Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

Cards continue to be added to Marvel Snap every month. All of them are Pool 5 cards. Pool 5 cards can be hard to obtain, especially if you haven't completed Pool 3 yet. You have to get into Pool 3 to even obtain some of the newer Marvel Snap cards that are being added, like Arishem and Ajax. If you really want these cards, you’re going to have to climb and collect more cards. 

So the question is: what are some of the best decks new players can use. Pool 1 is very easy to complete and has a lot of unique and interesting cards that can be used to win some games. Some of these decks are so good that they can compete with the top-tier decks in the game.

Not only will these Pool 1 decks help you climb in the ranks, but they will also help raise your collection level so you can be caught up and be able to obtain future new cards. Keep up the grind and you may be able to get Marvel Boy on day one when he releases. So get on out there and try out some of these excellent decks with easy-to-acquire cards in Pool 1.

10. Strong Guy discard

The name "Strong Guy" isn't telling any lies.

One of the premier Pool 1 cards is Strong Guy. Strong Guy is often forgotten due to his hard-to-activate ability. It can be quite a struggle to get all his power out and in the later pools, he becomes mostly obsolete. However, in Pool 1, he actually does have a lot of cards that can help him reach his goal. Strong Guy gains six additional power when you have one or fewer cards in your hand. So you want to get rid of your cards in your hand and we have the tools to do that, luckily.

Discarding is incredibly useful to meet Strong Guy’s requirements. Blade, Lady Sif, and Sword Master are all discard cards in pool 1. These cards can help you remove cards from your hand in order to shrink your hand size and get that nine-power Strong Guy. Additionally, we have Wolverine and Apocalypse who want to be discarded, giving you some options to prioritize discarding early. There are also a bunch of one costs since they are cheap and easy to throw out onto the board.

Strong Guy discard strengths:

• High-power cards: Blade, Lady Sif, and Sword Master are all cheaper cards that have high power. Sword Master in particular is stacked with a whopping seven power. This gives you a lot of easy ways to get large amounts of power out early.
• Cheap cards: The deck has a lot of one-and-two costs, which makes it easy to throw cards out and always have something to play.
• Tech options: Despite there being not many tech options in Pool 1, this deck makes the most of it and adds Elektra and Armor to the deck. Cosmo is here as well, in case you don’t want to discard any cards at the moment.

Strong Guy discard cards:

• America Chavez (1 cost)
• Rocket Racoon (1 cost)
• Elektra (1 cost)
• Blade (1 cost)
• Wolverine (2 cost)
• Armor (2 cost)
• Cosmo (3 cost)
• Strong Guy (3 cost)
• Lady Sif (3 cost)
• Sword Master (3 cost)
• Spider-Woman (5 cost)
• Apocalypse (6 cost)

9. Move Mixup

I'm over here! No wait, I'm over here!

Move decks are a staple as some of the best decks in the game. The ability to move your cards is an easy way to mess with your opponent. They barely have any way to predict where you’re going to end up since your cards will not stay where they are played. So, here is Move Mixup, which takes advantage of this and creates a deck that will leave your opponent clueless as to what your next move will be. Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, and Heimdall all move cards, which turn the tide of the battle and give you some unexpected wins.

Lockdown is also incorporated into this deck with Professor X. Professor X shuts down a location, making it so the only cards that can be added there are cards that can move there. This works very well with your move deck, as you can get into his location while your opponent cannot. You also have Klaw to add power to that location, just in case you are somehow unable to move into it. Pool 1 has just enough cards to create a very early but powerful version of the Move Lockdown archetype.

Move Mixup strengths:

• Moving: Moving cards is a great way to trick your opponents and force them to predict where you’re going to end up. It also allows you to get into hard-to-reach locations and move out of a lane you know you’re going to lose.
• Power gaining: Forge and Hulkbuster do a great job at adding additional power to your cards. This can be especially useful for Multiple Man since his clones maintain his power. 
• Lockdown: Professor X lockdowns a location for you, which makes it impossible to add cards there for you and your opponent. Unless, of course, you move cards into it, which you can very easily do, giving you a free location to win.

