Marvel Snap Autofill Deck Builder Guide: A Great, Yet Limited Tool

Marvel Snap’s autofill feature with the deck builder was introduced in the December 5, 2023 patch, which allows players to automatically add cards to create a formidable deck. Showcased at the recent Conqueror event, players will have a some questions about this new feature. Here’s our guide to how the autofill deck builder works, and our recommendations on how you can use it optimally!

How Do I Use the Deck Autofill Feature?

While creating a new or editing an existing Marvel Snap deck (under Collection), if a deck has less than 12 cards, you can press the + button to complete your deck. It can be just one card or up to 11!

According to the patch notes, here’s how the cards and the final deck is determined when using the autofill feature:

• Deck Builder analyzes vast amounts of Data and Statistics from Live Games, taking your collection into account, to build an incredible deck for you to use.
• The data that Deck Builder uses is updated regularly, so you can always count on it giving you a quality deck based on your collection.

Easy as that! But is that all there is to it? Can you win games with these decks? How does it really work? Should I be throwing in any cards together? Let’s investigate further.

Introduction and Overview

Marvel Snap now has the ability to have the game make a deck for you with any card you wish. Now, this isn’t particularly groundbreaking in the card game world, as other digital games already offered the same service. However, if the autofill feature is pretty common, their reputation to build subpar decks is just as common. Indeed, those features will build decks which make sense from a synergy standpoint, but rarely are the best for the current metagame.

Variants

Darkhawk

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Darkhawk

Variants

Hela

On Reveal: Resurrect all cards you discarded to random locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hela

Variants

Loki

On Reveal: Transform your hand into cards from your opponent’s starting deck and give them -1 Cost.

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Loki

Variants

Deadpool

When this is destroyed, return it to your hand with double the Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Deadpool

Already, I can tell you that Marvel Snap has done a great job in that regard, at least when it comes to the dominant decks in the game. Cards like Darkhawk, Hela, Loki, or Deadpool will lead to something very close to the current best list if you asked a human player.

Variants

Ghost

Ongoing: Your cards are always revealed last. (Their On Reveal abilities happen last.)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ghost

Variants

Master Mold

On Reveal: Add 2 Sentinel to your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Master Mold

Variants

Helicarrier

When you discard this, fill your hand with random cards.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Helicarrier

Once we start exploring cards which aren’t part of the current staple decks, on the other hand, the offer is a little more difficult to win with, even though many cards are slotted into reasonable shells considering their ability. For cards like Ghost, Master Mold or Helicarrier for example, they will be slotted into solid archetypes such as Ongoing, Annihilus Lockdown or Discard Dracula.

Variants

Kang

On Reveal: Look at what your opponent did, then restart the turn. (without Kang)

Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kang

Variants

Kingpin

When an enemy card moves here, afflict it with -2 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kingpin

Variants

Spider-Man 2099

The first time this moves to any location, destroy an enemy card there.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Man 2099

Variants

Agatha Harkness

Agatha starts in your hand and plays your cards for you.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Agatha Harkness

If we keep digging, and start asking the game for help for cards which haven’t been relevant for a long time, however, then the struggle is real. Kang in a Lockjaw deck, Kingpin in Move, Spider-Man 2099 in Lockjaw with no move cards, or Agatha Harkness, in Lockjaw deck as well. Basically, when the game doesn’t really know, he seems to throw it into Lockjaw if you aren’t asking for a 1-cost, which will go in Patriot with Ka-Zar included, or an Ongoing ability.

Overall, I think Second Dinner managed to get a pretty good autofill function, one that should help a lot of players which don’t enjoy, or struggle with deckbuilding. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using the deck you will be given, but the direction is reasonable in a lot of cases. However, there is one glaring problem so far: It really only works if a strong archetype with the card has existed in the past, or the card fits the main requirement of an existing shell the autofill function know about.

This leads me to the biggest limit I will address towards that new feature: It is great as long as the card you require a deck around fits a popular shell of the metagame in place when the last patch happened. Otherwise, the feature looks a lot like the ones of other card games developed in the past, a gimmick you can ignore.

Let’s explore!

