Marvel Snap’s Pool 1 gave us some basic archetypes to play with, and Pool 2 allowed us to both hone the decks we had as well as to begin hybridizing with the addition of powerful control cards like Killmonger, Sandman, and Storm. Pool 3, on the other hand, is where the game really gets going; with the addition of missing pieces to turn coherent decks into unstoppable machines.
If you’ve gotten this far into Marvel Snap, congratulations, and I think it’s a fair assessment to say that by now, you have a solid game plan for your deck. However, Pool 3 adds so many tools that a guide to unique cards, as well as solid deck tech options, is in order.
You no doubt already have a favorite deck, as well as a playstyle you like – so feel free to skip ahead to the deck archetype you use. If, however, you’d like to taste test the buffet of cards that Marvel Pool 3 has to offer, read on!
Spotlight Cards
A caveat before we begin: this deckbuilding guide does not cover the Rare and Ultra Rare pools. Getting cards in Pool 3 is a lot slower than in previous pools, so these decks will be limited to more common and accessible cards.
Pool 3 is another massive card collection, adding (as of writing) 77 new cards to play with. Some of these are great generic splashes that you can add to any deck, while others provide the oomph that certain decks were missing.
- Aero is a great addition to any deck by providing a new means of disruption – pulling enemy cards to a location they didn’t choose.
- While Aero is good, Magneto is better. By yoinking all your opponent’s 3 and 4 cost cards to his field, he can deliberately lose you an arena – and net you a win on all others!
- Death provides Destroy decks with a powerful win condition; however, that’s not the only way to play her!
- Destroy decks will be glad to know Deadpool is here to give them a scaling card throughout the match.
- Destroyer is another potent addition to Destroy decks, thanks to its ability to destroy all your cards.
- Wasp is a simple yet formidable 0/1 card that’s often used to pay costs or trigger random effects, like Lockjaw’s. In the same vein is Yellowjacket, who does have higher Power as well as a debuff for your field.
- Psylocke won’t be flipping boards at 2/1, but her ability to give you +1 Energy on your next turn is very powerful.
- Doctor Doom is an incredible split pusher; while he’s a very modest 6/5 body, he summons 6/5 Doombots to your other locations.
- Wong doubles your On Reveal effects. Simple and effective.
- Discard decks rejoice – your queen is here. Hela’s ability to secure an endgame board is unmatched, even if the locations are random.
- Movement decks will be glad to know that they finally get some great scaling cards such as Human Torch and Dagger.
- Zero is a great way to negate the effects of cards with hefty debuffs.
- Mystique and Rogue provide interesting effect manipulation: the former copies the Ongoing effects of the last card you played, while the latter steals an Ongoing effect from an enemy’s card at her location.
- Mysterio floods the board and allows you to play mind games early in the match. Beware: his Illusions do take up board space!
- Electro is both an On Reveal and Ongoing card – you’ll likely need to build entirely around him to get the most mileage out of his +1 Max Energy effect.
- Spider-Man provides simple yet excellent lockdown capabilities.
- Goose is another lockdown card that limits an arena to 1-3 Cost cards.
- Invisible Woman delays all your card reveals in a location until the end of the game. Keep your opponent guessing!
- Viper gives your opponent one of your other cards at her location, which is great for imposing effects on your opponent, such as Ebony Maw’s hard lockdown.
- Sera is an incredibly potent card that reduces the cost of all cards in your hand by 1. The earlier you can cheat her out, the better.
- Leader helps you seal wins by copying all your opponent’s plays on that turn.
- Wave simply changes all cards to cost 4 on the next turn.
Super Spotlight Cards
Some cards in Marvel Snap’s Pool 3 are so unique that to just label them as “spotlight cards” isn’t exactly fair. These cards completely turn the game around and, usually, entire decks need to be built around them.
- Agatha Harkness is so unique that she got her own tier on my Marvel Snap tier list. She’s a 6/14 body that plays the game for you.
- Mister Negative warps the board by swapping the Power and Cost of all cards still in your deck.
- Dracula has 0 Power on his own but requires you to discard a card at the end of the game (whether you win or lose) – and that card’s Power becomes Dracula’s Power.
[image: magik, caption: I’m not a fan, but I can’t deny Magik.]
- Despite the nerf blocking Magik from being played on turn 6, she’s still incredibly potent in decks thanks to her +1 turn effect.
- Lockjaw is a low 3/2 body, but his effect causes you to randomly swap cards you play in his location with another card in your deck.
- Daredevil provides you with turn 5 information, an advantage that no other card gives you.
Mixing And Matching Again
As with Pool 2, it’s important to begin splashing more options in your deck. Running pure Destroy or Discard is all fine and well, but you can tweak these decks more towards your playstyle by siding in powerful tech cards. The possibilities are only limited by your creativity and ability to adapt and innovate, but here are some suggestions to get you started.
