A Perfect Pair: How Bast Transforms the Mister Negative Archetype

With Mister Negative back in the spotlight thanks to the Zabu nerf and the Positively Charged Bundle, and Bast recently dropping down to Series 4, now is a great time to understand the impact of Bast on the Mister Negative archetype.

Variants

Bast

On Reveal: Set the Power of all cards in your hand to 3.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Bast

Variants

Mister Negative

On Reveal: Swap the Power and Cost of all cards in your deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mister Negative

Bast is my favorite card in Marvel Snap and I’m thrilled that more people can get their hands on her now. If you’re on the fence about spending 3,000 Collector’s Tokens to unlock Bast, or if you already have Bast and aren’t sure how to get the most out of her, then you’re in the right place!

The High Variance of Mister Negative Decks

I remember early on in my Marvel Snap career, looking ahead at the cards waiting for me in Series 3. When I first read about Mister Negative my mind raced with possibilities.

“This card lets me play a 0/5 Iron Man and then add that to two locations with a 0/6 Arnim Zola? I’m going to win every match!”

When I spent those 1,000 Collector’s Tokens and pulled together my first Negative deck at the beginning of the December season, I got hit with reality pretty hard: An opening hand with Iron Man, Mystique and Ironheart, nothing on the board until turn four, retreating on turn five.

It’s these kinds of high variance scenarios that make Negative decks so divisive. When they hit, they hit hard and can net you a lot of four and eight cube wins, but other times you have no cards on the board for too long or all of your Negative targets start in your hand and you have to book it when your opponent snaps. 

In spite of my early fumbles with Mister Negative, that deck ended up being the lynch pin of my climb from 30 to Infinite in the December season, and has played a key role in me reaching Infinite during the January and February seasons as well. The main reason for this was acquiring and mastering the card Bast in that kind of deck. So, let’s talk specifics!

The Closest Thing to a Mulligan We’ll Ever Get in Marvel Snap

The concept of a mulligan is common in many card games: Players get to swap their opening hand for another random set of cards from their deck often with the downside of holding one less card than if they kept their opening hand.

In a game like Snap with only 12 cards in a deck and only one of each card, a full on mulligan would fundamentally break the game. When so many decks hinge on one key card, few would complain about holding one less card if you’re now starting the game with Galactus, Cerebro, Mister Negative, etc. in hand.

Around the launch of Marvel Snap Ben Brode had a popular Twitter thread where he explained how the card Quicksilver was their way of sidestepping the need for the often requested full on mulligan feature. While Quicksilver certainly gives you… Something to play on the first turn, the way Bast interacts with our ideal Negative targets when we draw them before we play Mister Negative is the closest thing we’ll probably ever get to the feel of a true mulligan in Marvel Snap.

The classic bad opening hand for a Mister Negative deck would be Iron Man, Mystique, Ironheart, and Arnim Zola. Even though Iron Man into Mystique and Ironheart as your plays on turns five and six can give a nice surge in power, it likely won’t be enough to overcome an opponent’s high or even mid roll play lines.

However, if you add Bast into the mix suddenly you have a 5/3 Iron Man and a 3/3 Mystique. Instead of those cards adding zero power to each of their respective locations Bast lets these cards add six power a piece thanks to their incredible abilities. For Ironheart, if she’s hit by Bast you’re effectively giving her a 50% bonus to the power she’s putting out on the board. Rogue is a common tool to win in Negative mirror matches, and if you steal an opponent’s Iron Man it’s even more satisfying adding six power to your location instead of the standard two.

In all of these scenarios, and many more, Bast gives you a “mulligan-like” second chance of putting out the power swings Negative flipped cards offer. Granted, the power level of Bast-ed cards is much lower compared to a negative flipped card but it will often be the tipping point of letting you win games with a bad opening hand that you would’ve lost if you didn’t bring Bast to the party.

For all of the excellent interactions Bast has with our ideal Negative targets, it might feel the best when we hit Mister Negative himself giving him a whopping four power boost. Normally playing Mister Negative with his base negative one power is setting you at a disadvantage in every location except bar with no name, compounded even more by our desire to get an Iron Man in at least one location. With a well timed Bast, you get Mister Negatives incredible effect without the stress of setting yourself behind in a location. 