Move Mixup cards:

• Iron Fist (1 cost)
• Nightcrawler (1 cost)
• Forge (2 cost)
• Kraven (2 cost)
• Angela (2 cost)
• Doctor Strange (2 cost)
• Multiple Man (2 cost)
• Hulkbuster (2 cost)
• Enchantress (4 cost)
• Professor X (5 cost)
• Klaw (5 cost)
• Heimdall (6 cost)

8. Big Number Slam

Hulk no like strategy! Hulk just want to break things!

Combos are just too hard. I need something easy, something where I can turn my brain off and just SLAM down the largest cards in the game. Well, say no more. Here is the Big Number Slam. Big Number Slam ignores the idea of trying to pair cards together for a crazy amount of power and just opts to be like the Hulk and SMASH. All the cards in this deck have the capability of having four or more power, which is quite a hefty number for some of the cheaper cards in the game. 

But really, your heavy hitters are going to be the big guys. Namor, when he’s by himself, has eleven whole power; for a four cost, that’s a crazy amount to be dishing out. Abomination and Hulk are also both easy cards to put down for a gigantic amount of numbers without any of the thinking. Lizard and Medusa also act as cheap big cards since both are two-cost, five-power cards if played correctly. This deck is one of the easier decks to master in the game, but that doesn’t make it bad, not even in the slightest. It’s clobberin time!

Big Number Slam strengths: 

• Easy to play: There are no combos here; it’s a simple play your cards where you want them, with maybe a few exceptions. Rocket Racoon still requires you to predict your opponent, and Hawkeye still requires a card to be played on him. But these are easy requirements to meet.
• Huge amounts of power: This deck lives off sheer strength to outmatch the opponent. While they may be playing out smaller cards to get a slow ramping power spread, you will be just putting down cards with hefty strength and just beating them through willpower alone.
• Stacking: Stacking is a great strategy that this deck takes advantage of. You can stack all your cheap cards on one lane, win that lane with those high-power cheap cards and then throw Hulk onto another, winning that lane as well. It’s a great strategy that takes advantage of sheer numbers.

Big Number Slam cards: 

• Hawkeye (1 cost)
• Rocket Racoon (1 cost)
• Medusa (2 cost)
• Armor (2 cost)
• Lizard (2 cost)
• Morph (3 cost)
• The Punisher (3 cost)
• The Thing (4 cost)
• Jessica Jones (4 cost)
• Namor (4 cost)
• Abomination (5 cost)
• Hulk (6 cost)

7. Cheap Bishop

Let's make this quick.

Bishop is a unique card due to his ability to constantly keep growing in power throughout the match. Every time a card is played, no matter where it is, he gets one additional power. Shockingly, this is pretty good with cheap cards. Playing smaller cards that cost one or two right after Bishop is a great way to start his power ramping up much earlier and allow quite a big number for Bishop by the end of the game.

A bunch of one cost cards are crucial for this deck to succeed since they will allow you to add power to Bishop. Ka-Zar also greatly helps this deck since he gives all one cost cards one additional power. This deck is almost half one costs so he greatly benefits from it. Blue Marvel does pretty much the same thing as well. Since you’re playing a lot of cards, Ant-Man and Wolfsbane’s abilities are bound to activate to their fullest potential quite easily. This deck is all for anyone who hates expensive cards and just wants to throw out what they can.

Cheap Bishop strengths:

• One costs: This deck is filled to the brim with one-cost cards; this is especially useful since you always have a card you can throw down.
• Cosmo: Cosmo is included here since his ability doesn’t shut down most of your cards. He works as a great way to protect your ongoing cards from Enchantress and he works to completely counter On Reveal decks.
• Growing power: Your cards may start off small, but Bishop, for example, starts at one power. But as the game goes on, he will grow to even combat the Hulk. This makes Bishop and other cards perfect for later turns when their power spike kicks in.

