The Marvel Staff Shares Their Favorite Cards for MARVEL SNAP

MARVEL SNAP has taken the world by storm ever since it launched globally on mobile and PC, and new players are joining every day! Whether you're just learning how to build your own deck, or reveling in the array of beautiful art in the game, there's something for everyone—especially when you have all your favorite characters from the Marvel Universe at your fingertips!

Not only is the popular game easy to pick up, it's hard to stop playing—and we're not kidding. Here at the House of Ideas, there are quite a few Marvel staffers who are MARVEL SNAP players themselves, and we did our best to interrupt them between games—er, work—to hear what they love about playing the action-packed card battler. Read on below for their top card picks, favorite decks and maybe a few tips on how to level up!

 

What are some of your favorite cards to play in MARVEL SNAP?

Peter Rosas (Senior Product Development Manager): I really like disruption cards.  So cards like Storm, Doctor Octopus, Killmonger, Shang-Chi are all pretty fun as they cause the opponent to have to change their strategy on the fly. 

Christopher Williams (Associate Manager Product Development): Oh man, Jessica Jones and Gamora are must haves. The abilities on these cards lock locations down when used right, and of course I have to have my guy Miles Morales.

Haluk Mentes (SVP, Business & Portfolio Strategy): Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are my current favorites due to the incredible (and very apt) synergy between the two.

Brendon Bigley (Senior Manager of Distribution): I think there’s a great marriage of the powersets of the characters in the source material and their abilities as cards in Marvel SNAP. One of my favorites—and a mainstay in almost all of my decks—is Scarlet Witch, who for the low energy cost of 2 can change any of the three locations in a match into a new random location. This doesn’t always work out in my favor, but most of my decks are about embracing the chaos, so Wanda’s chaos magic feels like a natural fit.  

Ron Richards (VP Planning & Platforms): I love to play cards that bring chaos, like MORPH who turns into a card from my opponent’s deck. I like to keep my opponent on their toes.

Brian Marquez (Associate Manager, Product Development): My favorite cards are the ones that completely change the stakes of the game. Right now, I love playing Scarlet Witch late in the game (If I’m lucky enough to draw her) and changing the effects of a zone. It keeps my opponent on their toes and a lot of times negates their original strategy there. Obviously though...it doesn’t always work in my favor.

Eric Monacelli (Senior Director, Product Development): Elektra is a stealth game-changer when she comes into the match to destroy a random enemy 1-Cost card. Mister Fantastic is one of my favorite cards because dropping him into the middle of the playing field can sway the fight with +2 adjacent location punch power. Professor X’s lockdown on location powers are often mighty as well.  

 

What kind of deck are you into building? 

Ryan Penagos aka @AgentM (Vice President & Creative Executive):  So, to be fair, I’ve been playing for months. I got in early during the beta and haven’t been able to stop playing. So I’ve been building my decks for a long time. I have about 8 different decks, but my favorite is a nefarious deck I call “DESTROY” which is centered around cards I can destroy, sacrifice, and sneakily mess up my opponent. I’ve got classics like Nova and Wolverine, plus my secret weapons of Sera and Killmonger. It’s a jerk deck, for sure. 

Eric Grundhauser (Programming Manager): I'm a big fan of Ultron. I like creating fast-paced, low-cost decks, then using Ultron to fill in any gaps with Drones. He can also help turn the tide if someone has dropped Killmonger and decimated my ranks of cute lil guys. Makes for a great last-minute comeback! 

Eric Monacelli: My deck building is nascent but I’m playing with the mindset that high-numbered cards will serve me to turn the tide of the battle towards the end of a match. It’s been effective so far but I need to re-think my strategies for the higher tier challengers.

Christopher: I build multiple decks based on different play styles. I have a low-energy level deck of energy level 1 and 2 cards that remains undefeated. I also have a Combo deck that builds upon cards that play off each other. Of course I created an "AsGuardians of the Galaxy" deck.

Ron: I tend to build decks that have lots of On Reveal abilities to add to the chaos effect.

