Red Guardian Decks: Bonus Challenge (Weekend Mission) 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 and Gold!

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.

Thunderbolts: Bonus Challenge – April 19, 2024

This week’s Bonus Challenge Missions are:

Second Dinner has changed the formula for the Bonus Challenge Missions in the Thunderbolts season. Below is a message from Stephen Jarrett that explains the changes.

Week 4 and 5 of the season will have a Baron Zemo weekend mission with 375 Gold each for 750 Gold total to represent the 5 week season.

Zemo will still get season pass missions with the same total Gold other season pass cards have received from weekend missions.

The final two weekend of the season will both include a Zemo mission. That mission will have double the amount of gold as usual to ensure the same total amount of gold from weekend missions.

Think of the other few weeks as extra credits that previously wouldn’t have been available plus you aren’t forced into playing a Zemo deck every weekend if you would prefer not.

We could have communicated it better but our intent was to add value not add stress like it has so far. Hopefully everyone can enjoy a few weekends of broader missions and extra credits before pulling out Zemo decks to finish the season with big gold missions.

Stephen Jarrett – Second Dinner

Variants

Red Guardian

On Reveal: Afflict the lowest-Power enemy card here with -2 Power and remove its text.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Red Guardian

Most players will want to be efficient with these missions, so today we will give you three different decks that incorporate Red Guardian.

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

For more inspiration, make sure to check out our latest strategy guide on Red Guardian as well:

Performance

The Thunderbolts season continues on with the release of Red Guardian. It is a 3 Cost, 3 Power card with an On Reveal ability that removes the text from the opposing card with the lowest power and gives it -2 power. This one was exciting for me because it’s a tech card that answers some cards that have not had clean answers before, such as Dracula and Nebula.

This three power card could even hit Iron Man and almost any other card with an effect, but only if it is the lowest power card at the location. So, is this restriction too much, or does Red Guardian become the premier tech card in Marvel Snap?

Variants

Dracula

At the end of the game, discard a card from your hand to gain its Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Dracula

Variants

Nebula

Each turn your opponent doesn’t play a card here, +2 Power. (except the turn you play this)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nebula

The nature of the card means it relies heavily on what targets are available, so it’s important to try and assess the long term impact. It has two clear advantages over Rogue and Enchantress (which are the two best comparisons):

1. It can hit key cards that don’t have an Ongoing effect like Dracula and Nebula.
2. When played on curve, it has the advantage of adding -2 power to the opposing card, which makes it an OK tempo play and an early answer for cards like Morbius and Ravonna Renslayer.

When you consider the long term, if you can recognize the metas where these situations are more valuable than the universality of Enchantress or Rogue, then Red Guardian‘s stocks would go up.

Variants

Wong

Ongoing: Your On Reveal abilities here happen twice.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wong

Variants

Luke Cage

Ongoing: Your cards can’t have their Power reduced.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Luke Cage

Variants

Iron Man

Ongoing: Your total Power is doubled here.

Starter Card

view card details Start a deck Decks with Iron Man

Variants

Cerebro

Ongoing: Your highest-Power cards have +2 Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cerebro

The problem I’ve found is it’s not often more valuable than running Rogue or Enchantress. These two cards are currently not making it into many lists even though there are plenty of Ongoing targets right now. When you break down the number of applications for Red Guardian card that are not also dealt with by either Enchantress or Rogue, you start to see that it is a relatively narrow card. It can hit low-cost cards with effects on curve and shutdown Dracula later on, but, outside of these applications, there are better cards for the job.

Although it can do the work of shutting down cards like Iron Man and Cerebro, it doesn’t do it as well as Enchantress or Rogue—and that’s wherein the problem lies. It can usually shut down one key effect, but it’s not game winning like Enchantress and Rogue often are. It may be an inconvenience for your opponent on curve… but then the game continues. On the last turn, key targets can be defended by playing cards with a lower power, and there are not many decks that leave targets open for the final turn. This makes it fairly ineffective as a game winning tech card.

Here are some practical situations that highlight the card’s weaknesses: Mister Negative has -1 power and can defend at least one lane (while also throwing priority); Luke Cage has four power and is often not the lowest power card; Wong is easy for opponents to defend; Early hits on Angela can simply result in opponents knowing early that they need to pivot, and once she’s been activated once she’s harder to hit; Cerebro and Iron Man can be copied with Mystique prior to being hit; and finally, Cosmo can be played to deny the effect entirely. During this week, I encountered all of these circumstances during my playtesting.

Yes, you may be up against opponents who don’t protect their cards and make mistakes, but it is often better to plan for good play than bad play. Other cards just work better for all these circumstances.

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

Sentry

You can’t play this at the right location. On Reveal: Add a -10 Power Void to the right location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sentry

Variants

High Evolutionary

At the start of the game, unlock the potential of your cards with no abilities.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with High Evolutionary

Where it may end up being the better card to run is when the -2 power actually can matter. Junk or Lockdown decks that run tight margins for stats may find the card more useful than the alternatives. Additionally, High Evolutionary may prefer it over Enchantress because it is an answer to problems like Mobius M. Mobius while also supporting the affliction game plan. Darkhawk-style decks that rely on Ongoing cards can run this card without having to worry about placement as much, thus finding more value than the average deck.

This brings me to my final key note: Your place on the Ladder and preferred mode of play may result in different results for this card. Conquest, for example, can give you time to learn the key targets. This is huge for Red Guardian compared to other cards. The decision to play on curve with Red Guardian or hold him can be tough when you’re not aware of the deck. If you’re playing Enchantress, the decision is easy because you want to hold her as long as possible just in case. On the other hand, Red Guardian is often better to just play for stats and move on unless one of the unique game winning targets like Dracula is likely to show up. Therefore, Conquest could be the game mode where Red Guardian feels better to play since it can do a little bit of everything.

In short, Red Guardian does exactly what it advertises. Its effect can impact games, and it is also playable in lots of decks. It is not a bad card, and for some it will be the preferred card to deal with certain problems.

However, when played on curve it doesn’t often cripple decks, and holding it for later doesn’t do enough to justify a slot in your deck over other options. In the long term, meta changes will occur and this card will go up and down in value. It does have a unique application and you can run it as your preferred tech choice, but it is very hard to recommend a card that is this narrow when better versions of the effect already exist (for most circumstances you will encounter).

So, how do you use Red Guardian to rack up wins and complete the Bonus Challenge Missions?

Darkhawk

Red Hawk Down

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 13 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck likes the fact that Red Guardian is an On Reveal card that doesn’t hit your own Ongoing cards. This is a big benefit since your main game plan is playing bigger Ongoing cards than your opponent (and shutting down early cards is appealing too). The rest of the plan is simple: build up a big Darkhawk while accumulating small advantages. Beast is the engine that lets you reuse key cards—potentially including Red Guardian himself.

Loki

Loki-Tech

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 13 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Loki is another deck that can find use from playing Red Guardian on curve as well as the tech aspect of the card. Although this is one of the decks where it is replaceable, it is also one of the better homes for Mobius M. Mobius for three energy has a ton of value here.

High Evolutionary

High Guardian

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 13 days ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

4x Starter Card

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck leans into Abomination over the traditional Hulk packages to win with efficient stats. Red Guardian works as your default tech card, but it is sometimes just a proactive way of shutting down key cards for your strategy to continue rolling.

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!