Marvel Snap August 2023 (Big in Japan) New Card Guide: Review and Decks

Destroy has been one of the most used synergies in the last few months in Marvel Snap. After Wave was changed (and DeathWave was dismantled as a result), the archetype actually evolved into several archetypes built around the Carnage, Venom, and Deathlok trio trying to abuse Deadpool, Nimrod, or Knull, depending on the deck.

However, the Destroy synergy never managed to become a real force in Marvel Snap since the DeathWave days; instead, it’s remained a solid synergy that’s never at the top of its class. Cards like Cosmo and Armor are very limiting, standing at the ready to be slotted into every deck whenever Destroy becomes the archetype to beat.

As a result, there are usually two sides whenever Destroy receives new cards: those who can’t wait to build around them and anticipate a lot of shenanigans available around the new cards, and those who are more down to earth and see yet another reason for Destroy to be countered.

August’s Season should not be any different from this usual dichotomy. Indeed, the new cards definitely look good enough to build around and test in various Destroy oriented synergies (with a pinch of Discard as well). Still, if they happen to be excellent, we all know how to limit their power and punish those who thought they could abuse their deck with no consequences. In the end, isn’t that the sign of nicely designed cards?

Cards

Variants

Daken

On Reveal: Add the Muramasa Shard to your hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Daken

Variants

Lady Deathstrike

On Reveal: Destroy each card here with less Power than this.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Lady Deathstrike

Variants

X-23

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with X-23

Variants

Silver Samurai

On Reveal: Each player discards the lowest-Power card from their hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Silver Samurai

Daken: The Destructive Thor

Variants

Daken

On Reveal: Add the Muramasa Shard to your hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Daken

Variants

Muramasa Shard

When this is discarded or destroyed, double Daken’s Power.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Muramasa Shard

Daken is the Season Pass card.

Strengths:

• Eight power for a 3-Cost is huge, and that doesn’t account for your ability to boost Daken before using the Muramasa Shard.

• Tons of cards are already in place to discard or destroy the Muramasa Shard.

• Synergizes with strong cards such as Morbius, Death, and Killmonger in both Discard and Destroy decks.

Weaknesses:

• We have to pay for both Daken and the Muramasa Shard (unless we discard it).

• 3-Cost cards are extremely competitive in Marvel Snap.

• Daken is awful if we can’t somehow trigger the Muramasa Shard.

Featured Deck:

Daken

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x 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+

As the Season Pass card, we can expect Daken to be the most popular card to release in August. Fortunately enough, Daken also appears to be the most flexible card of the bunch; it’s easy to slot into a multitude of decks where discarding, destroying, or even duplicating the Muramasa Shard is part of the game plan. In the end, if you don’t have a strong Turn 3 in your deck already and can fulfill that simple condition, Daken is probably worth giving a shot, the same way Thor and Jane Foster Mighty Thor have become staples alongside Lockjaw.

As for the deck itself, I decided to look a bit outside the box (but Dracula Discard should probably fit the bill when it comes to a deck to test Daken in). Here, we have multiple ways to abuse the Muramasa Shard, even adding a little synergy with The Collector. However, the Shard itself also becomes a part of the game plan since destroying it will help reduce the cost of Death. Plus, duplicating the Shard with Moon Girl can lead to a 16-Power Daken. Need I say more?

Lady Deathstrike: A Precise and Lethal Weapon

Variants

Lady Deathstrike

On Reveal: Destroy each card here with less Power than this.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Lady Deathstrike

Lady Deathstrike will release into Series 5.

Strengths:

• Wong, Iron Man, and Brood are incredible targets, all of which are popular in Marvel Snap.

• We can modify Lady Deathstrike‘s power with Forge, Shuri, Mister Negative…

• There are plenty of synergies, including destroying our own cards when the opponent does not have any worthy targets.

Weaknesses:

• You are also affected, so you need to adapt your deck accordingly.

• Turn 5 is plenty of time for the opponent to set up a counter card such as Armor or Cosmo.

• Very weak power if we can’t abuse the On Reveal ability.

Featured Deck:

Lady Deathstrike

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

4

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x 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+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

If the metagame remains similar to what it is now, I could see Lady Deathstrike becoming a decent tech card to counter low power cards that have a big impact on the game. Granted, most of these cards are Ongoing based (Iron Man, Wong, Mystique…), so it might sound unnecessary to spend Spotlight Caches on a card for the same use as Enchantress. However, there are a few decks, such as the one featured here, where we could use Lady Deathstrike to help our own deck, and that is where the card can gain a lot of value.