Electro is a great example of a tech option. His effect, while powerful, has a drawback where you can only play a single card per turn. Combine him with a card like Sandman, and you force your opponent to play with the same rules as you. Splash both into decks that only really like to play one card per turn (hint: Infinaut), and you get a slow, yet mighty ramping deck that can play cards ahead of its opponent while heavily restricting their actions.
Both Wasp and Lockjaw are going to be around a lot and with good reason. Lockjaw’s effect causes cards you play to be swapped randomly with a card in your deck. With Wasp’s 0 costs, you can keep throwing her at Lockjaw’s location and hope you get lucky. This engine works fantastic in decks that have lots of high costs, and high power cards, and it’s especially potent if said cards have great ongoing effects – such as Sera.
Wave is another option for decks that require high-cost cards to be on the field as soon as possible. By converting all cards to 4 cost, you can play your powerhouses earlier. Just be wary: your opponent will most likely try to capitalize on this too. In the same vein, Wave also makes low-cost cards more expensive, which can greatly harm the game plan of swarm-type decks.
Decks and Springboards
Pool 3 is an altogether different beast than the first few pools, and at this point, you must have a deck with a solid strategy. If you’re having a rough time upgrading your decks from Pool 2 to 3, or want to start building a new deck, here’s a list of decks that you can use.
Remember: these are basic decklists and I strongly suggest you tailor and customize these with tech options to suit your own playstyle!
Destruction / Deathwave Deck
Bucky Barnes, Deathlok, and Carnage were great additions to this deck in Pool 2, but the self-destruction deck always lacked that little special something to really close out boards. Pool 3 provides the means to do so via Death, leading these decks to also be dubbed Deathwave decks.
We Who Are About to Self-Destruct Salute You
Some of the cards you might like to include in your Deathwave deck are:
- Death, lovely Death. While your self-destruct deck lacked solid endgame play until Pool 3, those days are over. Death is a very big body that thrives off death (what else?) and the more card destruction happens, the cheaper she becomes.
- Cards like Carnage, Venom, and Deathlok now pull double duty by both pushing the field and destroying your own cards, thus lowering Death’s cost.
- Bucky Barnes remains a relevant card – it’s hard to compete with Winter Soldier’s sheer value.
- Nova is still a great card that buffs your entire board when he’s destroyed. Judicious timing is needed to maximize his potential.
- Killmonger’s massive nuke is great for feeding kills to Death, especially if your opponent is playing a swarm deck.
- In the same vein, Shang-Chi snipes all your opponent’s high Power cards, again feeding kills to Death.
Destruction Tech Cards
And here are some cards you might want to splash in.
- Deadpool is a natural fit for this deck – the more times he’s destroyed, the stronger he gets.
Deadpool is also effectively infinite destruction fodder, which cards like Venom and Carnage will appreciate. - Destroyer is a good option for suddenly flipping the board on the last turn and activating all your on-destroy effects at once. Do note that Destroyer tends to be mutually exclusive with Death.
- Elektra is good for sniping troublesome 1-cost cards, and her ability scores another kill for Death.
- If you’re feeling particularly ballsy, or if your opponent has been counter-playing you, you can use Wave to drop Death’s cost to 4.
- Wolverine and Sabretooth remain solid midgame cards that benefit from being destroyed.
- The Hood is a great Pool 3 card as you can skirt around his -2 by destroying him, and the Demon he adds to your hand is a very respectable 1/6 body.
Discard Deck / Hela Deck
Hela represents a major power spike for Discard decks thanks to her unrivaled ability to build a turn 6 board, as well as turning your discard from costs into opportunities.
Discard Core
Your Pool 3 Discard deck will likely run:
- Hela. Oh, dear Odin above, Hela. While she’s a very modest 6/6 body, she puts all cards you discarded into play when she hits the field. Even if the arenas she puts them in are random, it’s incredibly difficult to match the sheer power spike that Hela offers.
- High Power at cost cards like Blade and Sword Master grow even more potent thanks to Hela’s endgame play.
- Swarm remains relevant thanks to his ability to infinitely recycle himself.
- Lady Sif returns and is much more powerful thanks to her targeted discard. Free Infinaut in the last turn, anyone?
- Ghost Rider is a lighter version of Hela that can put a lot of midgame pressure on your opponent if he fetches a high-power discard like Infinaut or Giganto.
Discard Tech Cards
And now some tech options.
- Gambit has low power, but he both discards a card from your hand and destroys a random enemy card.
- Hell Cow is one of the worse “power at cost cards” as she’s just a 4/6; her real use is to throw two cards from your hand. She’ll do it in a pinch.
- Morbius is a more potent tech option now as your discards are much less judicious thanks to Hela.
- Black Cat is not only great at pushing the board on turn 3, but she also discards herself if she isn’t played.
- Moon Knight forces your opponent to play the same game as you by discarding a card from both players’ hands.
- Moon Girl duplicates your hand, which not only gives you a lot more discard fodder but also allows you to make better-targeted discards for your Hela play.
- Finally, the Moon Knight meme is in play: random bu****it go! High-power cards such as The Infinaut, Giganto, Hulk, Hel (yeah I said it), and even Death are great discard targets as their sheer power allows you to tilt the entire board when Hela brings them back from the grave.
