Marvel Snap: 9 tips you should know before starting

Marvel SnapIt took the entire world by storm in just a few seconds. The competitive card game, developed by Second Dinner Games and out now for Android, iOS, and Steam, has found wild success due to a design philosophy as old as time: It’s easy to pick up, near-impossible to put down, and constantly showers you with progression rewards. There are also superheroes. There are manySuperheroes.

It’s a little GwentIt is a small but important thing to remember. Marvel Ultimate AllianceMatches Marvel SnapYou can play the cards for six rounds. Every card has an energy rating (how much it costs to play) and a power rating (how much it’s worth on the board). Each turn your energy goes up by 1; it increases from one to two turns on the first, then two and three on the second, until six turn 6. There are three lanes — room for four cards on each side — each featuring a location themed around Marvel lore, with abilities that shift the parameters at play. The highest score in any of three lanes will win you the prize.

If you’ve played a competitive card game, you’ll be familiar with the basics. You don’t have to know everything. Marvel Snap, despite its smooth onramp, doesn’t fully explain every little facet. There’s a lot you can miss, from organizational tricks to tactical strategies to the one thing everyone loves: free money. This advice will ensure that you have a strong start.

Every day, you can receive a batch of credit credits for free

Marvel SnapThere are many in-game currencies available, but none is more valuable than Credit. Credits can be used to unlock new cards and level up existing cards. Each time you increase the level of a card you will earn points towards your next purchase. collection levelIn the initial stages of the game, you will receive a random card at every 4 levels. However, later games may have fewer cards.

Image by Marvel/Second Dinner Games

By heading to the store (it’s the tab all the way on the left) and scrolling down to the blue subsection, you’ll see a row of credit packages you can buy for gold (another in-game currency). One of those packages, you’ll note, “costs” 0 gold. This purchase can be made only once per day. Don’t forget, but if you do, you’ll see a red notification over the store icon in the app whenever it’s available.

There’s no reason not to upgrade cards

In exchange for credit, you can upgrade your cards. Boosters. Higher levels have a higher price: A card can be upgraded to its second level by spending 5 credits and 25 credits. To upgrade a card to the third level, it will cost 10 credits and 100 credits.

I’m still in pool 1 — Marvel Snap’s designation for the early goings, and the cards you can unlock as a result — but I haven’t seen any good reason to avoid upgrading a card when given the chance. Early on, thanks to daily challenges and the game’s general progression system, you’ll have more credits than you know what to do with. Plus, boosters are character-specific — you can’t, for instance, use your Iron Man boosters on an Odin card — so you might as well use boosters when you have them.

Leveling up cards unlocks more cards which can be used to level up for more cards. You can find out more about how this works in our breakdown of card unlocking (including some recommendations for beginner decks).

You can’t play with an incomplete deck

It’s natural to want to build a small deck of cards that only has a few powerful ones. This will allow you tight control over which characters show up in your hands. However, Marvel Snap won’t let you play a match unless you have a full dozen cards in your deck. Also, even if you have multiple variants — twists on existing cards you have, with the same stats and abilities but done up in a different art style — you can only add one of each hero to your deck.

Total power determines the tie.

It’s rare, but sometimes matches break down in a tie: Each player winning one location, with a tie at the third. Whoever has more power wins the victory. In these cases, the winner is determined by winning on the MojoworldIt is important to locate, as it grants you 100 power.

Image by Polygon: Marvel/Second Dinner Games

Filter your card library

You’ll quickly accrue more cards than your phone screen can display at once. The default card library displays your complete collection, including every card in every power level plus any variant. Select the Key-shaped iconYou can find a listing of filters in the lower left corner. Turning off “all variants” (it’s on by default) will reduce clutter significantly. Filters can be turned on as well. energy cost General abilities — whether it’s an “ongoing” card, an “on reveal” one, or so on. Filters are a great way to reduce clutter in a menu that grows more complicated the more you play. You can also sort your cards by a variety of criteria, including “Upgradeable” (which puts cards you can upgrade first) or “Recent” (which shows your most recently acquired cards first).

The bigger number isn’t always better

It’s a logical move: Play a card with a big number on it, you win the location. However, you can still win by looking outside of the box using cards with lesser power. Consider the following: Mr. Fantastic card. Although it has only two powers, AlsoAdds 2 power to nearby locations. Let’s say you now: Bar Sinister location — which fills the whole spot with copies of whichever card you played — is in the middle. That means you apply Mr. Fantastic’s effect four times on both other locations. Yes, this strategy means you’re essentially giving up the middle lane, but it shores up your score on the other two. It’s a smart move. And one you wouldn’t get by playing, say, the 12-power, ability-free Hulk on Bar Sinister.

Image by Marvel/Second Dinner Games

Oh, snap!

One of Snap’s The snap is the key to its mechanics. When you snap, you double the amount of cubes (the game’s version of ranked points) in play for both players. Snapping only goes into effect after the opposing player completes their next turn — you can’t snap in the middle of a turn and have it immediately count – but it’s something you want to do when you’re feeling confident of winning the matchup. You can only take a snap once per round. If the opponent drops out, it will reward you with more rewards. Speaking of which…

When to stop

Because of the snap and cube system, staying in a game that you’re losing can be a bad decision. If things aren’t breaking your way — maybe the locations synergize poorly with your cards, or maybe your opponent just outplayed you — cut your losses and accept a one-cube defeat, rather than risking losing four or even eight.

There’s a 60 fps mode

Why you’d need a battery-devouring higher frame rate mode for a mobile game like Marvel SnapI’m not sure. But hey, if you want it, the option’s there!