Nico Minoru Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide: Marvel Snap’s Next Mini Thanos!

Nico Minoru is the latest Series 5 card for the October 2023 Season Bloodstone. It is a 1-Cost, 2-Power card that reads: On Reveal: After you play your next card, cast a spell. (The spell changes each turn.) Today, we will take a deeper look at the new card and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Variants

Nico Minoru

On Reveal: After you play your next card, cast a spell. (The spell changes each turn.)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 01

On Reveal: After you play your next card, it becomes a Demon.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 01

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 02

On Reveal: After you play your next card, destroy it to draw two cards.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 02

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 03

On Reveal: After you play your next card, move it one location to the right.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 03

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 04

On Reveal: After you play your next card, give it +2 Power.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 04

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 05

On Reveal: After you play your next card, replace that card’s location.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 05

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 06

On Reveal: After you play your next card, add a copy of it to your hand.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 06

Variants

Nico Minoru Spell 07

On Reveal: After you play your next card, double this card’s Power.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nico Minoru Spell 07

Nico Minoru Card Overview

With Man-Thing not living up to the hype I had for the card (Luke Cage unfortunately won that battle), the month of October doesn’t have much left in it for me to be honest. Elsa Bloodstone is an incredible card, but we figured that out pretty fast. Black Knight has been disappointing, even for those who didn’t have many expectations for it ahead of its release. Werewolf By Night should be good, but not necessarily challenging from a deckbuilding standpoint; it looks like it will end up being another card that tells you exactly what to play in your deck in order to maximize its potential.

Fortunately enough, October also has Nico Minoru releasing this Tuesday, and this one should be great for anyone who enjoys a nice puzzle. Indeed, with its unique ability based around seven different spells that rotate each turn, I expect Nico Minoru to feel difficult to leverage at first, but with a lot of potential down the line.

What I am most excited about in Nico Minoru is finding out which spells can support which archetypes, and, even more importantly, how many spells are needed for the card to feel reliable in a deck. Undoubtedly, a deck able to leverage five or more spells from Nico Minoru will look to use the card if they have a deck slot available for it.

What is the minimum required? Are three spells enough? How good does each spell need to be in order to consider the card in a deck? Are we mainly looking at support spells that are fine to have but not essential to the deck functioning properly, like Forge in Deadpool? Or are we trying to find a way to elevate our deck to new highs with the card, but hopeful for a specific spell very often, and perhaps on a particular turn?

There is also the question of the rotation of those spells. Is the spell I look to abuse necessary at a specific time in the game? For example, I believe Nico Minoru Spell 06 will be extremely strong in the Elsa Bloodstone metagame. I mean, imagine getting a copy of a buffed Kitty Pryde. The deck’s potential would be off the charts. But, in that scenario, I need to get the spell at a specific time. It has to be after Kitty Pryde has started to grow and sometime before the end of the game so I can play the copy as well.

There are a lot of things to say about Nico Minoru‘s intricacies. As such, instead of a long wall of text about everything we could do with the card, I’d rather jump into various ideas around the card and take a look at it from a practical standpoint. Decks that are able to leverage several spells and can use Nico as a tool box should rarely be bad to play. Others might look to get lucky, find that one or two spells that would make their deck bonkers, and not look at Nico Minoru the rest of the time. The card is so flexible, it could really end up being a powerhouse or a complete bust.

To be honest, that’s kind of what I like about the card. It isn’t so simple to leverage. Sometimes, I feel like we don’t get enough of those cards in Marvel Snap. For this one, let’s go on an adventure and try to figure out everything we can about Nico Minoru‘s potential by scanning how the card would help depending on which deck would play it.

Thanos, Obviously

Nico Thanos

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

4

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

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

I didn’t call Nico Minoru “Mini Thanos” in the title of this piece for no reason. Many players already made the comparison with the Infinity Stones plenty of times, calling Nico Minoru a flexible card that is able to serve in a flurry of different situations. And what better way to make sure we always have a disposable target for our spells than the Infinity Stones?

Sure, we might like to give the +2 power to another card, like Vision or Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and the copy in hand might be absolutely nuts for Elsa Bloodstone. However, these spells should work for almost any deck, while those requiring that you lose the card you play, such as transforming it into a Demon or destroying the card to draw two more, are so perfect for some extra Infinity Stone value.

