Silver Samurai Decks to Try on Day 1 and Strategy Guide: Silver Samurai Supports Stature’s Schemes!

The last card to release in the Big in Japan season, Silver Samurai, follows the release of what many consider to be the most impactful card this season: X-23. But even though the new 1-Cost in the Destroy archetype has impacted the metagame, Silver Samurai has a few upside we should not overlook.

First, the card appears to be an easy inclusion in one of the best archetypes of the summer, Good Cards Stature, because it synergizes with both Zabu and Stature. Then, Marvel Snap has seen plenty of cards added to the competition that should work extremely well with Silver Samurai‘s ability. In this month alone, Daken and X-23 immediately come to mind.

Last, and perhaps most important upside for the new card, several decks in the current metagame are ability based, and their powerful cards tend to have little to no power when in hand. Darkhawk, Taskmaster, Iron Man, Dracula, Patriot, and Silver Surfer are all win conditions that could easily be tossed out of a player’s hand when Silver Samurai hits the board.

Variants

Silver Samurai

On Reveal: Each player discards the lowest-Power card from their hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Silver Samurai

Strength and Weaknesses

If you have been enjoying the Good Cards archetype lately, you should be ecstatic about Silver Samurai joining the game. Indeed, the card seems like a match made in heaven for a deck looking to play 4-Cost cards and force the opponent to discard something. The probable inclusion of Silver Samurai in one of the top decks alone could warrant opening a few Spotlight Caches to get the card.

Variants

Zabu

On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, your 4-Cost cards cost 1 less.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Zabu

Variants

Stature

Costs 1 if your opponent discarded a card this game.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Stature

If you aren’t a fan of the archetype (or simply want to explore something else with the card), Silver Samurai has other synergies in Marvel Snap. Here are some cards with low power that are beneficial to discard:

Variants

Wolverine

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it with +2 Power at a random location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wolverine

Variants

X-23

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with X-23

Variants

Muramasa Shard

When this is discarded or destroyed, double Daken’s Power.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Muramasa Shard

Variants

Swarm

When you discard this, add two copies that cost 0 to your hand.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Swarm

Sure, Dracula and Morbius might be a bit of a challenge to work around in a Pure Discard deck with Silver Samurai. But all of those low-Power cards were designed to be easily discarded with Colleen Wing in the first place since their cost makes them easier to target compared to their power.

Before we move on from the Discard synergy, though, we have to talk about one card that often comes to mind when targeted discard is mentioned:

Variants

Hela

On Reveal: Resurrect all cards you discarded to random locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hela

Variants

Ghost Rider

On Reveal: Bring back one of your discarded cards to this location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ghost Rider

Hela found her home in Hela Tribunal last month, and she seems to have a very nice build going around. Nevertheless, there are plenty of strong cards with extremely low power in Marvel Snap, such as Iron Man, Darkhawk, Knull, and Arnim Zola among the ones with zero power. You could even consider anything below six power to be good enough, as Silver Samurai would discard them instead of Hela. Then, Jubilee, Leader, Devil Dinosaur, and Doctor Doom can be added to the mix as well.

Ghost Rider also feels like a logical inclusion to this discussion since we might want to simply discard one card. Also, both Ghost Rider and Silver Samurai are 4-Cost cards, so Zabu could help pull off a sixth turn with the pair played together for maximum surprise effect.

Finally, all the strong summons you could set up for Hela could also be discarded from your opponent’s hand with Silver Samurai. Denying one of their key cards might have a huge impact on the match, regardless of whether you got your synergy set up or not.

Variants

Taskmaster

On Reveal: Set this card’s Power equal to that of the last card you played. (if that card’s in play)

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Taskmaster

Variants

Iron Man

Ongoing: Your total Power is doubled here.

Starter Card

view card details Start a deck Decks with Iron Man

Variants

Darkhawk

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Darkhawk

Variants

Arnim Zola

On Reveal: Destroy one of your other cards here to copy it at the other locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Arnim Zola

Now, we still have to discuss the card’s weaknesses a little. Silver Samurai remains a niche card that is similar to Black Bolt in a way. The card is only a [4/5], which is slightly below the average power for a 4-Cost. Thus, Silver Samurai needs to contribute to the deck with its ability to make it worth including.

If we discuss the cards we want to target with it, we unfortunately will not get to choose a lot of the time, and we might end up giving the opponent a bit of help. Indeed, Destroy is very popular right now, meaning we are likely to match against decks with Wolverine, X-23, and maybe even Daken. Good Cards Stature is also a popular archetype, so the forced discard on ourselves would trigger our opponent’s Stature for free. This is a big downside compared to Black Bolt since it only discards one of the opponent’s cards.

