Shanna the She-Devil Theorycraft, Strategy, and Decklists

Marvel Snap is being criticized for its very difficult to obtain Series 5 cards ever since they were introduced. While I don’t mind the system and have found enough fun with the cards I was lucky enough to unlock, I can definitely understand the frustration that stems from its economy. Something that is also rough though, was Kazoo acting as the stalwart of free-to-play Marvel Snap, the archetype always built around Series 1 cards first and foremost. Well, with the introduction of Shanna on January 17, 2022, more costly Kazoo decks might be on the way.

Variants

Shanna

On Reveal: Add a random 1-Cost card to each location.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shanna

Shanna is clearly a card that most of us have identified as a Kazoo card. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a card which summons 1-Cost cards and looks like Ka-Zar probably wants to be paired with it. However, if Shanna should be an easy upgrade inclusion in that archetype, there are other ways to use the card in other decks as well. Indeed, flooding the board with cheap units isn’t something only Kazoo looks to do, so there might be other avenues to use Shanna.

Synergies and Gameplay

Shanna is a card that seems easy to use at first glance, but quite difficult to nail exactly how it can contribute to a deck at the same time. Through summoning three random 1-Cost cards, in a pool of 30 possibilities currently, Shanna has the opportunity to be game-winning or disappointing.

The 1-Cost currently have a slightly above 2-Power average, which puts Shanna around 9 power on her own, a number I would consider too low in the current metagame if we consider that it eat up four of our twelve total spots on board. . Unless you pull great abilities, like Iceman for example, I don’t see Shanna being a card that one just plays in a deck on its own.

In order to make the best out of the latest Series 5 arrival, there needs to be some kind of synergy around the cards summoned. It can be one that aims at buffing them, destroying them, and looking to develop extra bodies on all the lanes. There is a flurry of ways to look at Shanna and how the card can contribute to a deck. Let’s take a look!

Variants

Ka-Zar

Ongoing: Your 1-Cost cards have +1 Power.

Collection Level 1-14

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ka-Zar

Variants

Blue Marvel

Ongoing: Your other cards have +1 Power.

Recruit Season

view card details Start a deck Decks with Blue Marvel

Variants

Captain America

Ongoing: Your other cards at this location have +1 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Captain America

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

Obviously, the first setup one might look to test Shanna in should be cards rewarding a large amount of cards in play. In addition to Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel and Captain America look like good cards to play alongside Shanna in order to give her summons more value. Similarly, Nova buffing your whole side of the table when destroyed should work well too.

In this scenario, we aren’t looking to make it complicated: We summon cards, buff those cards, and hope our points are beating the opponent points. It might be a bit disappointing for a Series 5 card, but every card needs to start somewhere.

Variants

Carnage

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards here. +2 Power for each destroyed.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Carnage

Variants

Venom

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards at this location. Add their Power to this card.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Venom

Variants

Death

Costs 1 less for each card destroyed this game.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Death

Variants

Killmonger

On Reveal: Destroy ALL 1-Cost cards.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Killmonger

Apart from Carnage, I doubt the other cards are flexible enough to really benefit from Shanna being included in the same deck, and arguably, Squirrel Girl already fills this role for a much cheaper price. Nevertheless, the 1-Cost cards have always held a special place in the destroy synergy as they usually serve as the best targets to destroy, and get Death‘s price discounted. Also, compared to Squirrel Girl or Mysterio, which are played with the intent to be destroyed, Shanna could sometimes summon a good enough card to contribute to your points total in the end. Ebony Maw, summoned on a location that you didn’t intend to play on – any takers?

In that regard, Shanna might be a decent support to a Deadpool deck running Death as well. It seems a little far-fetched, but not completely impossible.

Variants

Storm

On Reveal: Flood this location. Next turn is the last turn cards can be played here.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Storm

Variants

Ebony Maw

You can’t play this after turn 3. Ongoing: You can’t play cards here.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ebony Maw

Variants

Electro

On Reveal: +1 Max Energy. Ongoing: You can only play 1 card a turn.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Electro

This is the part where Shanna could truly become its own card, and get out of Ka-Zar‘s shadow of just being a card to include in Kazoo. Alongside restrictive cards, Shanna provides a flexible tool to impact several locations at once, even the ones where one isn’t allowed to play. Storm and Ebony Maw are the best examples of this side of Shanna, but imagine a Sunday where Sanctum Sanctorum is a Hot Location, Shanna could be a star that day.

Variants

Zabu

Ongoing: Your 4-Cost cards cost 1 less. (minimum 1)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Zabu

You knew I was going to talk about this card, didn’t you?

I know, there probably is enough Zabu as it is in the current metagame, but if the new card is going to be a 4-Cost card, I have to include Zabu at some point. It is my duty, I’m sorry. Also lore-wise, Zabu is Shanna and Ka-Zar‘s pet, so it only seems fitting both cards cost four, so they are affected by Zabu‘s discount and certainly intentionally designed that way.

Concept #1: Shanna joins the Kazoo archetype, brings Zabu alongside her

Shannacula

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The current popular Kazoo build is a deck looking to abuse the synergy around Dracula, the card being easy to abuse as the rest of our hand is pretty cheap. Also, this gives the deck more of a combo approach where the opponent is left guessing how many points we might develop by games end. With Shanna added to the deck, it feels kind of mandatory to run Zabu as well, especially considering Dracula is a 4-Cost too. There might a case where Maximus makes more sense than Zabu as it can serve as another big card, but three 4-cost cards seem to be the lowest amount where Zabu is a strong consideration.

