Best Kitty Pryde Decks: Impact on Meta After Return

The balance updates with the Marvel Snap patch on May 16th had a lot of mixed reactions among the community. For example, I was one who didn’t like the Wave change very much. On the other hand, I think Crystal is now a better card than it was before, and I welcomed the rework with open arms. However, there is one element from the patch everyone agreed was a net positive for Marvel Snap: Kitty Pryde is playable again, and everyone gets it for free!

The card was slightly changed in order to fix some bugs related to it since its original release, and many feared it would change Kitty Pryde‘s ability to be as impactful as it was when it first released. For what it’s worth, I do think Kitty Pryde is slightly worse compared to its old self. However, the card already managed to bring the Bounce archetype back into contention, alongside making an appearance in a couple of other archetypes.

In this piece, let’s take a look at Kitty Pryde and how giving one good card to every player can suddenly turn the Marvel Snap metagame upside down.

Bounce: The Obvious Return

Bounce

Created by den

, updated 11 days ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
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5+

There are quite a few Bounce lists running around on the ladder, and you might catch another one depending on which content creator you follow. Let’s consider this one the basic twelve, with all cards naturally fitting the synergy. Then, you may consider the Korg plus Darkhawk package, adding another big card such as Iron Man, or even running Agent 13 to support The Collector even more.

As it stands, Bounce is the most popular deck in Marvel Snap, with quite a solid margin as well. It also looks like a solid top 10 archetype with over 54% win rate and close to 0.3 cube average in the ranks leading up to Infinite. There is a bit of a problem with Wave making a big comeback after her rework as the card completely denies the explosive last turn Bounce is typically looking to set up, but if you recognize a Wave archetype you can always go off on Turn 5 and then simply play America Chavez.

If we compare to the performance of the archetype before Kitty Pryde‘s return, Bounce was a Tier 3 deck fighting to achieve half the cube average it has now. Of course, the hype and the number of players gravitating towards the archetype plays a big role as well, but it is undeniable that Kitty Pryde deserves a large part of the spotlight for the archetype’s current performance.

Indeed, with Kitty Pryde in the deck, Bounce was able to cut Darkhawk, Black Widow, and Korg to include America Chavez and The Collector alongside the returning card. The switch from a synergistic package to three standalone cards with strong synergies in the deck has skyrocketed the stability of the build.

America Chavez helps with consistency – we need to find Angela, Bishop, and other early game cards more often, leading to us being able to Snap earlier in matches. The Collector synergizes with Kitty Pryde as well as Beast, The Hood, and Falcon. The card typically reaches six or seven power when played on Turn 2, beating most 2-cost cards in the game and joining the likes of Morbius and Hit Monkey.

As for Kitty Pryde herself, the card boosts Angela and Bishop, and she also provides a counter to the popular Nebula (among other uses, of course). She also serves as both a way to spend our energy through the course of the match and remain a cheap enabler for Hit Monkey on Turn 6.

Other Archetypes With Kitty Pryde

Bounce is the obvious race leader when it comes to archetypes making the most out of Kitty Pryde becoming widely available. However, the card also made an appearance in other archetypes, and it did not seem out of place in most of them. Let’s take a look:

Kitty Control

Created by den

, updated 10 days ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x 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 Recruit Season

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This first one comes from Wender, who uses Kitty Pryde in this Control shell. The card helps in various regards:

• We can grow it to become a big complement to Gamora on Turn 6.
• It does not counteract Killmonger in any way. Even better, it could mislead the opponent into thinking we are not playing the card.
• Playing Beast feels much better considering we already have other decent targets for it in the deck.

Kitty Devil Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 10 days ago

5

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Through her synergy with The Collector (and sometimes Moon Girl), Kitty Pryde seems like a decent 1-cost card in the Devil Darkhawk deck. In this one, we wouldn’t be looking to necessarily play Kitty Pryde every turn. Instead, just getting an extra power on The Collector when we have extra energy, in addition to having a card we can play while keeping a big hand for Devil Dinosaur, might be enough.

You could also run a full Devil Dinosaur deck for a full Series 3 build:

Kitty Dino

Created by den

, updated 9 days ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Death Bounce

Created by den

, updated 10 days ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.2

Power

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5+

You might not know this, but the Death Bounce archetype is kind of my baby and my proudest creation as a Marvel Snap deck builder. After Wave was changed, a lot of people shared their disappointment in seeing this archetype go alongside it.

I wouldn’t consider the deck to be completely refined yet, and it obviously takes a page from the InSheNaut or Hit Monkey archetype in a way. For example, I’m still trying to figure out how to fit America Chavez in the deck for increased consistency. Nevertheless, the ability to play a Destroy package, especially Killmonger, in a metagame with no Armor feels great. If you enjoyed the previous iteration with Knull, I think you might have some fun with this one as well.

In a similar combo based play style, one could also play something without the Destroy synergy like this Hit-Nebula deck:

Hit Nebula

Created by den

, updated 10 days ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
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5+

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 10 days ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Sera Control naturally runs Bishop, and Angela isn’t so difficult to include as well, which makes Kitty Pryde almost a natural fit for the archetype. We already discussed how being able to have a 1-cost card in a deck with Killmonger was great in the Control build, so I won’t expand on that here.

Closing Words

Nebula was starting to capture most of the spotlight when it came to 1-cost cards in Marvel Snap. Korg remained in the discussion thanks to its synergy with Darkhawk, and Nightcrawler too as part of the Miles Morales package. To round up the top 5, we have Iceman and Sunspot fitting the strong standalone role. Nova could also be considered for its contribution to the Sera archetypes, Control or Silver Surfer.

With Kitty Pryde back in the mix, a lot could change. Indeed, we now have a strong Nebula counter on our hands, and the Bounce archetype is pushing for several 1-cost cards to be played such as The Hood and Bast. Wave could become a party pooper, and it kind of already started doing so as I’m writing this.

Nevertheless, it is hard to devalue how impactful Kitty Pryde‘s return has been, especially as it was given to every player in Marvel Snap. It is a bit unfortunate that we had to wait so long for a card because it introduced so many bugs and lead to a situation where the developers had to take it down for a month and then offer it widely as compensation. I hope this experience shows the developers that cards being widely released (without the whole buggy part first) can be a way to renew the experience on a large scale.

I hope you are having as much fun as I am with your newly collected Kitty Pryde. For any questions about this piece or to share your own Kitty Pryde build, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord. You can also follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Upcoming events you might be interested in:

• May 27th: Qualifiers #3 and #4 of the TYB 616 Open. Anyone can join and try to qualify for their share of a $1,000 prize pool.

• May 28th: Coaching seminar alongside Freshlobster about the basics of deck building, game planning, snapping and retreating.

Good Game Everyone.