Patriot Token Swarm
While nothing is stopping you from running Kazoo in Pool 3, I prefer Patriot’s flavor of token beatdown as it’s a lot more customizable than Kazoo’s full-on unga bunga tactics and is thus a lot more resistant to disruption. This flexibility also gives the Patriot Token deck the ability to pivot into powerful Ongoing or On Reveal cards without sacrificing too much of its core.
The Patriot deck aims to maximize the effect of its namesake card by hitting the board with as many tokens as possible (as tokens have no effect) and buffing them with a very respectable +2 Power.
We’re All Sons of the Patriots Now
Patriot swarm decks will likely run:
- Patriot, because we want BIG tokens.
- Mystique is a great addition to this deck, as two Patriots are undoubtedly better than one.
- Token swarmers are invaluable to this deck: Squirrel Girl’s squirrels, Mister Sinister’s Sinister Clones, Mysterio’s Illusions, Brood’s Broodlings, Doctor Doom’s Doombots, and heck, even Ultron’s Drones are prime targets for Patriot’s buff.
Techs of the Patriots
There are some notable additions to the Kazoo deck in Pool 2.
- Ka-Zar is no longer core to this deck, but if you find yourself more comfortable playing with 1-cost cards, Ka-Zar is still pretty good. The fact that he’s a legal Mystique target helps his case.
- Blue Marvel is here, too, as you’re still playing quantity over quality.
- Onslaught boosts your outgoing Patriot and/or Mystique buffs for that final push.
- Your starter no-ability cards can see some use in this deck. In a pinch, you can bring back Misty Knight, Shocker, or even (gulp!) Cyclops.
Movement Deck
Pool 3 Movement decks receive two very potent cards in the forms of Human Torch and Dagger, both of whom can scale very quickly and give the deck a lot more power apart from just Vulture.
Perhaps more interestingly, Pool 3 introduces a lot of cards that force enemy movements, such as Juggernaut, Aero, and Magneto. These cards provide potent disruption and can trigger extra effects – such as Dagger’s – when used in tandem with a Movement deck.
Move It, Move It
Marvel Snap Pool 3 Movement Decks will likely run:
- Alongside Vulture should be your new powerhouses Human Torch and Dagger. Depending on how many cards you have that facilitate your own movement, you might want to go either or on these cards.
- Pool 3 unfortunately didn’t add too many self-movement cards, so you’ll still be relying on Iron Fist, Cloak, Doctor Strange, or even Heimdall to move your guys around.
- Buffing Multiple Man and duplicating him infinitely is still a solid strategy. Note that movement decks that run Multiple Man tend to focus on just beefing him up over any other movement cards!
- Regardless of which card you use to carry your endgame board, make sure to make room for Miles Morales – who can say no to a 1/5 card, after all?
Movement Tech Cards
There’s not too much flash to Movement decks, but here are some options you might want to consider.
- As there aren’t many self-movement cards, you’ll probably want a way to recycle them. If that sounds good to you, Beast is your guy.
- Enemy disruption cards like Juggernaut, Aero, and Magneto not only ruin your opponent’s game plan but also proc Dagger.
- Kingpin can provide a neat sweep when paired with an enemy disruption card.
- Kraven is more of a tech choice this time around.
Mister Negative Deck
Mister Negative has a one-of-a-kind effect and is a “build around” card rather than one you splash in.
Because of this, you must build a deck that’s strong enough to take advantage of Mister Negative’s unique effect while still being able to keep up with your opponent’s plays.
Nega-Core
You’ll want these cards in your Mister Negative deck:
- Mister Negative.
- Iron Man is a superbly good card in almost any deck, but he becomes 0/5 if Mister Negative flips him, and even if his stats aren’t flipped, his effect is still amazing.
- Sera goes online one turn earlier if Mister Negative can flip her stats.
- Psylocke is pretty much a must-have for decks that play big-effect 4 Cost cards.
- Cards with a high cost, low power, and devastating effects: Rogue and Mystique get their cake and eat it, too; Magik can be played earlier; Blue Marvel becomes a 3/5 field-wide buffer; Ironheart becomes super broken. The possibilities abound!
Nega-Tech!
And now for some sides.
- Adam Warlock is a janky card to work with, but if flipped, he becomes a 0/2 that gives you an extra card draw!
- Early staples like Angela and Wolfsbane get to keep their powerful effects while still benefitting from Mister Negative’s stat flip.
- Jubilee is here if we fail to draw Mister Negative and fail to control or curb our opponent. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.
- Lockjaw is another backup plan if the RNG hates us – and it does.
Into Infinity!
While these decks have a solid foundation, they just barely scratch the surface of what’s possible in Pool 3, and you will definitely need to combine these decks with your own playstyle – as well as with other decks or engines – if you want to be able to compete in the higher echelons of Marvel Snap. Always remember: adaptation and evolution are key, so don’t be afraid to experiment!