Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide  

This Marvel Snap Beginner’s guide covers everything you need to know about the game to get started.

Marvel Snap has become one of the most popular mobile games of the year, combining some strategic card-based gameplay with the much-loved cast of characters from Marvel Comics. The game is pretty complex in places, so a Marvel Snap beginner’s guide can help clear a lot of things up.

The game can be complicated for a beginner. It's pretty different from other top mobile games. Getting around the pay-to-win aspects, and learning the best Marvel Snap Decks or strategies, there’s a lot to think about. If you’re just getting started, this Marvel Snap’s Beginner’s guide covers everything you need to know about the game. You can start getting ahead and winning rounds in PvP, and increasing your selection and optimizing the grind.

Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide

The Basics

Marvel Snap is played as a card game. Although, it has a unique ruleset and mechanics, like the titular snapping.

The game's rules aren’t too complicated, with players being able to understand the basics pretty quickly. The strategy can get surprisingly deep for saying how easy to learn the game is, though. The gameplay is mixed between deck building and actually playing the game. If you’re a complete Marvel Snap beginner, deck building is amassing cards so you can get a better deck to compete in matches. The strategy of the game itself is different.

In actual matches, players take turns in head-to-head games. Each match is divided into six turns each. Both players take their six turns, and then the game ends. This keeps things fast compared to some other TCG games. Although, you definitely can’t afford to waste a turn with this quick model for gameplay.

How Matches Work

• Each deck is 12 cards. You cannot duplicate a card in a deck, they need to be unique.
• There are three locations in each game. They get added one by one.
• The aim is to have more points across the three locations at the end of the game.
• The player with the most score will own each location. Whoever has two out of three will win the game.
• Placing cards can activate effects beyond just adding to a total though.

Points and Abilities

• Points are determined by both energy and power
• Energy is the blue icon on the cards, it is easiest to think of it as a cost for using the card.
• Power is the yellow total. This one is what the card will add to your point total in the location where you play it.
• Energy is built per turn. Budgeting it to use the right cards as you have more energy is important.
• Cards can have passive effects. These could mean that you get more points by playing them in the right locations. Although, play them in the wrong spot and you might lose points.

Playing competitively lets you test your skills against other players too. This is the main event of the game. Here, you’ll have to risk your own cubes to try and earn more and gain points in the leader board and rise up the competitive ranks.

Deck Building and Cards – Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide

That’s how games work in the most basic way. However, building the right deck could decide who is going to win before you even jump in. Deck building is a key part of the game. Cards work differently here, though, with players needing to upgrade them. This is what you need to know about the cards for a Marvel Snap beginner’s guide.

Collecting Cards

Much like Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, or other games, getting high-level cards is key in this game. There are some different ways that you can acquire better cards.

The first is to buy them. Yeah, there’s no getting around this. You can purchase digital card packs and try to pull a high-value card. However, you can also unlock them. You don’t need to just spend money to get good cards, especially if you’re looking to unlock higher-power cards.

To unlock better cards, you need to upgrade the ones you already have. As your collection level increases, you’ll get given mystery cards. This collector level can go up into the thousands, so there are plenty of opportunities for improvement.

The cards in Marvel Snap are vital for gameplay, but it isn’t precisely the same system as in other card games. The cards you have available in this game have to get upgraded, through playing. This puts your card quality down to you, not just what you spend.

This is a Marvel Snap beginner’s guide to how card rarity works:

• Uncommon – Basic cards. These add 1 to your collection level.
• Rare – This is the next upgrade, which adds 2 to the collection level.
• Epic – Adds 4 to collection level.
• Legendary – Adds 6 to collection level.
• Ultra – Adds 8 to collection level.
• Infinity – Adds 10 to collection level. This is the final level, at least at the moment in the game.

Upgrading Cards

The main gameplay in Marvel Snap is playing matches, but also upgrading your cards, so you have a better chance in future matches. Upgrading cards require credits. You have to get through playing, specifically by completing daily missions.

On top of credits, you also need booster cards to upgrade those that you already have. These are exclusive to each card. If you have a booster for Spider-Man, you’ll need to use it for that specific card, it doesn’t work on every card.

As you raise up the upgrade levels, you’ll need to use more credits and card boosters to upgrade your card. As you get to the very high rarity levels, you’re going to need quite a bit more. This is how you can unlock more cards too.

Upgrading Cards Quickly in Marvel Snap

Since you unlock cards at random, deck building can be a bit of a challenge in Marvel Snap. There are over 1000 variants for cards, so it’s definitely rough if you’re looking for specific cards at any sort of speed. There are some tips from a Marvel Snap beginner’s guide to optimizing this though.

