The Best ‘Marvel Snap’ Meta Decks – April 2024 Edition

We’re on the other side of the new Season drop and balance update in Marvel Snap (Free), and that means it’s time for this month’s deck-building guide. Some really great cards have been added to the game since we last checked in, and some interesting balance tweaks have forced us all to carefully consider our old reliables. This month for the most part looks quite different from the last, which is both fun and frustrating. Remember as ever: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s wilting cherry blossoms. These guides are one way to keep your finger on the pulse of the scene, but they aren’t the only method you should be using.

Note that most of these decks are the best of the best at this point in time. They assume you have access to a full range of cards. I’ll once again be including the five strongest Marvel Snap decks of the moment, and I’ll throw in a couple more decks that don’t need things that are too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.

The Avengers and the X-Men threw down, and I’m not sure how much things have changed in the wake of their new members joining the game. I had high expectations of War Machine and Hope Summers, but they haven’t really flipped the script as much as I thought they might. Will the Thunderbolts change things, or will Thanos and Knull continue to rule the roost? I guess we’ll have to see how things shake out. Okay, on to the decks!

Destroy Deadpool

Included Cards: Deadpool, X-23, Nico Minoru, Carnage, Wolverine, Hulkbuster, Killmonger, Deathlok, Venom, Alioth, Knull, Death

The Destroy Deck continues its dominance, though Alioth has recovered his seat from Shang-Chi with the general power creep in Marvel Snap making it more likely you’ll head into the final turn with more Power than your opponent rather than less. Despite that minor change, you’ll play this deck the same way as ever. Keep on destroying Deadpool to buff him up and feed Venom and Knull while knocking down the price of Death. Alioth is the ace up your sleeve, spoiling whatever chicanery your opponent gets up to in the last turn. This deck didn’t get touched at all in the balance adjustments last month, which makes me wonder when the shoe might finally drop. For now, it’s golden.

Thanos & Blob

Included Cards: Psylocke, Caiera, Hope Summers, Wave, Cull Obsidian, Vision, Mockingbird, Blob, Thanos, Red Hulk, Skaar, Magneto

Despite Second Dinner’s attempts to slow down the Mad Titan this month, he’s still stomping all over the opposition. The big change to his deck this time around involves ditching Lockjaw in favor of bringing in Wave and focusing on quick Energy ramping to play some very big cards. Caiera will protect your powerful cards from any Shang-Chi spoilers. Play the Stones and other cards to gather Energy and get those big cards into play. That’s the strategy, and it’s nothing if not reliable.

Rise of the Phoenix

Included Cards: Ghost Spider, Human Torch, Nico Minoru, Carnage, Multiple Man, Venom, Deathlok, Shuri, Shang-Chi, Phoenix Force, Nimrod, Arnim Zola

A bit of a Move Deck and a bit of a Destroy Deck, this is an interesting hybrid that is showing some solid performance. You have a lot of options here, but the idea is to boost up cards by moving them and/or destroying them, and using the Phoenix Force to revive a destroyed card and make it movable (Human Torch or Multiple Man is ideal here). On your final turn you can play Arnim Zola to spread the love of whatever your most powerful card may be. You can’t play this deck carelessly, but once you get the flow of how it works it’s fairly flexible and useful for catching opponents off-guard.

Hela Ramp

Included Cards: Black Knight, Blade, Lady Sif, Dracula, Jubilee, Lockjaw, Black Cat, Hela, Red Hulk, Magneto, The Infinaut, Death

Hela is hanging on as the most popular Discard tentpole. As usual, it leans more towards discarding some powerful stuff you wouldn’t normally be able to play in a single game, and then using Hela at the end to drag them back into the field. Naturally, this requires you to not slice up Hela and not accidentally play her too early, but there is some insurance here in the form of Jubilee, Black Knight, and Lockjaw in case she doesn’t work out for you. This is a relatively easy deck to play, and if you don’t have Red Hulk yet you can always fill his spot with someone else of use. Perhaps Apocalypse.

Bounce is Back

Included Cards: The Hood, Bast, Kitty Pryde, Nico Minoru, Snowguard, Angela, Beast, The Collector, Falcon, Mysterio, Bishop, Hit-Monkey

Oh, this is a fun one. A few balance tweaks have brought Bounce back, and it’s amazing to see just how far a deck without a single card over 3-Cost can go. Play cards and bring them back to boost up the likes of Kitty Pryde, Angela, The Collector, Bishop, and Hit-Monkey. Bast is a full-win play here, as the only card that would be in your hand with more than 3-Power is Mysterio. Angela, Collector, and Bishop are your tentpoles here. Hit-Monkey is your last-turn surprise, hopefully being played in conjunction with cheap cards retrieved by Falcon and Beast.

And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.

This Means War (Machine)

Included Cards: Black Knight, Blade, Ebony Maw, Goose, Zabu, Lady Sif, Ghost Rider, Shang-Chi, War Machine, Cull Obsidian, Magneto, The Infinaut

I got lucky last month and pulled War Machine from a cache. I then searched for any way to put him to good use, and this is the best deck I found. Use Black Knight and a precise slice from Blade or Lady Sif to give you a beefy Ebony Blade, use Ghost Rider to claw back that powerful card you just cut up, and use Goose and Ebony Maw to trick your opponent into thinking they know where you can and can’t play cards. Then drop War Machine on Turn 5 and do whatever you want on Turn 6. Probably not the best deck around, but one that players might not see coming at this stage.

Kazar & Friends

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Elektra, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Armor, Mister Fantastic, Cosmo, Kazar, Namor, Blue Marvel, Klaw, Onslaught

Here’s one for those just starting to climb the ladder, and it’s one we’ve seen many times before. It’s a combination of a lot of Ongoing cards that will get boosted by Onslaught, 1-Cost cards that will get boosted by Kazar, and a few useful tricks like Cosmo, Armor, and Klaw to throw wrenches in your opponent’s plans. Frankly, this is about as good as you can get with the first couple sets of cards. Play it smart and you’ll have your hands on better stuff soon.

And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. We’ll return with another one of these in May to see where things stand after the Thunderbolts event has fully played out and a month’s worth of balance changes have done their thing. It’s going to be interesting to see what these new cards bring to the table, but I suspect (as usual) that the biggest swings will come from whatever balance changes Second Dinner makes. Will this be the month that Destroy finally gets the hammer? I hope not, because that’s my deck type of choice. Happy Snapping!

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