Top 5 New Cards of the Rise of the Phoenix Season!

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 New Cards of the Rise of the Phoenix Season.

We’re not doing this the normal way, though. You aren’t just getting my opinion and rankings for these cards. Instead, today you can find the combined statistical ranking of over 25 of our favorite Content Creators! A number 1 ranking gained a card 5 points, while a number 5 got one point. Let’s take a look at the participating creators, then get to the list.

• Den is the legendary card game player and head writer at Marvel Snap Zone.
• SafetyBlade is a Marvel Snap Zone writer and prolific and genius deck builder.
• Bohe is a Marvel Snap Zone writer responsible for our new excellent deck guides.
• Kirallas is a Marvel Snap Zone writer and graphic designer who does stellar analysis of every bundle.
• LaurenWhatever writes Snapalytics for Marvel Snap Zone and is the authority on Spotlight Caches.
• Drewberry on YouTube does the best card and data mine analysis in the biz. This article was his idea!
• SavageYeti is an awesome YouTuber who breaks down bundles and makes our Tier List videos.
• NinaisNoob is one of the biggest Snap Content Creators and she covers absolutely everything at a super high level.
• Educated Collins is the thinking person’s Snap player. He and Nina are the two most charming people in all of Snap.
• SuperTechGod is an awesome streamer who owns every variant in the game!
• ZombiesGoNomNom is a fantastic YouTuber covering all things Marvel Snap.
• WolverSnap is the highest production values that go with the most analytical content.
• JeeseJames is an incredible streamer and an all-around great guy – just don’t ask how to pronounce his name.
• Paper is a brilliant YouTuber and streamer who dominates with totally distinct decks.
• FaThorNewman is the kind dad of the Snap community you just want to listen to tell stories.
• Dougpie is an awesome streamer with a great kind personality. He’s also the only Snap player from the Bronx besides me (that I know of)!
• PeacefulSea is a rising YouTuber with a great sense for top decks.
• AZ Snap is a rising YouTuber who plays a lot of the same decks I promote better than I do and is my fellow Aaron!
• BitTwiddle is the incredible graphics guy behind some of your favorite smaller Snap Creators.
• Combat is a great YouTuber who’s one of the best in-game players around.
• Jhugs has the best voice in Marvel Snap and DC Dual Force!
• Tuccrr is a streamer with a huge personality and heart.
• BigMath is a rising star of the YouTube scene with awesome deck techs.
• W is an unreal player and deck builder, a tournament winner who originated Doom Wave.
• DMoney is a prominent streamer, tournament winner, and master of Bounce.
• Bootman is the outspoken voice of the voiceless for the Snap community.
• And I’m Glazer. I post deck videos of some of the best decks before they get famous.

5. Jean Grey – 59 Points

Variants

Jean Grey

Ongoing: Players must play their first card here each turn. (if possible)

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Jean Grey

Okay, we are all terrible at pre-release card evaluation. If you asked this same group of people what card would be the best at the start of the month, I’d bet Jean would be 1 or 2. Here she is now at the end of the month… last place. So what happened?

Well, we underestimate context. In a Shuri Red Skull meta, Jean is backbreaking. If the opponent is playing Sandman and you can Echo then Jean? They’re in trouble. A Bounce Meta though? That’s not a good place for Jean. Neither is a meta that features a bunch of Zabu decks. And the mere existence of Jeff the Baby Landshark (and now Spider-Man) hurt. I still think Jean will have her day, but the once-perceived to be mighty has fallen so to the bottom of our rankings.

Here’s my favorite Jean deck right now:

Paper’s JeanGoing

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 9 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4. Echo – 62 Points

Variants

Echo

After your opponent plays an Ongoing card here, remove its abilities.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Echo

Someone during the discussion process explained the problem with Echo so succinctly I can’t possibly one-up it. If Echo were a 2-2, she’d be at the top of the list. As a 1-2, though, she’s just so fragile. Killmonger is in an absolute ton of decks and, in a bunch of decks, I’d love to fit my own Echo? I want to play Killmonger, too!

