What are the best Marvel Snap decks? The Marvel Snap vs X-Men season arrived this week, bringing with it new cards featuring Pixie, Hope summers, and more. If you’re wondering which existing decks they fit with, or which new meta decks they might create – as well as the best decks for Marvel Snaps Conquests – you’re in the right place.
The Marvel Snap meta is constantly changing, but whether you’re a well-traveled veteran well into series four or five, you’re still unlocking some deck staples in series three, or you’re still in the early days getting to grips with how all the cards interact with one another in one of the best card games on PC, we’re here to help. We have a list of all the best decks in the Marvel Snap meta at the moment, followed by the best beginner decks for all you newbies.
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Best Marvel Snap decks
For the most part, the best meta decks in Marvel Snap require you to have completed Series 3 and have a significant chunk of Series 4 and Series 5 cards. This is because your options for different deck archetypes open up enormously once you reach this stage, although if you don’t have any cards in the best decks below, we will include some potential substitutes when explaining how the deck works. Here are the best decks in Marvel Snap in March 2024 in no particular order:
Black Panther
A Black Panther and Arnim Zola deck is perfect for Marvel Snap Conquests, due to the ability to surprise your enemy at the last turn. Sure, they’ll know your hand before you play it after the first time, but that doesn’t stop it dominating, as there’s nothing they can do about it.
We particularly like this deck as having Odin as a backup in case you don’t draw Arnim Zola still gives your Black Panther immense power. Then there’s the classic Wong-White Tiger-Odin setup if you don’t draw Black Panther. Finally, if you draw the perfect hand, Magick makes you almost unstoppable.
Pixie Hope
The trick to using the new Series 5 Pixie card is having a good mix of cheap and expensive cards, since playing her shuffles the cost of cards that started in your deck. Of course, this relies of some luck – draw all your expensive cards in your first hand or two, and she becomes fairly useless, but this won’t be the case in most games.
That said, you do need to play her as early as possible, and the same then goes for Hope Summers, as well. Utilizing both as early as possible increases your energy and hopefully makes your best cards incredibly affordable, meaning you can surprise your opponent and turn the game in your favor in just a few turns.
- Sunspot
- Wasp
- Nightcrawler
- Pixie
- Armor
- Mobius M Mobius
- Hope Summer
- Arnim Zola
- She-Hulk
- Magneto
- Giganto
- The Infinaut
Thanos Lockjaw
Guess who’s back, back again? Thanos Lockjaw’s back, tell a friend. Knock him down and he’ll be back in the meta before too long, as this Thanos Lockjaw deck is an absolute flyer right now. I hit infinite within a few days of the season starting, and have three infinite conquest tickets (and counting) with this exact decklist, so there’s a lot of success to be found here.
The ideal game for this deck sees you play any combination of card-drawing infinity stones on the first two turns, followed by either Lockjaw or Caiera on turn three. Simply follow those up with your bigger cards, but make sure you save Skaar for the final turn when you can ideally reduce his cost to nothing. Magneto is also a huge crutch here, as he can win games from a losing position if you place him in the correct lane. However, Black Swan is by no means essential here, although it does help to get Cull Obsidian down. Supergiant is a potential inclusion, alongside Leech, Wave, Psylocke, and Iron Lad.
- Jeff
- Lockjaw
- Caiera
- Black Swan
- Shang-Chi
- Cull Obsidian
- Devil Dinosaur
- Vision
- Blob
- Thanos
- Skaar
- Magneto
Hela Glaive
Hela is shining in the current meta so this isn’t the last you’ll see of her in these Marvel Snap decks, and this ramp list with Corvus Glaive is one of the best for her. It has a similar idea to Hela Lockjaw, but can often be more consistent thanks to Corvus Glaive’s quite frankly ridiculously powerful effect. You want to curve out as best as possible through to turn three, when you’ll drop either Corvus Glaive or Lady Sif to discard the highest cost cards in your hand. Just try not to discard Hela herself!
If you’re lucky enough to also have Proxima Midnight this week, she’s absolutely worth including. If you do find yourself discarding Hela too often, consider Ghost Rider, or Armor is another worthwhile inclusion if Shang-Chi is raining on your parade. Corvus Glaive is, unfortunately, essential to this list though as without him, you cannot ramp up your energy.
- Sunspot
- Black Knight
- Blade
- Corvus Glaive
- Lady Sif
- Sandman
- Hela
- She-Hulk
- Magneto
- Giganto
- The Infinaut
- Death
Negative Tribunal
On paper, this deck shouldn’t work because there are quite a few non-optimal targets for Mister Negative, such as Ravonna, Onslaught, and Tribunal. However, as long as you’re trigger happy with the retreat if you don’t manage to hit Iron Man with Mister Negative, this deck can win you lots of eight cube matches. The ideal play is to have Magik down at some point, hit Iron Man with Mister Negative, then play Onslaught, Mystique, followed by Tribunal. You’ll spread hundreds of power across the board.
