Table of Contents
Hello everyone, I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and every week, we’ll be tackling a hot topic you need to know in, around, and about Marvel Snap! Each month, we’re going to be making predictions about the quality of the new season’s cards. Get ready for a look forward to the Top New Cards of the Maximum Effort Season and their sample decks!
In this article, you aren’t just getting my opinion and predictions of these cards. Instead, today you can find the combined statistical ranking of over 50 of our favorite content creators! A #1 ranking gained a card six points, while a #5 got one point. Let’s take a look at the participating creators listed alphabetically, and then get to the list.
- 6lackdama
- AndreVar
- Batman99
- BeeHappy
- Benjamin Roller
- Bischona
- BitTwiddle
- Bootman
- Bradcifer
- Braude
- Butt
- Combat Marvel Snap
- Comiz
- Dai Cavallo
- den
- DerrickSnaps
- Desmond
- Devilish_Plays
- dieKruschels
- Docty
- DoeyKat
- Dott.Geo
- Evazord
- FaThorNewman
- GamingwithFlashX
- Gatos
- Gnome
- Gregor
- Horaizon
- Ika
- Interrobang
- Its_Just_Rie
- ItsGuestGaming
- JDMacdonaldino
- JimmyDikins
- JonnybGoode
- KennyLoggins
- KingofCanada
- Kirallas
- Koire
- Kx4n
- LaurenWhatevs
- LoganofParadise (NerdsofParadise)
- Molwin
- Mottelz
- mrsmoq
- NathanofParadise (NerdsofParadise)
- NoBigDeal
- NoLucksGiven
- NickdaGreekGeek
- Nitheal
- Ob3lisk
- Owi
- ParryManilow
- Peaceful Sea
- Phil Woodward
- Prashaun
- PulseGlazer
- Ratko
- Robitussin
- RockLeo
- rsBerry
- Rutmus
- Safetyblade
- Savage Yeti
- SergeyR
- Silky Johnson
- Sizer
- Snap Decisions (Joe)
- Snap Orange
- Soul Intent
- Spyro ZA
- SuperTechGod
- Tanjo
- TheKid_Snap
- TimmyTrogdor
- Tuccrr
- TwoTiez
- W
- Xunzzz
Will we be correct in our assessments?
5. Hydra Bob – 130 points
Is this a meme? Is this real? This card is in the discussion for the worst card ever released into Spotlight or Series 5 in Marvel Snap and is also one of the worst predicted cards ever where the prediction came true. This is okay in Zoo, but even in move decks, it’s being played with Invisible Woman since it’s ability is so often a downside.
After Miek, I had hoped that random move was a thing of the past, but here we are. The only random move card that has ever worked was Silk, and was, at the time of her release, aggressively started. With that not the case for Bob, there really is no case for this card.
- Meme card. – NoBigDeal
- LMAO. – Butt
- 1/4 is fine, not as bad as everyone says. But the worst this season. – Bradcifer
- Sometimes you get a Blob, sometimes you get a Bob ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. It’s Just Rie
- Really cool mechanic. Has a secret downside in that it delays your ability to Snap. If you think your opponent is playing this, do you Snap early to deny move, or save your Snap as disruption? – NoLucksGiven
- When I’m in a disadvantaged position, and I need to move him to free up space or access another location… I don’t really want to Snap then. – Ratko.
- Seemed pretty busted in the datamine, but in its current state, I don’t understand why anyone would run this card. 4 power is fine, but where are you putting this card? – Parry Manilow
- Bob’s old data-mined stats and effect were much more interesting and competitively viable. His current iteration seems bad. – Jimmy Dikins
PulseGlazer
4. Ajax – 196 pints
Decks with Ajax
Please note Ajax will be buffed to [5/7], which may change its evaluation here.
My #1 card is hanging at the bottom of the list here. His high placement for me is due to a combination of factors. First – he can be the biggest 5-Cost in the game, which will be rare, but is still useful. Next, Arishem decks will struggle to draw a Luke Cage, which means that until Cassandra Nova chases those from the meta, Ajax is going to play for a ton of points.
