Gladiator Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide: A New Disruption Tool, or Just Helping Your Opponent?

Gladiator is the first Series 5 card for the November 2023 Season Higher, Further, Faster. It is a 3-Cost, 7-Power card that reads: On Reveal: Add a card from your opponent’s deck to their side of this location. If it has less Power, destroy it. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Variants

Gladiator

On Reveal: Add a card from your opponent’s deck to their side of this location. If it has less Power, destroy it.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Gladiator

Strengths and Weaknesses

Gladiator is an interesting effect. It could represent disruption, junk, or even take out key pieces from your opponent’s deck. However, we already have cards like Yondu and Cable that theoretically do this and have little to no impact on how games play out.

Gladiator, on the other hand, comes in at a whopping seven power. But is that enough to negate the downsides of playing this card, and is it more likely to hurt you than to help you?

Variants

Yondu

On Reveal: Destroy the lowest-Cost card in your opponent’s deck.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Yondu

Variants

Cable

On Reveal: Draw a card from your opponent’s deck.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cable

Yondu is one point of comparison that we can make to evaluate the effectiveness of Gladiator. This card destroys the top card of the opponent’s deck, and for a long time this information and disruption was considered valuable by many. In reality, unless you were playing a destroy synergy card, it was usually negligible in impact. Why?

The card you destroyed was just as likely to be the bottom card of the deck and never drawn. In the majority of cases, the effect simply helped your opponent thin out the deck. Given how Marvel Snap decks are constructed, your were usually more likely to help your opponent than hinder them.

Cable is a little different since you draw the card and have information that your opponent does not have, but unless you were playing a hand size synergy card the overall impact was the same. Gladiator could end up feeling the same since it pulls a random card from your opponent’s deck. Destroying it sounds great in theory, but it may end up just being helpful for your opponent since they end up drawing one less card.

The power on Gladiator is much higher than these comparisons, though, but to get the best outcome from the card you have to activate the effect.

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

America Chavez

On Reveal: Give the top card of your deck +2 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with America Chavez

The power on Gladiator may be where it ends up not meeting expectations. There are a lot of cards with a base power of seven or above, and then there are also Ongoing and On Reveal cards that can have incredibly bad outcomes.

Pulling your opponent’s America Chavez is probably one of the worst outcomes for this card, and it’s the first example to review (as this card will always be in the deck if you play Gladiator before Turn 6). This outcome pulls a nine power card onto the board that your opponent was unlikely to play, and it is now unable to be destroyed by Shang-Chi.

This card alone, with how prevalent it is across a lot of decks, may be enough to relegate Gladiator. The base power is the main problem here; it might just be too low, and the card may just have too many bad options with how the game is currently situated.

For another example, consider pulling Korg. Yes, you pull a card and destroy the two power, but you pulled a card out on Turn 3 or later that was unlikely to be a good draw for your opponent, added a Rock to your deck, and helped your opponent’s draws. This is arguably an even worse outcome than America Chavez.

Variants

Storm

On Reveal: Flood this location. Next turn is the last turn cards can be played here.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Storm

Variants

Professor X

Ongoing: Lock down this location. (Cards can’t be added, removed, etc.)

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Professor X

It is not all doom and gloom, though. The game has plenty of good and incredibly disruptive options that you could pull from the opponent’s deck. To illustrate the potential strength of the card and how you may be able to abuse it, let’s look at my latest Loki deck.

LokiSafety

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 6 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In this list, depending on the timing of your Gladiator play, there’s only one card that will not be destroyed: America Chavez. Agent Coulson and Snowguard can be bad outcomes since they may help your opponent more than hinder them. Loki and Nico Minoru can be good or bad outcomes, and the rest are excellent hits. So, there is one clearly bad outcome, two average outcomes, and two that can be either terrible or really good.

Applying this logic to the card is important, and it’s something that has been missed in a lot of discussions around it. Very few Marvel Snap decks are built where 50% of the outcomes for Gladiator will be pure downside (Electro Ramp is likely the closest to that). This is important when you are considering if this card will have an impact. Yes, it can hurt you severely, but for the seven power it provides you have to take a risk that may just backfire.

