Best Marvel Snap decks January 2024

What are the best Marvel Snap decks?

We’re into the thick of it with the January 2024 Planet Hulk season, which introduced Skaar, alongside Caiera and Hercules through the spotlight schedule. Skaar and Hercules haven’t made any major waves yet, but Caiera has quickly become a staple in plenty of the best decks in Marvel Snap.

The Marvel Snap

meta

is constantly changing but whether you’re a well-travelled 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.

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 January 2024 in no particular order:

Thanos Lockjaw

Thanos is never far away from the meta in Marvel Snap, and the introduction of Caiera means the big bad has swooped back in with his six infinity stones. The best way to play this deck is to simply cycle through as many abilities as you can with Lockjaw and Iron Lad, while getting down the biggest cards possible. It sounds simple, and it actually is; big cards win games after all, especially when they can’t be taken out by Shang-Chi thanks to Caiera’s presence.

As always, Thanos is very flexible so you can switch out plenty of these cards. If you’re coming up against lots of mirror matches, consider running Killmonger and Death, and you can also replace Blue Marvel with Leech if you need to put a spanner in the works of your opponent.

• Psylocke
• Lockjaw
• Mobius M. Mobius
• Caiera
• Iron Lad
• Blue Marvel
• Devil
  
  Dinosaur
  
• Vision
• Blob
• Thanos
• Skaar
• Magneto

Sebastian Surfer

Sebastian Shaw alongside Silver Surfer isn’t quite as powerful a combo as it was at this time last month, but it is still a very solid deck with

lots

of substitutions if you’re missing any cards. This list carried me to infinite last season and is quite simple to play. Just prioritise getting three-cost cards down early, followed by an explosive turn six with Silver Surfer as the very last card you play.

At the time of writing we’re less than a day into the new season and I have already climbed from 73 to 93 with this list. If you’re missing any of the cards in this list, you can replace them with most other three-cost cards or any cards that permanently buff power such as the reworked America Chavez. You can also omit Mister Sinister and Elsa Bloodstone in favour of more three-cost cards such as Mobius M. Mobius and Venom.

• Forge
• Nova
• Mister Sinister
• Okoye
• Elsa Bloodstone
• Brood
• Silver Surfer
• Killmonger
• Nakia
• Daken
• Sebastian Shaw
• Sera

Dark Annihilus

Decks that are built to infuriate your opponent – or you, if you’re facing off against one – often rely on flooding their board so they’re limited in where they can play, then reducing their power with Hazmat. However, with the introduction of Annihilus last season, sending your opponent low-power cards can now be combined with the Darkhawk archetype, which fills their decks with rocks and stops them from drawing cards. Annihilus has since been nerfed slightly, but his ability is still very powerful.

This deck was especially strong in Conquest last season, along with some stand out performances beyond infinite in standard play. Thanks to the Alioth rework, you need to ensure you have priority going into turn six if possible, and if you’re missing any cards, replacing them with Green Goblin or Hobgoblin is a surefire bet. Zabu, Darkhawk, and Sentry are important though.

• The Hood
• Korg
• Black Widow
• Shadow King
• Zabu
• Viper
• Rock Slide
• Darkhawk
• Iron Lad
• Sentry
• Annihilus
• Alioth

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 and Ms Marvel should both be played in the middle for example, and ensure you don’t have cards of the same cost in the same left and right locations so Ms Marvel’s ability definitely activates. Substitutions are pretty much any card with five power – I enjoy Titania or Omega Red – or you can throw Mystique in, though she isn’t as essential as she is in C2 and C3.

• Medusa
• 
  Luke Cage
  
• Lizard
• Silk
• Cerebro
• Polaris
• Spider-Man
• Wave
• Man-Thing
• Miles Morales
• Ms Marvel
• Doctor Doom

Lockdown

The aim of the game with a lockdown deck is to, well, lock down locations so your opponent can’t play there, but so you can still add power if necessary. Professor X is the main lockdown card in the game but thanks to his recent nerf to just one power, he doesn’t feature in this list. Instead, use cards such as Echo, Storm, and the lesser-seen Negasonic Teenage Warhead to force your opponent into playing into specific lanes.

