Best Marvel Snap decks May 2024

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, and then play Onslaught, and 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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