NetEase’s Marvel Duel has certainly brought a new spark to the world of strategy CCGs. While the Marvel Universe franchise has immense popularity on its own, Marvel Duel’s consideration of each hero and villain, as well as their distinct super powers and affiliations, makes for a strategy-laden experience from deck-building right down to engaging in various duels.
The card collection aspect of Marvel Duel can both be an exciting experience as well as a very challenging one given that cards follow a rarity grade making some of the most important components of any deck more difficult to obtain. Considering as well that you can have up to 4 copies of any card, maximizing the probability of some cards being drawn more often requires you include several copies of the cards you need more.
Before we dig deeper into this guide, be sure to check out our Marvel Duel beginner’s guide first if you haven’t yet done so. If you have just started playing Marvel Duel, and still trying to grasp its base mechanics and features, then our beginner’s guide will certainly help you get up to speed in terms of making early progression. In this new Marvel Duel guide, we will be entirely focusing on suggested deck builds. It is highly possible that you will not have all the components early on but, at the very least, it should serve as a decent format for you to follow.
Deck-building can feel a little weird in Marvel Duel, even for experienced and veteran CCG enthusiasts. Each deck is composed of 3 different subdecks and a neutral one, making it more restrictive than most, if not all, CCGs out there. As each subdeck has its own strengths and limitations, mixing your main subdeck with 2 others as well as neutral cards can be a very grueling task. This is because the natural goal of every deck design is solidarity and synergy. Adhering to the 3-subdeck rule, in tandem with the minimum requirement of 10 cards for each one, can complicate things a little more for every player. There are standard cards that mix in with the cards you picked to be a part of your deck as well.
In essence, there are 2 main considerations in building a strong deck, regardless of which super hero or theme you want to work with. The first one is to make a deck that is synergistic enough to have as many components in support of a particular theme or strategy. The second one is, of course, to adhere to the restrictions of deck-building while considering deck efficiency every step of the way.
What you basically need to work on is choosing which from among the 3 subdeck choices will stand as your main theme and which ones are for support purposes. With this in mind, what you would go for is a deck mostly comprised of cards from one subdeck and 10 cards from the two other subdecks and neutral subdeck. You will focus on the theme of the main subdeck and consider all other cards that work in support of it, meaning no cards from the other 2 subdecks will have restrictive effects that will not apply to your main cards.
For each deck, we will be laying out the composition of the main subdeck as well as notable neutral cards for that deck. As far as support subdeck goes, we are basically considering cards that can be useful across all deck builds and have no restrictive perks.
Spider-Man Deck
Spider-Man Decks are known for summoning symbiotes as well as deploying Spider-Verse characters fast. Some Spider-Verse characters also exhibit the ability to boost the power of fellow Spider-Verse characters with a slew of characters employing stun effects, along with bonus effects against stunned enemies, to gain advantage in battle.
The basic strategy surrounding Spider-Verse Decks revolve around the and skills that enable you to summon more characters and having characters that boost deployed units’ power to overwhelm the enemy.
Deck Components:
4x Gwen Stacy – She is a low-cost booster that can grant friendly Spider-Verse characters +2 power. Getting her early works great and she can trigger the +2 power boost again after a successful star burst.
2x Ghost-Spider – She can guard and summon a black symbiote with 2 power and guard thru last words when defeated. If Silk is deployed, she will benefit from the defeat of Spider-Verse characters, including summoned symbiotes.
4x Silk – She will be an integral part of your deck’s strategy early on and will serve as the powerhouse in the early game. As she will gain +2 armor whenever a Spider-Verse ally is defeated, she will basically feed off of symbiotes and other fallen allies each turn.
2x Web Shooters – This is an equipment designed to slow down the opposition’s pace. As you will rely on some low-cost Spider-Verse characters early on, some will prove to be useful even from mid to end game with web shooters stunning two enemy units each turn.
