Pool (Series) 1 Beginner Decks

Since Marvel Snap’s global release on October 18, 2022, we’re still having more and more new players joining every day, as the game is a bit of an attraction in the card game world. For someone picking up Marvel Snap recently, It can quickly be frustrating to face more competitive decks while you are still experimenting with the few cards you have at your disposal. This piece is here to try to help you solve this issue, tackle the best things we can look to do with the cards we’re going to have to play with inside Pool (Series) 1!

In this article, I will highlight five decks that are entirely built around cards you get from the first pool of the Mystery Card rewards (Collection Level 18-214) and the Starter Cards that everyone gets. Obviously, these decks aren’t optimal, but they should allow you to start your competitive journey and have an idea of various directions you can take when building your first brews, and moving on up to Series 2. Furthermore, you will face players of similar Collection Level thanks to the matchmaking system, so you will be more likely to face fellow Pool 1 players.

The Kazoo build is considered the best deck on this list, and could easily follow you for a large part of your journey, even taking you to the Infinite rank in the process. So if you enjoy this type of gameplay, you can safely invest into this one and start learning its intricacies. Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl is another duo you could see a lot of during your journey, and represents the backbone of the Handsize archetype alongside Sentinel.

Before we get into each deck, here is a list of cards that are simply good to play in various decks, as they tend to be the most versatile:

• Nightcrawler: His ability to move allows you to play with your locations and be more flexible.
• Sentinel: A very good card to make sure we always have something to play. Sentinel has synergies with of the best cards in Pool 1 as well.
• Scarlet Witch: Locations are at the core of Marvel Snap’s gameplay and being able to impact them is a great workaround to locations that would be detrimental to our deck. The card effect happens before location effects, that could make it even more useful.
• Angela: Early on in the game, this card represents a great building block to fight for a location while being flexible about what you will play later on. At 6 power, Angela is the highest scoring 2-Cost card in the game.
• White Queen: While she is a bit weaker than some other 4-Cost cards, White Queen helps to find more options for the later turns and provides information as to what your opponent might do next.
• Cosmo, Enchantress: Early in the experience, decks tend to be very synergistic in order to develop enough points. Being able to derail their plan can be game winning.
• Devil Dinosaur: Arguably the biggest card in all of Series 1, Devil Dinosaur pushes a whole archetype around it, with Sentinel and Moon Girl. If you build your deck to abuse the card, Devil Dinosaur can win a lane on its own.
• Iron Man: The card often represents a lot of points and makes sure we end up on the winning side for control of a location. It still exists in competitive decks as we speak.
• Blue Marvel: A card that received a good buff in September and ever since has become a staple in many decks. Any deck looking to play at least 6 to 7 other cards can get some value out of Blue Marvel.
• Jessica Jones: Eight total power for simply four energies is one of the best deals you will get at this cost when starting the game. Especially considering the drawback to getting the full value is quite easy to play around.
• America Chavez: A deck in Marvel Snap is only 12 cards, and America Chavez makes it 11 cards to draw from. In addition to making your deck more consistent because of it, she also guarantees you can slam a big body on turn 6 if you have no flexible plays with several cards. For more information, check out our draw probability card.

For more Pool 1 decks by our community, check out our deck database!

Series 1 On Reveal Deck

Pool 1 On reveal

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

55

Pool 1On Reveal

5x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The On Reveal mechanic is one of the strongest one when it works out, as a Turn 6 Odin on a location with White Tiger and other similar effects could very well win you two locations on the spot.

In the first few turns, we are looking to play for points, which should last until turn three or four. In those turns, spent your energies efficiently and try to compete for the various locations. There are two main play patterns available, one being to fill a location and topping it off with Jessica Jones for a solid eight additional points. Wolfsbane is another way to do it, as the card is worth seven points on a full location, or can be reactivated by Odin later on. The second one would look to value Ironheart on turn three, either playing Mister Sinister or all our 1-Cost to have three units on the board by turn 3. Squirrel Girl is a consideration to strengthen that second gameplan.

Once we reach turn five, we need to assess where are we looking to compete, and if we want to go big on a location, or spread our points around the three of them. With a large hand, or if we have Moon Girl to fill it up, Devil Dinosaur is our best card to contest a location. White Tiger allows us to play on two locations and spread our points, using Odin as the big scorer on the location while we add tigers to the other ones.

