Marvel Snap best cards for beginners and how to unlock new cards

How to unlock more cards in Marvel Snap

If you’ve just come out of the tutorial, you’ll no doubt be wondering how to add more cards to your collection in Marvel Snap.

The super-powered card battler has a whole host of iconic Marvel characters to unlock, each with their own unique combination of stats and abilities. From America Chavez to Arnim Zola, you’ll soon discover cards out in the wild that would make perfect additions to your own decks, but how do you unlock them?

At the start, There is no way to unlock specific cards in Marvel Snap. The only instance where this does not apply is when purchasing premium access to the game’s Battle Pass. This will instantly unlock the current season’s main hero or villain, with examples from the past including Daredevil, Nick Fury and Miles Morales.

Unfortunately, you cannot visit the in-game store to purchase new maps. Instead, you can only buy variants of existing cards in your collection and spend gold on alternate artwork.

As you might have guessed, it’s a free to play TCG, Your main method of unlocking new cards in Marvel Snap is to simply play and earn enough collectible points to earn Collector’s Caches, each promising booster, gold, or a random card. At least there are no duplicates!

Each time you level up one of your cards, you earn gathering points, with the number of points multiplying with increasing rarity, from Common (grey) to Infinity (foil). To increase a card’s rarity, you need: a) the required number of boosters, and b) enough credits to pay for the upgrade.

Finding ways to earn those boosters and credits quickly will soon become your top priority. While you don’t get many from playing games, the game’s rotating list of daily and weekly challenges keep it flowing as long as you complete them.

It’s a fairly standard progression system, although one that will undoubtedly keep you coming back for more. These random cards pulled from caches are also effective for sparking new deck building ideas.

In Marvel Snap, however, you’ll reach a point where you know exactly what cards you want, which makes grinding all the more frustrating.

Looking to the near future, developer Second Dinner is teasing a way for players to buy cards they’ve been desperate for. In response to player feedback, “Collector Tokens” will soon make their way to Marvel Snap, a new currency that can be spent on featured cards that rotate every eight hours.

Best Marvel Snap Cards for Beginners

Marvel Snap begins with a simple collection of cards featuring familiar characters like Iron Man, Hulk, and Star-Lord. Together, they don’t make an unstoppable deck, although they still show up regularly, even with hundreds of matches under their belt.

It goes without saying that winning strategies do not depend on individual cards, but on how they fit with the rest of your deck. One of the benefits of smaller decks and shorter matches is that you can experiment quickly without having to spend hours testing.

The way Marvel Snap deals new cards has some hidden limitations. The entire card catalog has been split into “pools” that open as you incrementally increase your collection level, meaning players aren’t immediately exposed to more complex card mechanics.

Once the training wheels have fallen off, enter Pool One before moving on to Pool Two (Level 222) and finally Pool Three (Level 486).

The best cards for beginners are therefore drawn from this first starter deck as well as from Pool One. Our top picks include:

• ironman: (Continuous) Your total power is doubled in this location.
• sunspot: At the end of each turn, gain +1 Power for each unused Energy.
• Apocalypse: When you discard this from your hand, put it back with +4 power.
• devil dinosaur: (Continuous) +2 Power for each card in your hand.
• Mr Fantastic: (Continuous) Neighboring locations have +2 power.
• America Chavez: You always draw this card on turn 6 and not before.
• Electra: (On Reveal) Destroy a random 1-cost opponent’s card at this location.
• Guardian: (On revelation) Add another Sentinel to your hand.
• Kraven: When a card moves here, it gains +2 power.

Of course, depending on your playstyle and how you tuned your deck, many of these tips will be total no-nos. The next section covers deck building ideas and gives you a better understanding of why these cards have become so popular.

It’s also worth noting that maps can change over time – we’ve already seen how Second Dinner adjusted a number of favorites to maintain a healthy balance in the game.