2x Venom Mysterio – A power of 8 at 4 cost is decent enough but the main consideration for Venom Mysterio is his last words ability that can summon 2 black symbiotes with 2 power and guard when he is defeated. This works in support of Silk’s ability as well.
2x Doppelganger Miles – Packed with critical hit, Doppelganger is well worth his cost especially with power boosts. He can summon a red symbiote with 8 power and critical hit with his last words ability as well.
2x Spider-Man (Miles Morales) – This Spider-Man can be a great help to any mix of Spider-Verse decks. Once he is in play, any Spider-Verse ally summoned automatically gains +5 power.
2x Symbiote Spider-Man – A very powerful unit with 12 power and critical hit. Definitely a unit to invest power on as defeating enemies will trigger him to summon 6 black symbiotes and boost Spider-Verse allies’ power by +2.
2x Superior Spider-Man – This character maybe far from being the strongest unit at 6 cost. His last words ability, however, can be a real game-changer as he can summon 3 random Spider-Verse characters with a cost of 5 or less.
2x Great Responsibility – This card grants a Spider-Verse character +60 armor, guard, and +4 action times until the end of the next battle.
[Neutral]
Howard the Duck – gives a summoned ally +3 power when they enter the battlefield as an effect of a skill, a definite plus for symbiote summoning.
Silver Sword – gives an attack character +8 power and recover 8 damage after defeating an enemy.
Hawkeye’s Bow – gives an attack character +4 power, critical hit, and annihilate.
Taskmaster’s Shield – gives a guardian character +20 armor, guard, and iron will effectively making him or her a tank.
Spider-Man decks can be built in a number of ways given that there are numerous great alternatives to consider on top of what is listed here. Spider-Verse characters typically have great overall synergy as well. On the downside, it can be a challenge to compete on a one-on-one basis in the late game as other decks have higher probabilities to pump up single characters with more power.
Iron Man Deck
As Tony Stark is known for his enormous wealth on top of being a super hero, you can expect Iron Man Decks to capitalize on shop upgrades to boost the performance of Stark Industries characters. Raising the shop level and making higher level cards available for purchase ahead of the competition is intrinsically the decks edge over all other themes.
The general strategy in Iron Man decks require good decision-making between purchasing cards and upgrading the shop. As shop upgrades can cause either temporary or permanent boosts to Stark Industries units, setting it up early on and at the same time laying out defenses will be a challenge.
Deck Components:
2x Madame Masque – She is a support character that earns you 2 health when your shop is upgraded. Star burst increases the health gain, which is important for you as you will be investing resources early on to upgrade your shop instead of setting proper defenses.
4x Iron Man Model I – He is a low-cost guardian that increases armor by +3 with each shop upgrade.
2x Arc Reactor – enables support characters to deal damage equal to your shop level and triggers 4 times per battle.
4x Iron Monger – This unit increases his power by +1 whenever a Stark Industries unit comes to play. With critical hit in tandem with power-enhancing gears, he can easily down opposing guardians and other armored units.
2x Superior Iron Man – A temporary +2 power booster, Superior Iron Man can work well with other deck builds as well.
1x Crimson Dynamo – This unit is strong for its cost and when you purchases a 6-cost card while he is in play, you can earn 4 battle gems you can use to upgrade your shop faster.
2x Silver Centurion – This is a very important component of any Iron Man Deck as he gives all other Stark Industries units +7 power. At star level 2, he gives +47 power to all allied Stark Industry characters.
2x Silver Centurion Blade – gives attack characters +4 power and puncture, which ignores the enemy’s armor.
4x Repulsor Blast – For a cost of 6, Repulsor Blast deals 8 damage to all enemy units at the start of battle, eliminating some while softening others for the kill.
2x Hulkbuster Armor – As an alternative type of armor breaker, Hulkbuster Armor gains 50% more power whenever he attacks an enemy unit with armor.
[Neutral]
Red Hulk – has speed strike and deals damage first. Gives all other attack characters +6 power.