Typically, you’ll only want to contest two lanes, perhaps putting a little power into the third to lure your opponent into thinking you’ll be playing there. Alternate cards to use include Juggernaut to play immediately after Storm, Gamora if you know where your opponent will play, or Alioth if you can consistently get priority.

• Nebula
• Echo
• Iceman
• Jeff
• Silk
• Negasonic Teenage Warhead
• Storm
• Ms Marvel
• Iron Lad
• Klaw
• Vision
• 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. There aren’t many cards you can switch out here, but any other destroy cards are your best bet, such as

Bucky Barnes

, Shang-Chi, Yondu, or Gladiator.

• Deadpool
• Forge
• Nova
• X-23
• Carnage
• Wolverine
• Killmonger
• Venom
• Deathlok
• Hulk Buster
• Knull
• Death

High Infinaut

High Evolutionary is one of the most frustrating cards to play against in the game, and when it was launched, it felt like every other match-up was against the ability-granting baddie. However, the card has dropped down the performance rankings lately, and only the best High Evolutionary decklist remains.

This deck can output immense power thanks to She-Hulk, Hulk, and Infinaut, while also infuriating your opponent thanks to Cosmo, Cyclops, and Leech. Misty Knight will always find a way to buff the exact card you need to win a lane by one power at the end of turn six too… your main way to play should aim to be on curve all the way through with Hulk going down to win a lane on turn six, or if you play Magik, skip turn six and play both She-Hulk and The Infinaut on turn seven (with a huge Sunspot buff coming the turn prior). Most cards here are essential, but you could replace Jeff with another tech card such as Luke Cage, Rogue, or Enchantress.

• Sunspot
• Misty Knight
• Armor
• Jeff
• Magik
• Cosmo
• Cyclops
• High Evolutionary
• Leech
• She-Hulk
• Hulk
• Infinaut

Shuri Sauron

Marvel Snap veterans will remember the days of Shuri dominance and while she is nowhere near as powerful as she once was, she is still a solid deck that has a very obvious win condition and is straightforward to play as a result. The recent America Chavez nerf means your draw consistency is hurt a little, but there are plenty of cards that can replace her – in this case, Attuma slots in nicely – as long as you play him behind Armor. Sentry, Maximus, Arnim Zola, and even Aero can now do the job after her buff to nine power. You can also swap out Echo for any of the above if you don’t have her.

Your win condition is to play Shuri, followed by Red Skull, then Taskmaster, on turns four through six. However, if you’ve got Sauron down earlier, you can also play Ebony Maw on the final turn, or you can replace Red Skull with Attuma, Typhoid Mary, or Vision on turn five.

• Echo
• Zero
• Ebony Maw
• Armor
• Lizard
• Sauron
• Shuri
• Attuma
• Typhoid Mary
• Taskmaster
• Vision
• Red Skull

Hela Tribunal

It’s been a while since Hela Tribunal has been seen in the meta, but the deck has made a return in 2024. The idea is to simply get as many of your big cards down as possible, ideally in the same lane, alongside Iron Man and Onslaught. This can be done either via Electro and Magik, or Modok and Hela behind Invisible Woman. Stick down The Living Tribunal on the final turn and spread your power all over the board.

There aren’t too many subsitutions for this deck because each card plays a crucial role, however you could replace one of the non-essential cards such as Iron Lad with Mystique. Giganto and Infinaut can be switched out for other big cards too, such as Magneto, Hulk, or Orka. You could also remove the discard and ramp element in favour of more ongoing cards such as Ms Marvel, Ravonna Renslayer, Zabu, and Super Skrull.

• Invisible Woman
• Electro
• Magik
• Iron Lad
• Iron Man
• Modok
• Blob
• Hela
• Onslaught
• The Living Tribunal
• Giganto
• Infinaut

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. Check out our Marvel Snap tier list to learn which cards in Pool 1 are the outright best.

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 Spectrum 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.