Good morning all! I’m back at Marvel Snap Zone every weekday with a deck of the day: a top deck for you to try out! My aim for this article is to get you in and out quickly and give you something new to play every day along with the tools to do well with it. If you want three more new decks today, check out this video!
Sanctum Showdown, Marvel Snap’s newest game mode, is out and it is easily the best mode to get new cards ever. Yes, it’ll take some grinding, but between Twitch Drops and spending a relatively low amount of Gold almost everyone willing to play a lot of Marvel Snap should come away with 3 – 5 new cards.
There’s a caveat, though: you need to win. The difference between getting a lot of cards and very few seems to be your Win Rate, since winning grants Scrolls that let you play more and reach higher Sorcerer Ranks (each of which gives an influx of Scrolls and Charms). Since you need to win more, I figured today is a good day to take a break from the usual format and instead show you the best deck in the mode thus far.
But winning in Marvel Snap is more than just a deck—here are some tips to help you out!
- Don’t Retreat – You lose your Scroll if you lose a game of Sanctum Showdown, but you still gain Charms for each location you win. Those Charms really make a difference—so don’t Retreat! And while I’m here, at the end of the game just Snap like crazy. You’ll either win and get more Charms or help someone else out at no cost to yourself!
- Pay attention to priority – The person ahead with more points at the moment in the game goes first. Early in the game, you usually want that to be you because being ahead can really cause games to snowball. Two cards that help a lot are Rocket and Groot and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Later in the game, you may want to consider going second, as other key cards (notably Cannonball and Stegron) prefer going second. If your Charms are tied, priority is random.
- Self-clog is real – You’ll likely be playing a lot of cards to win a lane. If you clog yourself, there’s usually a set amount of power in that lane, and opponents can plan around winning that lane when it becomes the Sanctum. Furthermore, opponents can’t clog you with Debrii or Green Goblin, but they can with move your cards with Polaris or the aforementioned Stegron. Because of this, Move cards are powerful—Ghost-Spider and Doctor Strange allow you to surprise contest a lane and unclog yourself in a pinch. But, of course, there’s also simple cards like our friend Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Nightcrawler, too!
- Pay attention to cards in other locations – Some cards force location plays or make them more complicated. Keep those cards in mind; Nebula gains power in a non-Sanctum lane, but when her lane becomes the Sanctum she’s a huge threat. The same is true of Iron Patriot. Because of these plays and because you’ll almost always know the Sanctum location, the Guardians of the Galaxy cards are amazing in this mode, especially because each one has stats that are well above rate (when you hit).
Okay, onto the deck!
PulseGlazer
This deck is essentially Sanctum Good Stuff. Let’s go card-by-card since there’s no real turn-by-turn for Sanctum.
Don’t forget to check today’s video at the top of the page for more great decks!
- Rocket Raccoon – Guardians are great, and Rocket is probably the best of the early series ones. He’s not only the best stats on rate, he’s also crazy cheap!
- Hydra Bob – He can be hard to use. It’s pretty easy to Snap him away from the Sanctum late game, but his early power is not to be trifled with. Plus, he helps you prevent self-clog. If you don’t have Hydra Bob, you can run the soon-to-be Series 3 Nebula or just Nightcrawler.
- Star-Lord – I told you the Guardians were good. A [2/6] is absolutely huge, and even late game that’s a relevant amount of power.
- Iron Patriot – You can play him in a lane on Turn 2 to try to win the Sanctum, and then on Turn 3 your opponent needs to choose to contest the Sanctum or give you a powerful, cheap card. You love to see it. Medusa, Mirage, and Jeff are the best replacements.
Kate Bishop – She’s decent early power, but her main use is providing access to the only clog card that was left unbanned: Acid Arrow. Don’t sleep on Grapple Arrow either to move power in a pinch. Medusa, Mirage, and Jeff are the best replacements.- Sam Wilson Captain America – He’s in basically all the best decks for this mode. His early power is great, and he scales well. He can lead to being clogged, but more often than not Cap's Shield prevents you from clogging yourself. Medusa, Mirage, and Jeff are the best replacements.
- Rocket and Groot – The other key card in this mode. His power early with priority is amazing for winning a Sanctum lane, and then he’s consistently dangerous for the rest of the game. Your opponent will just have no choice but to play on him! Remember, play him with priority or he’s very mediocre. Negasonic is the first replacement here. Nocturne makes some sense too. If not, go with your biggest 3-Cost.
- Copycat – She’s here because so many people are running similar cards. Her ability is all but guaranteed to nab you something important and often game-winning. There’s also a version of this deck that just runs Negasonic Teenage Warhead in this spot. It’s got more games and a very similar Win Rate.
- Makkari – Free points early, free priority. It’s really simple, right? If you don’t have her but keep some movers, try Miles Morales in this spot. [0/4] is better than [1/6], but [1/6] is still very good!
- Gladiator – Keyword big. Getting ahead on the first Sanctum location can be huge, and you need something for when you don’t have priority. Groot is a good replacement here, but Gladiator is just slightly bigger.
- Cull Obsidian – He’s just the biggest and easiest to play 4-Cost. There’s nothing fancy about it, except that with Sam Wilson you can basically always play him. If you don’t have him, try out Stegron. I’ve seen some Crossbones, but it hasn’t impressed me.
- Cannonball – Without priority on Turn 5, this is a near-guaranteed lane win. That’s pretty damn great, and it often enables big Snaps and closes out games. Be warned: everyone who has him is running him. He’s also dropping to Series 4 in a week. If you don’t have him, your best bet is to go big with Gamora or mobile with Vision.
That’s it! See ya’ll tomorrow with my best Diamondback List!
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