High Evolutionary decks have been in game meta for a long time now. We have even heard many players complaining that HE decks deserve a nerf lately. Whatever the future for these decks holds, they are a part of the current Marvel Snap meta, that’s for sure. In this guide, we will go through the tips and general strategies on how High Evolutionary decks work as well as some examples of top-performing builds. Even if you are a beginner in Marvel Snap with just a few Pool 3 cards and High Evolutionary you can still make a pretty strong deck. Without further ado, let’s see how this Big Bad card works.
Strategies & Tips for High Evolutionary Decks
The first thing you should know is that your key card is always High Evolutionary – no HE deck will work without it. That being said, it’s also your weakest card in the deck as he is just a 4/4 card with no abilities (other than “evolving” your vanilla cards). In most of the matches, you won’t even play him. However, other cards that High Evolutionary buffs are pretty strong and useful:
- Misty Knight is generally a good 1-cost card. Its effect to provide additional +1 power if you have at least one unspent energy can really be a game-winner. The great thing about this is that it has a lot of synergy with other cards – Sunspot, Hulk, Cyclops, all of them have effects based on energy unspent during the turn. Furthermore, if you are going for a location control deck, Misty Knight is often overlooked by the opponent and thus can turn the tides in your favor.
- Wasp is a niche card that is seen in many High Evolutionary decks. Since it’s “free”, it can be a good addition to certain plays, mainly involving location control and/or summoning Abomination.
- Shocker is another niche card that is used to decrease the energy cost of a leftmost card in your hand by one. As you might guess, it is niche because it depends on what that leftmost card in your hand is.
- Cyclops is arguably the best card in any High Evolutionary deck. This 3-cost, 4-power card just ruins the opponent’s play on the other side since it decreases one power of up to two cards in every turn if you have any unspent mana. This card is a must since it’s great as a power boost and it’s outstanding for location control. Just be sure to land it somewhere where you know your opponent has or will have two cards.
- Thing has a twofold effect: it decreases the power of up to 3 enemy cards by one point each thus lowering the cost of your Abomination. The synergy here is obvious as Abomination initially costs 5 Energy – if you land Thing right just by doing so your Abomination will cost 2 energy. Not only that, but you will also get an effective 4-cost, 9-power card as well. Pretty awesome, right?
- Abomination works in synergy with Scorpion, Thing, Cyclops, and Wasp. In a perfect scenario, Abomination will be free to play as you can easily decrease the power of 5 enemy cards in order to do so. You just need to be on the lookout for enemy Mobious and/or Luke Cage – but that’s why Enchantress is in your deck.
- Hulk is your endgame play for most of the time. It can be ramped up by saving mana to have 24 power which is insane. Usually, though, this will not be the case, but it will still have around 18 power. Considering that Abomination can be free of charge as well as She-Hulk if Magik is in play, this is a huge end-game slam on turn 7.
- Sunspot is also a card that is widely used in HE decks. Although it’s not a HE card, the synergy between saving mana for Misty Knight, Hulk, and Cyclops just works perfectly with Sunspot.
- Countercards are a must in most HE decks. Since the best way to counter the HE deck is by playing Luke Cage and/or Mobius, the obvious counter is Enchantress. Another card that you can go for is Armor, not only because destroy decks are in meta, but also because of Shang-Chi as you have at least 2 cards with 9+ power in most HE decks. Optionally, if you are playing Conquest and are facing a lot of High Evolutionary decks yourself, you can put in Luke Cage as well.
Classic HE deck
Key cards: Wasp, Misty Knight, Sunspot, Shocker, Cyclops, Thing, Abomination, Hulk, High Evolutionary
Support cards: Armor, Scorpion, Enchantress
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRXYXNwIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFdm9sdmVkTWlzdHlLbmlnaHQifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlN1bnNwb3QifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFybW9yIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFdm9sdmVkU2hvY2tlciJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU2NvcnBpb24ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRDeWNsb3BzIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFdm9sdmVkVGhlVGhpbmcifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkhpZ2hFdm9sdXRpb25hcnkifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkVuY2hhbnRyZXNzIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFdm9sdmVkQWJvbWluYXRpb24ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRIdWxrIn1dfQ==
The first one is the easiest one – this is a classic HS deck. As you can see, all buffed-up vanila cards are here: from Wasp to Hulk. The deck is enhanced by Scorpion in order to get the Abomination faster. It also has two counter cards – Enchantress against Marvel Snap discard decks and Armor against Destroy decks. Enchantress also works well against Wong decks and generally against everything that heavily relies on the ongoing effects of cards. Armor is another great counter but it has to be played in the right time in order to disrupt the Destroy decks combo. Priority is of the utmost importance when it comes to using Armor in any deck.
So how do you play this Marvel Snap High Evolutionary deck? Well, it’s pretty straightforward: Line up your low-cost cards across several locations. Save Energy at every turn in order to activate the effects of Abomination, Hulk, Cyclops, Misty Knight, and/or Sunspot. The final turn is a huge slam – Hulk in one position and Abomination in another for the win. That’s how it should work in theory – the advantage of this build is the high power that it yields. The downside is the fact that it’s highly predictable so keep that in mind when you play it.
