If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I am really into Marvel Snap. Which is a card deck battler that debuted back in October by the studio, Second Dinner. A surprisingly quick and fun game with 5-minute matches, I absolutely love this card game and have been playing it daily for just over half a year, having repeatedly hit Infinity by utilizing decks that surprise my opponents outside of its popularized and kind of boring, Meta.
My favorite thing about the game is creating fun ways for cards to play off one another. Whether it’s calling down Doctor Octopus to follow up with a fist-smashing Shang-Chi or Feeding my Lockjaw a Wasp or Yellowjacket to get The Infinaut on the field, there are a lot of fun combos you can create in Marvel Snap. Heck, I was even shouted out to by Forbes journalist, Paul Tassi for showcasing to him a fun two-card combo back in the day, and have since, come up with an array of successful winning decks.
At this point, my collector level is over 4000. I have all of the tier 3 cards, along with Galactus, Knull, and Thanos, so I can just about make any themed deck I want to in the game. This is why I thought I’d take this chance to introduce Marvel Snap-themed decks. A little space on the site to introduce guidance for decks that work across different collector levels that, unlike most guides, don’t focus on merely winning (Because honestly, this game is more about knowing how to bet and the win rate is so close to 50/50 that it’s a bad metric). Instead, these are decks that play into Marvel’s themes and characters, whether it be an IP, a heroic team-up, or just fun ways to think about the game.
It’s the kind of balance between creative style and gameplay that can easily convince your opponent to over bet. This is why making fun decks work, as anything non-meta in this game becomes heavily overlooked, which is a terrible mistake. Just like Marvel the brand, the best thing about Marvel Snap is to find ways in being you! Play the cards you like. Pull off the combos that others won’t. That in doing so, will throw your opponents off and get you to victory.
With that in mind… Let’s talk about the Guardians of The Galaxy Deck!
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY DECK
Tier 1-2s: Nebula, Mantis, Rocket Raccoon, Yondu, Adam Warlock, Star-Lord
Tier 3-6: Cosmo, Groot, Thor, Drax, Gamora, Odin
Now, this is a deck you can assemble fairly mid-game. Pool 3 ends at 486 and from then on are quite literally thousands of collector-level rankings until you reach the Endgame around collector level 3000. I was able to assemble most of this deck around Collector level 1000. What I love about this deck is that it’s nothing but Guardians of The Galaxy cards. In fact, I’d even toss in a Ronan The Accuser here but wanted to try out Snap’s latest card, Nebula!
It should be stressed, the cards you win as you climb collector ranks are randomized and so none of these are that high of a tier in terms of finding its collector’s reserves, minus Nebula (whom you can buy with this season pass). The point of the Guardians of The Galaxy deck is to provide powerful counters that work if you can call it right. That said, let’s break down how this Guardians of The Galaxy Deck works turn by turn.
STEP 1: Secure a Lane with Nebula or Warlock on Turns 1 and 2
For any Decks that rely on low-level 1’s like this, I am a firm believer in taking the early lead. Doing so means that you can play first in later turns, more or less, dictating the pace of where your opponent will play next. In the case of Nebula, getting her on the field early pressures your opponent to play in her lane as every turn they don’t, she powers up +2 (minus the turn she was played).
Nebula getting played on turn 1 or 2 leads to awesome combos in turn two because you KNOW your opponent will likely play here next. You can follow up afterward by playing Mantis, Rocket, or Star-Lord, to really bite at the opponent via card steal or stacking heroes enough that they’re now heavily losing that lane. The best pairing of Nebula is with Adam Warlock, as your opponent will then NEED to play cards in that lane, or else you’ll draw a hand advantage on top of Nebula’s growing attack advantage.
STEP 2: Bring out Thor or Shutdown a lane with Cosmo Turn 3 and 4
At this point, you should have made some sort of advantage, and if not, then probably run as the momentum of the deck is gone. Whether it be Warlock or Nebula or if you took cards away with Mantis and Yondu, the point is your opponent should feel like they’re playing from behind as their aggressive playstyle will increase leading to you being able to counter.
ALWAYS play Thor on turn 3 if you have him (to increase the chance of drawing Mjolnir). Though if you’re worried if it’s a Galactus or Destruction deck that might actually overwhelm, toss Cosmo in to basically end one of their lanes. You can also throw Cosmo in with your Adam Warlock and Nebula combo if you feel like you need lane security, as doing so makes that lane incredibly disruptive and hard to counter outside of a Killmonger.
On turn 4, I drop Drax or Groot along with some sort of mid tier. What you should also be looking for by this point, is how many Guardians of The Galaxy you’ve stacked whose power increases if your opponent plays in this lane. The expectation is that you’ll drop Odin on turn 6 and DOUBLE their counter bonuses. Which is again, the point of the Guardians Deck: to always counter.
STEP 3: Secure The Big Guns: Gamora and Odin
This is the real reason you run this deck. On turn 5, if you have it, you can run Ronan The Accuser. That is unless you are playing on levels where it’s better to use small heroes such as Star-Lord thanks to effects like Nidavellir. In which case you spam those.
Still, my favorite card and the reason you’ll love this deck: Gammora. Look for the lane your opponent is losing and play her here for a big 12-power combo. If you miss her counter-stack, don’t worry because that’s when you reveal your trump card: Odin!
Odin activates all reveal effects on the lane he’s played. Using him on a lane filled with Guardians of the Galaxy cards, activates all of their strength empowering counter abilities again as well. Stack Odin with a Mjolnir just beforehand, and you’ve got not only Odin empowering all of your Guardians in his lane but a now double-stacked Thor at 16 power.
The Takeaway
And that’s it! The trick to this deck is to always counter your opponent. Having Nebula and Warlock can help force them to play in a lane, which is why they work. Now, this deck relies on countering per turn basis, so it works well against a Thanos deck or Destruction deck, and really, anything that like yourself: relies on heavy reveals.
Unfortunately, that’s this deck’s weakness too as it’s so reliant on reveals that anything which disrupts that ends the match. Likewise, in matches where your opponent uses a heavy drop combo on turn 6, like a Galactus or Shuri deck, this is not a deck that can counter that well. I definitely suggest using the Guardians of The Galaxy Deck in the early to mid-tier collector levels. Though by the time you hit the 2500s range, this deck will face problems.
Your big 3 combos are letting Nebula Stack on her own, Getting thor down on turn 3 with the holes of a Mjolnir draw and Odin endgame, and then countering a lane with Guardians such as Rocket, Star-Lord, and likely a Gamora, Groot, or Drax. You should always try to end the game with Odin, that is, unless you KNOW a big combo is hitting a lane. In which case counter defensively with Cosmo, or offensively, with Gamora.
I hope this deck helps. I’ll do a deck showcase once in a while to help any fellow Snap players.
