Snowguard Theorycraft, Strategy, and Decklists: Can Snowguard Transform Into the Card of Your Dreams?

Snowguard will be hitting Marvel Snap on April 11, 2023 as part of the Animals Assemble season. This card will initially be available as a Series 5 card.

Variants

Snowguard

On Reveal: Add the Hawk and Bear auroras to your hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Snowguard

Variants

Snowguard Hawk

On Reveal: Ignore all location abilities until the end of next turn. (They resume if the game ends.)

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Snowguard Hawk

Variants

Snowguard Bear

On Reveal: Trigger the effect of this location.

None

view card details Start a deck Decks with Snowguard Bear

As a reminder, Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens or opened via the Collection Level Track at a 0.25% drop rate in Collector’s Caches and Reserves. Snowguard is a one energy, two power card that has the following ability: While in your hand, this transforms each turn into a Hawk or a Bear.

• Snowguard Hawk [1/2]: On Reveal: Ignore all Location abilities next turn.
• Snowguard Bear [1/2]: On Reveal: Trigger the effect of this location.

Strategy and Potential

The hope for this card is not high, and rightly so. It transforms every turn into two other cards that have a questionable impact and could be less reliable than Shadow King. It is not even saved by the variant artwork as you will immediately be unable to see it once it transforms into the Hawk or the Bear as it enters your hand.

If we look at Hawk, this effect can be played on Turn 3 or 4 to potentially stop some of the most annoying effects in the game like Dark Dimension and Krakoa when played on Turn 4. Still, as mentioned above, the effect may not even be available to you on the turn you want to play it. If we look at the Bear, I am unsure where you will find a good use for this one. It needs to be an effect that can be triggered with a positive impact for yourself. Retriggering Subterranea to buff your Darkhawk seems interesting, but certainly not something that can be relied on.

On the surface, this card seems severely limited. We cannot guarantee it will do the side we want on the turn we want, we cannot guarantee we will have a location we need or want to use the abilities for.

I’m hoping that the card will be useful as a 12th card or with certain locations. Therefore, the natural home will be decks looking to control an outcome or use location effects as a tool to surprise the opponent and find a small edge.

Potential Score

Below are some possible starter decks for Snowguard with brief descriptions.

Starter Decks (Theorycraft)

Snowguard Control

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 1 year ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

One way the card could potentially work is in a Control shell. This pairs nicely with DoomWave decks because we may be able to reactivate effects that impact our opponent negatively by filling their board or hand up, or we can stop locations like Krakoa ruining our most important turn. This is, of course, an edge case, but this deck can usually play with two to three cards in the list as long as it maintains the Wave, Doctor Doom, and She-Hulk combo. This avenue seems the most likely place for Snowguard to make an impact.

Dracula Snowguard

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 1 year ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

An idea from Zombiesgonomnom is the Zoo direction. The late turn flood styles of Zoo may be able to use Snowguard positively. These decks often don’t want specific Turns to be impacted by a location, and they can sometimes benefit from activating location effects that impact the board with summons. The card then is also buffed by our key cards like Ka Zar. In this list we drop Red Skull to try She-Hulk as another pay-off for skipping turns, but this slot could be used for many different cards.

Snowguard Discard

Created by SafetyBlade

, updated 1 year ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

You may notice a theme here with what side of Snowguard we are often looking for. In Discard, we may be able to use Snowguard to block locations from stopping our important Turn 5 discard plays. The other advantage of going in this direction is when we have the wrong transformation in hand – it becomes an expendable card that doesn’t negatively impact our strategy.

Who is Snowguard?

Snowguard, aka Amka Aliyak, is a young Inuk superhero from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. She gained her powers after encountering a mystical entity known as the Qalupalik and now uses her abilities to protect her community and fight alongside the Champions.

Snowguard has the ability to transform into various Arctic animals, including polar bears, wolves, and owls. She can also communicate with animals and has a heightened sense of smell.

Snowguard is a member of the Champions, a superhero team that includes Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales, and Viv Vision, among others. Her main enemy is the villainous Discord, who seeks to use her powers for his own gain.

Good Luck Have Fun and Stay Safe!