Winter Soldier’s Arm – gives attack characters +8 power.
Hawkeye’s Bow – gives an attack character +4 power, critical hit, and annihilate.
A.I.M. Energy Missile – Grants support characters puncture, which ignores armor, and deals 4 damage to all opponents, triggering 4x in each battle.
Taskmaster’s Shield – gives a guardian character +20 armor, guard, and iron will effectively making him or her a tank.
Iron Man Decks may take a while to set up and you will likely take in some damage ahead of your enemy. Once set up, though, you can expect to be able to turn the tide of battle with higher shop levels and extra battle gems to spend on expensive purchases. Stark Industries units likewise do not synergize as much as other teams do but with the right gears, they can handle almost any threat.
Thor Deck
Thor Decks specialize in building up armor for their units and slowly chipping away at enemies with characters that convert armor to power. The typical builds can take the advantage early on especially if the opposing units do not have enough power or skills to penetrate through the Asgardians’ armor.
The general strategy is to invest and build up armor of selected units, particularly Thor and Hogun who can convert armor into power during combat. Everything else in the deck will serve as support to core units.
[Deck Components]
4x Fandral – a low-cost, potentially turn 1 unit that gains +1 power with every Asgardian unit summoned while he is in play.
1x Guard Army of Asgard – a definite cannon fodder that can grant +3 armor to an allied unit once defeated.
2x Jane Foster – also a great early booster with the ability to grant both +3 power and +3 armor to an allied Asgardian unit. Worth star bursting for an extra boost to allies.
4x Hogun – currently one of the 2 most important cards in the deck. Hogun earns +2 power when losing armor in battle. Investing more armor in him is important.
1x Lady Sif – a perfect support to both Hogun and Thor as she can give an adjacent Asgardian unit +5 armor after taking action.
2x Throg – Also a worthy unit to invest some armor on. Throg has iron will that makes him great for defense and every armor gain makes him deal 5 damage to an opponent.
2x Mjolnir – Confers +6 armor to a guardian character and enables them to deal 9 damage to an opponent, triggering twice per battle.
2x Thor – A solid enemy killer when set up right. Thor gains power with every armor lost and will also retaliate after receiving an attack, dealing double damage as well. His power is essentially the sum of his power and armor and with retaliate always active, he can definitely take down any threat on the opposing side of the field.
1x Gungnir – a solid gear for support characters in the deck. Gungnir enables the holder to grant +4 armor to 2 friendly Asgardian units with the lowest armor and grants them iron will as well, triggering 4 times in each battle.
1x Valkyrie – can summon fallen Asgardian units and give them +15 armor after taking action.
[Neutral]
Shuri – gives a guardian unit +5 armor.
Korg – gives a guardian unit +8 armor.
Hulk – gives all other guardian units +1 power and +10 armor.
Captain America’s Shield – grants a guardian +10 armor and guard.
Silver Sword – gives an attack character +8 power and recover 8 damage after defeating an enemy.
Thor Decks definitely excel at defense as they specialize in armor build-up. With power a little too concentrated on a few units, though, it can be a hassle if the core units are beaten.
Hela Deck
Hela Decks are unlike any type of decks you will encounter in any strategy CCG. Selfish as it may seem, these decks rely on concentrating power on a single unit and trigger their maverick skills when only one unit is on your side of the field. It can be a tricky deck to play around with but interesting as well.
The general strategy is to support units with maverick skills early on and set it up in such a way that the maverick skills are triggered. It can be a challenge in the early stages of the match but once you have set it up correctly, Hela Decks can easily turn the tide of battle.
[Deck Composition]
2x Bloodaxe – grants +3 power to any attack character.
2x Frost Giant – has high attack and armor for its relative cost but will be defeated after it loses its armor.
4x Frost Beast – a beefed up version of the Frost Giant.
4x Destroyer – has pierce, which makes him an effective attacker given that excess damage he deals will be directed to another opposing unit. Left alone on your side of the field, Destroyer doubles his power and gains critical hit, effectively causing 4x as much damage.
