Top 5 Favorite Marvel Snap Cards and Decks That Best Represent Their Characters!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Top 5! I’m Glazer of Snap Judgments: The Official Marvel Snap Zone Podcast, and every week, we’ll be counting down a different Top 5 things you need to know in, around, and about Marvel Snap! Sometimes this will be silly in nature, but we’ll always have some pearls of wisdom to help make you the best (and best adjusted!) Marvel Snap player you can be! This week? The Top 5 cards that best represent their Marvel characters!

And hey, you know me, let’s do a deck for each. But this time, as a challenge, I’ll be doing themed decks. The ground rules for this will be that 8 of the 12 cards must be on theme – four can be like a good rug and really tie the room together.

5. Spider-Man

Variants

Spider-Man

On Reveal: Move to another location and pull an enemy card from here to there.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Man

Spider-Man was the inspiration for this list, and, were he not so obvious, he’d be ranked far higher on it. In the comics, Spider-Man is constantly in motion, moving his mouth as constantly as he web-slings around. Since his update, the card does an excellent job of representing that, as he both swings away from where he’s played and drags an enemy with him. Further, as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man, he often can’t get out of his ways and certainly doesn’t follow orders well. Spider-Man the card swings where he wants, not where the player places him, and that’s not always going to be to the location you want! It’s so thematic – the new Spidey is a clear home run.

Spider-Verse

Created by PulseGlazer

, 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)

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

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck is wildly thematic with Heimdall as the only card that doesn’t fit.

Spider-Ham, Spider-Man 2099, Ghost-Spider, and Miles Morales are all alternate universe Spider-Men, and Silk was bitten by the same spider that got Peter in Earth-616 and got a version of his abilities. Doctor Octopus is not only a major villain of the friendly neighborhood hero, but also was the Superior Spider-Man for a time. Vulture and Kraven are villains as well, but neither were so bad as to be beyond a team-up. Iceman may seem like a random good card to add, but he was a friend in the TV series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, while Doctor Strange co-starred in the MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Ideal Play Pattern:

• Turn 1: Iceman
• Turn 2: Kraven
• Turn 3: Vulture
• Turn 4: Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man
• Turn 5: Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2099
• Turn 6: Heimdall

The back-up plan here is to play Doctor Octopus and then use Heimdall, Doctor Strange, or Ghost-Spider to pull him away as a final turn surprise.

4. Apocalypse

Variants

Apocalypse

When you discard this, put it back with +4 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Apocalypse

Apocalypse is a major end-boss type of villain for the X-Men, befitting a 6-Cost card. He’s also the type to lurk in the shadows, which is well represented as a card that stays in hand often – even at the end of the game. He’s basically immortal and constantly revives himself when killed, which fits the discard and return to hand mechanic perfectly. Each time he returns he gets stronger, which makes sense because he’s the ruler of at least one prominent Marvel Universe future (the one from which Cable hails).

Apocalypse and the Horsemen

Created by PulseGlazer

, 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)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This one is pretty simple – almost all of these characters were Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Wolverine, Professor X, Gambit, Storm, Psylocke, and Daken were all Death at one point. Meanwhile, Dracula battled Apocalypse in the 15th Century in X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula #1, and Dracula also has a history with the X-Men in general (and Storm in particular).

The additions are for more synergy with the Apocalypse package. MODOK works amazingly with Apocalypse himself. Here he’s often a Turn 6 play so Apocalypse can be discarded by Dracula. Professor X helps steal an early lane, so it made sense to add X-23 since Psylocke already offers the early Professor line. Morbius helps win that lane, and Colleen Wing adds a bit of redundancy for X-23 and the Muramasa Shard.

Play Pattern 1:

• Turn 1: Skip
• Turn 2: Morbius
• Turn 3: Storm
• Turn 4: Daken
• Turn 5: Dracula
• Turn 6: MODOK (with Apocalypse in hand)

Play Pattern 2:

• Turn 1: Skip
• Turn 2: Morbius
• Turn 3: Colleen Wing or Psylocke
• Turn 4: Professor X
• Turn 5: Dracula
• Turn 6: MODOK (with Apocalypse in hand)

3. Multiple Man

Variants

Multiple Man

When this moves, add a copy to the old location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Multiple Man

Multiple Man is a member of X-Factor who uses kinetic energy to make exact duplicates of himself. Those duplicates, like the card in the game, are totally independent. They can gain skills and are affected by context, like their location. The card is basically a perfect fit!