Cheap Bishop cards:

• Ant-Man (1 cost)
• America Chavez (1 cost)
• Elektra (1 cost)
• Nightcrawler (1 cost)
• Squirrel Girl (1 cost)
• Angela (2 cost)
• Armor (2 cost)
• Bishop (3 cost)
• Wolfsbane (3 cost)
• Cosmo (3 cost)
• Ka-Zar (4 cost)
• Blue Marvel (5 cost)

6. Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians... Stand strong.

This is for everyone who’s a huge fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy. All of the guardians, except for a select few of them, have a unique ability that’s all about predicting your opponent’s next move. When you play them in a location where your opponent will play, they will fire away and gain a sudden burst of increased power. Rocket Racoon goes from one power to four and Groot goes from three power to a whopping seven. Getting a three-cost, seven-power card without any drawbacks is something any Marvel Snap player dreams of.

That’s not all, since this deck also takes full advantage of lockdown capabilities. Professor X is here to potentially lockdown and protect a location you are already winning with the Guardians. Mister Fantastic also does a great job at stretching those arms and adding additional power to those other locations as a backup. Uatu and Mantis give you information to help you combat your opponent. Mantis predicting their card and then giving you a copy could help out in giving you a very useful card. Bring this deck onto the ladder and start climbing, but try not to start a dance off with it.

Guardians of the Galaxy strengths:

• Easy power gain: If you’re able to predict your enemy’s plays, then you get quite an incredible reward for doing so. Starlord becomes six-power and Gamora becomes twelve, which can rival the bigger cards in the game.
• Locations: Uatu gives you a huge advantage over your opponent by letting you see the unrevealed locations at the start. This allows you to play accordingly and around the locations that are about to be revealed. You can also use Scarlet Witch to change an unwanted location.
• Great for learning: Predicting your opponent’s moves to get that power increase can actually greatly benefit how you play Snap. It can give you more insight into how people play and make you a better player overall.

Guardians of the Galaxy cards:

• Rocket Racoon (1 cost)
• America Chavez (1 cost)
• Mantis (1 cost)
• Nightcrawler (1 cost)
• Uatu the Watcher (1 cost)
• Starlord (2 cost)
• Scarlet Witch (2 cost)
• Mister Fantastic (3 cost)
• Groot (3 cost)
• Jessica Jones (4 cost)
• Professor X (5 cost)
• Gamora (5 cost)

5. Discard Destroy 

I'm done playing with the small fry! I need a bite at something bigger.

Destroy is a fun deck to use since it allows you to destroy those meaningless objects you call cards. Carnage is a great early card to get. A two cost card who can destroy other cards and gain power from it. On the surface, Carnage can be eight power quite easily. But you have to work for it. To get that eight power, Carnage has to destroy three other cards. Luckily for us, there’s a bunch of pool one cards he can destroy. 

Nova is a great example of a card that craves to be destroyed. Destroying Nova grants all other cards one additional power, which can be very handy for another card that wants to be destroyed, Wolverine. Wolverine gains power every time he’s destroyed, which means you can constantly kill him and give him more power each turn. He also gains power when discarded. This deck also functions as a discard deck, letting you get rid of cards in order to get more power for Strong Guy and Apocalypse. This merger isn’t quite as strong as the main archetype lists, but it still packs quite the punch your opponent won’t see coming. 

Discard Destroy strengths:

• Easy high power: Killing cards with Carnage is quite easy to do, especially if his targets are Wolverine or a useless squirrel from Squirrel Girl. This makes getting Carnage to a big number pretty simple and this goes for a lot of other cards like Wolverine and Apocalypse.
• Trickery: Seeing a destroy card, your opponent will assume you are a destroy deck and try to counter you. This means that they won’t see the discard portion of this deck coming, meaning you can completely catch them off guard.
• Locations: The destroy aspect makes it so that destroy locations are actually good for you. Altar of Death and Murderworld actually benefit you and can allow for some easy wins since you have cards that can be played there and they don’t.

Discard Destroy cards:

• Nova (1 cost)
• Angel (1 cost)
• Squirrel Girl (1 cost)
• Blade (1 cost)
• Carnage (2 cost)
• Wolverine (2 cost)
• Hulkbuster (2 cost)
• Strong Guy (3 cost)
• Deathlok (3 cost)
• Lady Sif (3 cost)
• Sword Master (3 cost)
• Apocalypse (6 cost)

4. Devil Dino collecting 

Oh he's just adorable.