It will be difficult to find another archetype that is able to use all seven spells like Thanos Control can. It’s the king of flexibility for a reason, and it’s logically the easiest home for Nico Minoru as a result. However, Thanos has the downside of not being able to abuse any of the spells particularly well, at least not to a point where one of them would consistently warrant a Snap. Sure, transforming a Stone into a Demon is great, same as getting a copy of a card buffed by Elsa Bloodstone. But there are some decks that could really pop off if Nico Minoru provides the right spell at the right time.

For example, Thanos Lockjaw would benefit much more from the added draw for consistency provided by the second spell. That deck would also be completely fine with copying an Infinity Stone, as it would give another cheap card to throw behind Lockjaw on the following turn. It might be too much to think Nico Minoru will have an impact on the overall build of a deck by dictating if certain cards are better to run or not. Still, it is fun to see how each list can react differently to each possible spell:

Nico Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x 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

1x Starter Card

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The Phoenix Force Has Many Ways to Abuse Nico Minoru’s Arsenal

Nico Phoenix

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Apart from changing the location, which can still be quite useful on occasions, The Phoenix Force looks like a great archetype for Nico Minoru. The Shuri + Nimrod build has a little less space to work with, so I went with the Beast variant instead, which should play to the new card’s strengths even more.

In this one, we have at least five spells we can abuse, all of which look like a net benefit in most situations:

• Forge, Iron Fist, or Ghost-Spider into a Demon is bonus power.
• We are very happy to destroy either Human Torch or Multiple Man for two cards, and the same goes for the +2 power buff.
• Moving to the right is really just a reverse Iron Fist.
• A copy of the card we revive with The Phoenix Force should be a great deal for a 4-Cost to replay on the next turn.

There really only is the last spell, the one that doubles Nico Minoru‘s power, that doesn’t seem to be so good in the deck. Even then, we could use Forge on the new card before doubling its power to create a decently sized Venom that we can use Arnim Zola on later in the match. Plus, we can use Beast to get a second spell out of Nico Minoru, which shouldn’t be so hard to use considering none is terrible to get.

In the case of Thanos, Nico Minoru was a nice addition that had no real downside to being in the deck. However, Thanos could live without Nico Minoru, and it has plenty of other cards it can slot in its place if you didn’t want to spend Spotlight Caches or invest 6,000 Collector’s Tokens. We could say the same for The Phoenix Force, where the Nimrod build is already fully functional and a pretty good deck in the current Marvel Snap. Nevertheless, in the case of this particular build, the new card does elevate the strategy to potentially make it more reliable or reach more power.

Bounce Gets Another Flexible Tool

Nico Bounce

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In a similar vein to Thanos, Bounce is notorious for being able to abuse 1-Cost cards with interesting abilities, and it remains extremely flexible in the way it develops its points total. Plus, the only spell that isn’t truly synergistic with anything, the one that changes the location your next card is played on, could actually be very big for Bounce since it is an archetype that is looking to use every space available each game. Then, we might have another deck that can benefit from all seven spells like Thanos, except this one doesn’t need to dilute its deck to do so:

• The Hood, Bast, Forge, and even Mysterio are great candidates to transform into a Demon.
• Destroying a card behind Angela should still buff the card, and Bounce never turns down a bit of extra space to work with.
• Moving a card to the right could help reach unplayable locations, in addition to its synergy with Angela to get an extra trigger on the card.
• An extra two power is generally good, but Bounce also has Mysterio as a premium target for that bonus.
• A copy of Bishop, Angela, Elsa Bloodstone, or Kitty Pryde will rarely be bad news for Bounce (but it might be for their opponent).
• With Forge and Bast in the deck, doubling Nico Minoru‘s power could lead to a six or eight power card for one energy, which is a pretty good deal.

Compared to the decks above, Bounce is on the weaker side before Nico Minoru‘s release. However, Bounce might also be the archetype where Nico Minoru could have the most impact and see the most play. Indeed, there isn’t a single spell that looks to be bad for the deck, and we could easily cast several in one game with Falcon and Beast in the list. Last, Bounce is notorious for being extremely flexible with how it uses its energy in the second half of the game, so the spell rotation should not be so difficult to work with.