Tips for Using Bast with Mister Negative

While the concept of making cards with less than three power now have three power sounds straightforward enough, getting the most out of Bast requires some strategic thinking ahead.

Although, Bast is a 1/1 card in most cases you shouldn’t be playing her on the first turn of a match. The longer you can go without dropping Bast, the more targets she’ll be able to hit in your hand.

The key to deciding when to use Bast comes down to looking at your hand and asking yourself “Do I have a card I need to play on the next turn?” and if the answer to that question is “no” then you should probably hold onto Bast until your that turn. Your patience in the early game will pay off in the end game!

Of course there are high roll situations where you’ll want to get Bast down on turn one: If your opening hand is Bast, Psylocke/Zabu, and Mister Negative then get Bast down on turn one and consider snapping on turn two or three if the locations are solid!

As a general rule of thumb you should try to have Bast on the board by turn three at the latest. Don’t get too greedy with building up Bast targets, and we especially want to get Mister Negative on the board on turn four at the latest.

Even though I wouldn’t recommend it in most cases, you could get away with a turn four Bast + Wolfsbane or turn five Bast + Wong play line if the situation is just right.

Like using any new card in Marvel Snap it comes down to practice and getting used to the unique timing and interactions with the rest of your deck. So don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t making galaxy-brain plays with Bast in your first few games with her.

Bast Negative Decks to Try

Now that you’ve got the rundown on how special Bast is, here are a handful of decks to get you started with the Bast Negative archetype.

Deck #1: Budget Bast

Budget Bast

Created by kickerofelves

, updated 1 year ago

2

3x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

0.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overview

If you lucked into opening Bast early on in Series three and have limited options this deck can get things going for you! Full disclosure, this list will likely perform worse than the other two options below but I wanted to acknowledge the potential for a more budget friendly list.

Every card in this deck is a great target for Bast, especially cards like Angela and Bishop which benefit from getting down on the board early on. As with many Negative decks, if you’re able to negative flip Iron Man or Blue Marvel and have Mystique copy one of them you’ll be in a great spot.

Cards like White Tiger and Mister Fantastic aren’t seen in many meta Negative decks but in a budget build a 1/5 White Tiger ends up putting 12 power on the board, and a carefully placed Mister Fantastic can sneak out some cheeky wins by hitting locations like Sanctum Sanctorum.

Deck #2: Bast with a Side of Panther

Bast with a Side of Panther

Created by kickerofelves

, updated 1 year ago

1

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overview

I know I know, Bast and Black Panther in the same deck sounds crazy. However this deck looks to have two main gameplans depending on the flow of the match. You can either do a straight forward Mister Negative/Bast power house with targets like Iron Man, Mystique and Blue Marvel. Or the Wong/Shuri, Black Panther and Arnim Zola/Taskmaster package which has proven to be quite formidable on its own.

For this deck I’ve swapped out Psylocke for Bast, but you can use Psylocke and Bast if you don’t have Zabu, or swap in Bast for Taskmaster if you want to lighten the emphasis on the Black Panther portion of the deck.

Deck #3: An Expensive Negative Hawk

Negative Hawk

Created by kickerofelves

, updated 1 year ago

7

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Overview

I wrote about this deck at length in another article solely dedicated to Darkhawk so head over there for a deeper dive. Suffice it to say here that Darkhawk is still a powerhouse and benefits greatly from being Negative flipped, hit by Bast, and of course having Mystique copy him. If you have Darkhawk in your collection make sure to test this one out too!

Conclusion: Should You Buy Bast?

If you’ve made it this far, you can probably guess what my answer is here: Yes, you should absolutely buy Bast if you are a fan of the Mister Negative playstyle. She creates an incredible interaction with the ideal Negative cards that is wholly unique to anything else in Marvel Snap.

If you have any questions about Bast, Mister Negative or just want to chat about Snap, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter at @itsthedmc. Until next time, happy snapping!