It can usually be good to get 3 cards on the location we do not plan on being competitive for early on. This way, we can play White Tiger as the fourth card and make sure the Tiger lands somewhere we want to fight for points. Ironheart is another card we are happy to slam at the location we aren’t expecting to end up on top. Also, try to plan ahead on where you would want your Odin to end up, so you stack the On Reveal effect on that location, for some fireworks on turn six.

Enchantress is the tech card in the list and can be replaced to adapt to the metagame. Being an On Reveal card, she is pretty juicy as we can reactivate her with Odin later on, but feel free to experiment with that slot. White Queen would be a good default card in the deck as a replacement, as she just has solid stats, and provides card advantage!

Series 1 Discard Aggro Deck

Pool 1 Discard Aggro Deck

Created by Marvel Snap Zone

, updated 5 months ago

93

Pool 1DiscardAggro

2x Collection Level 1-14

9x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Recruit Season

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Every card game beginner typically likes a good aggressive deck to get started, and this deck might be just what you are looking for. I would prefer a pure Kazoo build if you are about being competitive, but the Discard synergy as more of a surprising element to it.

Based around the idea of trying to discard Apocalypse as many times as possible, this deck looks to swarm the board early to empty its hand , leaving only very particular cards to discard. As such, the early game will usually revolve around Angela and the 1 drops, as a way to get a strong presence on a location, in order to force the opponent to also invest into it, or abandon it early.

Here is a breakdown of how each 1-Cost card contributes to the deck:

• Nightcrawler: Flexible card to reach unplayable locations. Also, you can play the card behind Angela and then move it to buff Angela even more
• Squirrel Girl: A nice way to attack all locations at once, helping Ant Man grow, and receiving buffs from Ka-zar.
• Ant Man: A good points contributor and should be very easy to activate in this deck
• Blade: Part of the discard synergy. The card is also solid points for its cost
• Iron Fist: The flexible slot of the bunch, it can have synergies with Angela as you can play a card behind her which then moves. Or help reach annoying locations.

After this early phase where Angela served as the anchor to a location, we should get started on the discard part of our deck. Lady Sif is a safe play if we have Apocalypse in hand, as she will specifically discard it.

Sword Master and Blade need a bit more work to discard Apocalypse specifically, but we also have Wolverine as a backup plan. Be aware that Wolverine does not trigger Angela if it summons itself to her location through being discarded.

For the second location needed for the win, we can either use Apocalypse, which should be the biggest card on the table if discarded a couple of times during the game. A mix of well stated cards capped off with America Chavez if we couldn’t find Apocalypse in due time, also works. Ka-Zar becomes instrumental in that gameplan in order to turn our 1-cost into good points contributors.

America Chavez is the flexible card in the deck. It is played because we know we will never draw it before turn 6, making our deck effectively 11 cards, which adds some reliability to our discard synergy. It also provides another 6 drop in case we would not find Apocalypse in time. Iron Man could be a decent replacement, as he is worth a lot of points to secure a location, but doesn’t thin our deck the same way America Chavez does.

Series 1 Ongoing Deck

Pool 1 Ongoing

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

57

Pool 1Ongoing

3x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The Ongoing synergy is usually a fan favourite when starting Marvel Snap. The cards provide a continuous effect, allowing us to both fight for immediate control of a location, and also build for the future.

When limited to Pool 1 cards, it is hard to play a great Ongoing deck, but it still has a lot of merit as Spectrum or Iron Man represent a lot of points on their own.

Play pattern wise, this deck isn’t trying to make it too complicated, and would rather rely on the surprise effect provided by Klaw, Iron Man or Spectrum in the late game. Early on, we want to develop Ongoing cards, on one or two locations, as Namor can contest on its own on the third one. If we draw into Ant Man and Captain America, we likely will play most of our cards onto the same location. If we draw Lizard or Mister Fantastic, those cards are pushing for a more diversified approach of our points, enticing the opponent to do the same.

With Spectrum in hand, turn five can be flexible, aiming at playing as many Ongoing cards as possible, adding more recipients to the incoming buff. Otherwise, Iron Man, and Klaw are solid turn five, the former aiming at dominating a location while the latter helps to spread points better.

