Some of the most popular and powerful villains in the Marvel universe are dubbed the “Big Bad” cards in Marvel Snap. These cards provide game-changing effects that can potentially turn matches upside down. Most of their abilities are patterned based on their comics or movie interpretations, such as the one regarded as the most anticipated card coming to the game: High Evolutionary.
High Evolutionary is the main villain in the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the movie; he is a creator of civilizations and beings. He evolves creatures in terms of intelligence, power, and more.
In Marvel Snap, he is a four-cost, four-Power card with the effect that reads, “At the start of the game, unlock the potential of your cards with no abilities.” This game-changing effect can unlock the secret abilities of all the vanilla cards, making multiple deck archetypes of his own that may potentially change the meta.
Here are the best High Evolutionary decks in Marvel Snap.
- All vanilla cards’ secret abilities in Marvel Snap
- The best High Evolutionary decks in Marvel Snap
- High Evolutionary deck Staple cards
- High Evolutionary decks’ current state in the meta
All vanilla cards’ secret abilities in Marvel Snap
Before we dive into the best High Evolutionary, the newest of the “Big Bad” cards in Marvel Snap, decks in Marvel Snap, here are all the secret abilities of the vanilla cards which the villain himself can unlock:
- Wasp (0-Cost, 1-Power): On Reveal: Afflict a random enemy card here with -1 Power.
- Misty Knight (1-Cost, 2-Power): When you end a turn with unspent Energy, give another friendly card +1 Power.
- Shocker (2-Cost, 3-Power): On Reveal: Give the leftmost card in your hand -1 Cost.
- Cyclops (3-Cost, 4-Power): When you end a turn with unspent Energy, afflict two random enemies here with -1 Power.
- The Thing (4-Cost, 6-Power): On Reveal: Afflict 3 random enemy cards here with -1 Power.
- Abomination (5-Cost, 9-Power): Costs one less for each enemy card in play that’s afflicted with negative Power.
- Hulk (6-Cost, 12-Power): Ongoing: When you end a turn with unspent Energy, +2 Power. (If in hand or in play).
The best High Evolutionary decks in Marvel Snap
All-Out High Evolutionary
The standard way to play High Evolutionary is to put it into a deck with all current vanilla cards. This deck has two main mechanics around which the overall strategy of the offensive and defensive engines revolve—conserving energy to put out multiple high-Powered cards and inflicting negative Power on your opponent’s cards to unlock powerful effects.
Wasp, Cyclops, The Thing, and Abomination benefit from inflicting negative Power on your opponent’s cards. Scorpion can be added for another powerful debuff option, and Luke Cage to prevent your opponent from doing the same to you, especially if you are facing mirror matches.
As for the saving unspent energy (floating) strategy, the abilities of Misty Knight, Shocker, Abomination, and Hulk all utilize the mechanic, especially with Hulk as your primary Power source for your locations in the late game. She-Hulk is an excellent addition since she is best used if you conserve energy in the mid-to-late game. Sunspot can also be a potential Power source thanks to its ability to gain Power equal to your unspent energy every turn.
Win condition cards for All-Out High Evolutionary
All the cards in this deck are vital to bolster the harmful Power infliction or floating mechanics. But as for the cards that can give you the win condition of the deck, these are:
- Abomination
- Hulk
- She-Hulk
Abomination can benefit from both mechanics. Lowering his cost can pave the way for unleashing the Hulk’s ability, potentially gaining a massive Power boost. Add She-Hulk in the picture to have more offensive options in the late game, and you’ll be all set.
Some of the strategies you can do in this deck include skipping turn five to play She-Hulk, Abomination, and Hulk in turn six. You can also do a straightforward play of The Thing, Abomination, and Hulk in the last three turns to close the game with massive Power points on every location.
Balanced High Evolutionary
This High Evolutionary deck focuses more on balancing infliction and energy conservation mechanics to bring out your late-game finishers and disrupt the Power of your opponent’s cards.
This list is almost the same as the one above. Some tweaks include Enchantress, which can disrupt and remove all the Ongoing abilities of cards already placed in the location where you played it. This can be a great way to eliminate your opponent’s Luke Cage.
Spider-Woman can also provide more infliction options for the deck and a great five-cost, eight-Power card to further boost your locations.
Win condition cards for Balanced High Evolutionary
Abomination, She-Hulk, and Hulk are already given win condition cards for this deck since they can put out massive Power points on your locations. The other cards that can be of benefit are:
- Cyclops
- Enchantress
- Spider-Woman
Cyclops is a crucial card in this deck since it can provide the infliction effect in the most consistent way possible. Enchantress is there for your disruption effects, while Spider-Woman adds more value as a Power source and its infliction effect, which can be converted as added offense to your side.
Control High Evolutionary
A deck that has seen popularity is this control deck. This strategy focuses on disrupting your opponent’s setup through various control effects, which can be an offensive boost to your side. It’s a little weaker since Spider-Man’s rework, but it’s still solid.
Apart from cards like Wasp, Cyclops, and The Thing, which can inflict negative Power on your opponent’s cards, units that lock down locations help the deck fulfill the control strategy. This includes Storm, and Professor X, both forcing your opponents to think quickly and likely make a mistake.
Cards that can potentially gain Power in the early game are also helpful in this deck. Nebula can gain Power when locked down in a location. As for the vision you can have by turn five, Daredevil is very useful to know if you have the chance to lock down and potentially secure a location for your side. Doctor Doom can be added as a surprise factor since it may call a four-Power Doombot to a location locked by Storm.