Overall, Bounce might be the perfect mix of Thanos Control’s flexibility and The Phoenix Force‘s potential when it comes to Nico Minoru. It’s a shame the archetype might not be strong enough to carry the new card to see a lot of play.

Kazoo Loves a New 1-Cost Card

Nico Kazoo

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

We can’t discuss a new cool 1-Cost card and not give a little shout out to Ka-Zar and his signature archetype. Once again, finding a deck with a lot of cheap disposable cards will help a lot towards making sure we can fit Nico Minoru in at different stages of the match to leverage most of the spells we could have:

• Any of the 1-Costs (or Shanna/Valkyrie) would be happy to become a Demon.
• Elektra and Squirrel Girl are well worth sacrificing for two cards if it helps you find Elsa Bloodstone, Ka-Zar, or Blue Marvel.
• A bonus two power could leverage Valkyrie to win her lane as she would be a five power card.
• A copy of Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel, or Elsa Bloodstone could propel the deck’s points ceiling to new heights.

Similar to Thanos or Bounce, moving a card, replacing a location, or doubling Nico Minoru‘s power are the least synergistic options, but they aren’t so bad either. They will provide some flexibility to the deck’s positioning, or make Nico a [1/4] – a premium stat line for a 1-Cost card in today’s Marvel Snap.

Of course, the Thanos equivalent is also a possibility:

Nico Thano Zoo

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2x Recruit Season

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words – A Big Consistency Problem

There are a lot of other decks I could have mentioned, especially if I was to share some of the more far-fetched combos that rely on a specific one of the seven different spells. This variety might be the demise of Nico Minoru in the deck, as the card might be too flexible to make it into any deck that is not able to abuse at least five or more spells.

Marvel Snap is a game with only 12 cards available to build a deck, which is a huge limitation when it comes to choosing which cards are worth playing. Outside the three archetypes above, I have a feeling all the other decks with the potential to abuse Nico Minoru will eventually drop the card since it won’t contribute often enough. When we consider that we already have cards like America Chavez and Iron Lad to increase a deck’s consistency and redundancy, we don’t really need another one taking up one of our precious slots.

On the list of decks I think won’t play Nico Minoru for long are Deadpool Destroy, which could use the destroy and buff spells really well, alongside solid copies on occasion. Most decks with the Elsa Bloodstone, Angela, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Kitty Pryde package, as those typically also run cheap, disposable cards that can be transformed into a Demon or destroyed in order to draw, such as Loki. Plus, Angela and Elsa Bloodstone love the move to the right spell, and the copy fits in a Loki deck too. Considering this is the dominant package of cards in Marvel Snap right now, it could be enough to grab Nico Minoru and slot it into a lot of decks of the current metagame. Ramp could use Nico Minoru as well to destroy or transform Electro, while also buffing Black Panther on occasion.

The possibilities are endless. Seven spells are enough to synergize with almost any card in the game if you really try to make it work. Still, the new card only feels like another option among what we will use to finish building our deck in a lot of cases, not an important piece of the core game plan. With that in mind, I could understand some players passing on the card and keeping their resources for a more unique card, as we already have plenty of 1-Cost cards to use in these decks that aren’t as demanding as Nico Minoru.

As such, the next addition to the Marvel Snap roster looks to have two very distinct sides to her. There’s the promising side, where you focus on the fact that most spells are worth more than one energy (especially when you find pretty simple ways to set them up alongside the other cards in your deck), and there’s the scary side, which forces you to think about all the times your deck doesn’t often have one energy to spare during the match and needs Nico Minoru to land on the right spell at the right time for the card to be worth one of your precious deck slots.

I don’t think we’ll have an answer to which side will prevail until we get to actually play with the card. Even then, it might take a bit of time to fully figure out Nico Minoru‘s potential. Nevertheless, the card seems to find a nice home in decks with Thanos and The Phoenix Force, and both of those strategies are relevant in the current Marvel Snap. In my opinion, the curiosity of build around the card and having two decks I enjoy to test it is more than enough to spend my Spotlight Caches on Nico Minoru. But I won’t blame you for passing on this one if you need those Caches for another card in the coming weeks, either – especially if you aren’t particularly inspired to experiment around the various spells.

Whether you grab the new card or not, I wish you a ton of fun playing Marvel Snap, and I am excited to see what everyone’s ideas about Nico Minoru are. You can share them with me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.