Last but not least, Silver Samurai pushes our deck in a certain direction with its ability, and this means we have to be mindful of its impact on our deck. I fully expect this limitation to solve itself once we figure out the best way to play the card, but the first few days with Silver Samurai might be a little rocky depending on what the community tries to do with it.

Good Cards Stature

Good Cards Samurai

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Black Bolt prevented us from playing Wave in this Good Cards archetype since both cards vied for the same spot on Turn 5. With Silver Samurai, we should be able to discard earlier, which opens us to Wave plus Stature on Turn 5. In this scenario, Magneto would be a great follow up on Turn 6. Plus, Silver Samurai makes Daken an appealing prospect. At the very least, it could be a great back-up plan in case we don’t draw Zabu for Turn 2 to immediately play our 4-Cost cards. Still, one could be worried about discarding Darkhawk, which is a legitimate concern. Maybe the deck could also look a little different from what we are used to:

Silver Samurai Tempo

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In this case, we are sure to discard the Muramasa Shard if it’s in hand when we play Silver Samurai. Also, we get Odin and Doctor Doom added to the mix for some On Reveal synergy and extra potential at times. X-23 and Colleen Wing look like a solid duo to explore now that Silver Samurai is joining them. The bonus energy from X-23 could lead to a Doctor Doom into Odin over the last two turns. Otherwise, a simple Wave plus Colleen Wing discarding the Muramasa Shard on Turn 5 sounds pretty appealing.

Good (Dis)Cards

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

If we really want to go off the book, we can also explore the Discard synergy around X-23 and Wolverine in a sort of Good Cards shell. Here, the idea is to be as explosive as possible on Turn 5 by playing Swarm and Stature alongside Wave. This is a much more synergistic build compared to the usual Good Cards lists, so we’d have to be more careful about how we manage our hand. However, it could to lead to some very surprising plays that the opponent shouldn’t be able to predict.

Discard

Dracula Discard

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Discard Dracula is starting to feel pretty stacked with all the new cards added to it – especially after Absorbing Man and Gambit joined the deck. It is difficult to say if Silver Samurai is needed in that deck; the disruptive ability could be something worth exploring, but Moon Knight never managed to become a relevant piece of the archetype. Maybe the targeted part of Silver Samurai will make the card worth running.

Discard Tempo

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Discard is well known for its very synergistic approach that is based around Dracula and Morbius. With Silver Samurai bringing Stature into the mix, the archetype could lean more towards tempo and simply run cards worth solid points for their cost. In this list, the goal is to use The Collector to anchor a lane (possibly helped by Nebula). With Swarm in the deck, we can reasonably expect the card to grow to at least six or eight power. Then, we can use Stature, Black Bolt, Daken, and/or Colleen Wing to add lots of points on the other lanes thanks to their high power compared to their energy cost.

Also, it might be a little far-fetched, but Nebula has a tendency of drawing out cheap cards from the opponent in order to stop her ability from triggering. As such, we could expect their hand to be pretty small by the time we use Silver Samurai or Black Bolt. Obviously, I have my doubts whether this can hold a candle to a Good Cards build, but the synergies are interesting to explore at least.

Hela Discard

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Hela Discard has slowly become the Hela Tribunal deck, which doesn’t seem to have a slot available for Silver Samurai. However, the old school Hela Discard might be able to use the card since targeted discard is exactly what that deck is looking for. The deck already runs Moon Knight, which could support Silver Samurai in annoying the opponent through disrupting their hand. Then, most of the low-Power cards are great to bring back with Hela later on (except for Lockjaw, which we should have played by the time we get to Silver Samurai anyway).

With Armor gaining a ton of momentum now that Destroy is everywhere, it isn’t shocking to see Gambit replaced by Silver Samurai to attack the opponent’s hand rather than their board.

Closing Words

I really like the flavor of Silver Samurai as a card, and I think there is enough existing support for it to be a consideration in plenty of decks. However, I don’t think it will have a similar impact to X-23, as it doesn’t seem to be as explosive or necessary for an entire synergy. Good Cards Stature will likely look to include it, which is probably enough to make Silver Samurai a worthy purchase if you enjoy the deck. But in other decks, Silver Samurai doesn’t feel like it will transform the archetype, nor does it feel like it will become a mandatory inclusion like Dracula is for so many decks.

With that in mind, I won’t tell you to go for it or not. I think that choice heavily depends on whether you enjoy the archetypes where Silver Samurai makes sense. If you are currently focused on Move Legion or Silver Surfer, for example, Silver Samurai probably as no appeal to you – and that is completely fine. However, if you enjoy experimenting with the Discard synergy or jamming Good Cards Stature for hours, then it sounds like you have some Spotlight Caches to open!

Want to share your opinions on or a deck with Silver Samurai? Join us on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.

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