A great help to build around Marvel Snap’s most impactful cards

I’m not entirely sure whether the feature feeds itself or if the developers input the latest data when they update through a patch or OTA, but it for sure knows quite a lot about the current metagame. Here are the decks I’m getting when I ask the game for help with Sebastian Shaw, Darkhawk, Loki, Hela:

Auto-fill Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Auto-fill Loki

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Auto-fill Shaw

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

auto-fill Hela

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

4.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Here, nothing particularly odd to note, as all these decks look pretty on par with what is played around these cards currently. Darkhawk is a couple of cards off the current best performing build, which saw Ravonna Renslayer and Iron Man replace Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom since the patch.

Loki and Hela are almost card for card the way they are played currently, with the game even adding Rogue and Shang-Chi as tech cards, showing it is directly inspired by what the players are doing in the game.

Sebastian Shaw is the more interesting to look at, as if the data was, indeed, input during the last patch, the developers couldn’t know the best list based on the players, and could only use what they tested. In the end, the deck is very close to reality, as only Daken and Maximus would be replaced to create the current best performing list of the deck.

Overall, any of these four decks can get you to the Infinite rank, I have no doubts about that. However, especially if we look at the Darkhawk build, it shows that these decks come from the metagame before the patch, rather than the latest created brews. It remains a great base, and a player not following closely what is happening in the game, or just looking for a solid deck to play for fun, should be very happy with these suggestions.

A good tool to get ideas around underused cards

If this new feature would just give you slightly outdated decks in exchange for saving a few clicks online, I wouldn’t call it a good addition to Marvel Snap. I think there is a really smart, even if limited, side to the autofill deck tool, as it can help find ideas around some underused cards.

I wouldn’t say this is a finished product, as it looks like the game has a set amount of shells, it just throws the card you ask a deck around in. For example, most cards with three power will be thrown in Cerebro 3, while the majority of 1-cost cards will be added to a Patriot deck with Ka-Zar, except if they are Ongoing card, which then belong in their own shell.

Here are the decks I got for a few cards I never see used in the game: Master Mold, M'Baku, Helicarrier, Ghost, Quake.

Auto-fill Master Mold

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

M’baku auto-fill

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

auto-fill helicarrier

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Ongoing

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Auto-Fill Quake

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2x Starter Card

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

I think this collection of decks is my favourite overall, as it provides an information which isn’t as simple to find on the internet compared to the previous section. There is nothing out of the ordinary here, as Helicarrier has discard written on it, and Ghost is an Ongoing ability.

However, these decks also tell us Master Mold is intended to be disruptive, although I regret not seeing Ronan the Accuser thrown in there. Quake in Cerebro 3 also is a nice mix, as the deck is weaker to location with the nerf to Luke Cage, so this build makes a lot of sense.

M'Baku is probably the most “fit it in a shell that makes sense as the 12th card” card out of this bunch, and there are many others like this example in the game. Overall, I would say there is a fair share of cards in the same idea of M'Baku, which don’t really contribute to the deck the autofill feature will throw them into. However, I don’t think the problem is the feature itself, rather the lack of a synergy to include those cards into currently. A real human wouldn’t do much better with M'Baku if we’re being honest. Then, just considering it a generic 1-cost card might be the best to do with the card.

I said it already, but I really think this is where the feature shines: highlighting some synergies around cards with very little momentum in the current metagame. It might look like these cards are just thrown into existing shells they aren’t necessary to in order for the deck to function. But this is the reality of certain cards, not all of them can be metagame defining. Sometimes, just being a nice support tool, or fitting in some synergy which at least makes the card look playable, is more than enough.

Then, for anyone who has a favourite card, and can’t find anything to do with it, I really like to at least have an in-game option to see it included in a good shell, even if the card isn’t necessary at the core of that deck.

A lot of suggestions can be improved

We have talked about the good, even the great, side of the new feature, and I believe more than half the cards have a decent suggested deck. However, when the game gets a card wrong, it can usually go two ways; either the deck will make no sense, or it will be added to a Lockjaw deck.

autofill Agatha

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

autofill Kang

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

autofill 2099

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

First, we can see looking at those decks that the feature doesn’t create a deck, but fits the card you asked for in a pre-built shell, as the eleven cards around Agatha Harkness, Kang, or Spider-Man 2099 are the same every time. Obviously, I don’t recommend trying any of these decks, as they look terrible, in addition to Lockjaw not being a strong archetype for quite some time now.

