Best Gwenpool Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide

Gwenpool is the Season Pass card for the July 2024 Season, Maximum Effort. It is a 4-Cost, 6-Power card that reads: On Reveal: Pick a random card in your hand 3 times. Give +2 Power each time. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Gwenpool arrives in Marvel Snap, and this fourth wall breaking mastermind gives three +2 power buffs to cards in your hand. The way it is worded, she can even select one card multiple times. However, it does not target any specific cards, and this could mean you miss the targets you want to buff with her ability. So, is this randomness enough to make the card not worth playing? Or is the sheer value enough to make her a powerhouse?

Gwenpool can be a [4/12], which isn’t bad by any means. But she is balanced by the fact that you have to play her on Turn 4. On paper, she is one of the biggest stat outputs for four energy in the game, but the reality is that you have to be able to play the cards she hits on Turns 5 and 6 to realize this gain. This is more limiting than it may seem. Two primary directions appear to be the most likely to maximize this value, the first of which is hitting cards that get extra value from the buff.

Brood, for example, won’t just buff one card, it will also buff the copies. The same can be applied to Mister Sinister, and Sebastian Shaw also gets extra benefits. If you can ensure your hand has one or more of these cards when you play Gwenpool, you may be able to ensure an overwhelming amount of stats for the final two turns. Another card to consider for this direction is Black Panther because he gets extra value from a Gwenpool buff after hitting the board. This one may be a little harder to use, but it could be valuable for lower collection level players to consider including with Gwenpool.

The second direction may not be as apparent, and I think it’s the more surprising direction to take Gwenpool. In order to take full advantage of the buffed cards, all three cards have to come in at less than 11 total energy over the next two turns (and you have to want to play them). One deck that can potentially do this is Bounce, or really any deck with a lot of 1-drops like Bounce. These decks can also potentially isolate the cards in their hand for the Gwenpool turn better than other decks since you can play several cards out, play Gwenpool, and then use cards like Beast or Black Swan to set up for the final turn.

Sera could also help get cards back out of your hand on the final turn. This direction is more susceptible to Mobius M. Mobius, though, and it could be more difficult to pilot.

Shadow King is a real concern for Gwenpool since the set up to maximize her buffs will likely be more work than it seems in practice. Having the work erased by one card on the final turn could result in a lot of risks having to be taken. Luke Cage can help with that problem, and he may be mandatory on release if you choose to go all in on Gwenpool at the start of the season.

One other thing that now has to be considered is just how good a card is one turn earlier and with random cards in hand. This is a situation where Gwenpool might shine since a Turn 3 play with more energy to use could make it easier to get the stats onto the board. I think this is potentially a card to consider as part of Arishem decks that don’t want to play all tech cards.

The Verdict

On paper, Gwenpool is one of the highest stat plays on Turn 4. However, in practice you have to ensure you play her on Turn 4 and also play the cards she hits on Turns 5 and 6. This reduces the potential for the card significantly. The stats have a chance of not only missing the best cards in your hand, but also potentially not being on cards you want to play out on Turns 5 and 6, thus wasting the extra power.

Fortunately, the synergy with some of the cards in the Silver Surfer deck will likely lead to several coherent decks featuring the new Season Pass card. But the question with these will always be is it just better to play a more consistent game plan rather than one that relies on the right draws and buff randomness to hit the ceiling?

Pre-Release Score:

Silver Surfer

Okay, has SafetyBlade finished bashing on me and saying I will only be a seven star card? Finally!! Well, let me take you through the decks that will prove him wrong because I am the All Mighty Gwenpool! This first deck Safety built for me wants to use Brood and Absorbing Man to maximize my buffs. To achieve this, the deck runs Makkari as a way to keep your hand from getting too full (and she has the benefit of playing herself if I do hit her with my buff). The problem for this deck may be the lack of counterplay. Mobius M. Mobius is the flexible card, and it may be worth considering another cut for Red Guardian or Rogue. If you’re missing Hope Summers, just play Sera in that slot.

Then there’s this. You want to go all in on me hitting Brood and Mister Sinister here (don’t worry, I’ll only buff those cards 30% of the time), and there are plenty of ways to ensure you get every card down by the end of the game. Iron Lad and Sera can both help achieve this, and both Patriot and Silver Surfer can allow you to push power into every lane after playing the buffed cards (which, again, is maybe closer to 25% of the time).

Black Swan

Wait, Safety wasn’t actually joking about Black Swan?? Eww, gross! I guess I work really well with her since 1-drops are all great with extra stats and Black Swan makes them all free. But do you wanna know what the best thing is? If you play me on Turn 4 and then play Black Swan on Turn 5, ALL THE 1-COST CARDS ARE FREE AND YOU CAN PUT ALL MY BUFFS ONTO THE BOARD OMG THAT’S SO COOL.

This list combines this same idea with Darkhawk so you don’t feel horrible playing me with that silly Celestial everywhere (judge of the cosmos my a… oh, sorry). This allows for your on curve plays to still occur, but the final turn can be some combination of Darkhawk and 1-drops instead if required. Rocket Raccoon played two or three times can win lanes by himself. Also, playing me into Mysterio + Hit Monkey followed by Darkhawk is a legitimate set of turns to make the Arishem players cry.

Arishem

Finally, you can always aim to use Quinjet in Arishem to make the cards I hit more likely to hit the board. The current meta necessitates some cards that may not be the best for this strategy to combat hostility towards the most popular card ever released (soon to be the SECOND most popular card ever after I join the game), but this direction may let you play more of the cards out and continue to have fun with Arishem.

If you’re wondering, I would prefer to be able to drop Rogue and Darkhawk for other cards. But I believe you will need those when the season starts because I expect Arishem will have a higher play rate than me at most ranks. That’s a shame because I am the best.

Black Panther

Black Panther is the #1 definitely-not-a-scam-best-in-slot-baddest-all-in card to try here. You have to isolate the card in your hand before playing moi, and then you can play King Kitty Kat. What Safety has done here is taken a deck he knows works from the past 12 months of playing it and then modified it so you can sometimes do the Black Panther thing but you will soon find you should just go back to Namora because the water lady is better in most situations and also cats hate water. Boy what a mouthful. Arnim Zola lets you hit the Black Panther dream, but another interesting play is Wong into Sage, and then play the Arnim Zola for another way to go crazy on the final turn.

You know, Magik is just bad nowadays, and people play Arishem all. the. time. This way you can just go all-in on Wong into something; it’s more vulnerable to disruption in a lot of ways, but Darkhawk into Arnim Zola will beat a lot of Arishem players. So you know, the combo is in the deck but in reality you just play Darkhawk and win. Booooooooriiiiiiiiing.

Variants

Closing Thoughts

Hand buffing has not been a strong strategy in the past in Marvel Snap, but Gwenpool has the best chance of succeeding at this given the way she functions. Even with that, I expect this will likely only work in a few swarm style decks and the greedier directions will not last very long. There are some clear homes to play this card, but I think it’s unlikely to be the strongest way to play these decks.

Ugh, rude 😠

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Stay Safe!