Snapalytics Mini: Don’t Sleep on Havok

Every season, my friend and yours, PulseGlazer, asks a bunch of creators to review new cards. He has us rank the cards for both the outgoing and incoming seasons. Giving an explanation next to your ranking is entirely optional, but I end up doing it for every card. Dunno how Pulse feels about my long paragraphs, but I love doing it! Writing it out focuses my thoughts.

Variants

Havok

After each turn, you lose 1 Max Energy and this gains +4 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Havok

It was no different for the Hellfire Gala season. I started with Havok at #4 of 4. I imagine many of you would have done the same. Heck, my fellow Marvel Snap creators did do the same — check out the article! There’s Havok, in last place.

In the process of writing up my explanation for Havok, I convinced myself that he was better than I’d first guessed. Like… a lot better. He moved up my personal ranking twice, landing in second place.

I thought I’d share my reasoning, along with additional math I’ve done, so that you don’t get caught underestimating Havok.

Note: The original version of this article listed the wrong percentage odds for drawing both Havok and Viper by Turn 4. This has been corrected. – LaurenWhatevs

Why is Havok Good?

I admit, I’m biased. I love weird cards. I love making underrated cards work. I get excited when I see a card that seems bad at first glance. It’s a promise of exploration. A chance to figure out how to use it, especially in unexpected ways.

I try to be realistic in my rankings, though. I know part of the reason weirdos work is because they’re weird. Cards and decks with low play rates have a couple advantages. Other players don’t have much practice against them. And they certainly don’t play around them. But I acknowledge most of the weirdos need that edge. Becoming popular would sap their strength.

Havok is different. Havok is a good card disguised as a weirdo.

Havok is Strong

This may seem like a strange place to start. If you’re like me, your early experience processing Havok looked something like this:

1. Huh?!
2. Ohhh, you can send him to your opponent with Viper!
3. Alright, that seems effective when it works, but that seems like a lot of investment for something that’s not very reliable.
4. That’s pretty much it.
5. Well, this card’s not great.

We’ll get to Viper, trust me, but that’s not where I want to start. I don’t think that’s the best use of Havok.

Every turn, Havok gains +4 power at the cost of 1 max energy. In other words, he’s a card you can pay for over multiple turns.

Hm, who does that sound like?

Spreading out Cost

Variants

She-Hulk

Costs 1 less for each unspent Energy last turn.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with She-Hulk

Indeed, I think She-Hulk is the closest to Havok out of all the cards that are already in the game. When’s the last time you heard somebody call She-Hulk bad?

She-Hulk is a 6-cost. Even when you activate her cost-reduction ability, you paid the full 6, it just gets spread across two turns. That’s useful! Besides making it easier to fill out your energy curve, it lets you sneak She-Hulk into The Big House or behind Goose. 

Variants

The Big House

Cards that cost 4, 5, or 6 can’t be played here.

released

view card details Start a deck Decks with The Big House

Variants

Goose

Ongoing: Nobody can play cards that cost 4, 5, or 6 here.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Goose

Variants

Crimson Cosmos

Cards that cost 1, 2, or 3 can’t be played here.

released

view card details Start a deck Decks with Crimson Cosmos

Admittedly, Havok can’t use his ability to sneak into The Big House’s counterpart location, Crimson Cosmos. He does, however, compete with She-Hulk as one of the biggest cards you can put in The Big House or behind Goose.

He can get really big, by the way. I think calculating his potential power-to-cost ratio is something a lot of us missed. It didn’t help that his stats were a bit worse when he was first data mined (2/1 +3 versus 2/0 +4), but they were above average even then.

How Strong?

Here’s a table showing Havok’s possible statlines. The left half lists which turn Havok is played. The right half shows his overall cost and power.

Playing Havok on Turn 1 obviously requires certain locations (like Tinkerer’s Workshop, The Peak, or Elysium).

Havok at his best is a 2/4, 3/8, or 5/12 you can pay for across multiple turns.

Those are all really good stat lines. Yes, there’s a cost — the turn you play him effectively sets your max energy for the rest of the game (though you could milk more out of Electro or White Hot Room). 8/16 is a great stat line, too, but I think the cost of being stuck at 3 energy for the rest of the game will be more trouble than an 8/16 is worth.

In the last column, you’ll find the bang-for-buck for Havok’s stats. 3/8 and 5/12 are the sweet spots. In other words, when you’ll be keeping Havok on your side, you should play him near the end of the game. That’ll also leave you with more energy so you can have more flexibility in the final turns.

But She-Hulk, Really?

She-Hulk can certainly be bigger. If she has a supporting cast of Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, and Magik — you can skip turn 6 and She-Hulk’s sort of a 6/20. We could even throw Moon Girl into the supporting cast and call She-Hulk a 6/30.

