Best Early Decks Using Series 4 and Series 5 Cards

Series 4 and Series 5 cards have been available for several days already, and have created the biggest buzz in the Marvel Snap community since its global release. While it still is very early to measure the real impact these 16 cards will have on the metagame, it already is undeniable that some of these cards have helped upgrade some archetypes.

In this article, I’d like to highlight these decks, which seems to have gotten the better of this forming metagame, including one or several cards from Series 4 and 5. Of course, there are still some gems to discover in the metagame, as for now, most players only collected 2, maybe 3 cards from the 16 across both series. As time progresses, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this list grow much longer, and our next tier list should probably feature decks that won’t be part of this article.

Yet, even if we can never have a perfect vision of the environment in a card game, and Marvel Snap acquisition system makes it even more difficult. Let’s talk about the cards which managed to make an impact in just a couple of days.

Valkyrie, best Series 5 card so far?

Sera Valkyrie Miracle

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

It might be because she was relatively easy to figure out, or because she is played in one of the best decks already. Still, Valkyrie has found a lot of great allies in the Sera Miracle build. Her biggest contribution is that she offers an alternate win condition when the deck doesn’t draw into (the now slightly nerfed) Sera, rewarding an on-curve kind of gameplay.

We can also see the inclusion of Bast in the list, who replaced Forge, as it does a similar job but to our entire hand. The drawback from Bast is the inability to play it on turn 6 as a surprise. Otherwise, with the only card above 3 power being Sera, Bast simply feels like a solid play anytime in the game, even if you end up using Killmonger to get rid of it. One could consider running Deathlok if they feel the extra body is worth a lot.

Let’s get back to Valkyrie, and why she is so good in the build. First, she basically always wins you a lane where you have three cards on turn 6, as long as Mojo or (another slightly nerfed) Angela are in there already, or if you destroy Nova later in the turn. The reason for this is that we should be revealing second in our Sera deck, as we won’t often be ahead going into turn 6, so even if the opponent plays there, we will set their card’s power to three.

Then, what I particularly like about the card is that she is a fine 5-Cost to replace the missing Sera. Similarly to what we would do on turn six, drop Valkyrie on a full lane on turn five, setting you up to win that lane. It also gives value to cards like Bast or Okoye, which we would otherwise just dump on the lane we don’t expect to be fighting for – now, that lane can change at any moment because Valkyrie is in the deck.

Doing so, we free our turn six to contest another lane, something quite difficult to do in this deck if we are missing Sera and haven’t played proactively early on. Now, we could try to rely on a Brood plus Wolfsbane combo to win the other lane. Or a Nova, Mister Sinister and Killmonger for example… It’s not as good as when we get our signature card obviously, but Valkyrie changes a clear retreat into a potential win, and that is enough for me to like the card in the deck.

Galactus finds a home in the Electroyer archetype

Electro Galactus

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Electro has always been a fringe card, and ever since we found its go-to build, the card managed to become relevant, yet never managing to become a staple in the metagame. The situation might not have changed yet, but it feels like the archetype is a great starting point to assess what can be done with Galactus.

The whole point of Galactus is either to find a way to keep a lane empty, or playing it before the last run to be able to play onto the lane afterwards. In this deck, we can do both, and we didn’t really have to change the archetype to do it.

Here’s how each card in the deck works alongside Galactus:

• Hobgoblin: The best set up in the game, making your Galactus much more likely to win the lane he gets played on
• Leader: An insane follow-up to Galactus, as you only lose to someone playing three or more cards on turn six
• Aero: A nice way to keep a lane clean, giving us a shot at playing Galactus much more safely the next turn
• Shang-Chi: Because people tend to play high power cards when they only have a lane to play on.
• Destroyer: Even Nerfed, he still is worth a lot of points, usualy the best if we only have one card to play
• Daredevil: With Electro, we usually want to play Galactus on turn five, where we have six mana. More information is always welcome in that sense.
• Professor X: He doesn’t directly help, but if the opponent thought he had a lane guaranteed because your Professor X failed, just destroy the lane entirely.
• Wave: Another way to Galactus early on, so we can be flexible afterwards.