Haluk: I get a kick out of building decks that have unexpected “gotcha!” moments in turns 5 and 6, while allowing for flexibility if the game evolves in an unexpected way. 

Brendon: The deck I play the most often is one that plays against most archetypes I’ve seen online: I just play it because it’s so wildly fun, win or lose. I call it "The Jubilee Roulette", because it’s focused on using Jubilee to pull extremely high-cost/high-power cards from my deck instantly, or to alternatively play cards like Scarlet Witch to disrupt my opponents. I have a few decks I’ve built that make use of specific ability archetypes like Movement or On Reveal decks, but this is the one I find myself going back to on a daily basis. It’s just too fun to make the split-second decisions between playing it safe or throwing caution to the wind.

Which card(s) in particular did you love the art style of?

Eric Monacelli: The Second Dinner team did an excellent job on the original art and selected some of the best artists in the Marvel community to truly showcase our characters. There are so many cool art styles but the Pixel and Chibi variants are particularly endearing right now.  

Eric Grundhauser: Chibi Ebony Maw. It really makes that crusty alien space wizard look like a cool dude.  

Christopher: I love all the Chibi art style cards.

Ron: My favorite cards art-wise have been the X-Men character cards. They really capture the essence of my favorite group of characters.

Brendon: I’m a big fan of the X-Men cards pulling from the modern ongoing run of comics. The Professor X variant with his big HOXPOX Cerebro helmet rules, and Jubilee’s Hellfire Gala variant is probably my favorite card I own at this point.

Ryan: I really love those that evoke certain eras and styles, such as a Carnage variant that looks like Mark Bagley’s art, or Jim Lee-esque versions of Cyclops and Wolverine. All the card art by artist Dan Hipp, as well, really looks amazing in-game. 

Peter: Both Hobgoblin and Black Bolt are some of my favorites, especially when they become animated (Epic).  

Brian: I really love the look of the Medusa card! It’s just so dynamic and brings focus to her cool hair. 

Haluk: I’m a big fan of all things samurai so I was very partial to the ronin Psylocke variant.  

Who would you love to see team up in the Marvel Universe? Why would they make a good team? 

Ryan: If I’m riffing on the cards I play, probably the Hood and Carnage. A criminal kingpin possessed by a demon with a terrifyingly dangerous symbiote? Hell yeah.

Christopher: Black Panther, Storm, Spectrum, Blade, Night Thrasher, Miles Morales and War Machine. Besides it being a team of heroes that are masters in their respective areas. Its pure Black Excellence. Can you imagine that cover art!?!?!

Haluk: I always root for Moon Knight, Blade and Elsa Bloodstone and am very happy when we feature these characters in our games! 

Ron: I find myself using Gamora and Spider-Woman a lot and I’m not sure if they’ve ever teamed up before. I think they both bring a ton to the table and complement each other pretty nicely.

Brian: Squirrel Girl with anyone. If I had to choose, probably the Winter Soldier? I love them both and I feel like their differences could bring some funny situations. 

Eric Monacelli: I haven’t unlocked him and I’m not even sure he’s in the game yet but Lucky the Pizza Dog and almost anyone. I’m the world’s biggest Lucky fan. I think he’d be a worthy partner and best friend to so many characters. He should give any played card a +5 buff and weaken every card on the other side by +5 due to his cuteness. Thinking of my some of favorite characters…Psylocke and Lucky would be amazing. Wolverine and Lucky would be perfection too. Black Panther and Lucky? Lucky and Dogtor, er, Doctor Doom? Let’s make it happen!

Peter: I would love to see Hit-Monkey and Rocket team up. They’re both highly trained animals with weapons, need I say more?  

 

Which characters would you love to see face off against each other? Who do you want to see win? 

Brian: That’s a hard one! Maybe Taskmaster vs a Skrull? Seeing Taskmaster have to hunt down a Skrull that’s able to shapeshift into whatever they want… but having Taskmaster memorize every nuance about them would be intriguing. Maybe Taskmaster could see things that the Skrull does that the original person they’re copying doesn’t? It’s an interesting concept!  
 