Otherwise, Shanna shouldn’t change the deck’s overall gameplan much, but could provide a good way of reaching unplayable locations alongside Squirrel Girl, and a solid chance at winning those if we find Ka-Zar. After testing, it could even be possible that Shanna is too expensive for the deck and makes the hand too complicated to manage for Dracula whenever we don’t draw into Zabu. In that case, Shanna would have to push her own version of Kazoo if she wants to be a part of the archetype.

1s and 4s

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Recruit Season

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In this different take on the Kazoo archetype, we are taking the Zabu and Shanna duo one step further – we have one more 4-Cost in the mix, and we utilize America Chavez to help increase the chance of drawing Zabu. This is an old build of the Kazoo deck where we exploit the very cheap cards populating the lanes to reliably trigger Strong Guy at game’s end. Also, if we would still have some cards left in our hand, Hellcow will make sure to throw them away. Lastly, because we have more room to work without the Dracula package, we can include Blue Marvel in the deck, a seemingly great fit alongside Shanna.

Apart from Blade, the 1-Cost cards don’t change much in the Kazoo core and represent most of our early gameplan. Nightcrawler is included instead of Sunspot in this iteration, and should reinforce the deck’s capacity to challenge otherwise unplayable locations. Ideally, we would play Zabu on turn three and then mix our fours and ones for the remainder of the game, except for Blue Marvel being a good play on five.

To be honest, I have my doubts about Shanna making it as a staple of the Kazoo archetype. I do believe the card makes a ton of sense in those decks, but adding another high-cost card could hurt the deck’s consistency overall. Zabu obviously fixes part of this problem, but could also make it worse whenever we don’t draw into it.

Overall, I think Shanna is a good addition to the archetype, but nowhere near what Ka-Zar or the 1-Cost cards are bringing to the table, and she definitely isn’t worth investing 6,000 Collector’s Tokens solely for the purpose of playing it in a Kazoo deck.

The new Series 5 card has more to offer, though, than simply being Ka-Zar‘s companion and following him around in his signature archetype. I believe there are decks which could make a better use of Shanna, and give the card all the merit it deserves.

Concept #2: The Lockation archetype loves Shanna

Almost extinct for the past few months, the Lockation archetype aims at limiting the ability our opponent has to play freely on the three locations. With Storm, Debrii, Green Goblin, Viper, and other such cards, the deck looks to limit the available space and the play patterns the opponent has access to. The thing is, the deck also limits itself in doing so, especially with Ebony Maw or Storm locking lanes for the remainder of the game.

Shanna Lockation

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With Doctor Doom being the star of the archetype and Blue Marvel a good help to buff our Rocks and other low power cards, Shanna seems to be a great fit with both. She will contribute, just like Doctor Doom, to play behind Ebony Maw or onto the Flooded location, and will give Blue Marvel much more value as well as she represents multiple bodies for the +1 bonus. Other cute synergies include Viper, which could give a potentially bad 1-Cost to the opponent.

Compared to the Kazoo archetype, I think Shanna makes more sense in this build rather than alongside Ka-Zar as she looks like she would contribute to more aspects of this build. However, the Lockation archetype is much weaker than the Kazoo one lately, so even if Shanna helps more, we might see more of the new card in the Kazoo build.

Concept #3: Old-School Sera Miracle build

Ever since the Silver Surfer joined Marvel Snap, it feels like most people forgot Sera had a deck of her own at some point. While I don’t think this one can rival one of the juggernauts of the current metagame, it sure feels like Shanna might be a decent addition to the build

Seracle Flood

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Typically, 4-Cost cards tend to be a little too pricey for Sera, who tends to favour 2 or 3-Cost cards on turn six, in order to play as many as possible. Something Sera does enjoy, though, is a solid 4-Cost card to play right before, and which sets up the combo turn nicely, which Shanna might be great at. Indeed, there are many synergies to explore with Shanna in this deck, with the 1-cost cards serving many purposes:

• Carnage will gladly eat the bad ones of the bunch to grow its power.
• Mojo welcomes any little help in order to activate the Ongoing effect.
• We likely will lose one when doing so, but Nova will buff Shanna and the other surviving 1-Cost if destroyed by Deathlok or Carnage.
• Alongside Scarlet Witch, we can try to sneak our way into annoying locations.

Similarly to the Lockation deck, I doubt this one will come back to any form of relevancy, and Zabu is probably Shanna‘s best shot at having a decent play rate. Nevertheless, I believe the last two concepts shed a much better light on Shanna‘s ability to impact a game outside of being a points contributor like any other card.

Closing Words

Compared to December, the January cards are a little disappointing to me, and I doubt I’ll invest 6,000 Collector’s Tokens in any of them before being proven how good they can be. Nevertheless, Shanna was the card that drew my attention the most and tickled my creative side to try and see where the card could fit and contribute. I do think the card has some merit, and hopefully will be valued more than simply Ka-Zar‘s sidekick in the namesake archetype.

Her ability to impact all locations is the big upside I see in the card, especially as more locations with very disruptive effects are added to the game. Rickety Bridge, for example, could be a good one for Shanna, as we could use one of her 1-Cost summons to get rid of opposing cards there.

I hope this piece helped some of you have a better idea of what Shanna can bring to the table. Even if I don’t think I will be investing in the card myself, don’t refrain from doing so if you think you can get some good fun playing Shanna in your deck. Also, I would consider it a decent pull if you get lucky in one of your Collector’s Cache.

Have a creative idea on how to use Shanna? Come share it on our community Discord, or tag me on Twitter at @den_CCG.

Good Game Everyone.