Sleeper Decks of the Week – Elsa Is Best, Death Is Back, and Black Knight Joins the Fray

Hello everyone and welcome to Sleeper Decks of the Week! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and in this article, I’m going to take you through all of my favorite Sleeper Decks this week. In addition to the podcast (this week’s episode goes over the Top 5 cards at each cost slot and has an interview with Marvel Snap’s Principal Game Designer Glenn Jones!), I do my own daily videos where I scour the darkest corners of the net (ahem Twitter and the various Marvel Snap sites) to find the best decks in Marvel Snap before the meta notices.

Remember: Each deck title will take you to a video explanation of the deck, so don’t be shy – check them out!

Elsa Decks Dominate

Variants

Elsa Bloodstone

Each card you play to fill your side of a location gains +2 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Elsa Bloodstone

Elsa Bloodstone is quite over-tuned, and many of the best shells in Marvel Snap take advantage of abusing her power. I fully expect her to be nerfed, but for now, she’s the card to play.

Tech Loki

Dera Tech Loki

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Dera is a top 10 player in the world and is hanging out in this realm on the leaderboard using this absolutely wild deck. In Loki, Elsa has proven so powerful that the deck can cut Collector, leaving a 2-8 card out of the deck because Elsa is that busted.

Replacing The Collector here is a bunch of tech cards. Between Shang-Chi, Cosmo, Killmonger, Rogue, and Shadow King, this deck has an answer for nearly everything the opponent can do. Invisible Woman makes sure you lose priority when you need to. There are still a few regular Loki cards too to help you draw cards. Snowguard is the funniest of these, as she’s not only +2 cards for Loki, but also an extra tech card for locations.

Loki is needed for this, as is Elsa. Jeff can be The Collector, while Mirage can be Sentinel. Snowguard is fine being replaced with Agent 13.

If you want a turn-by-turn guide for the deck, click the deck title in this article.

Lamby’s Monkey-Free Bounce

LambyRogue 3

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

2

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

2.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Lamby, the best player in Snap and guest in last week’s Snap Judgments, took his classic bounce deck and decided that with Elsa Bloodstone and Forge, there’s enough power with Hit Monkey.

Using The Hood and Mysterio, it’s extremely easy to fill the board, and you can do that twice with the bounce cards, Falcon and Beast. Basically, everything in the deck is either scaling or great power for cost. The secret sauce to this deck is Bast. An early Bast hitting Mysterio or Iron Man is a Snap and an Iron Man, usually played on turn 6 with a Demon to be safe from Rogue.

You need only Kitty and Elsa here as far as high series cards go, so this is pretty accessible.

If you want a turn-by-turn on how to play the deck, check the video linked in the title.

Interrobang’s ElSera

Interrobang ElSera

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x 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+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Interrobang has been absolutely rocking with this. Braude, one card different, running Killmonger over Jeff, has like an 80% win rate. Bootman has been crushing Conquest with one other small card change. Sera is back!

Mobius is a great card, but he’s gone from a lot of the meta, as is Wave, so Sera is free to roll. Last turn miracle explosions of cards are here and they can dominate. The deck also keeps Shang Chi and Shadow King so as to be able to handle anything it can’t go over the top of. This is, right now, one of the easiest and best decks to ladder with.

You need Elsa, Kitty, and Hit Monkey for this. You don’t need Mobius or Jeff. If you don’t have them, we’re looking at Killmonger, Rogue, and Medusa as potential replacements.

If you want a turn-by-turn on how to play the deck, check the video linked in the title.

Thursday 4 Jean Gray Move

Thursday_4 (Tobi, MPerMinute, and Obihaved)

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 7 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Thursday 4 made this sick deck and then Tobi and MPerMinute tagged the crap out of me in it until I tried it. They were right – this deck is both extremely fun and extremely powerful.

The basic idea here is to get down Jean Gray and force an opponent to play in that lane where you usually end up winning because of Elsa, but you can also move things out to force them to play more there with cards like Spider-Man. At the end, you can choose to kill their last card there or win by going wide with Alioth.

Alioth and Jean are needed for this one, unfortunately, as are Jeff and Silk since moving cards is so important. Cloak can maybe replace one of them.

Man-Thing Brings Back Old Friends

Variants

Man-Thing

Ongoing: 1, 2, and 3-Cost cards here have -2 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Man-Thing

Man-Thing spent a week as a toxic card before people put him into good stuff shells, where he’s often a 4-9 or 4-11. Unsurprisingly, those great stats decks are his best home.

Evazord Move

Evazord First Place 2

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 7 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x 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)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Evazord won the Lamby Open with this deck a week after being second place in the Team Impulse tournament. He’s also one of the top 10 players in Snap right now according to the leaderboard, so it’s 100% worth checking him out.

This deck is pretty similar to the last one, but it sees the debut of the Man-Thing package or Rogue, Luke Cage, and Man-Thing. Those three cards in concert make Man-Thing an amazing last-turn play. People see this deck and assume Alioth, so as they do so, flipping a lane with Man-Thing, especially if there’s an extra location to help give negative power is extraordinarily satisfying. Besides that? Elsa and move is nuts. You should play it.

I think either Alioth or Man-Thing is needed, but you’ll also need core cards like Silk, Jeff, and, of course, Elsa Bloodstone – probably the best card in all of Marvel Snap.

Check the vid for the play-by-play.

