Best Marvel Snap Death decks and how to counter them

Marvel Snap turns some of the most beloved and hated heroes and villains from the entire galaxies and universes created by the minds of Stan Lee and the other Marvel comic artists into digital playable cards. One such villain who is known as a force to be reckoned with is Death and with the best Death deck at your disposal, soon you’ll be just as powerful.

Death is depicted in the Marvel comics as a lady with absolutely powerful abilities which she uses to, of course, kill other creatures and species. She is a cosmic-level entity, yet Thanos fell in love with her.

In Marvel Snap, Death is a cost nine card with twelve power points. Its cost is lowered by one for each card destroyed. Indeed, Death’s effect is powerful, and a deck centering around it can be a meta option.

Here are the best Death decks in Marvel Snap.

Best Marvel Snap Death decks

Death Destruction deck

To lower Death’s cost as low as possible, a deck revolving around destroying both your and your opponent’s units is the standard choice when it comes to building a deck around the cosmic entity. 

Twelve power points is a massive power source and can change the flow of the game in an instant, so making Death’s cost lower should be your main goal in this deck. And you can do that if you are willing to sacrifice even your own units.

Cards that can destroy your own cards are a must in this deck. 

This includes Carnage, which destroys your other cards in the location where you played it plus two power for each card destroyed, Venom, which also destroys your other cards in the same location you revealed it but adds the destroyed cards’ total power to it, Killmonger, which can destroy all cost one cards (both yours and your opponent’s) when you play it, Kingpin, which destroys a card in turn six if it moves to the location where you played it, and Deathlok, which destroys your other cards in the location you played it.

Cards that benefit from being destroyed can help the Death deck work consistently. Deadpool can be one of your one-cost choices since it can double its power and return to your hand when destroyed. Spamming its effect can provide another great source of power, especially in the late game.

Nova can give plus one power to all your cards in the field when destroyed. Morbius is a significant attacker that gains power for each destroyed card. Wolverine randomly plays itself in a specific location when discarded or destroyed, and Sabretooth returns to your hand as a cost zero, four power card when destroyed as well. Storm is also a great addition in terms of providing control advantage to your side.

The key to using this deck is destroying your and your opponent’s units as early as possible. This will pave the way for Death to cost less while having a significant advantage because of the effects of the cards that will be triggered when destroyed. 

Overall, the standard Death Destruction deck is a consistent engine in Marvel Snap and can definitely stay in the meta for a long time.

Related: The 5 best Destruction decks in Marvel Snap

Death/Thanos Destruction deck

This variation of the Death deck is almost the same as the standard one. But this time, Death’s lover, Thanos, joins the party as the deck’s secondary attacker, as well as a provider of advantages thanks to its ability to shuffle the six Infinity Stones in your deck at the start of the game.

Thanos is a cost six, eight power card. Its stats are lower compared to Death or some other cost six cards like The Infinaut or Hulk, but its effect where the six Infinity Stones (represented as six different cards with abilities gets shuffled to your deck can be game-changing, especially with the Power Stone that gives a massive plus ten power points to Thanos when you successfully trigger its effect. 

All six infinity stone cards are one-cost, one-power cards with either On Reveal or Ongoing effects. 

Here are their abilities:

• Mind Stone – On Reveal: Draw two Stones from your deck.
• Reality Stone – On Reveal: Transform this location into a new one. Draw a card.
• Time Stone – On Reveal: Draw a card. Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
• Space Stone – On Reveal: Next turn you can move 1 card at this location. Draw a card.
• Soul Stone – On Reveal: Draw a card. Ongoing: Enemy cards here have -1 Power.
• Power Stone – Ongoing: If you’ve played all six stones, Thanos has +10 power (wherever he is)

With Thanos having the chance to become a cost six, eighteen power card when all of the Infinity Stones are played, your goal is to make Death’s cost five or less. This will allow you to play both massively powerful cards which can translate to a possible location domination. Destroying the Stones from the locations where you played those can be your strategy to set up the late-game drops you can pull off.

Of course, the Death staples should be included in the deck. This includes Deadpool, Nova Carnage, Wolverine, Venom, Killmonger, Sabretooth, and Deathlok. Bucky Barnes is a good addition since it benefits from being destroyed⁠—when killed it summons the cost two, six power Winter Soldier in its place. Gambit is also worth including thanks to its ability to destroy a random enemy card in exchange of discarding a card from your hand.

The key to reaching this deck’s full potential is the balance of destroying your units, as well as the timing on when you should play Death. This will allow you to create space for a turn-six Thanos with possible boosted power points. 

Just be careful in balancing your goal of lowering Death’s cost and using all the Infinity Stones to trigger the possible Power Stone boost for Thanos.

Staple Marvel Snap cards for Death decks

Here are the staple cards you should play in a Death deck along with their effects:

• Deadpool – When this is destroyed, return it to your hand with double the Power.
• Nova – When this is destroyed, give your cards +1 Power.
• Carnage – On Reveal: Destroy your other cards here. +2 Power for each destroyed.
• Wolverine – When this is discarded or destroyed, play it at a random location.
• Venom – On Reveal: Destroy your other cards at this location. Add their Power to this card.
• Killmonger – On Reveal: Destroy All 1-Cost cards.
• Sabretooth – When this is destroyed, return it to your hand. It costs 0.
• Deathlok – On Reveal: Destroy your other cards at this location.

Related: Every card in Marvel Snap with their cost and abilities

How to counter Death decks in Marvel Snap

Since you will need to do some setups to maximize the Death deck’s full strength, Control effects that can disrupt your preparations to lower Death’s cost can really affect the deck in different ways. This includes dismantling the locations where you need to place your required pieces to pull off the combos is the deck’s main weakness. Playing cards with the ability to shut down locations can be painful for a Death deck user.

Some of the cards that can disrupt your Death deck setups include Armor, which has the ability to prevent cards from being destroyed in the location where you placed them. 

This also includes the cards of the opponent, so it will be difficult for the Death deck user to properly set up the destructions needed to lower Death’s cost.

Also, Professor X can shut down a location. This means cards can’t be played, removed, or added to the location where it is played. Since Professor X is a five-cost card, there is a higher chance it gets placed before you can play Death, making the Death deck’s strategy a disadvantage. 

Spider-Man is also another threat since it can also lock down a location after the turn you played it.

Shang-Chi is another card to look out for. Its effect is as simple as removing a high-powered unit from a location. This can easily remove Death if you played it, as well as Thanos (especially when it is boosted thanks to the Power Stone’s effect).

As for removing some of the effects of the deck’s main pieces, Cosmo the Space Dog has the ability to shut down On Reveal abilities. 

Cards like Carnage, Venom, Killmonger, and Deathlok can be affected by the On Reveal prevention, making it hard for the Death deck user to destroy cards for Death as early as turn three. 

The Death deck is an overall powerful engine, yet some specific Marvel Snap cards can dismantle it since it really does require a lot of setups to pull off its potential.