Sera Control Detailed Deck Guide: Marvel Snap’s Gold Standard!

For a Marvel Snap deck archetype to stay relevant over long periods of time, it needs a few things to go right. First, the cards at the core of its gameplan need to be able to travel the ages, pairing up with new allies while defeating upcoming releases. Then, the deck needs to be flexible enough to adapt to new archetypes rising, while being able to adapt some new cards in its strategy as well. Last, it’s usually good if the build still manages to keep some element of surprise to its strategy, so it doesn’t become a deck that will only get you a cube per win, as everyone opponent knows exactly what is to come.

Among the few archetypes that managed to survive the test of time, Sera Control not only passes in all the categories, it has been a consideration for being the best in the game, period. Sera and the control package of Shang-Chi, Killmonger and Enchantress have fought a lot of battles together. As the cards have all have been around since Marvel Snap beta launched, the archetype goes back to the summer of 2022.

Since then, Sera has been considered the best card in the game, nerfed, still considered of the best in the game. Killmonger and Shang-Chi have been discussed as potential nerf targets several times, and have been referred to as the best counter cards in various metagames. The recent nerf to Enchantress pushed it to be the default tech card in today’s Marvel Snap, keeping some of the best synergies in check, such as Darkhawk or Patriot.

With such a praised group of cards to build upon, Sera Control not only has one of the best core cards in Marvel Snap, it also has one of the most flexible ones. Indeed, the deck is completely free to build around these cards to develop points proactively, giving Sera Control a lot of room to include new cards, while staying true to what made it so successful in the first place.

Deck Presentation

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

4

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Concept and Strategy

This archetype relies on giving up priority going into the last turn, so it can punish the opponent with reactive cards like Shang-Chi, Enchantress, and Killmonger. Ever since Hit Monkey joined the deck, it also unlocked a proactive pattern on Turn 6 with the monkey assassin able to challenge a lane with points, rather than looking to counter what the opponent did.

Sera is at the core of this strategy as she allows reducing the cost of cards in your hand, strengthening your Turn 6 potential and making it worth to purposefully give the lead to your opponent. Note that losing priority doesn’t mean losing the game – we can be in the lead on a location and close on the other two. Since Sera only has four power, your opponent will typically have a stronger Turn 5 than you do and take back priority. This way, we don’t need to have an incredible Turn 6 or perfectly guess our opponent’s plays to win every game. Most of this deck’s strength relies on its ability to be able to stay as close as possible while not having priority, so our reactive cards are at their best.

Against an opponent you expect to play Wave, it is completely fine to skip Sera and go off on Turn 5. Kitty Pryde, Mysterio, and Hit Monkey will provide enough points, and then we can simply play Enchantress or Shang-Chi on the following turn.

Core Cards

Variants

Sera

Ongoing: Cards in your hand cost 1 less. (minimum 1)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sera

Variants

Enchantress

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards at this location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Enchantress

Variants

Shang-Chi

On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards at this location that have 9 or more Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shang-Chi

Variants

Killmonger

On Reveal: Destroy ALL 1-Cost cards.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Killmonger

As highlighted in the introduction already, these four cards are the backbone of the Sera Control archetype. Together, they cover most of what you could face opponent-wise, giving a nice palette of counter cards against the metagame. However, these four are quite light when it comes to the power department, so we usually have to find which synergy is optimal in that regard.

Variants

Angela

After you play a card here, +2 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Angela

Variants

Bishop

After you play a card, this gains +1 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Bishop

Considering Sera‘s ability, 2-cost cards have been the most used with the archetype, alongside Angela and Bishop, both benefiting a lot from being able to play a lot of cards at once. As such, Sera Control took a large part of the Bounce core in order to develop points:

Variants

Hit Monkey

On Reveal: Gain +2 Power for each other card you played this turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hit Monkey

Variants

Mysterio

As you play this, play Illusions to other locations. Disguise this as an Illusion until the game ends.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mysterio

Variants

Kitty Pryde

When this returns to your hand, +1 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kitty Pryde

Once we figured how to insert some proactivity into the build, we are left with only 3 spot left. Most of the time, those are filled with synergistic cards, two in particular:

Variants

Nova

When this is destroyed, give your cards +1 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nova

Variants

Scarlet Witch

On Reveal: Replace this location with a random new one.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Scarlet Witch

Nova is quite self-explanatory in a deck with Killmonger and the ability to play a ton of cards on turn six. Most of the time, Nova will buff six to ten cards, which is as much as you can ask from a 1-cost in Marvel Snap.