Variants

Debrii

On Reveal: Add a Rock to each other location, for both players.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Debrii

Variants

Shuri

On Reveal: If you play your next card at this location, double its Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shuri

There are two clear ways to mitigate the effect. First, if you can fill the opponent’s side of the location beforehand (or use Gladiator to fill the lane), you may suddenly find that seven power will be very helpful. This discussion has not focused on that obvious synergy as the good and bad outcomes are more important, but, similar to playing Maximus on the last turn, decks can be built to just ignore the negatives and play this card for power.

This often leads to adding power to your Gladiator. Every point of power on Gladiator is huge since it adds a whole level of cards that will not survive when pulled out. Adding two power with Forge is significant, as is doubling power with Shuri. These two directions can inch this card closer to always being a positive, and if you can make it three energy for seven power consistently then you are starting to look at a card that can really make an impact.

The Verdict

This one is a tough one, but overall the potential appears above average. The bad outcomes exist, and, in the current meta, some of these bad outcomes are bad enough to make it hard to justify playing Gladiator in many decks. However, this can change over time, and decks like Loki and Bounce could find a card like Gladiator to be incredibly annoying to deal with.

Metagames may come (and go) where playing Gladiator on Turn 3 is one of the best plays you can make. It can also support Junk and Lockdown decks as both a finisher and a mini Doctor Octopus to just disrupt wherever your opponent is playing.

At eight power, I would have confidently said that the card will make an impact; if the Ongoing and On Reveal effects didn’t activate before the check it would also be significantly stronger. However, this is not the case, and we may find that Gladiator only really fits into one or two archetypes (and may not even make them much better).

Still, there are clear directions to take with the card, and if one of them ends up improving the deck then we may have a card that is worthwhile.

Potential Score:

Junk

The Junkrats

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 6 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x 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 Junk deck looks to use Gladiator in one of two key ways. First, you can use it to clog up a lane if you fail, similar to how Doctor Octopus has been used in the decks of the past. Blowing up the card and adding seven power can also be huge in a deck that is looking to win lanes by fine margins.

The second option is to just play the card on a full lane to win it, replacing a similar role to what cards like Sentry have played in these decks in the past. The ability of this card to have fewer fail cases in this deck is appealing, and the efficient power should be appreciated by the deck.

Shuri

As Strong As He Thinks

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 6 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In the simplest deck to build, what is better than a seven power Gladiator? A 14 power Gladiator. If you miss this line, it represents a consistent three energy for seven power and you can play it with Zero for four energy across two turns (if you need to). Yes, you will lose the power of Vision moving around, but you gain the potential of putting more power down early on.

For this reason, it might be a good idea to try Alioth over America Chavez. You will lose out on Sauron consistency, but the pieces that can be put together now may justify the change. If it turns out to not to be worthwhile as a primary game plan, you can drop Typhoid Mary or Alioth for America Chavez.

Lockdown

Gladiator Always Hits – Right

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 6 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This may be a stretch for the card, but if you consider that Gladiator will usually hit something with lower power due to how decks are made up, you can try use it as a pure [3/7] on Turn 3 and set up for multiple Lockdown lines into Alioth. This may be a meta call and too risky as the game currently stands, but the potential over time for this direction could be something.

Silver Surfer

Gladiator As A Surfer Card

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 6 months ago

3

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

As a 3-Cost, we have to consider, as always, Silver Surfer. In this case, though, it’s not just by obligation. You can use Gladiator as a high powered 3-Cost card that sometimes disrupts and is an OK Forge target if you miss on Forge into Brood.

A nine power Gladiator is a lot better than a seven power one; as we discussed earlier, every point of power on Gladiator is another level of card it destroys. As a last turn play, it may also solo a close lane similar to how Maximus has in Surfer decks in the past.

Variants

Closing Thoughts

Gladiator has an interesting effect. The concerns are real though, with the metagame it is releasing into. Into most the top decks right now, we may just find the card feeling lacklustre as it pulls cards which are better for free for your opponent. However, decks which can limit the downside could make this card shine and metagames can change. This card is one to keep an eye on, but may not make an immediate impact.

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!