Table of Contents
In Marvel Snap, you collect and unlock cards by increasing your Collection Level, which is done by upgrading your cards with the boosters you win from games or opening reserves. Each card is assigned to a “Pool” or Series of cards, which begin and end at specific collection levels. These vary in size, which you can see in the table below:
Series | Collection Level # | Card # | Decks | Tier List |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pool One | Collection Level 18 - 214 | 46 cards | Decks | Tier List |
Pool Two | Collection Level 222 - 474 | 25 cards | Decks | Tier List |
Pool Three | Collection Level 486+ | 104 cards | Decks (Beginner) Decks (Advanced) | Tier List |
Series Four | Collection Level 486+ - Rare | 24 cards | Decks | Tier List |
Series Five | Collection Level 486+ - Ultra Rare | 30 cards | Decks | Tier List |
Unreleased | Release and Series Drop Schedule | 34 cards |
Series 3 cards can be quite mysterious for many players: It’s where most of the super important cards in the game live, but it’s also very large, so takes a long time to complete compared to Series 1 or 2!
Also, Series 3 is often mixed with Series 4 and 5, the pools where new cards go upon being released. These cards can join Series three later on through the Series Drop, but are the most difficult to obtain until they do. As such, Series Three will typically represent the biggest change in your Marvel Snap experience, unlocking new foundations to build decks, or cards considered like incredible standalone additions.
The time required to unlock all the cards might make it look like a grind, testing your mental strength as you unlock cards you cannot picture how to use. However, this is also the journey which will make Marvel Snap much more fun, and give the flexibility to play various strategies and adapt to your environment. So, welcome to Series three, I assure you it will be a worthy adventure in the end.
At the end of this article, I included a tier list of all the cards in Series Three, but did not go in the details of explaining every card like we did in previous articles for Pool One and Pool Two. It is purely based on our writers’ understanding of the game, so please take this tier list with a pinch of salt! However, it should still help you prioritize what cards to use your free Seasonal Series 3 card on.
To give you an idea of how cards are ranked from a tier to another. I mostly look the power of the card as a standalone inclusion and how much it opens in the deckbuilding department. Then, strong standalones you can can in a multitude of decks will be in tier A, even if they aren’t a particularly important part of a single deck. On the other end, a card you almost always see included in a deck could end up in Tier C, as not posessing it isn’t blocking much except that one archetype.
In this article, most of the cards we’ll take a moment to highlight would be worthy of an S Tier rank in the two inferior pools, and certainly deserve your attention if you open them, or play against them.
The Big Bads
I try to keep this category rather small, highlighting the very top of the class when it comes to defining the Marvel Snap metagame. As time passed, Series four and five have grown increasingly important, with cards like Zabu, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Loki, Ms. Marvel, Thanos, Annihilus or Darkhawk shaping how the game is played. Yet, these five cards have managed to keep pushing archetypes to be extremely competitive, and routinely be able to help decks compete even against rarer cards.
Sera was once considered the best card in the game, pushing her signature Sera Control deck, a routinely top tier archetype in Marvel Snap, alongside seeing play in other archetype as an energy cheating engine. Right now, Sera remains a key card to possess, as she can unlock a more combo oriented, explosive playstyle, looking to create a turn six the opponent will not be able to anticipate. For example, Sera is a staple inclusion in the Silver Surfer build, but also serves as a base to several combos based around 2 or 3-cost cards you would like to play on the last turn of play.
Typically joining Sera in her reactive decks, Shadow King has slowly established itself as a premier counter card in the game. The 2-cost is a bit in Shang-Chi’s shadow, but making a name for itself thanks to its low cost.
Rogue is the other card which could be considered for a Tier S slot, as the card is incredible whenever the Ongoing synergy is dominant in the game. I gave the nod to Shadow King due to being more global in its ability, potentially helping against a larger variety of decks. Destroy being very popular in particular, helped Shadow King become a very impactful card to have in Marvel Snap.