2x Ebony Blade – grants +5 power to an attack character and if they are alone in the field, grants an extra +10 power and +1 action time.
4x Kurse – needs to be strategically deployed for his annihilate ability to be fully utilized. Kurse also has +2 action times.
4x Hela – a core component of her Deck, Hela can deal damage equal to her power against all opposing units when she is the only unit in your side of the field.
4x Malekith – deployment slot is also critical to Malekith as he can grant all Ragnarok characters to his right +8 power whenever a Ragnarok character to his left is defeated. Potentially best placed second to the last from left to right.
4x Surtur – a definite powerhouse with 30 power at the cost of 6, Surtur can deal 3 direct damage to an enemy when his maverick skill triggers.
4x Enchantress – She may not exhibit much on the raw power department but Enchantress’ maverick skill enables her to take control of an enemy unit with the lowest power, add her power into that unit, and also give them guard.
[Neutral]
Falcon – gives an attack character +3 power.
A.I.M. Bomb – deals 10 damage to an opponent upon the attached character’s defeat.
Maverick skills unique to Ragnarok characters are extremely powerful and diverse. As such, it can be expected that these abilities are a little more challenging to trigger. To start off, Hela Decks will have a hard time keeping units around, which creates a great need for you to protect them while setting things up.
There are numerous characters worth setting up for their maverick skills and each one can lead to a unique path towards victory. In essence, you can consider the deck diverse and adaptive to the current duel situation but the strategic expertise as well as luck needed to pull everything off according to plan can be more than what you need in other decks.
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel Decks specialize in giving boosts to skills and power. Some skills deal damage before action and damage resulting from skill damage can also result in power boosts. As a result, they can often eliminate units within the opposing field before the actual battle starts.
The common strategy revolves around increasing action times for characters to exponentially boost their effectiveness. Amassing power may take a while so careful strategy is very important in the early stages of the duel. Banking on skills that trigger prior to the battle phase takes advantage of ignoring the enemy unit’s armor and should be a core strategy to work with. Eliminating threats is crucial prior to the battle phase.
[Deck Components]
2x Minn-Erva – deals 4 damage to an opponent before taking action.
4x Kree Soldiers – deals 1 damage to 2 opponents after being defeated.
2x Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) – gains +1 power whenever a friendly character deals skill damage. Definitely a core component of this deck that needs initial protection but can grow to become the strongest unit in the late game.
4x Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) – She has both guard and iron will fit for tanking units. After getting attacked, she deals 2 damage to an opponent.
2x Yonn-Rogg – important for synergistic purposes as well, this unit boosts the skill damage of allied Intergalactic War units by +1.
4x Ronan – deals 4 damage to an opponent before takin an action and can trigger multiple times based on his star level.
4x Mar-Vell – yet another key component of Intergalactic War decks, Mar-Vell gets a power boost whenever an allied Intergalactic War unit deals skill damage to an enemy. The power gained is equal to half of the skill damage dealt.
1x Talos – his last words ability summons a copy of an allied Intergalactic War unit with the highest cost, which means that the sooner he is defeated, the better it is for his skill to trigger.
2x Accuser’s Hammer – summons a copy of the last defeated Intergalactic War ally that was defeated and triggers 4 times per battle.
2x Moonstones – An equipment that grants attack characters’ the ability to earn power equal to the damage dealt by their skill.
[Neutral]
Captain America’s Shield – grants a guardian +10 armor and guard.
Captain Marvel Decks require a lot of synergy from its cards and can be a challenge to pull off at times. Patience is very important for building up your mid to end game lineup as well. These decks benefit from lengthy battle sessions that have more actions on your end. Going for a longer turn of events means that your core units are getting stronger. As much as Intergalactic War heroes excel in the patience game, they are vulnerable to fast setups especially when the initial array of enemies can quickly take out your key cards.