Card generation is a very unique but fun archetype in the game. Card generation decks rely on you gaining new cards, whether that be random cards, cards from your opponent, or copies of cards from your opponent. These are all ways that you can generate cards and, in turn, give yourself more options to play. This heavily benefits the t-rex, aka the Devil Dinosaur. The dinosaur’s power is based on how many cards are in your hand and if you keep generating cards, you can easily get a ton of power from the Devil Dino.

At max hand size, Dino gets to a strong seventeen power, which is way more than The Hulk, possibly making him the largest card in pool one. That’s not all; Dino is an ongoing card, which means he can benefit from other ongoing cards. So obviously, ongoing cards work very well here too. This deck has a bunch of ongoing cards so if the Devil Dinosaur line doesn’t work out, Spectrum can come in clutch and secure a different kind of win. Another pro of this deck is that you’re using a dinosaur! What’s not to like?

Devil Dino's collecting strengths:

• Card generation: Having a good, constant way to get new cards can be beneficial if you don’t have anything that can be played at the moment. It allows you to get new options to combat your foe.
• Information: All your card-generating cards show you something the opponent is using. This can be incredibly useful information since it tells you what they’re playing and gives you a huge advantage on what to play around.
• Moon Girl: Moon Girl is a unique card that duplicates your hand. This can be useful for catching an opponent off guard, like doing a Devil Dinosaur on turns five and six. Makes sense that her and the Dino would make a great team.

Devil Dino collecting cards:

• Ant-Man (1 cost)
• Mantis (1 cost)
• Armor (2 cost)
• Cable (2 cost)
• Sentinel (2 cost)
• Mister Fantastic (3 cost)
• Captain America (3 cost)
• Cosmo (3 cost)
• Moon girl (4 cost)
• White Queen (4 cost)
• Devil Dinosaur (5 cost)
• Spectrum (6 cost)

3. Zoo

The time has come for them to face the wrath of Ka-Zar!

With Ka-Zar being a very early card you can acquire in Marvel Snap, it’s no wonder that you’d want to take full advantage of his insane amount of power spread early. His ability to give additional power to one cost cards makes him incredibly useful in the early levels. Especially since down in pool 1, there is no such thing as a Killmonger, meaning all your one costs are safe. It should be no surprise that half of this deck is made up of one cost cards since they all benefit from not just Ka-Zar but also Blue Marvel.

Zoo decks are all about filling your locations with small cards quickly and then increasing their power in a multitude of ways. Hawkeye and Ant-Man become pretty large power cards if their conditions are met. The same goes for Wolfsbane, who benefits from full locations. If played in that fourth spot, she becomes a seven-power card. But Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel are ongoing cards, which means they can get their abilities removed by Enchantress, but don’t stress! Cosmo is a great card to put in the same location as those cards; that cute little dog will do heavy work protecting your cards from the sinister Enchantress. All around, this deck works perfectly in Pool 1 and is definitely a highly recommended deck to run if you want to get to higher ranks.

Zoo strengths:

• Power spread: Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel add additional power to all locations, which gives you a boost in strength in locations you probably didn’t think you could win.
• Cheap cards: The deck is very cheap, which means you always have something at your disposal to play. This could be quite useful, especially if locations require cards to be played on certain turns.
• Movement: Iron Fist and Nightcrawler are cards that can allow for mobility. Movement can let you get into bad locations or allow you to trick your opponent.

Zoo cards:

• Ant-Man (1 cost)
• Hawkeye (1 cost)
• America Chavez (1 cost)
• Iron Fist (1 cost)
• Nightcrawler (1 cost)
• Squirrel Girl (1 cost)
• Angela (2 cost)
• Armor (2 cost)
• Wolfsbane (3 cost)
• Cosmo (3 cost)
• Ka-Zar (4 cost)
• Blue Marvel (5 cost)

2. Ongoing

Behold my mighty hand!