I fully expect the card to be unplayable once Cassandra Nova and Ajax combine to make Luke Cage an every-deck phenomenon (poor Shadow King), but, like Gilgamesh, this can be fixed with a base stat buff. This is built to compete in deck space with Darkhawk, Devil Dinosaur, Ronan, and Gilgamesh, and as such, I think there’s no way this isn’t a long-term relatively meta card.
- I consider Ajax as a Gilgamesh for High Evo/Hazmat deck, but worse. – Comiz
- The initially datamined 4 energy version seemed very strong, but at 5, significant doubts arise about whether it can be realized, considering that Evo decks usually try to skip turn 5 or have another winning plan for it. And for the final turn, Ajax’s impact might not be enough. – Kirallas
- Another 5 energy big drop. But why do we need him? Let’s compare it to what we have now. Devil Dinosaur at low collection level in the hands of new players, just have a lot of cards in your hand and you’ll have a big body on the table. 👍 Darkhawk, previously just put rocks in your opponent’s deck, now just stick him in any deck and farm Arishems. 👍 Ronan, you’re not looking for easy ways, put some cards into your opponent’s hand and you have a big body on the table. 🤔👍 Gilgamesh, play 1 drops, then put Kazar or Blue Marvel, and you have a big body on the table. 👍 Ajax, play an ultra-unpopular and weak Hazmat Toxic deck, and you’ll have a chance to play a big body at some point. 👎 Why? What for? Dunno. 3/10 – Soul Intent
- Gilgamesh 2.0. Nice to see this archetype get some attention. Probably not good enough. – Nathanof Paradise
- It works well with Hazmat. However, if we don’t draw Hazmat, Ajax feels weak. – SnapOrange
- Not sure, it has the potential to be pretty dope, but I’m not sure about Luke Cage. – Koire
- With Ajax, I was thinking along the lines of winning 1 location with Storm, and the other with Ajax + Hazmat. This results in Ajax being bigger than Infinaut ^^ One lane winners have always been ranked at the top, so I believe Ajax will be there as well 🙂 – Sizer
- 1 Player using Luke Cage ruins his entire gimmick. I love Affliction cards, but this as a 5 drop is too risky when there are so many other better 5 drop options. I could see him working with High Evolutionary.Just seems like a very niche card. – Gregor2424
PulseGlazer
3. Gwenpool – 226 points
Decks with Gwenpool
Gwenpool is another card that I expect to be a long-term meta card. She may or may not last in Siver Surfer decks, but Patriot and Iron Patriot decks have a new home. A few days in, she’s being experimented with in a ton of extra decks. a [4/12] is great – that’s only two less than Ms. Marvel – but she often plays for more using (mostly) Brood, Sebastian Shaw, and Absorbing Man.
Better still, Zabu is terrible for now. We know that the buff for Zabu is coming, and it’s doubtful that the card stops working with 4-cost cards. Many are assuming that Zabu will become an Activate card, but even if not, a more powerful Zabu is a huge buff for this card.
The short-term outlook for Gwenpool is good, but the long-term is excellent.