Norn Darkhawk

Norn Darkhawk 70%

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 7 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Darkhawk has been killing it lately, largely thanks to this absolutely sick list. Darkhawk with his package is always great, but now the Man-Thing package being added gives you just a lot of leeway to spread out power.

Zabu, Korg, Rockslide, and Darkhawk spent months as the best package in Snap, and while move with Elsa has certainly overtaken it, it’s still quite good, and made better by the recent buff to Black Widow putting her back into the deck.

The smaller package of Man-Thing, Luke Cage, and Rogue is great, with Rogue often the secret MVP for killing Mobius as much as killing opposing Luke.

Speaking of killing? I missed you Shang! You my boy, Shang!

Death Survives Mobius

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

Mobius M. Mobius

Ongoing: Your Costs can’t be increased. Your opponent’s Costs can’t be reduced.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mobius M. Mobius

Death was chased from the meta for a moment thanks to Mobius omnipresence, but she’s back now!

Tuccrr’s Flag Means Death

Tuccrr Death

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 7 months ago

3

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Death was chased out of the meta and with it, destroy decks, when Mobius was released. Second Dinner was smart though, and gave us the tool we needed to combat the meta, and Tuccrr figured it out – it’s Lady Deathstrike‘s time to shine.

The list here is fairly simple- Destroy your cards with a priority for X-23 and Deadpool. Forge on Deadpool is a really nice accelerator, too, and as you do all the killing, try and set up a Deathstrike to murder their Elsa Bloodstone and/or Mobius M Mobius. At that point, you play Death and Knull (don’t forget Alioth is a card as you choose your play locations) to win the game.

Iron Lad is the one real replaceable card here. He can easily be Jubilee or Deathlok. Knull could actually probably be Alioth, too.

You know the drill – turn by turn in the link above.

Juno2Tres Technical Death

Juno2Tres Technical Death

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x 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)

4.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Juno2Tres is a very cool smaller streamer you should check out. This deck is using a similar idea to the one above – Deathstrike to solve problems, but now we have Thanos to ramp things up.

This deck is extremely versatile. There are a lot of decks in the meta where ramping into Doctor Octopus rolls the face off of everyone. An early Hela or Taskmaster pull could be backbreaking, and if a bunch of cheap stuff is gone, you can always eat it all with Deathstrike. Of course, you can also just drop Professor X into Alioth to win. Figuring out what to do each game is an awesome puzzle.

You need Deathstrike here. Alioth can be Leader. Iron Lad may be better as Daredevil or X-23. Enjoy!

Black Knight Arrives

Variants

Black Knight

After you discard a card, add the Ebony Blade to your hand with that card’s Power. (once per game)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Black Knight

Black Knight arrived and with him came new decks. These aren’t the best things in the game, but they are quite strong.

Black Knight Discard Miracle

Discard Miracle 65%

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: I have no idea who made this, but when it goes off, you’re unbelievably set.

This deck badly wants to get out Sera and Zabu, and it uses Enchantress (on 4) to protect them from Mobius. If it can do that, it gets out three different 4 cost cards on the last turn, and given that Dracula is often one along with a Shard, there is crazy power added to the board. The third one is often Shang Chi, too, so there’s a lot here to like.

Not getting the combo off is fine, too, here. Just dropping a Shard on turn 4 or 5 or getting Dracula out then playing a Giganto or another big card wins plenty of games of Snap.

You’ll need Black Knight for this whole section. This one also needs Zabu given it’s all about 4 cost cards.

For turn-by-turn, again, check the video.

OwlGod Black Knight

OwlGod Black Knight

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: OwlGod is a brilliant deck builder and he turned his sights this week to Black Knight – posting an absolutely awesome take on the card. This one operates as a standard Hela list with a way better-than-usual backup plan.

This deck works like every other modern Hela – use targeted discard to set up a big Hela, but this one has a backup plan of using Black Bolt and Stature so that Stature can be played on six with either Ghost Rider or a Muramasa Shard for a huge, spread out pile of power.

Stature is a must for this. You can do without Zabu, I think, trying Armor or Luke Cage.

Scuba Black Knight

Scuba Smacks!

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: Scuba is a friend on Discord and secretly a genius deck builder. We’re going to be seeing a lot of his brews going forward.

This Hela list is sick, again, using targeted discard, but now adding in Silver Samurai as a way to get rid of Iron Man. Iron Man is maybe better as Alioth here, by the way, as that’s not only a Silver Samurai card, but also really good for Lady Sif, as well.

The other really cool idea here is She-Hulk. There are often passes on turn 3 and, at that point, a She-Hulk on the cheap is great. That can be followed with a lot of powerful abilities turns 5 and 6 as you can either go in on discard or just play your big stuff.

SuperTechGod Shuri Black Skull

STG Black Knight

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 6 months ago

3

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Deck Thoughts: SuperTechGod is an amazing person and good friend. He both does streams and YouTube and owns every variant in Marvel Snap. He also has a podcast, and I was a guest on it this week, so check that out.

This is probably the most meta Black Knight list. It runs classic Shuri Red Skull as an option, but the real fun is when you can discard The Infinaut for a 20-power shard. That can then be copied on 4 by Taskmaster and the The Infinaut can be brought back from Ghost Rider. There are a lot of ways to win, and if your opponent sells out to stop anyone, you just switch to another way to crush them.

Black Knight is the only high-series card here.

Wrap Up

Thanks for reading! Check back all next week so much more great content from Marvel Snap Zone!