Star-Lord Deck
Star-Lord or Guardians of the Galaxy Decks are built for quick overpowering assaults and taking advantage of the gap in power from then on. From the get-go, these decks need to push for a quick and effective offensive tactic and eliminate threats from the opposing side of the field. GotG characters are typically fast in terms of dealing damage and can prevent other decks from setting up proper defenses and counters.
GotG strategy is actually plain and simple: Deploy units, enhance them, and go in for the kill. Defeating enemy units can trigger various special effects that can further stretch the advantage of battle to your favor. There is good synchronicity among GotG cards as well so it is relatively easy to make a jump on enemies and trigger skills that require the opponent unit’s defeat.
[Deck Components]
2x Mantis – lets allied GotG characters earn +2 power whenever the ydefeat an enemy unit.
2x Rocket Racoon – deals damage to an enemy based on the number of GotG characters you have in play.
4x Cosmo – when summoned, gives an allied GotG character +3 power.
2x Groot – has guard and earns +3 power whenever he defeats an enemy unit.
4x Drax – with 8 power at 4 cost, Drax can attack again once per battle when he defeats an opponent.
2x Adam Warlock – after defeating an enemy, Adam Warlock grants all GotG characters +4 power.
4x The Milano – grants all attack characters +4 power at the start of the next battle for every GotG character deployed in your side of the field.
2x Star-Lord – when summoned, Star-Lord can give all GotG characters +3 power whenever any of them defeats and enemy unit.
3x Yaka Arrow – grants attack characters +8 power and when equipped on a GotG unit, gives critical hit, annihilate, and triggers 3 times per battle.
2x Yondu – when summoned, Yondu can deal damage to all opponents equal to the number of GotG characters you have whenever one of them defeats an enemy unit.
[Neutral]
Red Hulk – has speed strike and deals damage first. Gives all other attack characters +6 power.
Ghost’s Suit – grants support characters +1 power and triggers 5x per battle.
Winter Soldier’s Arm – gives attack characters +8 power.
Hawkeye’s Bow – gives an attack character +4 power, critical hit, and annihilate.
A.I.M. Energy Missile – Grants support characters puncture, which ignores armor, and deals 4 damage to all opponents, triggering 4x in each battle.
Star-Lord decks are fairly easy to set up and can start pounding from turn 1 to turn 2. With several characters that make the entire team stronger, these decks do well in the late game as well. For the most part, the challenge is encountering armored enemy units early on especially given that GotG characters need to defeat enemies for most of their skills to trigger, failing to do so early on can lead to a more challenging pace of the battle.
Elektra Deck
Elektra or Marvel Knights Decks feels and plays very uniquely as well given that their power ups largely rely on completing quest cards. As quests need to be laid out early and completed for your troops to grow stronger as fast as possible, luck, in addition to strategic planning, may play a more important role in your performance compared with all other decks.
As a general strategy, priorities initially rely on acquiring and laying out quests that you can complete. Doing so can give you an edge in the early game and after setting up, you can continue to empower your units as well in the late game. Note that some accomplishable quests are practically hand-ins and require very little effort to accomplish so banking on them more should be your priority early on.
[Deck Components]
4x Luke Cage – comes with the quest “Bulletproof” that gives him +5 armor during the preparation phase and gives him +3 power and guard as a reward for completing a quest.
1x Owl – can summon a random 2-cost character whenever a quest is completed.
2x Elektra – a core component of the deck, Elektra gains +4 power whenever you complete a quest.
4x Banana Peel – is a practically hand-in quest that only requires you to purchase 2 Marvel Knights cards from the shop. The reward is a random Marvel Knights character in the shop that earns +6 power.
2x Shang-Chi – earns +3 power and +3 armor with every quest completed. He also has retaliate that makes him counter with double damage against attackers.
4x Kingpin’s Revenge – provides a quest that requires you to purchase 4 attack character cards. The reward is a +4 power boost to all your deployed Marvel Knights heroes.
