Best Hulkling Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide

Hulkling is the next Series 5 card to join Marvel Snap in the Young Avengers Season. It is a 6-Cost, 11-Power card that reads: At the start of the game, copy the text of a random 6-Cost card. Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Spotlight Cache

Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop initially as a Weekly Spotlight card, or opened as one of the featured cards in the Spotlight Caches that are found every 120 Levels on the Collection Level Track after Collection Level 500 (until the next new card releases the following week).

Spotlight Cache Week of August 27, 2024: Are Emperor Hulkling, Nimrod, and Canonball Worth It?

Strengths and Weaknesses

Hulkling is the next card in the Young Avengers Season. It’s a 6-Cost card that provides some high roll potential with the ability to copy another 6-Cost card at random. It is unclear yet whether we will know what was copied on Turn 1 or if we’ll have to wait until we draw Hulkling. If revealed on Turn 1, it would also be great if the opponent wasn’t made aware of the ability. I’ll assume it is kept secret until proven otherwise, as this would be quite a blow to the card’s power level.

Now, considering Hulkling is pretty random and is likely to be a standalone card that you play for the high roll potential, what synergies does the card support?

Like most 6-Cost cards, Hulkling should benefit from ramping early in the match because that allows you to play multiple expensive cards down the line. Particularly with a random ability, being flexible with the timing of playing Hulkling should greatly help you control the random elements around the card.

With that in mind, how often will the randomness be a benefit? Here are some of the best cards that Hulkling could copy.

There are also some 6-Costs that are never detrimental (and sometimes game-winning), but they’re a little more situational in how their ability might interact with your deck.

Obviously, there are also a few terrible hits that you hope to never get with Hulkling.

Only three bad hits out of the 38 cards currently in the 6-Cost pool isn’t so bad for Hulkling, especially with six great hits and 13 more that are neutral at worst and exceptional at best. The odds are already looking like they’re in favor of the new card, but I think the real tiebreaker will be with the abilities that can either be great or terrible depending on your deck.

Certain decks are based around a specific ability, and not finding their signature card often means being forced to Retreat. With Hulkling, you get an extra 2.6% chance to find your most important card, or 5.2% in the case of The Living Tribunal and Onslaught. I could go even further and say there is a 7.8% chance to get a destroy related ability (Knull, Arnim Zola, Destroyer), so why not find a Destroyer Ramp deck to put the new card into?

Obviously, I would slot Hulkling in a deck just for the low chance of getting one single great hit. However, if you consider that it is a [6/11], you can definitely play it in your Hela deck since most abilities are fine to get, and you sometimes get the Goddess of Death herself!

On the weaker side of things, the main problem with Hulkling is the fact that you only have so much space in a Marvel Snap deck. As such, can you afford to give up one of your precious twelve slots when you could play a card that you know will contribute to your deck? The opportunity cost of playing Hulkling isn’t nothing, but only time will tell if it’s worth it.

The Verdict

Overall, Hulkling feels like a niche card that is able to fit decks with a natural ramping ability, or decks that benefit a lot from getting certain hits that a useless Hulkling isn’t a concern. On release, it might be a good fit in the Arishem Loki deck—which immediately makes it a superstar—but that deck has made a lot of cards looks good. When it comes to archetypes that Hulkling can support and actually improve, the list features much weaker synergies, such as Hela and Destroyer decks.

Pre-Release Score:

Hela Tribunal

Decks that naturally rely on several 6-Cost cards should be able to gain the most from adding Hulkling to the mix. In the Hela Tribunal deck, for example, combining the chances of getting synergistic options (Hela, The Living Tribunal, Onslaught) with most of the strong abilities that would be good to bring back attached to an 11 power card might make the new card very playable. Plus, Hulkling also gives you the occasional curve of playing a 5-Cost into Red Hulk or Hulkling into another big threat, which could be enough to challenge or win two locations.

Destroyer

Destroy is the synergy with the most 6-Cost cards in the game (Destroyer, Arnim Zola, and Knull), and I wouldn’t even mind an Odin or Galactus at times. As such, it is only natural to give Hulkling a try in this sort of deck. The goal is to destroy Nimrod over and over, or just play Knull into Arnim Zola thanks to your ramp tools.

Just like the Hela deck above, this strategy has the benefit of finding several fantastic abilities on Hulkling, while the generically good ones will open some on-curve plays for a potential Plan B in case Nimrod doesn’t show up.

Arishem

Certain abilities are better when they’re played earlier in the match, while others will be at their best if you hold them until the last moment. Arishem Loki gives you the most flexibility to do either one, as you have plenty of options to create your play patterns, as well as an extra energy to play 6-Cost cards a turn earlier.

Hulkling will look good if you play it in this deck, but I’m not sure the deck needs Hulkling. Plus, if you buy the card just to play it here, there’s the possibility of another nerf coming Arishem Loki‘s way in the near future.

Wiccan

Another great deck that would be able to leverage Hulkling is one that uses Wiccan. This utilizes a similar strategy to Arishem, which is to dominate through using more energy than your opponent.

Currently, this deck has Red Hulk in Hulkling‘s slot, which proves the deck wants a high power card to contest a lane with only one card. Hulkling definitely has the potential to be a decent replacement, and, although it is more random, I would go for it—especially if you’re missing Red Hulk. If you have that card already, though, I’m not sure it is worth paying 6,000 Collector’s Tokens or using your Spotlight Keys to pick up Hulkling.

Variants

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I consider Hulkling to be a good card; it could possibly be the best of the season when we look back in a couple of months. Indeed, Hulkling‘s power will evolve over time depending on the 6-Cost cards that Second Dinner adds to the pool. However, looking at their will to focus on proactive patterns rather than disruptive strategies, it should only get better for Hulkling as time passes.

If you are missing Cannonball (or you share my love for Nimrod), I believe Hulkling will be worth investing a few Spotlight Keys. For 6,000 Collector’s Tokens, however, I think it’s fair to give it a few days and see if the card is more than just a “nice to have” in decks that are already at the top of the meta.

I hope this review of the new card was helpful. Feel free to share your opinions and excitement about the card in the comments. You can find everyone on the Marvel Snap Zone team on our community discord to have a chat or ask any questions.

Good Game Everyone!