Season Pass Missions (which you’ll have all season to work towards) in order to level up on the Season Pass.

Be sure to visit the Shop every day, as there’s 50 Free Credits ready to be claimed. Don’t miss out!

Also in the Shop are some beautiful Variant Cards for purchase with Gold. These cosmetic cards allow you to show off in style. Every day, there’s 6 new Variant Cards for sale, so be sure to see what’s available on the daily. Every card in MARVEL SNAP has a handful of Variants that can be acquired, so check back often to see if your favorite card has an incredible Variant for sale.

Also in the Shop is the Fast Upgrade section. If you’re itching to upgrade a specific card quickly, check to see what’s available, and you can immediately spend Credits to cover the missing Boosters for any given card to upgrade the card and instantly gain Collection Level.

As you upgrade Cards, they increase in quality, starting from Common, to Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Ultra, and finally Infinity. When you upgrade a card to Infinity, you can Infinity Split the card to create a new copy that contains a special cosmetic Mod, such as Foil, Gold Foil, or one of our many Flare mods that play when a card is revealed. Keep Infinity Splitting a card to get new, unique, and rare combinations of mods to find the perfect set for your card.

Get in on the action now! MARVEL SNAP is available in 13 languages across the world and available for download now on mobile and early access PC: www.MarvelSnap.com.