High Evolutionary Magik Deck
Key cards: Misty Knight, Sunspot, Magic, Cyclops, Thing, High Evolutionary, Abomination, She-Hulk, Hulk
Support cards: Scorpion, Luke Cage, Enchantress
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRNaXN0eUtuaWdodCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3Vuc3BvdCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU2NvcnBpb24ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ikx1a2VDYWdlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNYWdpayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRXZvbHZlZEN5Y2xvcHMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRUaGVUaGluZyJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSGlnaEV2b2x1dGlvbmFyeSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRW5jaGFudHJlc3MifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRBYm9taW5hdGlvbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU2hlSHVsayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRXZvbHZlZEh1bGsifV19
Magic She-Hulk HE deck is probably the safest among all HE decks. The versatility of this deck is just amazing – it provides a lot of power and at the same time, there is enough space to squeeze in several counter cards. We choose Luke Cage and Enchantress here but you can switch to Armor or Cosmo depending on what kind of decks you are facing. As for your main cards, well, Shocker is out and Magik is in as well as She-Hulk. The synergy between She-Hulk and Sunspot is just perfect, especially if you have Hulk in hand as well.
This deck relies on slamming the opponent on the final turn, preferably that being turn 7. Misty, Sunspot, and Cyclops should keep you competitive until turn 6. On turn 6, you should end the turn without playing anything (or perhaps playing 1 cost Abomination). On turn 7 you have this insane slam: 0-cost, 9-power She-Hulk, 16+ Power Hulk, and possibly 0-cost, 9-power Abomination. If you play this right, just on the last turn you can spread out more than 30 power on several locations. Even if you don’t have Armor and the opponent goes for Shang-Chi you can still easily win the game.
High Evo Wave Control Deck
Key cards: Nebula, Sunspot, Daredevil, Storm, Cyclops, Wave, Thing, High Evolutionary, Doctor Doom, Hulk
Support cards: Jeff
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5lYnVsYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3Vuc3BvdCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRGFyZWRldmlsIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJKZWZmVGhlQmFieUxhbmRTaGFyayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3Rvcm0ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRDeWNsb3BzIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJXYXZlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJFdm9sdmVkVGhlVGhpbmcifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkhpZ2hFdm9sdXRpb25hcnkifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlByb2Zlc3NvclgifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRyRG9vbSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRXZvbHZlZEh1bGsifV19
The more complex version of HE decks is this Wave HE location-control deck. It does require some practice but once you get the hang of it, it is not that difficult to use. The basic premise is as follows: you are to disrupt the opponent’s gameplay by forcing his hand on locations with Storm and Wave followed by Daredevil and Profesor X. By the end of turn 5, you will have secured one location and gained the advantage on another one so that you can slam Hulk or Thing on the final turn, winning the game. Alternatively, you can go for a surprise by securing one of the locations with Professor X and winning a ruined one in the end by moving Jeff and playing Doctor Doom.
As you can see, several of your cards get buffed as turns pass: Nebula, Sunspot, and Cyclops (OK, Cyclops doesn’t get buffed but it decreases the power of opponents’ cards which is pretty much the same thing). Alternatively, if you want more firepower, you can replace Jeff with Abomination and go with that, it should work pretty well as well. The problem is the lack of counters but with so much location control you don’t actually need it – the whole point of this, and similar location control decks is to force opponents’ hand into playing on locations that you want them to play thus making their play predictable and easily countered.
High Evolutionary Alioth
Key cards: Nebula, Daredevil, Cyclops, Wave, High Evolutionary, Abomination, Professor X, Doctor Doom, Hulk, Alioth
Support cards: Sunspot, Psylocke
Deck code: eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5lYnVsYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3Vuc3BvdCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiUHN5bG9ja2UifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRhcmVkZXZpbCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRXZvbHZlZEN5Y2xvcHMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IldhdmUifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkhpZ2hFdm9sdXRpb25hcnkifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFib21pbmF0aW9uIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJQcm9mZXNzb3JYIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJEckRvb20ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkV2b2x2ZWRIdWxrIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJBbGlvdGgifV19
As all Alioth decks are, this HE Alioth deck is dirty. Although there were 2 nerfs of Alioth in the previous patches, the card is still one of the strongest, if not the strongest one in the game. The basic idea of this deck is as follows: Profesor X will secure the win on one location and other cards need to have priority on another one. On turn 6 you simply put down Alioth on the location which you are winning and that’s it. When it comes to Alioth, similarly to Armor, priority is of the utmost importance. However, since you have Wave followed by Doctor Doom or Hulk, this shouldn’t be a problem in most cases.
Nebula and Sunspot are the silent MVPs here since those two cards combined with Profesor X can almost certainly secure a win one location. You have Cyclops in the deck as an additional annoyance for your opponent as well as a heavy-slamming Abomination. As we said before, having priority on Turn 6 is the most important thing – if you don’t have it, stay out of Alioth and play whatever else you have in your hand or retreat. It requires practice for sure, but this deck does have a lot of potential and a high win rate.
Final Thoughts on High Evolutionary Decks
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to play High Evolutionary Decks. Most of them rely on Power that is granted by heavy-hitting cards like Hulk all while decreasing the strength of opponent cards by Cyclops and/or Scorpion. Some decks have location-control elements to them as well, making them potentially even stronger. The choice is yours – it’s a matter of your gameplay style and the current game meta. Our advice is to try all of them and see which one suits you the best. Whichever High Evolutionary deck you choose, our wish is the same – good luck!
Image Credits: Marvel Snap
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