6/20 and 6/30 are huge, but you’re dedicating almost half of your deck to pulling off Maximum She-Hulk. Her highs are higher, but Havok doesn’t require as much production or investment.

And not to understate the cost of Havok. Few decks running a 6-cost, if any, will want to run Havok. However, there have always been decks that can compete despite their most expensive card being a 5-cost (or even less).

Havok is Disruptive

‘Tis the season of gift giving.

Why not show your opponent how much you care by generously handing over your shiny new Havok to eat up all their energy?

Variants

Viper

On Reveal: One of your other cards here switches sides.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Viper

Here’s your promised Viper section. Hand Havok over to your opponent and lock in their max energy. Will this strategy be any good? Uh… yeah.

This strategy will prove to be like Leech, Galactus, or even Professor X. Sending Havok will drive fast retreats, which means easy wins but low cube rates. Make sure you’re snapping before making this move!

Pulling it Off

Of course, sending Havok works best earlier in the game. It’s more powerful to lock your opponent at 3 energy than 5! The ideal is playing Psylocke or Ravonna on 2, and then both Havok and Viper on 3. That won’t even cost any of your precious max energy!

Variants

Psylocke

On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Psylocke

Variants

Ravonna Renslayer

Ongoing: Your cards with 1 or less Power cost 1 less. (minimum 1)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ravonna Renslayer

There are other options. Havok on Turn 2 followed by Viper on 3 is fine. It’ll cost you one max energy, which means it’ll take a couple turns before you have an energy advantage over your opponent. Havok and Viper together on Turn 4 doesn’t cost you max energy, but only costs your opponent a total of 3 energy (or 6 when there’s Limbo).

There is some value in locking your opponent at 4 or 5 energy. It may not lead to a huge energy disparity between the two of you, but it stops your opponent from playing their high-cost cards. Sending Havok as late as Turn 5 keeps you safe from the likes of Alioth, Blob, Doom, Hela, and Magneto.

What Are the Odds?

Glad you should ask! I taught myself some math (combinatorics!) to make this table, after all. It got straightforward with practice, but it can get pretty tricky with more complex scenarios!

Note: The first table (now shown at a small size) represents Havok at a 2-cost and Viper at a 2-cost.

Viper was recently changed to a 3-cost. The second, bigger table reflects this change.

May I draw your attention to the bottom of the table? You can pass Havok on Turn 3 as often as 21.46% of the time if you’re willing to gamble with top decking Havok or Viper on Turn 3. That requires some help from Psylocke or Ravonna to increase your options. Wanna skip Psylocke and Ravonna? Sure! You can still pass Havok on Turn 4 without any top-deck gambling a whopping 31.82% of the time!

Those percentages are high. You’ll be able to pass Havok early a bit more often than once every 5 games. That 1-in-5 game will be a free win far more often than not.

And that’s to say nothing about what it’s gonna feel like on the receiving end. Ever tilted at a Leech, Galactus, Professor X, or Alioth? Regardless of how fair Havok proves to be, he’ll join the pantheon of Marvel Snap feels-bad plays.

Depending on your deck, a Turn 3 or 4 Havok will be enough to make victory completely hopeless. No fighting chance.

If you miss old Chavez, here’s one place to be glad for her change. If she was still improving draw consistency, these percentages would be several points higher!

Countering the Unwanted Gift

If you take it as a given that your opponent drew Havok and Viper in time, it’s a really hard strategy to counter.

Your first option is to stop Viper in her tracks. Cosmo or a full lane could do that. Of course, if your opponent can play both of them on the same turn, you’ve got to correctly guess which lane they’ll target. And which turn they’ll play. If you try playing Cosmo on 3 and they hold their play — they can just send Havok over in a different lane on Turn 4.

Variants

Cosmo

Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cosmo

Variants

Iceman

On Reveal: Give a card in your opponent’s hand +1 Cost. (maximum 6)

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Iceman

Variants

Black Widow

On Reveal: Add a Widow’s Bite to your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Black Widow

Attacking your opponent’s hand or deck is a good strategy for reducing how often they can send Havok your way. Iceman and Spider-Ham are probably your best hopes of disrupting your opponent if they’ve already drawn the cards they want. Black Widow, Korg, Rockslide, and even Baron Mordo can stop them when they haven’t drawn their targets yet.

Variants

Venom

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

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Venom

Variants

Beast

On Reveal: Return your other cards here to your hand. They cost 1 less next turn.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Beast

Once your opponent has successfully sent Havok your way, hardly anything can stop his hunger for energy. Destroy is the obvious answer to remove Havok. Beast and your own Viper are the only other options I can think of.

Making the Most of Your Gift

Notably, by sending Havok to your opponent, you are sending them a card that can reach high power levels. Your energy advantage will often be enough to win, but if you really want to add salt to the wound, you could take care of their Havok with Shang-Chi or Shadow King at the end of the game.