Honestly, I want to see Taskmaster lose. We always see him lose to Super Heroes, but how would it affect him to see him lose to a common Skrull? 

Christopher: OOOOOOOooh Onslaught and Thanos!! Onslaught [winning]. At one point he was the most feared villain in Marvel and deserves the crown once again.

Ryan: One of my favorite cards to use is Shang-Chi, because he can destroy high-powered opponents’ cards. So seeing Shang-Chi up against the Hulk or Abomination or another heavy hitter would be a blast. 

Ron: I’m always down to see Cyclops face off against anyone, because I’m always rooting for him and he always finds a way to win.

Eric Monacelli: I appreciate the classics so Professor X versus Magneto. I’d see Professor X prevailing as he’d lock down a location and Magneto would have to be forced to face him one-on-one.  

Wolverine versus Sabretooth as well. It would be a brawl. No one wins but it’s a fun fight to watch as they both go back to lick their wounds and fight another day.  

Haluk: Doctor Doom vs. Magneto since Villain vs. Villain is always an intriguing concept, although either of them would deny that they’re a villain, which is the whole point! I think Doom would crush Magneto after a furious but brief battle.  

Peter: Would love to see Strong Guy take on Juggernaut in an arm wrestling match. May the strongest win!   

 

Which variant set do you have your heart set on collecting?

Ryan: Gimme those Pixel Variants! 

Haluk: I’d love to have a full deck of Samurai Variants! 

Peter: Anything by Dan Hipp.  His character designs are big, vibrant and fun. 

Brendon: I’m a big fan of Vision, so I’m hoping to round out the variant collection over time. That said, I think it would be really fun to have a different Scarlet Witch in each deck I build. 

Ron: I’m a sucker for the Baby variants, I can’t say no when I see them. 

Brian: The Baby variants are my absolute favorites! I used to collect every one of those variant comic covers as well so it’s only natural that I collect the cards too. 

Eric Monacelli: I’m waiting to see what variants set come out before I start collecting too many cards but the Chibi set might be my first.  

Christopher: Chibi! I hope I can collect them all! 

 

What do you love about playing MARVEL SNAP? 

Ron: I love how easy it was for me, someone who doesn’t play lots of mobile games or card games, to pick up the game and start playing and understand it quickly. On top of that, the speed of the games is a real plus, it’s really impressive how much velocity there is to each game.

Peter: That it’s really easy to get into, but becomes quite strategic the more cards you unlock. Figuring out cool card synergies and how to play around unfavorable locations and the opponent keeps matches feeling extremely fresh.   

Christopher: How simple, fun and fresh it feels. I love seeing my friends and family getting passionate about their decks and how excited they get when they land their favorite Marvel character.

Brendon: This game does so many things so well it’s hard to not just ramble on forever about every small decision the team at Second Dinner has made to create an absolute winner. I think the speed at which a game of SNAP can fly by means I can fit rounds into idle moments easily. I think the ways in which random locations add variety and humor to each match is something truly unique and makes every game feel like its own short story. And most importantly I think the positioning of playing cards alongside your opponent instead of explicitly playing against them means even high-stakes rounds of SNAP are fun to lose—I frequently find myself impressed by what my opponent was able to pull off. Although I’d always rather win.

Brian: I love how easy it is to get into while also not making you feel like it has to hold your hand every step of the way. Each battle makes me put in the work but the sense of satisfaction when I win (or even when I lose) is huge!

Haluk: That even when I’m beaten I have fun! And this is coming from someone who has been beaten with his own 24 Power Apocalypse after swapping hands in turn 6! 

Eric Grundhauser: I love that it creates a sense of fairness out of chaos. The random locations and smaller decks make for a much more level playing field whether you're a sponsored streamer pro or just someone trying it out on a lunch break. 

Eric Monacelli: It’s fast-paced, colorful, joyful while allowing you to strategize and be thoughtful. It’s an incredibly well-crafted and designed game. 

Ryan: Winning. 

 

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.

 

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