Marvel Snap discard decks have been in and out of the game meta for quite a while. To be frank, more often than not, this deck archetype was not the best one in the game, but it sure was fun to play with. We are writing this guide for the sole purpose of giving you more insights on the Marvel Snap discard deck archetype, both in terms of tips and in terms of specific decks that you can use. Note that if you are a beginner with just Pool 1 and Pool 2 cards and you can’t put together a discard deck that works, that’s perfectly normal because, in the current Marvel Snap meta, there are no decks like that. You can check out other beginner decks if you want to climb the ladder to Infinite rank fast; our advice is to stay away from discard type until you get a few pool 3 cards that you need in order for this to actually work. Without further ado, let’s dive in and see what discard decks in Marvel Snap are all about.
The Guide is up-to-date for the balance patch released on December 5th
General Tips & Tricks for Discard Deck Archetype in Marvel Snap
Generally speaking, discard decks work have a twofold nature win conditions: discarding cards in order to buff up the board (Morbius, Apocalypse, Dracula, Swarm) or discarding cards in order to resummon them on the board (Ghost Rider, Hela, Black Knight). Cards that discard (Colleen Wing, Blade, Lady Sif, M.O.D.O.K., Colleen Wing, Gambit, etc) are used to effectively employ one or both of these strategies. Let’s take a look at some specific tips and general combos when it comes to discard decks:
- Blade is a really good card since it was buffed in one of the recent patches. It discards your rightmost card, you can use its effect to specifically target the card that you want discarded. Note that the discarded card always goes on your rightmost position in your hand – meaning that if you discard Swarm and play Blade in the same turn, it will get discarded again. The same goes for Lady Sif – Apocalypse discard- Blade – Apocalypse discard combo.
- Zabu is useful in many discard decks since Dracula, Ghost Rider and Ebony Blade (from Black Knight) cost 4 power. There are other cards like Jubilee and Shuri that can be put to use with Zabu as well so consider adding him to your deck.
- Morbius is an integral part of almost all discard decks in Marvel Snap. As he gets +2 power with every card that you discard, it’s hard to imagine him not ending up with at least 6 power in the end. Usually, he will have much more (providing that the opponent doesn’t play a counter like Enchantress).
- Collen Wing is usually good for only one thing – discarding Swarm. This combo, followed by more discards that come from Blade and/or M.O.D.O.K. will allow you to slam hard on turn 6 as you will have several 0-cost, 3-power Swarms in your hand. Tip: Don’t overdo it. If you have Dracula on the field, do not let any card with low power remain in your hand as you don’t want Dracula to take the power of those cards.
- Gambit is a meme card. I mean, since he discards a random card from your hand, obviously it’s a risk (gambit?) to use it – so calculate what is the potential risk (discarding the card which you don’t want discarded) and what is the potential gain (what can Gambit destroy) and based on that decide on whether you want to use it or not.
- Ghost Rider will get one of your cards that you discarded on the board but the effect is random so try to minimize the risk of returning the card that you don’t need. You don’t have to use him in every game – if it’s a risk, it’s better to not use it than to return, for example, Blade that discards your M.O.D.O.K. thus ruining your next play.
- If you have a really high discard deck (a lot of high-cost cards) or if the mana synergy is bad use Sunspot to overcome the issue of wasting mana. It is one of those small things that can turn the tides in your favor in the end.
Vampiric Embrace: Dracula & Morbius Deck
Key Cards: Morbius, Dracula, M.O.D.O.K., Apocalypse
Support Cards: Blade, Zabu, Colleen Wing, Swarm, Gambit, Ghost Rider, Lady Sif, Hell Cow
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoidmFtcGlyZXMiLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQmxhZGUifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik1vcmJpdXMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkNvbGxlZW5XaW5nIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJaYWJ1In0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJTd2FybSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiR2FtYml0In0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJMYWR5U2lmIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJHaG9zdFJpZGVyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJIZWxsY293In0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJEcmFjdWxhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNb2RvayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQXBvY2FseXBzZSJ9XX0=
This one I like to call the vampire duo deck. As the name suggests, Morbius and Dracula are your key cards here. They are not so easy to use so bear with me here. First of all, don’t throw Blade if he is going to discard something that you need – just save it for M.O.D.O.K. to discard it since instead of 3 power, you will get 2 on Morbius which is perfectly fine as well. The obvious combo Colleen Wing and Swarm is here as well – ramp up those Swarms with M.O.D.O.K. if you can and slam them on turn 6. However, this combo is just a support in this Marvel Snap discard deck – the real power comes from Dracula. Every time your Apocalypse gets discarded, it is returned with +4 power. In the end, Dracula discards it one final time (if that’s the only card in your hand) and gives additional power.
Most often, you should play Dracula alone on the location as he has the power to win it. M.O.D.O.K. and Morbius should be in the second targeted location. This is the base setup of this deck. Gambit is there for niche use only as he discards your card randomly – Ghost Rider is there if Gambit discards something that you need (like Dracula or M.O.D.O.K.). In the past, America Chavez was in this deck but since she was reworked, that’s no longer an option. Now, for the final turn, you have several options that include using Hellcow or M.O.D.O.K. which should be a good replacement. Good luck!
