My Top 5 Best Decks in Marvel Snap After the OTA Balance Updates!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Top 5! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and every week, we’ll be counting down a different Top 5 things you need to know in, around, and about Marvel Snap! Sometimes this will be silly in nature, but we’ll always have some pearls of wisdom to help make you the best (and best adjusted!) Marvel Snap player you can be!

This week? My Top 5 Best Decks in Snap After the OTA Balance Updates! We just had an absolutely wild OTA update with huge changes to various cards. The meta will take a while to adjust, but I’m taking a stab at my top 5 decks after all the changes.

Honorable Mention: Destroy

Destroy 62%

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

1

4x 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)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deadpool Destroy has been great since the release of Nico Minoru; getting a new card that accomplishes a lot of what the deck wants tends to do that. When this gets rolling, and it can get rolling with Deadpool, Venom, Death, Knull, or any combo thereof. A ton of power has always been a good way to win in Marvel Snap, and few decks do that better than pure Destroy…

Still, the deck suffers in many of the same ways it always has – Armor and Cosmo shut it down. It falls to its own draw variance. Shang-Chi or Alioth can smash it in the face. The changes make all of these natural predators more viable, as Ongoing, extremely popular for now, but perhaps primed to fall off, runs Armor and Cosmo. With Shuri Red Skull getting a bump, so do Shang-Chi and Alioth.

Destroy will likely remain where it has been – very good, but not great.

5. Hybrid Move/Good Stuff

Move

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Elsa Movement

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 7 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Elsa Bloodstone was nerfed, but I don’t think this deck suffers all that much for it. My logic is fairly simple – at the end of last season, pre-Elsa, Move was a top 3 deck We’ve got new decks, more tools, and a lot has happened, but there’s little reason that with Elsa this deck isn’t great.

Adding to its benefit, this still has a lot of clear space for counterplay – you can fit in Shang-Chi or Cosmo. Vision can beat opposing Alioth. Mobius still fits pretty well here if Loki and Sera remain good. Why exactly wouldn’t this deck still work?

Well, it’s a midrange deck, so a high-power deck that can go over the top still beats it. If those exist and are good, this falls off in a huge way. Two of my top four predicted great decks have that, so this falls to number 5.

4. Discard/Hela Discard

Discard

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

1

5x 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)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Hela

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Yes, I’m cheating. This will be the last time, probably, for this article though. One of these two decks should be absolutely great right now, if not both. They put up very high power with very few chances for interaction from the opponent, which means that they should absolutely be meta decks as they go over the top of the good stuff that will be around.

The Apocalypse deck gets a huge buff from Hellcow being a 4-8. Hellcow and Blade on Turn 5 can, in some situations, be even better than a MODOK. That’s also more power than just America Chavez on 6, there’s a lot to like here. Lady Deathstrike became something of a counter to this deck, as did Mobius M. Mobius for Swarm. With less Loki though, Mobius should be on a downswing, while Deathstrike will be less useful without Elsa Bloodstone and Mobius in every deck. Discard should be really well-positioned.

Also looking good? Hela. Hela is insanely strong – whether the version above, Black Knight versions, or the Tribunal lists, they all are extremely hard to counter and are far more consistent than they look. The reason they aren’t separated and much higher, is I’ve yet to see much evidence that their Conquest and tournament success can match their dominance on the ladder. They’re low win and high cube rate monsters, though, and if that win rate creeps up? It’s beginning to look a lot like when Galactus took over.

3. Loki Collector

Safety Loki

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Okay, ready? I’m certain Loki is still tier 1 for great players. I have absolutely no doubt. What I’m not sure of is which build of Loki is best. There’s a chance we don’t really find it – if top-tier players move on, we can just miss out on a great Loki deck. I don’t expect that though. I think players lose a few percentage points on not being able to Loki and a 2-cost on turn 5, but that’s likely made up by The Collector buff.

Elsa should still be great, and Loki is still the easiest place to get double-Elsa. It’s also a safe place to make Angela a consistent 5-6 power using cheap cards. And if Mobius cycles out of the meta (or is nerfed?), Quinjet comes back to these builds, offering much more.

I have a few alternative Loki builds if you care to try them out in this video.

2. Thanos

Thanos Zoo

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2x Recruit Season

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Lamby Thanos

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Everyone is going utterly wild about the first build thanks to the buff to Spectrum, but I’d bet serious money the second one still ends up the best. The reason is simple: Nico Minoru. Okay, that’s slightly untrue, but making stones draw more, turn into a Demon, gain power, or give Nico power? Yes. A second Reality Stone ability is nothing to sneeze at either. Nico is a huge level-up for this deck.

And make no mistake, the deck was already rising in power and popularity. The Psylocke – Professor X package with Alioth as a finisher is intensely competitive and can lock games out by the end of turn 4 in certain matchups. There’s good power, plenty of space for tech like Mobius or Shang-Chi, and ways to go tall with Devil Dinosaur. It wouldn’t shock me if this ended up #1.

1. Shuri Sauron

Shuri 64.7 %

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 7 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Giving Sauron -1 power is a cute way to try to get players to not notice that this is the best deck to play. When the meta is shaken up, Shuri Sauron basically always rises, and there’s a real chance that before the nerfs, it was already the best deck.

This one could already go over the top of Move and was within a point or two of the Loki match-up. Cost is often more important than power, as Forge and Captain Marvel have taught us, so Loki being more expensive very likely hurts more than Sauron losing power, especially with Angela having a far lower ceiling in Loki.

Hela needs to get its points in exactly the right spot to beat this, no guarantee, while the Vision on Shuri play is an absolute nightmare for Thanos.

Shuri Sauron is going to be completely great in the meta – all that remains is to see what the best final card for the build is. Either way, be ready to face a lot of this match-up.

Wrap Up

That’s it for me this week. Keep it here on Marvel Snap Zone for the best Snap Content, check out my YouTube where daily videos will still be uploaded, and I’ll see you all next week!