Ongoing will probably be one of the archetypes you aim for first in Marvel Snap. Seeing how many cards have an ongoing ability, you would naturally think to pair all of them together. And you would be correct. An ongoing deck is a deck that mashes ongoing cards together to create a deck that works quite well on the ladder. It’s ability to stay and persist throughout the game makes it not only easy to play but satisfying to win with. 

Your key turn six plays are either going to be Spectrum or Onslaught. Both give extraordinary boosts to your ongoing cards. Spectrum is great for trying to win multiple locations, while Onslaught is great for winning one location where you’re really struggling. Onslaught on Iron Man for example, is an easy twenty eight power, that’s only with two cards. This isn’t even mentioning how Mister Fantastic adds power to all locations and Captain America boosts your ongoing cards even more by giving them two more power. All these cards work so well with each other and just create quite a threat you can dish out onto the board.

Ongoing strengths:

• Ongoing effects: Ongoing effects can be quite helpful, as they are abilities that persist throughout the game. They aren’t a one time thing like On Reveals, so as long as you don’t get countered by Enchantress, then you’ll easily destroy your opponents.
• Great situational options: Klaw can be used to put power in hard-to-reach locations. Onslaught can double the effects of an ongoing card. Iron Man can double the power of a location. These are all cards with similar costs but with different purposes. This gives you a multitude of options to win.
• Surprise Factor: Nobody expects the last turn Spectrum. The big power boost she gives to ongoing cards can catch your foe completely by surprise and give you a win they didn’t see coming.

Ongoing cards:

• Ant-Man (1 cost)
• Armor (2 cost)
• Colossus (2 cost)
• Lizard (2 cost)
• Mister Fantastic (3 cost)
• Captain America (3 cost)
• The Punisher (3 cost)
• Namor (4 cost)
• Iron Man (5 cost)
• Klaw (5 cost)
• Spectrum (6 cost)
• Onslaught (6 cost)

1. On Reveal

Face the spirit of the Tiger!

Finally, at the top, we have not only an easy deck to succeed with, but one that takes all the best parts of other decks on this list. We also have a new archetype that revolves all around the six cost King of Asgard, Odin. Odin’s ability is very strong in the early levels. His ability allows another On Reveal card on the location he’s played at to activate again. On Reveals are all very strong abilities in Marvel Snap and he goes ahead and makes them even better.

Your play order will probably mostly follow the same, but since there are so many On Reveal cards, you can swap out cards and play differently based on the situation. But typically, Iron Heart on turn three, Wolfsbane on turn four, White Tiger on turn five, and Odin on turn six. This combo will not only give you a very strong single location with Wolfsbane activating twice, but it will also allow for major power spread from White Tiger, sending her eight power tigers elsewhere. It’s very hard to compete with this combo in Pool 1, so hop on the rainbow bridge to Asgard and get to playing this incredibly strong deck.

On Reveal strengths:

• Choices: There are a lot of On Reveal cards in this deck, so you have plenty of options to choose to reactivate with Odin. Maybe you want to reactivate Wolfsbane for even more power on a single location or reactive Iron Heart for more power spread. There are just a lot of situational options you can go with to win your games.
• Odin: Odin’s ability is just so strong. Reactivating an On Reveal card can allow for so many opportunities. It’s kind of hard to counter it in Pool 1, especially if you’re able to maintain priority and avoid that dog, Cosmo.
• Guardians: This deck includes most of the Guardians of the Galaxy, which can increase your skill in Marvel Snap due to the high skill ceiling their abilities have. Plus, they can really mess up your opponent and force them to change their game plan.

On Reveal cards:

• Ant-Man (1 cost)
• Hawkeye (1 cost)
• Nightcrawler (1 cost)
• Medusa (2 cost)
• Star Lord (2 cost)
• Ironheart (3 cost)
• Wolfsbane (3 cost)
• Groot (3 cost)
• Jessica Jones (4 cost)
• White Tiger (5 cost)
• Gamora (5 cost)
• Odin (6 cost)

You May Also Be Interested In:

• 20 Best Variants in Marvel Snap
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• [Top 15] Marvel Snap Best Cards To Buy (Ranked)