Boss Rush Banter: What’s The Best Marvel SNAP Strategy?

Marvel SNAP by Second Dinner has been thriving for almost half a year at this point, with thousands upon thousands of players. The game is constantly adding in new cards with new abilities, unveiling new locations to spice up gameplay, and balance patches to ensure that there isn’t one dominant strategy if a particular card seems too overpowered and appears too often.

(Looking at you, Shuri).

If you’ve been playing Marvel SNAP, you’ve probably built and rebuilt different decks as you’ve unlocked more cards. What types of strategies do you enjoy playing?

One strategy that I had massive success with when I first started playing was a strategy involving using multiple 1-Cost cards like Iceman, Korg, Squirrel Girl, and Ant-Man. I’d beef them up using cards like Ka-Zar or Blue Marvel right at the end for a sudden boost in power. Decks like these are fun, but have become less and less viable with the appearance of cards like Killmonger, who destroys all 1-Cost cards when he first appears, or Enchantress, who can steal Ka-Zar’s ability to beef up your 1-Costs. However, there are ways to mitigate this with cards like Armor to protect your cards from being destroyed, Invisible Woman, who helps keep your combo a secret until the game ends, or Ultron, who waits until the last turn to fill the board with 1-Costs for you to beef up.

One of my first decks to really get me up in the ranks. (Image Source: Second Dinner)

Another type of strategy that has managed to stay relevant since the game’s launch is the strategy based around destroying your own cards. These decks are focused on destroying your cards for boosts in power. Cards like Carnage destroy every other card at their location, but get +2 Power for each one. Nova, who only costs 1, gives every other card +1 when he’s destroyed. These decks often have cheaper cards, allowing you to constantly be playing cards to replace those you destroy. Adding in a card like Death or Knull can help you have a massive Turn 6.

While not my favorite strategy, decks like this can get serious results. (Image Source: Second Dinner)

One deck that I’ve personally loved using is a deck based entirely around Mr. Negative, who’s ability swaps the Cost and Power of every card in your deck. While this sounds bad, it works really well with cards like Iron Man, who costs 5 but gives 0 Power in exchange for doubling the Power at his location. Mr. Negative makes him a 0 Cost who gives +5 Power AND doubles the location’s power, giving you essentially +10 in addition to doubling everything else. Other cards with 0 Power, like Mystique or Adam Warlock, suddenly become insanely powerful by being free to play. Cards like Psylocke or Magik can do a great job at giving you more turns to draw better “Negative Cards.” The downside here is the deck is more-or-less worthless if you can’t get Mr. Negative out, since most of your cards have low Power. When it works, it really works, but if you don’t have Mr. Negative by Turn 4, you should probably retreat.

“Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.” (*Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy*) (Image Source: Second Dinner)

What strategies have worked for you in Marvel SNAP? Have you constantly been changing your main deck, or have you stuck with one particular strategy since you first started? If you’re new to Marvel SNAP, try out some of these strategies for yourself and see if they work for you. Let us know in a comment your favorite strategies to use, and join the Boss Rush Discord to join the conversation.

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