Sample deck strategies in Marvel Snap

Each card in Marvel Snap offers a unique combination of three basic components – energy cost, power, and ability. All three must be skillfully balanced if you want the best odds of winning. Going for brute force means using high-energy cards with weak abilities (if none at all).

Meanwhile, trying to overwhelm your opponent with low-energy cards can eat up valuable board space and leave you stuck. Choosing cards with epic abilities is another potential deck-building pitfall if you don’t think about how they interact with each other.

Spotting strategic synergies doesn’t require much brainwork, although that won’t diminish the sense of reward from pulling off the perfect combo to break the opponent. Here we highlight the most popular deck builds in Marvel Snap and pick some of the keycards required to make them work.

Powerless deck

You may be thinking, why would I field a card that doesn’t have any attached abilities? However, as you advance into Pool 3, there are certain cards that can turn a powerless deck into one that can completely roll over an unsuspecting opponent.

Ideal cards:

• Patriot: (Continuous) Your cards with no abilities have +2 strength.
• Mysticism: (On revelation) If the last card you played had an ongoing ability, this card gains it.
• rush: (Ongoing) Double your other Ongoing Effects in this location.

move deck

Outflank and beguile your opponent by using cards that move between locations and combining them with cards that gain power bonuses each time they move. Make sure you have room to freely move cards between locations.

Ideal cards:

• Human Torch: If it moves, double its power.
• Kraven: When a card moves here, it gains +2 power.
• Heimdal: (When revealed) Move your other cards left one location.

Consecutive deck

Many players start by building a deck filled with ongoing abilities. These offer handy passive bonuses that stack easily, charging the raw power of your heroes and villains.

Ideal cards:

• Mr Fantastic: (Continuous) Neighboring locations have +2 power.
• ironman: (Continuous) Your total power is doubled in this location.
• rush: (Ongoing) Double your other Ongoing Effects in this location.

On the reveal deck

On-Reveal abilities can easily turn the tables on your opponent, you just need to know which ones to use and when. This deck is designed to multiply their effects for some easy but satisfying wins.

Ideal cards:

• Wang: (Ongoing) Your On Reveal skills in this location.
• White Tiger: (On Reveal) Add a 7 power tiger in another location.
• Odin: (On Reveal) Activate your other cards’ On Reveal abilities at this location.

discard deck

In order to play some cards in Marvel Snap, you must sacrifice and discard other cards from your hand. Slaughtering your deck may sound like a bad tactic, although some cards thrive with large power bonuses. The risk involved in playing a discard deck makes it one of the most fun styles of play out there.

Ideal cards:

• Morbus: (Continuous) +2 Power for each time you discarded a card this game.
• Dracula: Discard a card from your hand after the last turn. That has its power.
• Apocalypse: When you discard this from your hand, put it back with +4 power.

destroy deck

It’s usually a good idea to leave your cards on the battlefield, although this deck always gets stronger as certain heroes and villains are destroyed. Just make sure you destroy the right ones.

Ideal cards:

• Dead Pool: When this is destroyed, return it to your hand with double power.
• Bucky Barnes: If this is destroyed, create the Winter Soldier in its place.
• Poison: (On revelation) Destroy your other cards in this location. Add their power to this card.

pull deck

Having more cards in hand means having more ways to play. Drawing cards can also boost characters with appropriate abilities. Don’t get greedy, with a maximum hand size of seven, be careful not to overshoot.

Ideal cards:

• The collector: When a card enters your hand from anywhere (other than your deck), +1 power.
• Animal: (On Reveal) Return your other cards in this location to your hand. They cost 1 less.
• devil dinosaur: (Continuous) +2 Power for each card in your hand.

As Marvel Snap introduces new cards over time (while existing ones are rebalanced), deck building strategies are bound to change. If you’re serious about your Season Ladder, be sure to keep an eye on the latest patch notes to keep a competitive edge.

Enjoy playing Marvel Snap!

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