2x The Punisher – a powerhouse that gets more powerful based on the number of quests completed, The Punisherdeals 3 damage to the enemy with the lowest power, triggered as many times as the quests you have completed.
2x Jessica Jones – comes with a random quest once she is summoned to the field. You get to choose 1 of 3 random quests, which makes it strategically viable since you would know which ones will benefit your field roster and situation better.
2x Moon Knight – also shines the brightest during the late game as his power is increased by the number of quests you have completed x5 when he comes to play.
1x Unyielding Will – is a terrifyingly tricky quest to accomplish. The quest requirement pushes you to have your health reduced to 2 or lower for your Marvel Knights characters to gain +5 armor and iron will.
[Neutral]
Shuri – gives a guardian unit +5 armor.
Korg – gives a guardian unit +8 armor.
Silver Sword – gives an attack character +8 power and recover 8 damage after defeating an enemy.
Hawkeye’s Bow – gives an attack character +4 power, critical hit, and annihilate.
Captain America’s Shield – grants a guardian +10 armor and guard.
As long as you follow the quest requirements and push to complete them, the early and build up stages of the game should be simple enough. Marvel Knights typically lag behind in terms of powers and abilities during midgame compared to most other decks so be sure to set the right gears on some core units you need to protect and keep in mind that you can catch up and turn the tide by the late game.
Support Subdeck Cards To Consider
Considering that the above decks will not work on its own and you would have to add 2 more subdecks as well as other neutral cards to comply with 10 per subdeck and 40 card minimum per deck, here are some of the cards that we consider will be equally useful in combination with each deck. Not all lists have 10 cards, but these are our top picks for consideration.
[Spider-Man]
1x Spider-Woman
1x Spider-Tracer
1x Web-Shooters
1x Sandman
1x Doppelganger Miles
1x Venom Mysterio
1x Green Goblin
1x Symbiote Spider-Man
1x Goblin Glider
[Iron Man]
1x Iron Man Model I
1x Madam Masque
1x Arc Reactor
1x Hydro Armor
1x Superior Iron Man
1x War Machine
1x Stealth Armor
1x Silver Centurion Blade
1x Hulkbuster Armor
1x Repulsor Blast
[Thor]
1x Asgardian Shield
1x Guard Army of Asgard
1x Hogun
1x Hofund
1x Dragonfang
1x Thor
1x Mjolnir
1x Angela
1x Stormbreaker
1x Thunder Fulmination
[Captain Marvel]
1x Minn-Erva
1x Kree Soldiers
1x Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)
1x Nega-Bands
1x Generational Pendant
1x Supreme Intelligence
1x Kree Rifle
1x Captain Marvel
[Hela]
1x Frost Giant
1x Bloodaxe
1x Dark Elves
1x Frost Beast
1x Bewitching Spell
1x Kurse
1x Loki’s Scepter
1x Fenris Wolf
[Star-Lord]
1x Rocket’s Jetpack
1x Gravity Mine
1x Drax’s Daggers
1x Opening Act
1x Godslayer
1x Moondragon
1x Gamora
[Elektra]
1x Elektra’s Twin Sai
1x The Hood’s Cloak
1x Daredevil’s Billy Clubs
[Neutral]
1x Okoye
1x Outrider
1x A.I.M. Bomb
1x Taskmaster
1x Korg
1x M’Baku
1x Ant-Man
1x Hulk
1x Hyperion
1x Escape the Void
1x Thanos
And that ends our Marvel Duel deck guide. We hope that while it can be a challenge to perfectly mimic the deck composition we listed for each example, what matters more is to grasp the idea behind each one. Keep in mind that every deck has a chance of winning, regardless of how lacking it is with rare cards or even a synergistic concept that works behind it.
There is always the luck of draw. There is also practice that you need to continuously engage in to secure a firmer grasp of your deck to identify and respond to its rooms for improvement. We hope you enjoyed it and learned from it and if you have some ideas and comments to share, the comment section below is your key to letting us know about it!