Variants

Shang-Chi

On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards here that have 10 or more Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shang-Chi

Variants

Shadow King

On Reveal: Set all cards here to their base Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shadow King

Note that Shadow King will reset Havok to 0 power, but then Havok will regain 4 power at the end of the turn, even if it’s the last turn of the game.

Havok is Flexible

Havok is a powerhouse you can pay for over multiple turns.

Havok is also the debilitating card you can send to your opponent.

And therein is his greatest strength. He’s flexible. He can play really different roles depending on when you play him.

It’s especially a huge deal that the Viper strategy doesn’t require you to be all-in on it. You use Viper to steal free wins whenever you can (15–32% of games). Then when your draws, the locations, or your opponent’s deck are contrary to the Viper strategy, you can keep Havok for yourself as a 2/4, 3/8, or 5/12.

Variants

Havok

After each turn, you lose 1 Max Energy and this gains +4 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Havok

Variants

Viper

On Reveal: One of your other cards here switches sides.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Viper

That flexibility means the Havok + Viper play can be a niche play in a mainstream deck. It doesn’t have to be relegated to a specialized deck with small meta share like Galactus currently is. That, more than anything, makes Havok seem a little too good to me.

I think Havok might enjoy a month or two to …wreak havoc… on the opponent’s energy. But the fact that the strategy can survive outside of super niche use makes me think it will prove back-breaking and unfun for players on the receiving end. And, too often. 15% might not seem like much, but in the hands of a player with strong snapping and retreating skills, having free wins in 15% of games is oppressive.

If that proves true, the only fix I can see is to increase either Havok’s or Viper’s cost. Raising Havok’s base power to 2+ would prevent him from being discounted by Ravonna, but you can still reach nearly 20% free wins with Psylocke alone. Hell, without either Ravonna or Psylocke, you can still pass Havok by Turn 4 almost 32% of the time.

Protecting Your Havok

Variants

Armor

Ongoing: Cards here can’t be destroyed.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Armor

Variants

Luke Cage

Ongoing: Your cards can’t have their Power reduced.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Luke Cage

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

There are Havok counters. You can use defensive cards like Cosmo, Armor, Luke Cage, Storm, Professor X, and even Goose to protect your Havok. And while some of those combos are great, Havok also has his own resilience to counters. The 5/12 version of Havok is immune to Shang-Chi, because he doesn’t go from 8 to 12 power until the end of the last turn. Similarly, if he gets reset to 0 by Shadow King, he regains 4 of that power.

Havok as a Weirdo

I argued early on that Havok is actually a good card disguised as a weirdo. I stand by that. He’s strong, disruptive, and flexible.

But — there is at least one way to use him as a weirdo.

What if you built a deck meant to play Havok early and keep him? To embrace the bigger statlines? To blow past 5/12 to 8/16 or even 12/20.

I don’t think it’ll be very good, but I think it’ll be fun. Make a deck where your most expensive card costs 3 energy. Drop Havok early and let him get really tall.

Other Synergies

There are handful of other synergies I haven’t addressed yet.

I’ll be briefer in this section (after all, maybe you like exploring, too!).

Magik

Variants

Magik

On Reveal: Replace this location with ‘Limbo’. Doesn’t work after turn 5.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Magik

This is a big one! Magik strengthens both of the primary Havok strategies. If you’ve handed Havok off to your opponent, another turn just grows the energy advantage you have over them. If you have your own Havok — play him on Turn 5 with Magik. Now you can hit that excellent 5/12 statline and still have 5 energy to work with (or 3/8 and still have 6 energy).

Wave

Variants

Wave

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

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wave

PulseGlazer caught this one for me (credit where it’s due)! Wave + Havok is a great Turn 5 play. You get that 3/8 statline and can still play any of your 6-cost cards even though you only have 5 energy to work with. That thing I said earlier about decks with 6-cost cards not wanting to run Havok? Magik and Wave actually do a lot to make Havok play nice with 6-costs.

Mister Negative

Variants

Mister Negative

On Reveal: Swap the Power and Cost of all cards in your deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mister Negative

It’s simple: 0/2 is better than 2/0. Not to mention that getting locked at 4 or 5 energy is not a big problem when you get to draw cards that have been discounted by Negative.

Conclusion

Havok is not to be underrated.

Fear Havok. Buy Havok (for 3,000 Tokens!). Throw him in everything. Break the meta. Ruin somebody’s Christmas. Kidding about that one. Mostly.

Happy holidays, y’all. May they be filled with — dare I say it? — Havok! Mwahaha! If you’ve got an idea for a cool analysis that can lean on data and/or math, I’d love to hear it! Please share it with me in the comments below or else on Twitter/𝕏! 💜

This analysis was powered by the data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If you play on PC or Android, consider giving it a download! It has many features including a live overlay, the ability to sync your collection to our site (letting you review your personal stats), and powering useful tools like the Meta Snapshot.