If you can get Sera in the Onslaught effect ahead of turn seven then you’re also laughing, because you can have an explosive end to the game. But, as mentioned, learn when to identify a losing position – usually if you don’t draw Mister Negative to hit Iron Man, or if your Jubilee pull is unlucky. There are some substitutions here, such as ditching Super Skrull if you’re not coming up against many other ongoing decks, and potentially including Cosmo if you’re facing lots of Rogue or Enchantress.
- Zabu
- Ravonna Renslayer
- Mystique
- Magik
- Mister Negative
- Jubilee
- Super Skrull
- Iron Man
- Blue Marvel
- Sera
- Onslaught
- Living Tribunal
High Evolutionary
For the longest time, the cleverly named “InSheNaut” High Evolutionary list has been the most popular to take advantage of the cards that usually don’t have any abilities. However, in the current meta, this “pure” High Evolutionary list has risen to the top, possibly thanks to the current popularity of Mobius M. Mobius. This deck can output a serious amount of power, simply by playing on curve until you get Cyclops down, then ensuring you save at least one energy so Cyclops and Misty Knight both trigger. Not to mention the Hulk buff that comes with it.
High Evolutionary is obviously crucial to this deck and aside from him, most other cards here are quite easy to obtain. Zabu is very useful but if you don’t have him, consider using a tech card such as Cosmo. Nebula or Echo are also solid inclusions.
- Sunspot
- Misty Knight
- Scorpion
- Zabu
- Cyclops
- Shang-Chi
- High Evolutionary
- Enchantress
- The Thing
- Spider-Woman
- Abomination
- Hulk
Discard Hela
Discard Hela has been a staple of the Marvel Snap meta for some time, but once again it’s risen to the top because when the draws fall nicely, you can output a ridiculous amount of power. The plays are simple: Morbius down as soon as you can, ensure Blade discards something with high power, and only play Ghost Rider when you know you’ll resurrect something powerful – Black Cat is a prime candidate thanks to her ability.
There are lots of potential substitutions here, including Modok to buff Morbius up further, Black Knight to get that powerful Ebony Blade, and Sword Master in place of the newly released Corvus Glaive if you don’t have him yet. You can also easily shift into a different Discard archetype by including Dracula, Miek, Colleen Wing, Gambit, Daken… the list goes on.
- Blade
- Morbius
- Swarm
- Corvus Glaive
- Lady Sif
- Jubilee
- Ghost Rider
- Black Cat
- Hela
- Apocalypse
- Magneto
- Infinaut
Cerebro-5
Cerebro is one of those mainstay cards in the Marvel Snap meta that will never be the very best deck in the game, but consistently produces good results. Cerebro-2 and Cerebro-3 are the most popular archetypes for the card, but Cerebro-5 is the best performer in the current meta. It’s a fairly simple deck to play, as you just need to get as many cards down as you can by turn six, ensure Cerebro is on the board, then drop Doctor Doom.
Do be careful to play cards in the correct locations though – Medusa should be played in the middle for example, and consider where Silk could possibly move to. You don’t want to fill a lane up before the final turn if you plan on dropping Doctor Doom. Substitutions are pretty much any card with five power – I enjoy Titania for another cheap option – or you can throw Mystique in, though she isn’t as essential as she is in C2 and C3.
- Martyr
- Medusa
- Lizard
- Silk
- Cerebro
- Luke Cage
- Polaris
- Spider-Man
- Miles Morales
- Omega Red
- Supergiant
- Doctor Doom
Junk
Galactus is back in the Marvel Snap meta again? Well, sort of. He’s not the primary win condition for this deck, but he is an option if you find yourself with an open lane and you’re confident your opponent can’t get more than five power there thanks to your goblins and/or Annihilus. Generally though, you can win just by flooding your opponent’s board, destroying their high-power cards with Shang-Chi, and having priority into turn six with Alioth.
Selene and Jeff are the two most flexible cards here, and there are plenty of alternate options. Debrii is one, as she will also flood their board… and yours, but if you combo her with Hazmat before playing Annihilus, all your rocks will fly to the other side too. Zabu could also come in handy with another four-cost such as Ms. Marvel, or Wong to use with The Hood, Selene, and Sentry.