- Very good, Surfer, Patriot, and maybe bounce? – DottGeo
- She can be cracked if she hits cards that profit from extra power like Deadpool, Brood, or Shaw. – 6lackdama
- It’s bit like Phastos (on 3 since you get 3 buffs) where you have to play the targeted cards to get value from Gwenpool. But it’s a lot better because you know what’s in your hand and it’s always only one of the buffs (+2). Another important thing that makes the card different (and better) is there aren’t many good 4 costs played for power that don’t require other cards to be good eg. Sentry and Cull Obsidian. Not good with Deadpool. – rsBerry
- 4/12 that dodges Shang sounds great. Targeting your hand avoids most of Phastos’ problems (she’s still bad on the last turn). There are precious few cards that take advantage of being boosted in hand. 4-cost makes her too expensive for Shuri and weird for Surfer (which has Brood, Shaw, and Gladiator that all like being boosted in-hand). Might actually justify Zabu. LaurenWhatevs
- It’s hard to imagine which decks will play her. But I can already see cards like Mysterio going crazy with that card. NiTheal
- Gwenpool is the card whose output will not change the meta in any way at all. She can give a buff to those cards that I don’t want to play in the final stages of the game. It costs 4 energy and in my opinion, Loki or the Iron Lad looks much more profitable for this energy. The same Arishem can allow you to play cards for 5 energy for 4 turns (at the same time, I doubt that you will take Gwenpool into that deck. – AndreVar
- Representing 12 power for four energy over multiple cards, Gwen is above rate… if you can play all the cards she buffs. Discard has hits like Swarm that get better when hit, Surfer has Brood and Shaw. My secret hope is that it can improve Nimrod… But that’s unlikely. A solid card, but not groundbreaking. – LoganofParadise
- Going to be a killer card for toxic. – KingofCanada
- After a long evaluation, I believe Gwen to not be as strong as I thought she would be. Truth is, we have plenty of cards that boost our own already and one card that’s going to take 4 energy and a whole turn to play just for a few power spread setup is not ideal. – JonnybGoodeGame
PulseGlazer
2. Cassandra Nova – 256 points
Decks with Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova isn’t one of my favorite cards of this month, but she has several uses that make her better than she looks. First, On Curve (turn 3 in a regular deck, 2 in Arishem), she’s a [3/7]. That’s not amazing, but her power extends to any drawn cards opponents play, which will have -1 Power. That’s not bad. She also seems decent in Mister Negative decks where you’re happy to play her on turn 3 or as a [1/3] later in the game.
But her real and main use is as a tech card against Arishem. There, with 6 cards drawn on turn 3, she’s a [3/19]. That should chase Arishem out of the meta, which will create an interesting meta case where whenever Arishem is meta, Cassandra Nova and Darkhawk will come out, while when they aren’t, Cassandra Nova lies dormant.
Almost everyone should get this card for free since it’s in the new Deadpool’s Diner mode, not Spotlights, so we’ll know if this assessment is correct pretty quickly.
- I love this card into Arishem and Thanos, and I like the synergy with Ajax. – FaThorNewman
- I want this to work. Feels like it’s another card to hit Arishem. No idea how good it’ll be in standard matchups. – Mottelz
- Another 3 cost that is great on curve but sucks late. – BitTwiddle
- Low floor with just 1 power, and it will be at its worst right after release since it’s easily countered. Interested to see where it lands in the future when people aren’t expecting it. – JDMacdonaldinho
- Nice. a card to make people stop crying about arishem hopefully lol. -DoeyKat
- Amazing against Arishem. Great add to Darkhawk decks. Other than that probably just ok but the ceiling seems very high which is nice. – DerrickSnaps
- The best card on this list, especially due to the abundance of Arishem deck, also looks very good in a surfer decks. SergeyR
- Seems decent, I am really curious where it really ends up fitting in and if there is a strong meta deck for it. Of course now with Arishem running wild, she seems amazing, but who knows if that’ll be the case a month from now. Other than that, it has synergy with Darkhawk type decks since you are stuffing the opponent’s deck giving her more cards to steal power from if it’s just played down on 3 just like that in a regular Snap game I believe she is a 3/7 which is pretty good and can be stronger if the opponent doesn’t have Luke Cage and ends up playing anything she hit, and she’s not a completely dead card on turn 6 she would be a 3/4 in a regular snap game which is not terrible in for example surfer. I think there is also something to be said about the annoyance factor, like when you’re pool 2 and see that Scorpion drop down on 2 and you’re just devastated, or to be honest even now when you see a Scorpion on 2, it’s really annoying I think Cassandra Nova will have a similar effect. She has synergy in addition to the obvious in Darkhawk with High Evo Abomination, Surfer of course, and with Ravonna too, maybe with Wong even. If she hits an Iron man or Brood or something like that it can have a bigger impact. I am curious what decks will end up using her well. – Bishcona
