The 5 Best Decks in Marvel Snap - Decklists, Tips, How to Climb the Ladder

There's only a handful of options that've stood the test of time.

The Meta-Defining Decks In Snap / Image via Second Dinner

Marvel Snap features hundreds of cards and thousands of deck combinations to ensure you're never short on deckbuilding options. Still, while off-meta builds are supported and even encouraged, there's a good chunk of the player base that just prefers the best in the business.

Thanks to its ever-changing metagame with constant updates and balance patches, the scene stays fresh and dynamic. Every deck gets a chance to shine, but it doesn't get to a point where it's considered wildly overpowered. So, when it comes to choosing the best deck, the most effective way is to pinpoint who's been in the limelight the longest, which is what this article covers in-depth.

1. Thanos

Thanos / Image via ESports Illustrated

• Recommended Cards In Deck: Goliath, Sam Wilson Captain America, Shadow King, Strange Supreme, Cosmo, Mobius M. Mobius. Red Guardian, Speed, Shang-Chi, Wiccan, Spectrum, Mockingbird, Thanos

Ever since his release, Thanos has consistently been in the discussion, particularly because of his unique deckbuilding approach. Now, his Ongoing version, which houses several meta-relevant cards, is arguably the best deck in Snap both on ladder and in Conquest mode.

What truly makes this deck special is the sheer amount of concurrent plays that tend to overwhelm the opponent. As you play your stones to thin out the deck while steadily strengthening the purple villain, you also have Strange Supreme to clean up the board while reaching absurd Power figures. On the other hand, you have a bunch of helpful tech cards, like Mobius and Shang-Chi, to counter the opponent and solidify your win.

2. Surfer

Silver Surfer / Image via ESports Illustrated

• Recommended Cards In Deck: Zabu, Grandmaster, Cassandra Nova, Brood, Luke Cage, Silver Surfer, Cosmo, Juggernaut, Red Guardian, Sebastian Shaw, Galacta, Gwenpool

Surfer, named after the deck's staple, is usually regarded as the main home for three-cost cards, and with so many powerful options releasing in this specific category for almost a year, it's no wonder the archetype has risen to new heights. It's basically a collection of good cards and solid tech variety, coupled with a respectable ceiling you can't find in decks even half as versatile as this.

The Surfer archetype prides itself on adjusting to the current metagame, which is why it regularly stays prevalent despite any nerfs it receives. One such example is how it crushed Arishem at the height of his reign with Cassandra Nova. As long as there are at least ten well-performing three drops in the game, the deck will continue to thrive — when one card fails, you can just swap it for another.

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3. Move Bounce

Human Torch / Image via ESports Illustrated

• Recommended Cards In Deck: Arana, Ghost Spider, Human Torch, Iron Fist, Madame Web, Dagger, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Hawkeye Kate Bishop, Vulture, Frigga, Beast

The traditional Bounce and Move archetypes had their fair share of success, but they didn't become game-changing until the community combined them together. Move had ridiculous Power potential thanks to its scalars like Vulture and Dagger, and Bounce took it to the next level by giving it the one thing it lacked — enablers. By letting you reuse cheap move enablers like Iron Fist and Ghost Spider, you can gain a bucketload of Power in one turn.

There are a bunch of tiny elements at play, which make the deck a great Cube stealer, too. You can time your bounces to dodge key counters like Shadow King or Red Guardian. Unlike you, the opponent likely can't reuse those cards when played.

The game plan here is similar to what you'd find in Destroy decks: play the cards, extract their value, gain Power, then recall them to your hand (via bouncing effects) to repeat the process.

4. Mid-Range Discard

Morbius / Image via ESports Illustrated

• Recommended Cards In Deck: Blade, Miek, Scorn, Morbius, The Collector, Swarm, Colleen Wing, Bullseye, Gambit, Daken, Frigga, M.O.D.O.K.

Similar to Move, the most reliable playstyle for the classic Discard archetype is sticking to low-cost scalars coupled with a bunch of discard "enablers". This sub-archetype is relatively new com the others mentioned so far, but its track record shows a consistent Win Rate and Cube Rate across all ranks. It's not even that difficult to play.

Once you have your engines set up with the likes of Daken, Morbius, and The Collector, you're free to use the other cards to discard your hand in any order you want. This deck is known for having an incredible Power ceiling, and although it doesn't feature any tech cards, your opponent won't be able to keep up unless they have countermeasures ready to go.

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5. Toxic Affliction

Anti-Venom / Image via ESports Illustrated

• Recommended Cards In Deck: Zabu, Hazmat, Scorpion, Lizard, Luke Cage, Rogue, Diamondback, Laufey, Malekith, Anti-Venom, Man-Thing, Ajax

Since its inception, the Ajax package has remained a brilliant all-rounder deck without any glaring weaknesses or shortcomings. It has participated and performed well in several tournaments so far, and the stats on Snap.Fan shows its most successful variant having a whopping 55+% Win Rate and 0.35 Cube Rate, even in High Infinite and Top 500 matches.

Beyond the solid fundamentals like high Power ceiling, the main differentiating point here over other meta decks is the disruption factor. Affliction's oppressive playstyle and openness to late-game options let it pull unexpected plays and regain control of losing lanes.

It's also a surprisingly good matchup into other meta decks, punishing them to the full extent if they don't draw optimally. If your opponent doesn't have a Luke Cage, this deck is practically unstoppable.

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