X-Factor

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 8 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Most of this deck features members of X-Factor from the comics in one incarnation or another. Leech and Jean Grey were original members, and even though Jean Grey wasn’t the Phoenix Force while she was on the team, she is the character most often associated with The Phoenix Force. Plus, her alternate future daughter Rachel Grey, codename Phoenix, was also a member of X-Factor much later, at the same time as Daken. Included members of the original Multiple Man team are Forge and Polaris, who were later joined by Sabretooth.

To tie these cards together, we have three cards to destroy Multiple Man and Daken‘s Muramasa Shard: Venom, Deathlok, and Carnage. Adding Heimdall or America Chavez over Polaris is the easiest improvement that stays within the rules I set for myself.

Ideal Play Pattern:

• Turn 1: Skip
• Turn 2: Multiple Man or Forge
• Turn 3: Multiple Man after Forge, or eat Multiple Man with a Destroy card
• Turn 4: The Phoenix Force to revive Multiple Man, or destroy Multiple Man if you haven’t yet
• Turn 5: Move The Phoenix Force and play Leech or Jean Grey
• Turn 6: Play as much as you can while moving The Phoenix Force again

2. The Living Tribunal

Variants

The Living Tribunal

Ongoing: Split your total Power evenly among all locations.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with The Living Tribunal

The Living Tribunal is the ultimate judge power in the Marvel Universe, so both his cost at six and power at nine make sense. His job is to balance the scales of the universe, so, again, his ability to balance all three locations is great. Furthermore, he’s often detached from the main story, so he shouldn’t appear until the end of the game. And he’s fair to a fault, so if his balancing loses you the game – oh well!

Infinity Watch

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

So, this character isn’t in a ton of comics, but the ones he does feature in go reasonably well together. He most often appeared in Warlock and The Infinity Watch, so Adam Warlock, Gamora, and Drax all make the deck. All three are also Guardians of the Galaxy, another comic the Tribunal appeared in, which gives us Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula, and Star-Lord, as well. Silver Surfer was the character’s first appearance, so the extra characters I’ve added go well with that. Brood and Absorbing Man are a power combo in the game right now, so why not spread them equally? Plus, Brood is even a comic threat!

Ideal Play Pattern:

• Turn 1: Nebula
• Turn 2: Adam Warlock on a different lane
• Turn 3: Brood
• Turn 4: Absorbing Man
• Turn 5: Silver Surfer and Star-Lord
• Turn 6: The Living Tribunal or Gamora and Rocket Raccoon

1. Sunspot

Variants

Sunspot

After each turn, gain +1 Power for each unspent Energy.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sunspot

Sunspot is one of my favorite comic characters. A wealthy Brazilian, he gains power from the sun. At first, these powers are only super strength and invulnerability, but he eventually absorbs enough for flight and energy blasts. This really fits a character who does exactly that in the game – soak up energy to get stronger. As a member of the New Mutants and X-Force, he was also considered most likely to end up a supervillain since he is a natural plotter. But as he grew older, he joined The Avengers and used that plotting for good, which is another example of how he accrues more power the longer he’s on the board.

New MutVengers

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 8 months ago

1

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)

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The New Mutants were formed by Professor X and included both Magik and Mirage. They eventually battled Legion, and all the future X-Men mutant trainees from different eras ended up in the same part of Krakoa, so that gives me Armor and Leech. Sunspot was also recently on Mars helping its queen, Storm.

Sunspot also ended up as a member of The Avengers around the Time Runs Out era, which adds Blue Marvel‘s nemesis The Infinaut. Rescue, although a bit different, joined the team at around the same time. Finally, She-Hulk wasn’t really around then, but she does fit the deck and it was close enough – and America Chavez adds some much-needed consistency.

Ideal Play Pattern:

• Turn 1: Sunspot
• Turn 2: Mirage or Armor
• Turn 3: Magik
• Turn 4: Rescue
• Turn 5: Professor X if they don’t have a way to change locations, Leech or Legion if they do
• Turn 6: Skip
• Turn 7: The Infinaut and She-Hulk

Wrap Up

That’s it for me this week. Keep it here on Marvel Snap Zone for the best Snap Content, check out my YouTube where daily videos will still be uploaded, and I’ll see you all next week!