Series (Pool) 2 Beginner Decks

Our up to date guide on the best competitive budget Marvel Snap decks built with cards only in Pool (Series) 1 and 2 (Collection Level 474 and below).

Marvel Snap’s Series 2 cards (from Collection Level 222 to 474) is a bit different from Series 1 or 3 as it is by far the smallest one in terms of size, with only 25 cards available to grab. Series 2 is often seen as the “quality over quantity” pool, a well deserved reputation in our opinion, as many cards in Series 2 will allow players to increase the power of existing deck archetypes, and create new ones.

In a way, your arrival in Series 2 is your first step towards competing in Marvel Snap, as you will be able to build highly synergistic decks or start being able to go for more precise counter-strategies. Several long awaited haymakers exist in Series 2, such as the likes of Swarm in a Discard deck, Bucky Barnes in a Destroy build or Agent 13 in the Devil Dinosaur archetype. It seems that regardless of your favourite decks and archetypes, there is likely an auto-include for you here.

However, the true value of Series 2 in my opinion is the new archetypes it enables for players – with Sandman, Killmonger, Shang-Chi or Hobgoblin, you will collect some solid disruption or reactive cards, allowing you to shift from the proactive strategies you were kind of forced to play until now. The land of control or defensive decks should open with Series 2, and offer many more play pattern than the ones available with just Series 1, and is just a taste of the complexity that can await going forward.

In this article, I’d like to highlight different decks you can build while not playing any Series 3 cards. You probably spotted some of these decks in our Tier List, in the Budget Tier, as I believe those are competitive decks, although limited because of your collection level. These builds definitely have the potential to get to the Infinite rank while pushing various play styles.

Another great thing about Series 2 is that it also unlocks some flexibility about your deck. Once you found a signature card for your deck, it becomes much easier to experiment around the archetype compared to when limited to Series 1. As such, don’t take the 12 cards in each of these lists as something set in stone, rather look at the cards at the core of the archetype and those who play the role of the supporting cast. Most of the time, the second category can be adapted to play the deck a bit differently or include a tech card.

With just 25 cards, one should get through Series 2 quite quickly, and finding your most wanted card should be fast enough if you complete your Daily Missions. As such, even if you don’t have all the cards for a deck featured here, don’t sweat it, you might be able to craft it by the end of the week (or if you choose to skip it with the Pro Bundle).

For more Pool 2 decks by our community, check out our deck database!

Kazoo

Kazoo
Created by den
, updated 4 months ago
2x Collection Level 1-14
6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
2x Recruit Season
1.9
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
2.4
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Up until now, you probably have been playing, or facing, Kazoo a lot, and it is only logical. The deck is arguably the best archetype available in Series 1 while offering proactive, easy to visualize gameplay, making it the perfect beginners deck. As you can see here, it is a deck filled with cheap 1-Cost cards to flood the board, buffed by the other half of the deck (named after Ka-Zar and Zoo).

When entering the second pool of cards, the Kazoo archetype doesn’t gain so much in terms of new cards. Iceman, mostly, will bolster your arsenal of 1-cost cards, adding one of the best disruptive tool in Marvel Snap. Scorpion is another nice addition, but could be Okoye as well.

The biggest difference for Ka-zar and company is the opponent now unlocking Killmonger, the archetype’s nemesis. With a weapon of mass 1-cost destruction now a popular inclusion in the metagame, Armor and Cosmo will be much more important to your success. Indeed, being able to protect your 1-cost cards will often be the difference maker against reactive decks.

You can decide to play a more combo-oriented play pattern, keeping your 1-cost cards to dump them all on turn six. Yet, if you managed to create a safe environment with Armor early on, you can then focus on playing your bigger cards, maximizing your energies much more efficiently. However, with Strong Guy in the deck, potentially representing a [3/9], we want to keep in mind our hand should be empty at the end of the match. It isn’t necessarily difficult to do considering the flurry of cheap cards we play, plus Blade helping in that regard, but remains an important side quest to keep in mind.

Kazoo is a very flexible archetype, which you can build many ways. Feel free to experiment around it and find your own comfort. For example, some players like Onslaught more than Spectrum, or Squirrel Girl more than Rocket Raccoon.

Devil Dinosaur Destroy

Devil Destroy
Created by den
, updated 4 months ago
7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
1x Starter Card
2.6
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
2.8
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Similarly to Kazoo, the Devil Dinosaur shell was something already dominant during your Series 1 experience, except that one can follow you for a very long time. With Pool 2, Devil Dinosaur sees a lot of new friends join along the journey. The Collector, mostly, is a card that typically is associated with the deck once we unlock it. The duo of Sunspot and The Infinaut is another direction one can explore in such decks, focusing more on overall points than synergistic play patterns.

So why is the destroy package considered optimal at this point of your Marvel Snap journey?

First, Kazoo should still be a popular opponent, and Killmonger is their biggest counter, largely edging the matchup in our favor. Sure, Armor can be a bit of a party pooper, but we don’t have to commit our destroys early in the game, and keep them for the later turns in order to play around it.

Then, the destroy synergy is a solid one in order to generate points in one lane with Bucky Barnes or Carnage. This complements the Devil Dinosaur really well, the card being a mono-lane push as well. In that regard, Moon Girl is a good bridge amongst both synergies, as copying Nova or Bucky Barnes can be a good source of points in the final turns with our destroy effects.

Lastly, mixing two synergies that seemingly don’t go together should be a nice misdirection for the opponent. Indeed, not many people expect Killmonger on turn six from someone playing Sentinel, White Queen and Devil Dinosaur in the first five turns. Similarly, showing a Bucky Barnes into Deathlok start is a good way to surprise the opponent with a turn six Devil Dinosaur to take over a lane.