Speaking of destroy, Death is considered the strongest card in the game by many, as a 0-cost twelve power card is arguably impossible to beat value wise. Plus, with the Destroy synergy being greatly appreciated at all levels, Death should immediately become an auto-include in your deck around it.
Alongside Knull, a card in Series four, and Deadpool, Death represents one of the few cards you can build a full deck around. Plus, you can use the card outside just destroy oriented deck, such as Galactus if you happen to have the card, or in a Hela deck, with Lady Sif to discard it, which protects Hela from being the highest cost card in hand.
Another card you can build a deck around currently is Shuri, which is celebrating almost a year with a deck with her name on it. Indeed, Shuri Sauron has been a routine a dominant deck for most of 2023 in Marvel Snap, still a solid synergy in 2024, and easily the best deck with Series three cards only.
Even if that deck alone could warrant a spot in Tier S to Shuri, the card isn’t stopping there, and is a routine inclusion alongside Nimrod, be in dedicated destroy decks or The Phoenix Force archetype. Then, with a presence in both highly synergistic decks, or just as the enabler of a big points slam archetype, Shuri truly is one of the defining cards of Marvel Snap.
Last on the list, we have Silver Surfer, another card with an archetype with its name on it. As time passed, more 3-cost cards have been released, and Silver Surfer‘s appeal only grew with time, the card easily representing 8 to 16 power when played, which is more than any 3-cost card’s base power. Sure, Silver Surfer will push your deck in a certain direction, forcing you to include a minimum amount of 3-costs. However, with Brood, Patriot, Spider-Man, Killmonger, or Polaris in the game, Silver Surfer has plenty of allies to build a strong deck around, and that number is growing as time passes.
Deck Defining Cards and Strong Standalones
Ever since the OTA balance patches were introduced, the amount of solid cards available skyrocketed. Whether it is disruption, buffs to other cards, standalone options or synergistic tools, you can find a strong card in any of those categories right now. Here is a little breakdown of each of those categories, with their best cards highlighted.
Buffs and Build-around Cards
As soon as you open any of those cards, you should start looking into your collection for others you can abuse thanks to their ability. Patriot should already have a ton of vanilla cards available from your early days in Marvel Snap and can be an immediate new archetype to explore.
Wong can serve a very similar role, as you should have plenty of On Reveal cards in your collection already, such as White Tiger, Odin, Ironheart and similar cards you used to play in your basic On Reveal deck when you started playing Marvel Snap.
As for Deadpool, I guess it’s pretty self explanatory what you should try to do with the card, and you probably will face it quite a lot, considering the Destroy synergy as been one of the most popular archetype in the game for months now.
As for Sauron and Mister Negative, they require a little more cards to build their signature decks, especially Mister Negative, which isn’t one you can include anywhere. Sauron as well, is regarded more as a support to Shuri to make the Shuri Sauron deck, but you could probably make that deck without Shuri with a few twists added to it.
Hela could be regarded as a mix of both categories, requiring a deck tailored to her strenghts, but able to work with almost any card with a lot of power. Then, with the addition of targeted discard abilities such as Silver Samurai, or the possibility to hide Hela behind Invisible Woman, Hela has seen her stock rise over the last few months, and now has two separate archetypes with her name on it, Hela Lockjaw and Hela Tribunal.
Cerebro could be regarded as the weaker of the group, as it never managed to get a truly dominant build around its synergy yet. However, compared to the other cards on this list, Cerebro is much more flexible, and already has at least three different decks in Cerebro 2, 3 and 5. Then, while the potential might be a little lower compared to Deadpool or Hela, Cerebro is much harder to make irrelevant as well.
Disruption and Counter Cards
In addition to new cards to build your deck around, you will also find tools to counter your opponent’s strategy in Series three, even if you had a few options already with Enchantress, Shang-Chi and Killmonger in the previous pool.
Rogue is a different answer to the Ongoing synergy, which does not cancel the card she targets, but brings that ability for you to profit. As such, she does a better job than Enchantress if you could abuse that ability yourself. Cards like Iron Man, Devil Dinosaur, or Zabu, for example, are great to steal instead of cancelling.