There are other worthy inclusions in the deck, such as Gamora, which benefits from both Daredevil and Galactus, over Professor X. Death is a card I’ve seen included in Galactus builds, as she can be reduced a lot by Galactus destroying the other locations. Green Goblin acts as a cheaper Hobgoblin, setting up Galactus even more, although we almost will always favor Wave or Electro on turn three if available. Lastly, the idea of Valkyrie has been tossed around, as she will win you the lane as long as the opponent cannot match the amount of cards there, although it makes the goblins unusable as a setup then.

Sabretooth and Wolverine can also be nice additions, as they will contribute for free once destroyed by Galactus, but push the build in a different direction already.

She-Hulk is great in DeathWave, as advertised

DeathWaveHulk

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

2

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

When She-Hulk was speculated to be a Nexus Event card during the summer, a lot of players started building around her, and only had to dig around to the old builds when she became available for real this week. Back then, the synergy with Wave immediately felt logical for a lot of deck builders, with She-Hulk offering a similar way of cheating mana like Death.

Compared to our previous entries, She-Hulk isn’t a card that creates a new pattern for a deck, like Valkyrie or Galactus could do in the previous decks. Instead, the card makes the deck more reliable at what it was trying to do already. When you manage to find both Death and She-Hulk, you get a super explosive turn six, mixing both tons of power and a flexible spread, as long as you got enough destroys to pull off a 0-cost Death.

The need to reduce Death to 0 instead of 2 now that She-Hulk is another card we can play in addition to our 4-Cost card made the deck evolve a bit. Mostly, Squirrel Girl now feels like a staple in the deck, as she can represent three kills alone when we play Killmonger. Otherwise, the rest of the build feels very close to what BAEro was before Series 4 and 5 joined the game, with Leader looking like the 12th card for now, mostly to win the mirror match, but this could easily be America Chavez or Magneto instead.

Bounce welcomes Thanos and Bast

Bounce Thanos / Bast

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This is something I was really waiting for upon getting 16 new cards to the game. Obviously, we all expected the good to become better, but the real excitement comes when other lesser played decks manage to join in on the fun.

Bounce has been stuck down at Tier 4 for a while now, either getting destroyed by Killmonger, or simply not finding enough points unless you drew into an above average sequence without running into a bad location reveal in the process.

Bast joining the deck kind of felt like a given, as every card in the archetype is a low point scorer before growing while in play. Also, with the ability to bounce the card back to our hand, we can boost our cards several times, affecting more than just our starting hand, for example.

Thanos, on the other hand, wasn’t so obvious as an inclusion in the Bounce archetype, but had an incredible impact on the deck through the Infinity Stones. The deck just has many ways of abusing cheap cards, either buffing or replaying them for their On Reveal ability, which help make the stones a powerful addition to the deck.

However, this means we are also seeing other cards make their way in Bounce build to help support this new cast – Carnage can help to free up some much needed space, and Blue Marvel can buff our full board by the end of the game. I have also imagined Valkyrie in that slot, but haven’t had a chance to try her utility in the deck yet. Lastly, Devil Dinosaur is a secret standout in this deck, often being bigger than Thanos himself thanks to the repeated card draw the Infinity Stones offer!

Closing Words

If She-Hulk is great in DeathWave, and Galactus being a fine card if cheated on before turn 6 were expected outcomes, I have to admit, I didn’t think Valkyrie would have as big of an impact as she currently does. She seems like the card that can be played in a lot of decks so far, finding a way to contribute for each of them.

The best news, though, is the fringe archetypes finally finding some love and competitive relevancy thanks to some new cards. To me, this is by far the biggest indicator that things are changing, and the new tools added to Marvel Snap are making an impact.

I’m sure new things are going to keep emerging as players unlock more of the new cards, and I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. I will make sure to report all these innovative brews in the next Tier List and other pieces to come on Marvel Snap Zone. Until then, you can join us on Discord, or find me directly on Twitter.

Good Game Everyone.