• The first is to upgrade as much as possible.
• Play matches. These reward you with card boosts which means you can be unlocking upgrades at a decent pace.
• Each game will give you a card booster of a card that you had in your deck. These are the only cards that can get boosters, though. The amount depends on how many turns the game went for.
• If you only played 4 turns, you’ll only get 4 boosters. This means it always makes the most sense to stay in a game for as long as possible.

You can use this to upgrade your creation level quickly. Make a deck of five uncommon cards, play a game, and then immediately, you’ll get the boost to upgrade them. This can let you level up your collection level pretty quickly.

The more you upgrade your cards, the better increase you get in your collection level. Although, you’ll require a high level to boost the cards too.

All of this can make deck building difficult. There are loads of cards and loads of variants of cards. Upgrading them can be a bit of a grind.

Card Variants – Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide

While there are only so many different cards, there are tons of variants. These are different versions of the same character with different rarities. These all take the same boosters. So if you’re running low on credits, you can upgrade other variants of a card at a lower cost to grind up quicker.

You get variants from the season pass and get them in the shop itself. As mentioned, it’s difficult to get an exact variant. Really just engaging with the grind is the best way to get through card variants.

Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide – Locations and Strategy

Gameplay in the actual card game of Marvel Snap involves three different locations. The first comes into play at your first turn, the second at the second turn, and the last on the third turn. You’ll need to pay attention to these locations; they are key to gameplay.

Each location can have its own effect. Such as “cards can’t be played here”. However, you can use card effects with these, like playing a card at another location which has the effect to get moved over to another location.

Each location is different and has its own effect. These can vary and even include making games an entire round longer. These are going to be key to winning matches. Although, your card effects can change locations too. Some cards can change or move the location that they're placed in. This can help you counteract locations that don’t have good synergy with your deck. A Marvel Snap beginner’s guide can’t cover each individual location. However, you’ll need to have cards in your deck that can deal with locations that make direct play harder.

Think about the locations that get pulled in each match. You’ll need to strategize depending on what locations are played. Sometimes, the game runs events which limit the locations in use or make one very common. Pay attention to these events so you can get to grips with how to optimize your deck for that location. It can help take some of the guesswork out of gameplay.

Snapping – Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide

This is a key mechanic in the game. It’s where it gets its name. Snapping is a system for the competitive side of the game. It lets you gamble your points. You can select the number of points you’re going to wager. This can increase the amount you gain from a match. Although, it also increases the amount that you lose. This is a gamble, but backing out of a game will always limit your losses.

Here isn’t a huge strategy for snapping. It depends on how confident you are heading in. Obviously, it’s hard to predict if you’re going to win or not. It really just depends on how adventurous you’re feeling. Snapping on a later turn makes a lot more sense but has fewer rewards.

Marvel Snap Beginner’s Guide – Tips

These are some key tips from a Marvel Snap beginner’s guide:

• The in-game store gives 50 free credits a day, try to make sure you’re claiming them.
• You get six daily missions a day. If you complete all of these, you can maximize your rewards.
• Card Boosters are useful even for cards that aren’t part of your best deck. Use other cards to upgrade more cards.
• The higher your collection level, the more cards you’re going to unlock.
• Upgrade cards, even if they’re not the best picks. You’ll get more cards in return which can help things out.
• Rewards also come from the season pass, so it’s worth doing all types of challenges.
• You can build decks around a few cards. The more powerful cards should be the center of your deck, with the other cards supporting them.
• Leftover energy isn’t a bad thing, don’t feel like you need to use all of it at every turn if it doesn’t fit your strategy.
• Locations are important for your strategy in-game. You’ll have to adjust depending on which of these are played.
• Try and think about what your opponent might be able to play. If they’re running a particularly notable meta or deck, you’ll probably have a bit of an idea of what is coming next from your opponent.

Do You Need to Spend Money in Marvel Snap?

Marvel Snap is a game where you can spend money to get ahead. You can buy the cards and purchase your way to a better set-up. However, you don’t have to. While it cuts down on grinding time, you can play the game perfectly well without spending cash on it.

The game does push players to spend money on booster packs. However, if you’re willing to grind and time things. The important thing to keep in mind is that you’re going to have to grind. Although, even if you do purchase packs, there aren’t any guarantees. Everyone is dealing with cards they unlock randomly. So spending money isn’t even definitely going to help. You can get through the game and have a lot of fun without grabbing booster packs.

That’s roughly what you need to know as a Marvel Snap Beginner’s guide. This game has plenty of depth, so players can dig in and find a surprisingly complex strategy as they rise up the competitive ranks.