Shang-Chi or Enchantress could also join this kind of flexible builds, if you fancy a counter card in your deck.

Ongoing

Ongoing
Created by den
, updated 4 months ago
3x Collection Level 1-14
5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
2x Recruit Season
1x Starter Card
3.3
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
3.8
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

For many, this deck wouldn’t be considered “done “finished” until you get Destroyer in Pool 3. Then, you would want to add Professor X for the protective shell he provides to a location and have Destroyer as the big card at the top of the curve. In reality, most of the cards for the Ongoing Destroyer archetype are available in Pool 2, and form a core that is largely enough to compete for now.

The idea behind this deck is quite simple: Develop your Ongoing cards and then use Spectrum or Onslaught on turn six for a huge points’ explosion, either buffing every card in play, or doubling your best abilities. Spectrum doesn’t really care where your cards are located, but Onslaught‘s power will be based on the other cards on the location.

Ideally, the middle location would end up with Mister Fantastic, Klaw, and Onslaught together on it. This way, we can push points on every location at the same time, helping cards like Namor to compete on their own. Cosmo usually rounds up the location if we are afraid of Enchantress, otherwise Ant-Man is great for some points for cheap.

Ebony Maw tends to be a scary card to use at this point in Marvel Snap. Consider the card a little Namor, which you would play on turn two or three on a location you don’t plan on aggressively competing for. However, you still demand your opponent to invest at least 10 points on said location to it from you.

In that sense, Ongoing Destroyer is great for anyone not feeling comfortable with their Marvel Snap gameplay at this point in their experience, or simply if you are being overwhelmed by all the new cards that were added to the experience as you started Pool 2. This one is difficult to misplay with, but also is quite predictable for your opponent on the flipside.

As for potential replacements, feel free to try cards with Ongoing written on it. Nightcrawler is the only card in the list without the keyword and the flexible spot in the deck. However, its ability to move helps with making sure Warpath is activated if we played on a location we want to get out at some point. Also, it can be used to make space and optimize our Ongoing cards for Onslaught later on.

Devil Dinosaur On Reveal

Devil On Reveal
Created by den
, updated 4 months ago
5x Collection Level 1-14
3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
1x Recruit Season
1x Starter Card
3.1
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
2.8
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Playing a reactive archetype at this point in your journey can quickly be punishing. Indeed, unless you have a solid read on your opponent, constantly playing with the intent to counter what your opponent did during the previous turn often ends with you falling behind.

Over time then, the reactive nature of the On Reveal synergy transformed to be more focused around creating points, and Devil Dinosaur once again makes a lot of sense in that regard. Even more so considering all the support cards around it are On Reveal based. Not everything is included here, even if you could very well make a case for White Queen or Cable to be included instead of Enchantress or a 3-cost cards. Instead, we are just using Devil Dinosaur as a great plan B, able to dominate a lane for us if needed.

The goal of the deck remains centered around the On Reveal synergy, just like it was in Pool 1, with Odin representing our big powerhouse on the last turn of play, reactivating several of our cards. Simply, we now have more choices than just adding Ironheart or Wolfsbane plus White Tiger on the same lane. If we played Devil Dinosaur on turn five, we could use Odin to trigger Sentinel and Agent 13 ability instead.

Last, keep in mind the On Reveal synergy has the most cards in the entire game, and finds many new great ones in Pool 2. Don’t refrain from using Killmonger, Shang-Chi and other strong abilities which could derail your opponent’s game plan, especially if you see a lot of the same decks.

Move

Move
Created by den
, updated 4 months ago
1x Collection Level 1-14
8x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)
3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)
2.4
Cost
0-
1
2
3
4
5+
3.6
Power
0-
1
2
3
4
5+

We already briefly discussed the Move synergy in the Series one article, saying the synergy really picks up good cards in Series two, so here we are. With Vision, Cloak and Vulture added to the mix, Move is now able to develop much more power than it could so far.

The core concept remains the same, which is moving our cards to buff Kraven, while multiplying a big Multiple Man, or buffing Vulture so it can contest a lane on its own. This particular addition, alongside Vision, alleviates a lot of the pressure surrounding the need to find Multiple Man. Now, if you can grow Vulture to a 18 or 23 power card, you can simply play Vision plus Heimdall on another lane for another solid chunk of points.
Then, depending on which of your important card you draw early, craft a gameplan around that card, as it could push your deck in a certain direction.

Once again, be careful about where you place your cards and try to think ahead to figure out where your cards will be on game’s end. It will be a lot of trial and error early on, but think about your opponent also needing to figure out what will happen when you move your cards if they want to play optimally against you.

Closing Words

As one enters Series 2, it really feels like Marvel Snap takes on a new dimension. Decks (both yours and your opponents) are getting more refined, and strategies tend to focus much more around combos of cards we can assemble in our deck. This can be a step to take in a player’s development, as the game will go from an on-curve (playing every card when Energy is available) kind of play style to more planned development and explosive power turns.

Personally, this was the more enjoyable part of my journey in Marvel Snap; unlocking Series 2 really felt like I was playing a more complex, diverse kind of game. I was seeing more decks in front of me and had more cards that were worth building around, which was making the game much more interesting as a result. It also got me super excited to open a lot of these cards myself!

I hope this piece can help some of you take the next step in your Marvel Snap adventure. If you needed any help or want to ask questions, feel free to find us on our community Discord, or on my Twitter for direct contact.

Good Game Everyone.

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den
den

Den has been in love with strategy games for as long as he can remember, starting with the Heroes of Might and Magic series as a kid. Card games came around the middle school - Yu-Gi-Oh! and then Magic: The Gathering.

Hearthstone and Legends of Runeterra has been his real breakthrough and he has been a coach, writer, and caster on the French scene for many years now. He now coaches aspiring pro players and writes various articles on these games.

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