Pool (Series) 2 Beginner Decks

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 be 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!

Ongoing Kazoo

Sandman Ongoing deck

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

15

Pool 2OngoingMeta

3x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

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).

While keeping this approach is totally valid, and you’ll likely keep facing Kazoo even when collecting from Series 3, there is even a nice twist to the deck once you get cards from the second pool. With Sandman now in the mix, we can fit a bit of disruption in the Kazoo deck, and enable a new play-pattern to our aggressive development strategy.

The idea is simple, flood the board early on like you did with the Series 1 build, except this time, you can make a complete turn around and become a disruptive deck on turn 4 with Sandman. Theoretically, you should be so far ahead early that very few decks will be able to keep up with your existing advantage once you force them into only playing one card per turn. Especially if you’re still playing haymakers like Blue Marvel and Ka-Zar on your own final turns.

In this variation, we are using the Ongoing synergy a lot more, hence why Spectrum is the preferred turn six. America Chavez, Onslaught or Iron Man are still very strong cards, but push for a different approach as they are single lane cards. With Sandman limiting each player to one card a turn, buffing effects and Klaw allows for playing on several lanes with only one card, providing some great flexibility on how to spread our points. If you feel like you aren’t finding the big cards often enough, you can remove one of the cheaper card to have one more in the mix.

Another important point is the slight change in the 1-Cost cards we are using, as Ebony Maw and Iceman are now in the mix:

• Ebony Maw is simply great in a Sandman deck, as two locations are enough to play when you are only allowed one card a turn. Feel free to play the card on turn three any time you expect going for Sandman on turn four. Otherwise, play Ebony Maw on a location you already fill in the previous turns so the Ongoing ability isn’t too much trouble.
• Iceman is a new card from Series 2 that should quickly make you fall in love with it, as being able to disrupt the opponent’s curve early on can win games without you noticing it. Simply play it whenever you have an energy available. If you have a read on what the opponent might play, you could try to snipe some important turns for them. But don’t sweat it too much otherwise.

Armor and Cosmo are two tech cards in the deck, which are solid because you should often have priority and can have their ability activate before your opponent’s cards do. If you wanted to adapt the deck, I would start with these two slots first.

Devil Dinosaur Destroy

Budget handsize destroy

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

41

Pool 2DestroyMeta

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Similarly to Kazoo, the Devil Dinosaur shell was something already dominant during your Series 1 experience. 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 favour. 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.

Lizard and Shang-Chi are the flexible cards of the build. Feel free to experiment in those slots if you don’t like these two.

Swarm Discard Aggro

Pool 2 Swarm Discard Aggro

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

68

Pool 2DiscardMeta

1x Collection Level 1-14

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Recruit Season

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

While the aggressive Series 1 decks usually are your best allies going into Series 2, finding Swarm will elevate your deck to new highs, as the card allows you to be much sneakier in developing the board. You can keep Swarm and Apocalypse in hand until turn 6 and play them once your opponent can’t react, surprising them in the location you are pushing for, and earning more cubes by aggressively snapping.

The early and midgame will be focused around managing your hand, setting up for good Discards later on, while we play it safe with Angela or Lady Sif if we have Apocalypse already. The goal in this part of the game is to advance our gameplan while revealing as little as possible to our opponent. Once we start discarding, the opponent should figure out more of our strategy, but will have committed resources that they can’t take back. Nakia is mostly used to buff Swarm as the cheap cost of our cards should allow for an efficient hand management.

A solid curve would be Iceman or Ant Man, into Angela, then Nakia on turn three. Dump our hand on turn four and five, lastly, slam a big Apocalypse or America Chavez alongside a few Swarms on turn six. It is important to look like a Kazoo deck for the first few turns, as it should still be a very popular deck at this point of your journey. This will push the opponent to expect some specific play patterns and reveal their plan, while you keep your most flexible turn with Swarm for as long as possible.

There are other ways to build aggressive decks, like the Kazoo deck featured earlier in this article. Those builds tend to maximize the 1-Cost synergy rather than the discard, so I would recommend trying both to see what you feel better at.

Other notable cards for this deck are Bishop and Blue Marvel, both benefitting a ton from our Swarm synergy.

Ongoing Two Locations

Ongoing

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

25

Pool 2OngoingMeta

3x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Recruit Season

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

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. The ideal location would be Mister Fantastic, Warpath, and Klaw, as it would push all locations at the same time. However, spending turn three to six for this combo makes yourself extremely vulnerable on the other locations if your opponent guesses your plan. So try to mix things up in order to secure two locations, rather than trying to crush one.

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.

Control

Control

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

24

Pool 2ControlMeta

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

It is quite difficult to perform with a reactive archetype at this point of your Marvel Snap adventure. Countering the opponent usually means knowing what they are up, which demands anticipation and knowledge of the popular archetype. However, Pool 2 is where most of the good reactive cards are with Shang-Chi, Killmonger or Scorpion, alongside some great cards for a deck that isn’t aiming at optimizing its energy usage, in the form of Sunspot and The Infinaut.

Enchantress, Shang-Chi and Killmonger are a trio that allows for covering a lot of what opponents could do. Enchantress is great against Devil Dinosaur, the Ongoing deck above and cards like Blue Marvel or Ka-Zar which still are very popular in Pool 2. Shang-Chi takes care of the big cards, such as Devil Dinosaur, Apocalypse or America Chavez for example. Lastly, Killmonger punishes Kazoo, and can also warrant playing Nova in the deck if you fancy it.

With this mix of cards taking care of the power (Sunspot, Jubilee, Vision, Jessica Jones, The Infinaut) and those who can disrupt the opponent (Scorpion, Storm, Shang-Chi, Enchantress, Killmonger), Control is a very flexible deck. Yet, it is also a more demanding one, as the pilot is responsible for navigating through these flexible patterns.

Amongst these patterns are three ways of taking over location:

• Points: Although we are a reactive, disruptive deck at heart, we are capable of dominating a location through sheer amount of points. Sunspot, Jessica Jones, Jubilee high rolling America Chavez or The Infinaut can be enough to not need further support for that location.
• Disruption: Storm and Scorpion help in reducing the opponent’s resources, be it points or spots on the board. With Vision in the deck, and Jessica Jones or Jubilee as follow-ups, we should be in a great position to win Storm‘s location.
• Reactiveness: While they don’t represent a lot of points if nothing happens, Shang-Chi, Enchantress or Killmonger can represent double-digit amount of points when they take out a key card for the opponent. If we already won a lane through the other two means, they are the key to turning the second one around and winning the game.

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 playstyle 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.