Win condition cards for Control High Evolutionary
Aside from the massive Power boost by Hulk, the other win condition cards for this deck are:
- Storm
- Professor X
- Daredevil
- Doctor Doom
As mentioned, Storm and Professor X are the critical factors in this deck to lock down and secure a location. It would be best if you were sure that your opponent might not be able to win a locked area miraculously. Locking a location could be risky, especially if you are disadvantaged before doing so. That is why Daredevil is vital in providing vision by turning five, making your chances of locking a location big.
Doctor Doom is there for an added offensive boost on all locations, especially in areas where the opponent might have thought as already a win for them.
Lockjaw High Evolutionary
Lockjaw decks got a significant upgrade with High Evolutionary, especially with Wasp now having an ability. Its infliction effect can be activated before it returns to the deck since it is the go-to card for Lockjaw’s ability to fetch a random card once per turn.
The usual Thor and Jane Foster combo for Lockjaw decks is still present. Mjolnir being a target for the cards switch provided by Lockjaw is still valid. It can boost Thor’s Power by six and potentially call another card from the deck. Jane Foster is there to get your zero costs, possibly using Wasp’s effect again, and Mjolnir to boost Thor again.
Some of the best cards that Lockjaw can call include Abomination, Doctor Doom, and Hulk. Misty Knight, Sunspot, and Cyclops are all great early to mid-game options that can provide Power boosts on your side.
Win condition cards for Lockjaw High Evolutionary
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Lockjaw
- Thor
- Jane Foster
Lockjaw is the primary facilitator of the deck. The card-switching effect it can provide is crucial to power up a single location. But also, a wise move you can make is making a misdirection to eventually power up Thor and secure another location with Jane Foster since it has a decent eight-Power stat line. The combo of these three cards can unexpectedly be influential in the late game.
Hazmat High Evolutionary
This deck focuses more on inflicting negative Power on your opponent’s cards. Aside from the unlockable secret abilities of Wasp, Cyclops, and The Thing, there is Scorpion and the reliable engine of Hazmat. The Luke Cage and Wong combo can be added to the deck to increase your chances of dealing negative Power to your opponent’s units.
Hazmat can deal minus one Power to all cards in every location for both players. This may hurt your side of the board, but you’ll have nothing to worry about if Luke Cage’s effect is active. On the other hand, Wong further intensifies the impact of Hazmat since it can trigger the On Reveal effects of cards twice wherever you play it.
Debrii can be added to put rocks on both players’ sides of the locations. This can be an excellent option to create hostile Power units for the opponent, which can be converted into an offensive boost for you.
Cards that benefit from having unspent energy can still be included in the deck to bring out multiple Power sources, such as Abomination, She-Hulk, and Hulk.
Win condition cards for Hazmat High Evolutionary
Aside from the powerful trinity of Abomination, Hulk, and She-Hulk, the other win condition cards for this deck are:
- Hazmat
- Luke Cage
- Wong
The combo of Hazmat, Luke Cage, and Wong is an already-established deck engine, but it is a little bit predictable because of this. Still, this is a reliable strategy to inflict negative Power on your opponent’s cards, which benefits Abomination. This can pave the way to summon She-Hulk or Hulk in the process.
Shenaut High Evolutionary
The classic Shenaut deck gained a massive boost thanks to High Evolutionary. With Abomination’s presence, another offensive option has been added to the traditional strategy that involves playing multiple high-Powered cards in the final turn.
Moon Girl’s effect to duplicate your hand is best used if you can target She-Hulk and Abomination. Both cards can have the ability to have their costs reduced. Playing two She-Hulks and Abominations in the final turn can be devastating for the opponent.
You can also use Magik to extend the game thanks to her ability to turn a location to Limbo, which extends the game to a turn seven.
The Infinaut can be added in case you still need a ton of Power in turn six or seven to win at least one location. His massive 20-Power boost can turn games upside down in exchange for skipping a turn. The classic High Evolutionary staples such as Wasp, Sunspot, Hazmat, Luke Cage, Cyclops, and Hulk complete this deck.
Win condition cards for Shenaut High Evolutionary
- She-Hulk
- Abomination
- Moon Girl
- Magik
- The Infinaut
- Hulk
Again, the deck revolves around skipping the second to last turn (either turn five or six) to call out multiple She-Hulks and Abominations with the help of Moon Girl. Magik extends the game to further allow you to draw your missing pieces.
But in case you can’t draw Moon Girl in time, skipping turn six to call at least one She-Hulk and The Infinaut can be your alternative strategy. Also, Hulk is a potential massive Power source in the late game and does not require a whole turn skip to be played.
High Evolutionary deck Staple cards
Here are the staple cards you should play in a High Evolutionary deck, and in this case, their secret abilities:
- Wasp: On Reveal: Afflict a random enemy cards here with -1 Power.
- Cyclops: When you end a turn with unspent Energy, afflict two random enemies here with -1 Power.
- Hulk (6-Cost, 12-Power): Ongoing: When you end a turn with unspent Energy, +2 Power. (If in hand or in play).
High Evolutionary decks’ current state in the meta
High Evolutionary instantly changed the meta when it arrived. The secret abilities of vanilla cards have disrupted many popular meta strategies, and the constant changing of these abilities by the developer proves their power. Also, the energy conservation aspect is now an impactful mechanic, especially with Hulk, a new game-changer in the late game.
The most common High Evolutionary decks with the highest success rates are the Control and Lockjaw variants. The former is a proven and tested deck with a toolbox strategy, meaning various effects that can disrupt the opponent and boost its user’s side are present. It can adjust to almost any deck in the meta.
On the other hand, the latter is an absolute force when it comes to having enormous Power over locations. It has some sort of a high-risk, high-reward downside since Lockjaw’s card switch effect is random. Still, it is a deck worth building and something that may bring players to the highest ranks.