- The Hood
- Nebula
- Selene
- Jeff
- Ravonna Renslayer
- Green Goblin
- Shang-Chi
- Sentry
- Hobgoblin
- Annihilus
- Alioth
- Galactus
Hammer Control
Control archetypes are never far from the meta and while they usually utilise Sera for an explosive final turn, the introduction of Beta Ray Bill last week makes for a more effective Thor list. While Thor-Bill-Jane from turns three to five should be the ideal play, the surrounding cards here such as Shadow King, Killmonger, Scarlet Witch, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress make for a strong build that has plenty of reactive counters. On a personal note, this deck won me two infinite conquest runs right at the tail end of last season, so it is especially strong in that mode.
One popular alternative in this list runs Ghost over Mobius M. Mobius. I didn’t find that list to be as strong because dropping Mobius on turn three after my opponent plays Zabu on two, or against bounce decks when they play Beast, is a huge buff, but if you’re missing Mobius you can run Ghost instead. You could also consider Sera, Armor, and Cosmo. You don’t want to gut the existing cards here too much, but outside of Zabu, Thor, Ms. Marvel, Beta Ray Bill, and Jane Foster, all the others are expendable.
- Shadow King
- Zabu
- Jeff
- Scarlet Witch
- Killmonger
- Mobius M. Mobius
- Thor
- Shang-Chi
- Ms. Marvel
- Enchantress
- Beta Ray Bill
- Jane Foster
Darkhawk
Darkhawk has been one of the best cards in the game ever since he was added, so he’s never far away from our list of the best decks. He’s recently resurfaced in this very familiar list that simply pairs him with lots of very good cards. Korg and Rock Slide are the two major enablers for Darkhawk here, alongside Zabu to get him down sooner, but there are lots of alternative cards you can pick if you want to lean heavier on Darkhawk as a win condition.
Mystique is the first obvious exclusion, alongside Black Widow to keep as many cards in their deck as possible. You could throw Onslaught in too, or Grandmaster to trigger any of Korg, Rock Slide, or Black Widow again. For more good cards that don’t necessarily synergise with Darkhawk, consider Leech and Killmonger to frustrate your opponent.
- Korg
- Zabu
- Jeff
- Quake
- Rogue
- Mobius M. Mobius
- Rock Slide
- Darkhawk
- Shang-Chi
- Iron Lad
- Doctor Doom
Hela Lockjaw
We briefly mentioned Hela Lockjaw in the Hela Glaive entry and while the Corvus Glaive version is a little more exciting because that card is new, this tried and tested Lockjaw deck is still a very strong performer. Once again, your game plan should be to discard your big cards, fish for them with Lockjaw and Jubilee, and resurrect them with Hela.
If you must substitute any cards here, Ghost Rider is an excellent choice thanks to his ability to bring Hela back. Proxima Midnight is also a great inclusion, and if you’re not Series 3 complete yet, you can also consider Sword Master, Gambit, or Hell Cow over the lower cost discard enablers.
- Black Knight
- Blade
- Lockjaw
- Lady Sif
- Dracula
- Jubilee
- Black Cat
- Hela
- Magneto
- Giganto
- Infinaut
- Death
Supergiant Lockdown
It’s a little early to call this Supergiant Lockdown list the best lockdown option, but it is certainly a strong one, and there’s nothing like a little variety. Supergiant is the star of the show here because that turn five disruption can be so frustrating to play against, and she’s surrounded by a very solid lockdown list. Jessica Jones makes a return to help you win Storm lanes, as does Klaw, Ms. Marvel, Doctor Doom, and Jeff.
It goes without saying you can extract Supergiant from this list and replace her with any standard lockdown cards – Professor X, Vision, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Silk, Quake, Shang-Chi, Juggernaut – it’s a long list. Supergiant keeps things fresh and interesting, but don’t fret if you haven’t unlocked her yet.
- Nebula
- Iceman
- Zabu
- Jeff
- Storm
- Ms. Marvel
- Jessica Jones
- Supergiant
- Iron Lad
- Klaw
- Alioth
- Doctor Doom
Phoenix Move
Plenty of you reading this are probably very surprised to see a Move deck in our list of the best decks overall, but stay with me here. This Move archetype with Phoenix Force took me to infinite in under two days this season, but when the locations aren’t playing ball, you need to be generous with that retreat button. You’ll retreat often, but you’ll also have plenty of eight cube wins. The goal is simple: by the end of turn three, you want to have played either Human Torch or Multiple Man, and destroyed one of them with Carnage or Venom. On turn four, play Phoenix Force and win the game.
You have backup options with cards such as Vulture to gain power by itself, and Hulk Buster to combine with either HT or MM if you don’t draw Phoenix Force, but your primary victory method must be via reviving them once destroyed. The only two feasible substitutions here are Kraven or Dagger, but neither are quite as strong as the list below.