Onslaught can also be added to the mix for more synergy if you fancy going all in at the cost of a slightly less stable deck. Nightcrawler would be the easy cut for it.

If you’d like to see a Pool One Ongoing Deck in action, HowlingMines played one from our community submitted decks, while breaking it down:

Series 1 Good Cards Devil Dinosaur Deck

Devil Dinosaur Pool 1

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

39

Pool 1Ongoing

3x Collection Level 1-14

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In every card game, there is a deck that is simply built around strong cards, even if they aren’t all making sense together. It leads to a deck with several little packages of cards, all strong on their own, but able to find some small similarities as well.

In Marvel Snap, this archetype is called “Good Cards Priority”, and it’s based around playing solid cards able to impact the game on their own, while leveraging priority for some of our abilities. For example, Cosmo is much better if it reveals first, as it can now snipe cards the opponent played during the turn. Professor X follows a similar logic, as you want to lock the lane before opposing effects trigger, which could summon more units there.

In this Series 1 iteration of the deck, we are mixing some of the best early cards in Marvel Snap (Angela, Devil Dinosaur, Nightcrawler, White Queen…) and the Ongoing synergy to create a flexible deck. One able to compete for points on various levels:

• Going tall: Angela, Devil Dinosaur, Ant Man or even Lizard generate a lot of points for their cost. They can serve as good anchors to taking a location.
• Going large: Nightcrawler, Mister Fantastic, Sentinel or Spectrum are cards that allow us to impact various locations at the same time, spreading our points differently than when going tall.

Compare to other deck with a precise game plan, this build is clearly more difficult to pick up, as it is up to the pilot to visualize the optimal play patterns for each game. In exchange for this effort, the deck offers much more flexibility in regard to the locations or the opponent.

Series 1 Kazoo

Pool 1 Kazoo

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

70

Pool 1Ongoing

3x Collection Level 1-14

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Recruit Season

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Kazoo is an established archetype in Marvel Snap, and you can see the competitive builds of the archetype feature in our Tier List routinely.

The reason the deck has managed to stay relevant through most of the game lifespan is its great mix of simplicity and flexibility. It plays a very basic gameplan, relying on flooding the board with cheap units while playing most cards that either benefits from it or help them grow. As a result, you will see many decks labelled Kazoo in your Marvel Snap journey, and they will all include different cards, contributing in various ways to accomplish the archetype overall gameplan.

Angela is one of the better 2-Cost card in the game, as it should grow easily when played on turn two on an empty location. Captain America, Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel simply makes our cheap cards much better, and rewards us for playing as many as possible. Lastly, considering all of our buffs are Ongoing cards, Onslaught double their effectiveness to make our low-cost units even bigger. Ideally, if we can get Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel and Onslaught onto the same location, most of our cards should gain +2 or +4 power, representing an insane global buff to our side of the board.

During a game, the most important part of this deck is figuring out how to use our energy, which depends a lot on our hand. Ideally our best curve would be playing 1-Cost cards on turn one and three, and Angela, Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel and Onslaught during the other turns. This curve would fill two locations, while granting all our 1-Cost cards an extra four points, and our other cards an additional two points to their power. When missing one of those, it opens up some energy to fit more 1-Cost cards, or Mister Fantastic and Captain America, so that we make sure we don’t waste any in the process.

Once again, if you’re looking for gameplay, there’s some great examples from HowlingMines over on our YouTube channel!

Closing Words

While all of these decks can be perfected once you get access to Series 2 and Series 3 cards, I have to admit I was surprised at how good some of these are already in those unrefined forms. I believe most of those lists can achieve an excellent rank on the ladder if you put in the time and learn the intricacies of each of them.

Currently, the matchmaking system for Marvel Snap will try to match you against people of the same Collection Level and skill. This should allow you to rank up even with a limited collection, more than enough to earn a few rewards and find new cards as you go.

So if you are looking at starting a free-to-play (F2P) adventure on Marvel Snap, I would definitely recommend starting off with building around one of the basic abilities while you learn the fundamentals of the game. And feel free to make these builds your own and test various cards as well!

I hope this article was helpful to some of you getting started on Marvel Snap. If you have any question about this guide, you can join our community via Discord or message me on Twitter where I post about my card game adventures.

Good Game Everyone.