This isn’t Iceman or Korg where when they’re played, their job is done. Echo needs to sit on the board as prevention. When she can, she can be stifling. In the past day, I’ve hit a Professor X, a Devil Dinosaur, a Luke Cage, and an Armor. That’s a lot of power.

And like the aforementioned Iceman and Korg, the effect can be invisible. What Cosmo didn’t they play? Echo is a card with a home – largely in Conquest and Tournaments, but she barely finished ahead of Jean Grey, largely because of that one cost.

This little homebrew has an almost 70% win rate.

On Reveal

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 9 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3. The Phoenix Force – 72 Points

Variants

The Phoenix Force

On Reveal: Revive one of your destroyed cards and merge with it. That card can move each turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with The Phoenix Force

I don’t get the reaction to this card. The deck below has maintained a 70%+ win rate for me all season, through various iterations. It can compete in Conquest or ladder. It’s super strong against Shang Chi and the decks that run him and goes over the top of mid-range. But people just did not like The Phoenix Force.

Part of me gets it- the card can be fiddly. Sometimes you bring back the wrong thing. Sometimes you draw in terrible order. But even in those cases, the deck is built to do enough other powerful things to overcome that downside.

I think a lof of it is the consistent one-cube retreats when you don’t draw well leading to an overwhelming feeling of mediocrity. I think this card has a place in the meta and that place is better than it looks.

I’m curious how we’ll feel about Daken in a few weeks – like Phoenix Force, Daken is a card made to work in multiple archetypes – Silver Surfer, Destroy, Stats, Discard. I guess the difference is Phoenix Force almost demands at least two archetypes combine – Move and Destroy – while Daken really only needs to Destroy or Discard to work. Still, this is a new design space. Let’s see if the Snap community lands on more than the mid they did for the Force.

Safety’s New Best Deck

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 9 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2. Mirage – 74 Points

Variants

Mirage

On Reveal: Copy the lowest-Cost card in your opponent’s hand into your hand. Give it +2 Power.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mirage

This one shocked me. Though it is only a couple of points ahead of The Phoenix Force, Mirage is at the bottom of my personal list. Is she a good card? Oh, absolutely. This Season had nothing but good cards.

But she’s not needed. She’s a very strong filler card. Jean can be an archetype or fit into one. Echo is one-stop shopping for Ongoing hate. The Phoenix Force is an archetype unto herself. Mirage?

She’s kinda good in Devil Dinosaur decks and kinda good in Discard decks and not too bad in Shenaut decks. She’s just a nice two to fill out a curve and maybe help with tempo. I guess sometimes that’s all you need.

Dera’s Bakin w/ Daken

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 9 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1. Legion – 131 Points

Variants

Legion

On Reveal: Replace each other location with this one.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Legion

As the world’s biggest Legion stan pre-release, I didn’t see this coming. I thought it would be a good card – 5-8 is a really strong stat line – but at no point did I see him as perhaps the best and most-payed 5-cost card in the game.

It’s easy to underrate locations, right? There are 3 every game and in so many combinations- unless there’s something wild going on, we casually forget just how much of an impact they have on each and every game of Snap. Well, Legion has put that into stark contrast.

Also helping Legion out is the meta he entered. With Magik as a 3-2, Hela and Mister Negative decks were finally having their day in the sun. Well, Legion can be an auto-win for those matches, and Legion is pushed to the fringes of the meta.

8 power, too, isn’t a ton, but in a meta where games are won in the high teens and low 20s, there’s a lot of power here. In a meta of good stuff decks, Legion is great stuff and probably the biggest surprise in terms of quality of any card released thus far.

Dera Legion Rocks

Created by PulseGlazer

, updated 9 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x 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

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Conclusion

How did you find the cards from Rise of the Phoenix? Are they here to stay, or do they need adjustments to be a part of the meta? Let us know in the comments below.