- Ghost Spider
- Human Torch
- Iron Fist
- Carnage
- Doctor Strange
- Multiple Man
- Cloak
- Venom
- Vulture
- Hulk Buster
- Phoenix Force
- Heimdall
Deadpool Destroy
Destroy is one of the most common archetypes in Marvel Snap, and it has a lot of potential cards to include. The best Destroy version right now focuses on buffing Deadpool as much as possible, playing and destroying it pretty much every single turn.
Your plan should be to buff Deadpool with Forge or Hulk Buster ahead of the first or second destroy, then keep playing cards to destroy it until turn six when you can either drop it alongside a fully discounted Death, or leave it on the board on turn five and play Knull on six, who should be rather powerful by this point. One great alternative is Arnim Zola here, if you replace either Deathlok or Nico Minoru, as you can spread two high-power Knulls, Deaths, or Venoms across the board on turn six. Alternatively, look for other destroy-focused cards such as Bucky Barnes, Shang-Chi, Yondu, or Nova.
- Deadpool
- Forge
- Nico Minoru
- X-23
- Carnage
- Wolverine
- Killmonger
- Venom
- Deathlok
- Hulk Buster
- Knull
- Death
Thanos Control
Thanks to the Blob nerf, this deck isn’t quite as powerful as it once was, but it’s still pretty good. It shares quite a few cards with the Thanos Lockjaw archetype, but instead focuses on – you guessed it – locking down lanes, as a Thanos variant of the other Lockdown list above. Okoye helps make Blob enormous, Vision and Jeff allow you to play into otherwise inaccessible lanes, and Magneto can take your opponent’s cards out of those lanes if you’re losing them.
There are plenty of alternative cards available here, the most obvious of which is Caiera. If you have her, you can replace Gladiator, Klaw, or Magneto, depending on your personal preference. You could also include Killmonger to deal with the mirror match – just make sure you have Caiera in that case – while Nebula, Storm, Juggernaut, Ms Marvel, Alioth, Devil Dinosaur, and Doctor Doom can also excel in a list such as this.
- Okoye
- Psylocke
- Jeff
- Gladiator
- Shang-Chi
- Iron Lad
- Professor X
- Klaw
- Vision
- Blob
- Thanos
- Magneto
Negative Destroy
I love a Mister Negative deck. While not the most consistent archetype since it usually requires drawing him before turn four, there are ways to alleviate the pain if he comes in a little late. In this instance, even if you don’t get Mister Negative down early, if you’re playing against someone using big cards, you can still power up your Knull with Shang-Chi – not forgetting Yondu too, of course.
The optimal way to win here is to get Magik down on turn three followed by Mister Negative on four – or Mister Negative on three and Magik on four if you have Zabu or Ravonna down early too – then Knull and Arnim one after the other on turn seven to spread loads of power. You can also use Arnim on a negative Iron Man too, or even on Shang-Chi if your opponent has loads of big cards everywhere. There are loads of alternative cards you can use in this deck too, but Zabu, Ravonna, Mister Negative, Iron Man, Mystique, Arnim, and Knull are all necessary inclusions. Consider Carnage, Adam Warlock, Venom, Killmonger, and Alioth if needed.
- Yondu
- Zabu
- Ravonna Renslayer
- Ironheart
- Mystique
- Magik
- Mister Negative
- Shang-Chi
- Iron Man
- Jane Foster
- Arnim Zola
- Knull
Best Marvel Snap beginner decks
These beginner Marvel Snap decks exclusively use cards that you start the game with and those in Pool 1, which is from collection levels 18-214 in the card game. There are 71 cards to choose from with these parameters, and if there are any you’re missing in your chosen decklist, you’re early enough in the game that replacing a few of them won’t ruin the playstyle of the deck too much.
For this Pool 1 deck, it focuses mainly on On-Reveal abilities, which are effects that happen as soon as you play the card. Once again, Odin is the star of the show, while Gamora and Ironheart are vital inclusions also.
- Elektra
- Nightcrawler
- Korg
- Medusa
- Star Lord
- Ironheart
- Wolfsbane
- Groot
- White Queen
- White Tiger
- Gamora
- Odin
On the flipside of the On-Reveal deck, this Ongoing decklist focuses on effects that are constantly happening when that card is in play. Blue Marvel and Devil Dinosaur share the spotlight, or if you’re lucky enough to get extra energy or the Limbo location which grants a turn seven, you can get both in play at once.
- Ant-Man
- Nightcrawler
- Lizard
- Medusa
- Colossus
- Sentinel
- Mister Fantastic
- Captain America
- Blue Marvel
- Devil Dinosaur
- Klaw
- Spectrum
If you fancy playing something based on some of the characters featured within Marvel Snap, take a look at our list of the best superhero games, which isn’t limited to just Marvel heroes. Alternatively, check out our list of the best multiplayer games if you want to take on opponents online in a different environment, or other free Steam games, for more wallet-friendly ways to spend your free time.