Scarlet Witch was a staple in the early days of the archetype, and seems to remain in most decks since. The card is included as a protection from annoying locations, particularly Dream Dimension, which prevents us from playing Sera on turn five.

Cards Substitutions

Variants

Lizard

Ongoing: -4 Power if your opponent has 4 cards here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Lizard

If we consider the eleven cards above are difficult to maneuver out of the deck, the last one is very up in the air. Lizard tends to be solid in the deck, as we can play it on turn six to limit the opponent’s ability to play four cards in this lane. However, there are a lot of cards which you could include in this spot:

• Doctor Doom is a nice safety net against Wave, one of the deck’s popular counter.
• Jeff the Baby Land Shark is widely regarded as the best 2-cost card in the game, Sentinel, Zabu are also very popular.
• Invisible Woman has gained a lot of traction recently. The card can serve to hide Killmonger, Shang-Chi or Enchantress so we don’t have to play them on turn six, opening more flexibility with our energy.
• Valkyrie, Shadow King, Luke Cage and other tech cards can be a consideration in case there is a popular deck not covered by the control core.
• Polaris, Maximus or other strong standalone cards which could either be played on curve or mixed in our turn six.

Other ways to build the archetype

Toxic Sera

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Invisible Sera

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Good Cards Sera

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Snap and Retreat

A lot of games with Sera Control tend to go the distance. Indeed, with a deck not showing too much of its potential until the very last moment, this is not like a Galactus, or a Lockdown deck which needs to commit earlier in the match. As a result, a lot of the snap and retreat part of the match needs to happen based on your anticipation of what will happen.

Basically, you have to think that your opponent knows what you are playing, Sera Control has been around for so long, you will not fool many opponents, apart from bots, which will feed you cubes. However, even if the opponent knows you will play Sera and have a really strong turn six, they don’t really know how strong, neither if you will focus on countering them, or developing points proactively. They also don’t know which lanes you will focus on. As such, it is important to start crafting your last turn early, both to know which cards you can get rid of on turn four, as it is better than not playing them at all. Also, to have an idea of your total potential, and if it is worth staying in the game, or raising the stakes.

For retreats, it is a similar thinking pattern. Most of the time, consider your opponent has recognized your archetype, but might not know exactly the cards in your deck, especially if you are not running the most common build. With that in mind, they are likely snapping because they believe they can beat Sera Control, or have a way to hinder your ability to play Sera, or your turn six. With this information, it is up to you to figure out what they might be up to, and if you think you can beat it or not.

Locations

Sera Control isn’t an archetype with a particular love for locations. Most of the time, it would do much better if they didn’t have much impact on the game, and allow both players to go on with their intended plan. Obviously, Scarlet Witch makes us much less vulnerable to annoying locations. Here are a few to keep in mind:

Good Locations

• Altar of Death: Playing Sera on turn three is pretty neat
• Bar With No Name: A good one if we are running Scarlet Witch
• Elysium: Free Sera
• Onslaught's Citadel: Double Sera
• The Peak: Lots of cards benefit from this in the deck

Bad Locations

• Attilan: It will typically throw back four, five cards and only give you three
• Crimson Cosmos: A lot of our cards cannot be played here
• Dream Dimension: No Sera on five is annoying
• Ego, Krakoa
• Mindscape: Can’t play the turn six game
• Sanctum Sanctorum: Can’t get cards here unless we are running Jeff the Baby Land Shark
• TVA: Have to play proactively

Matchups

Variants

Wave

On Reveal: All cards cost 4 until the end of next turn.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wave

Variants

Sandman

Ongoing: Players can only play 1 card a turn.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sandman

Variants

Galactus

On Reveal: If you’re winning this location and this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Galactus

Let’s start with the ones we want to avoid: Wave and Sandman. Although we can change our timing to go off on turn five, these two are usually the most annoying to deal with, and lead to a retreat before the stakes are raised. Galactus could be considered similarly, but the deck is flexible enough to include cards against it if you had troubles in that particular matchup.