Hela Living Tribunal
Key Cards: Invisible Woman, M.O.D.O.K., Hela
Support Cards: Crystal, Magic, Electro, Jubilee, Iron Man, The Infinaut, Onslaught, Giganto
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoidmFtcGlyZXMiLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSW52aXNpYmxlV29tYW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkNyeXN0YWwifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkVsZWN0cm8ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik1hZ2lrIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJKdWJpbGVlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJJcm9uTWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNb2RvayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSW5maW5hdXQifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkxpdmluZ1RyaWJ1bmFsIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJIZWxhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJPbnNsYXVnaHQifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkdpZ2FudG8ifV19
Hela Living Tribunal is the best Marvel Snap discard deck in the current game meta. Not only that, but it’s also super fun to play. Sure, it’s not the most reliable deck out there – but hey, what’s the fun in playing High Evolutionary decks all the time, right? Here is how this Marvel Snap discard deck works: Invisible Woman hides your other cards and prevents on-reveal effects from happening too soon. Electro gives you additional energy since you don’t need to play more than one card in this deck. Jubilee is there just for support and memeing. The real deal is just two more cards: M.O.D.O.K. and Hella. It can work without the Living Tribunal as well, just put something with high power if you don’t have it (maybe something green and big, wink wink). Anyway, Invisible Woman hides M.O.D.O.K. while turns pass. In the final turn, you play Hela – M.O.D.O.K. discards your Onslaught, Giganto, Onslaught, and all the other monstrosities that you have in hand (you haven’t played anything so you have them) and Hela brings them all back on the board.
With Living Tribunal, you will probably have around 25-30 power on all locations depending on where Ironman and Onslaught land. Without it, well you need a bit of luck but it will still be a very strong slam in the final turn. Use Magic in order to increase your chances of pulling the three cards you need. In case you don’t have M.O.D.O.K., replace him and Jubilee with any two cards that discard (Sword Master, Moon Knight, etc) and pile those cards behind Invisible Woman. Remember, if you don’t play this in the right order it won’t work – if M.O.D.O.K. or any card discards your Hela, it’s game over. Fun, right?
Chaos Unleashed: Classic Hela Deck
Key Cards: Hela
Support Cards: Blade, Morbius, Moon Knight, Gambit, Sword Master, Jubilee, Dracula, Black Cat, Giganto, The Infinaut, Magneto
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoidmFtcGlyZXMiLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQmxhZGUifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik1vcmJpdXMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkdhbWJpdCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTW9vbktuaWdodCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3dvcmRNYXN0ZXIifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRyYWN1bGEifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ikp1YmlsZWUifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkJsYWNrQ2F0In0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNYWduZXRvIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJHaWdhbnRvIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJIZWxhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJJbmZpbmF1dCJ9XX0=
One might argue that without Invisible Woman, all the decks that rely on Hela are highly volatile. To put it another way – it’s a risk. The worst thing is that there is no way to circumvent this – you need to discard cards during the game but if you discard Hela by any chance, it’s probably game over. Gambit, Moon Knight, Sword Master, and are there for discarding – Hela is there to bring all the discarded monstrosities like Giganto, Magneto, and Infinaut back on turn 6. But that’s the best-case scenario – keep that in mind.
The good thing about this deck is that you don’t really care about what your opponent is playing (unless he plays some counters). The end game will be random anyway so you can just sit back and pray to discard gods that Hela doesn’t get discarded by something. Morbius and Gambit, as well as Jubilee are there just to keep you competitive before turn 6 comes. Dracula is in the deck in case things go south – you can still win as you have him in one of the locations. However, the main power of this deck comes from Hela bringing back discarded cards on random locations – it’s not a meta deck but it is a fun one!
Black Knight: Ebony Blade Deck
Key Cards: Black Knight, Ghost Rider
Support Cards: Sunspot, Blade, Zabu, Lady Sif, Jubilee, Dracula, Red Skull, Magneto, Giganto, The Infinaut
Deck Code: eyJOYW1lIjoidmFtcGlyZXMiLCJDYXJkcyI6W3siQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQmxhY2tLbmlnaHQifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlN1bnNwb3QifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkJsYWRlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJaYWJ1In0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJMYWR5U2lmIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJHaG9zdFJpZGVyIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJEcmFjdWxhIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJKdWJpbGVlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJSZWRTa3VsbCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTWFnbmV0byJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiR2lnYW50byJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSW5maW5hdXQifV19
The most recent addition to Marvel Snap discard decks is Black Knight. Like most of the other discard cards, Black Knight doesn’t really do much unless you use it properly. In this deck, you should play it as soon as possible – and use Lady Sif to discard something with a lot of power from your hand in order to buff up Black Knights Ebony Blade. Since you have four cards with 4 energy costs in this deck, Zabu is a good option here as well. Dracula is always nice to have in all discard decks and there are plenty of options for a final hit.
As you can see, this deck is pretty straightforward: Play Black Knight, discard something strong, play Ebony Blade, bring back that strong card with Ghost Rider, and finish the game with one of your high cost cards and Dracula. This is a much safer deck than a traditional Hela deck because actually see what you are discarding and bringing back. So, if you want to play it safe, go with this Black Knight discard deck.
Final Thoughts on Marvel Snap Discard Decks
As you can see, there are plenty of Marvel Snap discard decks to choose from. Note that you can always replace some of the support cards and try what suits you the best. Also note that more often than not, there are meta decks that players like to go for – sometimes discard decks won’t perform well against those. If that is the case, feel free to replace some of the support cards with the right counters for those meta decks (e.g. Armor for Destroy decks, Enchantress for Wong, etc.). We hope that you enjoyed reading this guide and good luck with discarding!
Photo Credits: Marvel Snap
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