- Crazy good on curve and will definitely shift the meta especially against Arishem. Can also fit quite easily into the exiting good cards Ravona shell and wreak even more havoc. Rutmus
- I’m also happy Cassandra. Cassandra will have a lot of fun in a JunkSurfer with Rockslide, Korg, and Black Widow! But don’t steal my idea! Hahaha. – dieKruschels
- A card that will block the current card called Arshem. – Desmond
- Cassandra and Ajax are going to be tied. If one is good, both will be. -SavageYeti
- Above rate if played on 3, good card into Arishem or Thanos. – Silky Johnson/Spac3
- Limited ceiling but strongest of the month. Ravonna synergy, Surfer Synergy power play in decks which have struggled for them. Safetyblade
- This one seems busted. Being able to trigger this again with Grandmaster or Abs Man, or throwing it into a Wong lane can be crushing for your opponent while benefitting yourself. Card of the month for sure. – ParryManilow
- If you play it early, you will be afraid of the Shadow King, but if you play it at T6, it won’t affect your opponent. I think Sage is better. – Xunzzz
PulseGlazer
1. Copycat – 272
Decks with Copycat
Everyone loves this card (including me), but it won’t always be great. In fact, upon release, Arishem decks make this a pretty mediocre card. The strength of Copycat is that, given the choice, most players run pretty good cards. Copycat getting the ability of a pretty good card as a [3/5] is awesome. There are times she’ll brick – a
Unfortunately, for at least a week or two, she will exist in the Arishem meta, where she is far less likely to hit anything good. That’s mitigated by the fact that she’s going to be pretty good in Darkhawk and Mill from day 1. Mill gets to the bottom card of the deck fairly often, and now it doesn’t have to worry about actually milling that card most of the time. Darkhawk decks have Korg and Rockslide to shuffle the deck, making the dead card more likely to show up. Both of those are great, and so this card will be a mainstay.
- Copycat seems good value as well as good information. The fact that she steals and doesn’t show your opponent what she hit means you get Snap equity in the form of information without even having to play the card. She can highroll out the wazoo and her floor is free info. – Gnome
- It might all depend on Arishem meta. On turn 6 she is a 3/16 vs Arishem or a 3/4 vs non-Arishem. – Docty
- She seems GREAT, crazy good intel and you don’t have to play her, which is nice. – Tuccrr
- I made a whole video on this. I think this will be one of the best cards of the month if not the best. We also have confirmation that the opponent doesn’t see what your Copycat steals from. – Bootman
- Awesome card, holy cow the 3 drop spot is getting really competitive with great control options. – W
- Players don’t put bad cards in their decks. The second Iron Lad is good. – Interrobang
- This card feels like it has a lot of potential, especially if the Arishem meta is still around by the end of the month when people start getting the card.- PhilWoodward
- Should be the best card of the month. Her ability gives you something that’s key to winning snap games. Information.. you’ll know what your opponent is playing and whether or not they will get their key card. (Say Copycat copies a hela .. you’ll know your opponent probably won’t get it which would lead to an early Snap and more cubes). – SnapDecisions
- Looks very strong if the opponent doesn’t play Arishem. – Molwin
- This reminds me of Mirage and Valentina. Sure, other cards do a better job of a similar mechanic. So, is it worth having at all? Probably not. – ItsGuestGaming
- Opponent deck dependent card and so may not find much synergy. – KennyLoggins
- I think potentially the strongest card of this season, for 3 cost can steal very good abilities and give information of your opponent’s deck – MrSmoq
- If she works the way I think she does, could be a mainstay in many decks. – Ika
- I thought it would be OP at first… Arishem reduces her value a lot. When Arishem is gone, it will be good enough. – Horaizon
- Has potential with good Snap equity but meta dependent and the competition between 3 cost card is at an all-time high. – Batman99
- I really do like this card as it gives me Yu-Gi-Oh vibes as it activates once it’s drawn 🙂 – SuperTechGod
- Wow. The fact that she doesn’t reveal to your opponent what she stole makes this card very good. Information is so vital and she’s giving you a unique advantage. – GamingwithFlashX
- Stealing the ability is stupid good. You know a lot of things about your opponent very early, gonna be a snap machine. -den
PulseGlazer
Conclusion
What do you expect for the Maximum Effort Season? Sound off in the comments!
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