Arishem, Gilgamesh, and Quinjet Decks & Week 1 Review: Bonus Challenge Guide

During the weekend, there is now one more set of Missions for players to complete: The Bonus Challenge! These involve additional rewards for winning games related to the week’s new card and the Season Pass card. These missions provide extra Collector’s Tokens, Gold and Credits!

You need to win games with the card starting in your deck, and it does not count if the card was generated by cards such as Cable, Loki, and Maria Hill. Each of these reward amounts will vary depending on the difficulty of the mission.

There will be Bonus Challenge Missions available for each new card release to allow players to earn back Collector’s Tokens and subsidize their cost. Players can also expect the rewards to be stabilized at 200 Tokens to help them plan their token budget for the month.

The Celestials’ Finest: Bonus Challenge – July 5, 2024

The distribution for the Bonus Challenge this season appears to be similar to the April 2024 Thunderbolts Season and it has been confirmed by the developers that this month will be backloaded for the final two weeks. This week’s Bonus Challenge Missions are:

Mission	#	Reward
Win with Quinjet starting in your Deck	4	125 Credits
Win with Arishem starting in your Deck	4	200 Collector’s Tokens
Win with Gilgamesh starting in your Deck	8	375 Gold

Most players will want to be efficient with these missions, so today we will give you a few different decks that incorporate both cards featured each weekend.

We’ll also give you a short guide on how to get the most out of the decks and finish the missions quickly. First, let’s take a quick look at the new cards’ performance this week.

For more information about the new cards, make sure to check out our latest strategy guides on Arishem as well:

Best Arishem Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide

Arishem Guide: Best Decks, How to Play, and Synergies (So Far)

Arishem Performance

The Celestials’ Finest season concludes with one of the most anticipated cards of all time, Arishem. The first 7 energy card adds 12 random cards to your deck in addition to your original 12. This creates a large deck of random cards, which made many think it would just be too inconsistent. So, the question today is… is it? And does it even matter? Does fun just outweigh any analysis on the card’s individual merits?

In practice, the inconsistency question appears to be a nonissue. Arishem adds 12 cards to your deck that could be potentially bad for you (as well as Arishem itself), but it’s ended up as something similar to the Loki issue prerelease. Although you are getting random cards, the majority of cards in Marvel Snap do the same thing: add power to lanes. So, the upside of adding the extra energy from Turn 1 offsets the random cards, allowing you to get ahead and compete with most decks regardless of what you put into the deck (this is before we talk about the direct counters). Yes, you’re not doing one thing consistently, but you get to do more things with the cards you’re dealt.

The first synergy to discuss is how to use the extra energy efficiently. The best solution is to play cards in your deck that lean into the randomness. Agent Coulson, for example, helps immensely because he can be played on Turn 2 and leads directly into a Turn 3 play and a Turn 4 play. Cards that generate “on curve” like this are great for the Arishem player since they give you a more consistent game plan. Quinjet is also an excellent play because your supporting cards are already able to take advantage of it as well as all your Arishem cards. Which leads me to Loki, another card that supports the randomness and extra energy. Adding two to three of these types cards is an excellent starting point for an Arishem deck. You’re essentially adding the option “re-roll” into other random cards if you’re not drawing well, which therefore lets you continue to adapt. As it stands, this will always be a decent way of playing Marvel Snap, and it can be a lot of fun because it forces you to ask questions on every turn.

The second major synergy with Arishem is cards with outsized impacts on the game. If you’re only likely to see half the cards you put into your deck, you want each one you draw to have a potentially game winning effect. While the popular decks will lean on cards like Shang-Chi and Rogue to flip games, this isn’t your only option. Legion, for example, is a card that can have game winning effects when played. High Evolutionary can even give you cards like Cyclops and Hulk, both of which are great when played a turn early. The options are wider than it might seem on the surface, and the interesting thing is that you’re not necessarily building a specific strategy rather than more effects that you’re happy to draw. The only card that is clearly a core Arishem card is Blob. You will almost always hit the power cap, and it helps against some of the counters. This has led to including cards like Mystique to copy Blob and/or Darkhawk.

Which finally leads me to the counters. These are the reason chill on the card if your only goal with Snap is to ensure a high Win Rate. The counters are real, and there’s one card that stands above the rest: Darkhawk. Playing Darkhawk against Arishem without Priority is often a free lane. This means you only have to win one other lane against an Arishem player. Unfortunately, this is an easier game plan than making decisions each turn. If you’re worried about playing against Arishem without Darkhawk, the other plan is to play whatever deck you would normally play. Yes, they have extra energy, good cards, and have access to your cards, but you’re not disadvantaged by the deck you choose to play into Arishem.

The Verdict

Arishem is surprisingly consistent, very fun, and a fresh way to play the game. It is competitive into a neutral meta and can be utilized by a lot of different decks. The release resulted in a divide between counter cards and Arishem decks, which makes analysis difficult. Nonetheless, it was holding up into a very hostile environment.

This is a good sign for the long-term viability of the play style, so if you’re at all interested in the challenge of the randomness you’ll have a lot of fun. It encourages playing good value cards and playing efficiently, and it tests a different aspect of Marvel Snap than other decks. Also, you can just put some of your favorite cards in with Arishem and have a good time. This is a truly unique card release that is easy to recommend—unless you’re on a budget, in which case I would recommend you play Darkhawk.

Post-Release Score:

Arishem

For this weekend, I cannot open without this version; however, this is far from the only way to play Arishem. The issue is just how easy it is to target the Arishem deck when it’s popular, and it certainly will be with Tokens available this weekend. So, the Arishem deck has to include Darkhawk. The rest of the game plan here is to embrace the card generation and add to your hand at each opportunity. Then you can use Loki aggressively and aim to be efficient with your plays. As the meta settles, the ability to try other versions will improve and Darkhawk can be dropped.

Blue Marvel

This direction plays towards the “put lots of cards down and win” strategy, and it’s a little simpler to play. You can play for efficient stats on every turn and just aim to be ahead the whole time. It’s basically a less consistent Zoo deck, but it’s a solid way to attack the weekend. Darkhawk would be Gilgamesh in a less hostile meta.

High Evolutionary

High Evolutionary can really take advantage of the extra energy Arishem gives you, which opens up a direction you can play without Darkhawk for the weekend. Here you play a suite of tech cards including Leech, alongside Blink to roll your lower value cards into something else. The rest of the deck uses the extra energy for Sunspot and She-Hulk while playing on curve. Consider this the budget option for the weekend meta, and I’ve even built this one without Blob (if you own Blob, remove Rogue or Enchantress).

Gilgamesh

Speaking of strong decks, the Gilgamesh mission allows you to play a deck that is potentially the best deck in the game for the missions. Zoo took off with the buffs to Gilgamesh and Shanna, and it hasn’t slowed down yet. This version leans on including Shadow King and Rogue because they’re both great in the current meta against the other top contenders.

Quinjet

One deck that can still work wonders at the moment and if you want to play a deck which will do well into the field whilst not having to feel limited to targeting specific matchups during the weekend here is a way to go.

Closing Thoughts

Wins with the new card may seem a tall order some weeks depending what quality of card is released. Hopefully this guide helps you decide first if you want the card prior to the missions coming out, and what you can potentially play to complete the missions quickly!

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!