Once again, you could tell me to simply play Valkyrie if I wanted to get value from my Rocks and The Void, which might be the right call. Still, if we can manage to find that sweet spot where Lady Deathstrike combines both Enchantress and Valkyrie‘s abilities, we should have a very playable card.

X-23: Your New Favorite Destroy Target

Variants

X-23

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with X-23

X-23 will release into Series 5.

Strengths:

• Energy cheating is among the strongest things to do in card games because it opens play patterns that would otherwise be impossible.

• We could potentially destroy X-23 every turn and basically get an Electro-like ability.

• We also boost cards like Carnage, Morbius, and Venom while gaining extra energy when X-23 is destroyed or discarded.

Weaknesses:

• Armor and Cosmo exist in Marvel Snap.

• The competition among 1-Cost destroy cards is fierce, which could lower the interest in investing into X-23.

• It looks much stronger in Destroy decks than in Discard builds.

Featured Deck:

X-23

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

If left unchecked, I see X-23 as the future best 1-Cost card in the game. But we all know that won’t happen, unless Armor gets nerfed to a point that it doesn’t feel like a good idea to run in a wide variety of decks. As such, X-23 should be seen as an incredible tool, and probably the best card Destroy has received in recent memory. I mean, you could theoretically get an extra energy during four different turns. With that, you can pair Deadpool plus Knull together, or play Knull on Turn 5 and use Taskmaster during the next turn. It also gives two extra power to your Venom and Carnage in the process of generating energy.

I picked Deadpool as the first deck to try X-23 in because it probably is the easiest way to gauge how good it is to abuse – especially considering it makes Deadpool free in a way. Of course, there are several other ways to build the deck, but going greedy with both Taskmaster and Knull should allow us to see if we can get some impossible patterns done regularly.

Silver Samurai: Disruption at Its Finest

Variants

Silver Samurai

On Reveal: Each player discards the lowest-Power card from their hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Silver Samurai

Silver Samurai will release into Series 5.

Strengths:

• 4-Cost cards have a great ally in Zabu, opening several synergies (like Good Cards Stature at the very least).

• Solid synergy with Wolverine and Swarm while also disrupting the opponent.

• Darkhawk, Iron Man, Shang-Chi, Knull and Taskmaster are several incredible targets in the game.

Weaknesses:

• Five power is on the lower end of 4-Cost cards.

• Without at least one synergistic card in the deck, Silver Samurai doesn’t look like enough as a standalone tool.

• Anti-synergy with some great cards such as Dracula, Iron Man…

Featured Deck:

Silver Samurai

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This is Black Bolt with an upside and Zabu synergy. I don’t think it gets any better than this to see how impactful Silver Samurai can be. I mean, if we can go Daken → Silver Samurai to discard the Muramasa Shard → Stature plus a 4-Cost → double 4-Cost thanks to Zabu, that sounds like an incredible pattern for both points and flexibility.

Similar to Daken, Silver Samurai is probably much more flexible than the other two cards joining the game this month, especially regarding their ability to join the Discard synergy. I could certainly imagine a Discard Dracula deck built this way if you don’t enjoy the Good Cards archetype with Wong as the flexible slot:

Samurai Discard

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

I love the cards we are getting in August, simple as that. All four feel like they’re worth trying to get in a deck, as they hold insane value when played in the right scenario. However, all four of these cards can also be countered quite efficiently, leading to inefficient use of energy more than anything else. Overall, I don’t see any card that feels easy too simple solve just by looking at it, except for maybe X-23. It’s an insane card against no counters, but it’s pretty disappointing in an Armor and Cosmo metagame. That’s exactly what spotlight cards should be; players are required to save their precious caches to target the right cards, so it is important to get as much playing time with them as possible.

Let’s discuss which card to go after, which is honestly tough. I’d say Daken is great as a Season Pass card, and it’s totally worth the purchase in my book. As for the three spotlight cards, Lady Deathstrike would unfortunately be my skip for the lack of enough caches this month. As for X-23, I think it holds the most potential, but it could also be extremely frustrating if it just ends up being massively countered. Maybe don’t go for it Day 1 and read how the situation develops first. Last is Silver Samurai, my personal favorite card of the month. I think it has the most versatility, and it is much more difficult to counter. However, the card will need to be slotted in certain decks (i.e. Discard or Stature), so make sure you enjoy that sort of game play. Otherwise, we already have solid disruption in the form of Spider-Ham and Iceman, as well as other cheap, flexible tools if you wish to play a large variety of decks.

I hope this piece helps you plan ahead in August, and I can’t wait to see what everyone builds around these new cards. To show off your wildest creations, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or on my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.