Quake went from totally unused to a great disruptive tool with priority with her rework, as you now control where each location goes. In a game like Marvel Snap, where the best way to climb the ranks is to creates opportunities to snap safely, Quake has become a really good card to add to flexible decks, or to use during hot and featured location days.
Great Synergistic Cards
This category should probably have more than just four, as Quinjet or Taskmaster also deserve some love. Yet, it is hard to beat Dracula and Mystique currently, as both card have multiple synergies one can explore. Apocalypse is the obvious one with Dracula, yet, you could also include the vampire in a Hela or a Lockjaw deck, as there are many good targets in those as well. In the past, we also saw Ka-Zar and a flurry of cheap cards be paired with Dracula, so it was simple to target the high power ones in the deck on game’s end. Power wise, it is difficult to find a more efficient card than Dracula when the card is played in the right deck.
Then, we have the two big support cards to the On Reveal and Ongoing synergies. Mystique has always been a solid card, included alongside Patriot, Wong, Devil Dinosaur, Iron Man or Darkhawk to name a few. As long as your deck is packing two or more Ongoing cards you wish you could have more of, Mystique is probably the card you are looking for.
As for Beast, the card keeps picking up momentum as cheap On Reveal abilities are added to the game, Nico Minoru being the last one to join that crew. Already, Beast was the backbone of the Bounce synergy, helping replay cards such as Korg, Black Widow to buff Darkhawk, or Forge, America Chavez to get more power to your other cards. Then, with Werewolf by Night joining Marvel Snap in late October, Beast also started being praised for its ability to clear some space, and allow for extra flexibility in how to position or move our cards.
Last in this category, we have Lockjaw which unfortunately lost its spot in Tier S as its signature archetype has died down over time. Now, Lockjaw is more of a premium support card to decks with lots of high power cards, such as Hela, or an ability to easily leverage the fetching ability with cheap cards, like Thanos.
Strong Standalone Cards
Moving your cards flexibly, and your opponent’s cards too, has become one of the strongest thing you can do in Marvel Snap. Indeed, the ability to reposition a player’s points gives a sense of unpredictability to your game plan, which can throw off your opponent’s read on the game. In that regard, Magneto, and Polaris have proven their worth, making it into decks outside the move archetype, gaining the status of standalone good cards. Aero and Juggernaut could also join them in that regard, but these two are seeing less play recently, although the new nine power Aero is an interesting prospect.
Doctor Doom is the poster child for strong standalone card, only rivaled by cards in Series 4 or 5, such as Iron Lad, Jeff, the Baby Land Shark or Ms.Marvel to name a few. Especially since America Chavez and Alioth were nerfed, Doctor Doom now appears to be the default 6-cost to include to finish a deck, especially if you don’t have any synergistic needs to fill.
Series 3 Card Tier List
As previously mentioned, we suggest taking this Pool Three Tier List with a pinch of salt, as it’s still very difficult to gauge the power and impact of several of these cards across the wider player base. Overall, consider that Tier S and A are cards worth chasing, as they will represent a solid foundation, or a great improvement to your deck.
Starting at Tier B, the cards are more situational and should be purchased if you like their specific synergies. Tier C are cards which should be purchased for a specific reason, as they are only needed to play particular decks, and Tier D are cards we don’t think are worth purchasing for now.
With that said, here is our understanding of Pool Three currently, noted that cards are not ranked inside each tier:
Closing Words
With cards dropping from Series 4 to Series 3 randomly, there are more impactful cards to unlock right as you enter the largest pool of cards in Marvel Snap. As it stands, Pool 3 is for sure where most of the action is happening, with enough variety to play different decks, and a real need to start learning about the popular cards in the metagame.
Outside the start of the more competitive environment, Series 3 is also where the real fun begins for a lot of players, as many more archetypes are available to play. As such, I wish you a ton of fun there, and I’m sure the fun will largely out weight the frustration of collecting all the cards you desire.
Want to discuss your cards and what to build around them? Join our community Discord! To find me directly, feel free to message me on Twitter.
Good Game Everyone,