Best Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings Decks and Strategy Guide

Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings is the fourth and last Series 5 card joining Marvel Snap for the January 2025 Season, Dragons. It is a 3-Cost, 5-Power card with two abilities:

• Game Start: The Ten Rings starts in your hand.
• On Reveal: Unlock their potential.

Variants

Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings

Game Start: The Ten Rings starts in your hand. On Reveal: Unlock their potential.

Series 5

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings

Variants

The Ten Rings

On Reveal: Give one of your other cards here +1 Power.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with The Ten Rings

Variants

The Ten Rings Upgraded

End of Turn: Give your other cards here +1 Power.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with The Ten Rings Upgraded

Today, let’s explore the new card strengths and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.

Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop as the latest Seasonal Spotlight card. They will be also be included in the Seasonal Series 5 Snap Pack for 5,000 Collector’s Tokens during their season and the following one.

Synergies

There are aspects of the new card I really like, and some that make me want to ignore it completely. The worst part is Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings adds a card to our deck, making it 13 total instead of 12. Indeed, The Ten Rings start in our hand, but should replace another card we should have draw from our deck, meaning we will see one less over the course of the match.

Marvel Snap is designed around small decks, turning even gimmicky strategies into fairly reliably design. There is a reason America Chavez was nerfed back when it said “You draw me on turn 6”, the card made a lot of decks very reliable. Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings sort of works the opposite way, which will make the card a liability for a lot of decks designed to draw specific cards in time.

If The Ten Rings were just an extra card in our hand, I believe the new 3-cost would have been very strong. Indeed, Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings would have likely replaced Domino in every deck running the 2-cost. However, because we have to play a 13 cards deck when running Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings, a lot of synergies might have to think twice about including it.

First, the card hurts itself, as the entire point is to play Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings in order to unlock the potential of The Ten Rings. When we manage to get it out on turn three, we get four turns of bonus power to all our cards sitting with The Ten Rings, which is a ton of power.

Variants

Clea

When this is Empowered, add Flames of the Faltine to your hand. (if in hand or in play)

Series 5

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Variants

Lasher

Activate: Afflict an enemy card here with negative Power equal to this card’s Power.

Series 4

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Variants

Maverick

Activate: Give the next card you play Power equal to this card’s Power.

Series 5

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Variants

Human Torch First Steps

End of Turn: +1 Power. Once per game, if your side here is full, double this card’s Power instead.

Series 5

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Variants

Scarlet Spider

Activate: Add an exact clone of this to another location.

Series 5

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Variants

Danger

Activate: Destroy an enemy card here with less Power.

Series 4

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Combined with some of the cards notorious for turning power buffs into a ton of points, The Ten Rings Upgraded would become a great support for sure.

Then, Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings is also hurting its way into other synergies interested in having a 2-cost in their starting hand to make sure they have something to play.

Variants

Speed

Ongoing: +1 Power for each turn in which you spent all your Energy.

Series 5

view card details Start a deck Decks with Speed

Variants

Wiccan

On Reveal: If you’ve spent all your Energy on previous turns, +2 Max Energy.

Series 5

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Variants

Spider-Man Noir

On Reveal: Set the top card of your deck’s Power to 8. If your other cards in play cost exactly 8 total, add it here. (0/8)

Series 5

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Variants

Arishem

Game Start: Shuffle 12 new cards into your deck. On turn 3, get +1 Max Energy.

Series 5

view card details Start a deck Decks with Arishem

Wiccan and Speed clearly headline this category, as the synergy interested in finding guaranteed ways to spend energy early on in a match. However, drawing from a deck with one extra card will mean reducing our changes to finding Wiccan on time. The same would apply for other timing sensitive cards such as Spider-Man Noir.

One card that maybe interested however is Arishem, who could focus on the other costs and skip playing any other 2-cost. This would pose the problem of finding Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings in that gigantic deck, and another issue related to the current metagame:

Variants

Merlin

At the start of each turn, add an Incantation to your hand.

Series 5

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Variants

Cable

On Reveal: Draw a card from your opponent’s deck.

Series 1

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Variants

Iron Patriot

On Reveal: Add a random 4-Cost or more card to your hand. If you’re winning here after next turn, give it -3 Cost.

Series 5

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Variants

Chamber

Activate: +2 Power for each 5-Cost or more card you have here and in hand.

Series 5

view card details Start a deck Decks with Chamber

These are only a few example, but Marvel Snap features a lot of excellent 2-cost cards, which wouldn’t really make sense to run if we had a guaranteed 2-cost available every game.

In that sense, the new Shang-Chi Master of The Rings would compete not only with other 3-costs, but also 2-cost cards. These two have been extremely competitive, often representing the backbone of a deck.

In that context, the new 3-cost might require too many sacrifices to become a worthy deck building path.

The Verdict: Should You Get Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings?

I believe the card is at least fair in the raw power it offers. However, the added card in our deck, plus the stellar options among 2-cost cards led me to think Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings will not make it into many archetypes.

Arishem and Wiccan make the most sense, and Wiccan could drop it if the 4-cost doesn’t show up often enough because of it.

Pre-Release Score:

Shang-Chi Master of The Rings Decks

Arishem & the Rings

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

3x

Series 3

1x

Series 4

7x

Series 5

1x

Starter Card

Wiccan & the Rings

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x

Series 3

2x

Series 4

8x

Series 5

1x

Starter Card

Surfer and the Rings

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x

Series 1

2x

Series 3

2x

Series 4

6x

Series 5

1x

Starter Card

In my opinion, very few decks will accept the sacrifices required to run Shang-Chi, Master of the Rings, but a few might, especially those able to run Quicksilver.

Indeed, The Ten Rings also require you to play a 1-cost before it, so you can benefit from the On Reveal. As such, decks able to simply go Quicksilver into the Ten Rings on turn one and two should be a simple yet effective way to open all your other slots for 3+ cost cards.

If we were to look at other avenues, Clea appears to be the best target in the game. The card can serve as both a target for The Ten Rings‘ On Reveal and a card benefiting from the End of Turn buff once the potential was unlocked.

Clea loves the rings

Created by den

, updated 5 months ago

0

1x

Series 3

3x

Series 4

8x

Series 5

Closing Words

I hope this review of the new card was helpful. You can find everyone on the Marvel Snap Zone team in our community Discord to have a chat or ask any questions.

Good Game Everyone!