As for the good ones, Sera Control typically does well against the archetypes going all in early on, revealing most of their gameplan to us. It allows to easily picture where we want to go on turn six, helping with the snap and retreat decisions. Then, the match can quickly become a yes or no question, depending on whether you have the card to counter them or not for a lane, alongside the points to challenging another location.

Variants

High Evolutionary

At the start of the game, unlock the potential of your cards with no abilities.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with High Evolutionary

Regarding flexible archetypes, like Bounce, Good Cards, High Evolutionary… It is hard to call a favorite without factoring in the luck of the draw. With Sera on five, you have a reason to stay in most games where Wave or Sandman are not ruining the party. Otherwise, you need to have a good reason to keep playing when the opponent is snapping. Also, priority tends to be clutch in those matchups, as it will heavily impact the power of your control cards.

Turn by Turn Breakdown

Turn 1

Kitty Pryde simply to grow it. You will very rarely play Nova on turn one.

Turn 2

Angela is the only 2-cost we will play on turn two proactively most of the time. Sentinel, Jeff the Baby Land Shark could be another one if you play one of those.

If you have Kitty Pryde and no Bishop in hand, you could play Kitty Pryde again and go for Angela plus Kitty Pryde on turn three.

Turn 3

Bishop if you have it, otherwise Kitty Pryde plus a 2-cost already discussed in the previous turn.

This is the turn where we have all the information regarding locations. You should start thinking which ones you want to contest, where to play Sera, where do you need space for turn six… When in doubt, try to preserve your flexibility for turn six.

Turn 4

There is no turn four proactive play in the deck, unless you have a good Enchantress or Shang-Chi target ready to go. Instead, you should use this turn to plan ahead for the late game, figure out the cards you need to keep and the disposable ones. Then, craft a turn with the disposable ones, looking to keep a flexible use of your locations at the same time.

Also, this tends to be the turn to snap if you have a clear view on the last two turns, before you reveal if you have Sera to your opponent.

Turn 5

Sera unless you have a reason to believe the opponent will play Wave, or another ability impairing your ability to go off next turn. Then, play Mysterio, Nova and Hit Monkey to score some points, or leave if they snap and it feels fishy.

Turn 6

Go off. This is probably the most flexible turn in the entire Marvel Snap metagame, so I’m not even going to try to tell you precisely what to play. Be careful which player has priority going into the turn, and sequence your cards correctly for Nova to boost as many cards as possible, but without Killmonger destroying Kitty Pryde. Would be a shame to grow the card only to destroy it yourself in the end.

If you are going to change a location with Scarlet, it is often better to play that card last, as to avoid unpleasant surprises like Death's Domain and such locations before your cards reveal.

Ideally, you want to end up extremely strong on two lanes, either through points with Angela, Bishop, or Hit Monkey. Or through your counter cards, which should deny the opponent a large chunk of their total.

Closing Words

If we’re being brutally honest, I think Sera owes her longevity at the top due to Marvel Snap’s necessary use of bots on the ladder. The archetype is incredible, don’t get me wrong, and an experienced pilot will get to the Infinite rank easily with it. Myself, I had a great time and results with the lists around Invisible Woman or trying to use Doctor Doom to play around Wave.

As such, I would include Sera Control in my top 5 in many metagame since Marvel Snap launched. I’m not sure if I would give it as many first places as the data seems to indicate, though. Nevertheless, it is hard to argue Sera‘s domination on the ladder is also a bit due to being an eight cube machine against bots. I will let you be the judge of whether this is a good or a bad thing, and considering ladder is amongst one of the few metrics we have to evaluate a deck, it should mean something.

Outside this personal limitation, I think Sera Control has all the tools to be what most Marvel Snap archetype should look like. It is extremely flexible, both in game and deck building wise. You have different play patterns during a match, thanks to a nice mix of counter cards and a solid ability to develop points. The archetype also has decent counters in the metagame, while most core cards are Pool 3. Honestly, there is everything to love about Sera Control from a game design standpoint.

The only thing left for me to say is you should probably try Sera Control. Not only you should have a winning decks on your hands, you can also customize to your liking and environment. You also will learn the intricacies of the archetype, which seems to be a part of every single metagame, so gaining precious information on how to beat it in the future.

Have any questions on this guide? Want to share your own Sera Control build with the community? Find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord. You can also find me on my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.