However, this isn’t so bad, honestly, as your card is thrown into a functional shell, although it makes no sense there, or has too many tech cards to summon behind Lockjaw for no reason. There are cards with even worse suggestions:

Autofill Attuma

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Kingpin autofill

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

There are others in that same vein, but these two examples are great to illustrate the limits of the new feature.

Attuma was headed in the right direction, as the card could fit in a Shuri like deck with Armor included. Typically, Professor X is also used, but we can look over that part. Sentry and Giganto or pretty weird inclusions as they are neither Ongoing to remove with Sauron, nor targets for Shuri as the card is not included. Also, what the hell is Darkhawk doing in there?!

Moving on to Kingpin for a different problem: Some cards are included in the synergy they are supposed to counter. In this deck, Kingpin does absolutely nothing to help the deck, except maybe if we face another move deck, or fell like destroying a couple of our own cards. There is Aero for some level of synergy, but Magneto over Doctor Doom would have made much more sense. Clearly here, Kingpin has been thrown into a shell (another one with Shadow King and Shang-Chi by the way…) it has little business being in, and probably because it has the “Move” keyword attached to it.

Don’t ask a deck for multiple cards together

I couldn’t find a way to sugar coat this last one, as it really is the worst part about this feature. Whenever you ask for a deck built around several cards, you will more than likely end up with a deck built around one of the cards you asked for, typically the first one, and have the other completely ignored. Sometimes, you can get some sort of synergy happen (like if you ask Viper plus Daken, you get Carnage in the Junk deck to eat the Muramasa Shard), but otherwise, you get a deck with a card completely out of place.

Here are a few examples:

Falcon + Hellcow

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

I got a Loki deck when asking for Falcon plus Hellcow, basically completely ignoring the second card I inputted. I could have had some sort of decks with a lot of 1-cost cards for Falcon with maybe have Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel and Strong Guy thrown in there to synergize with Hellcow as well. Some shell like a Kazoo deck would have been much more appropriate here.

Surfer + Negative

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Even worse in this example, as I asked for a deck with Silver Surfer and Mister Negative, which actually is a thing in Marvel Snap. Unfortunately, because the autofill feature has a default deck set for Silver Surfer, which I picked first, I get offered the same Sebastian Shaw deck we looked at early, except this time, I have a completely useless Mister Negative in it.

I have many more examples, but I think you get the point here, unless both cards are part of the same shell, and the game knows about that shell, you will usually get the same deck as if you asked for just the first card you added to the deck.

Conclusion

Overall, this new feature is pretty good, as long as you are able to recognize a strong card, but can’t really properly build around it. Then, the autofill will help you get an idea of where the card could fit, and at least a direction to explore. Even for cards with a low popularity, most of the decks I received at least made sense, even if I never got one I was fully happy with.

However, I think the feature is fed either by the matches played, or more likely, the data manually inputted by the team whenever they add new content to the game. Then, you will never have a deck which is perfectly suited for the currently metagame, as you will at best get one which dominated in the last.

The big limit to this feature is once you start asking for more complicated synergies, like two cards which are not part of the same, famous archetype, or cards there isn’t much data about in the game. Then, the deck will either throw your card into a generic shell such as Lockjaw, or just pick one that suits one of the card you added, completely ignoring the other ones you wanted to include.

If I had to give a more personal opinion about the feature, I think it’s pretty far from what a good player could make with the same requirements, especially if they are aware of the current metagame. Still, I think the feature was a solid addition to Marvel Snap, as it should save people a lot of time if they can’t check for decks online, or simply want to have an idea and build upon it.

I’m curious to know what everyone thinks of this new feature, and whether you have used it to build a deck already. It could be a fun challenge to have as a community to decide on ten cards, and see who can wins a game with each of the automated decks Marvel Snap will give you the fastest. I hope you’re good with a Lockjaw deck if you want to take on that challenge. 🙂

As usual, for any questions, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.