Best Patriot decks in Marvel Snap and how to counter them

When Marvel fans think of a patriotic superhero, there’s one that jumps to mind. But it’s not the most powerful patriotic hero in Marvel Snap, the digital card battler that’s continued to grow in popularity since it launched in 2022.

When Marvel Snap players think of a powerful patriotic character, their minds will likely jump to Patriot. The Young Avenger is a card entire decks and metas can be built around thanks to his ability, making it one of the game’s more popular cards.

Here’s everything to know about Patriot, decks built around him, and how to counter him in Marvel Snap.

Patriot card abilities in Marvel Snap

Patriot may seem like a weak card at first glance, thanks to his three energy and just one Power. But his real power lies in his ability text.

Elijah Bradley, better known as Patriot, will give plus-two Power to all of your cards with no abilities. This includes base cards like Wasp, Misty Knight, Shocker, and Cyclops, but also several cards that pop up like Squirrels, Rocks, Doombots, Ultron Drones, and more.

This creates some very fun combinations for Patriot to really wreak havoc with. Although easily countered, you can catch an opponent off-guard with a well-built Patriot deck meant to maximize Power at multiple locations.

Patriot strategy in Marvel Snap

The strategy with Patriot is all in the ability text. You want to play as many cards with no abilities as possible. This means he synergizes with several cards, especially ones that are otherwise not used very often like Shocker and Wasp.

You can either save Patriot for a final play on turn six to prevent him from having his Ongoing ability taken away by Enchantress or Rogue, or you can play him early alongside a card like Cosmo to prevent it from happening and save turn six for big plays like Doctor Doom, Ultron, or Onslaught.

Best combo synergy with Patriot in Marvel Snap

Patriot combos with quite a few cards in Marvel Snap. Here are just a few that accentuate his ability:

• Squirrel Girl
• Mystique
• Mister Sinister
• Brood
• Debrii
• Ka-Zar
• Blue Marvel
• Doctor Doom
• Ultron
• Onslaught

Squirrel Girl is great with Patriot because she will drop two no-ability Squirrels on the two other locations, giving you at least three power at each of those locations for just one energy. Debrii functions the same, playing a Rock at the two other locations, while Mister Sinister and Brood will play their own copies with no abilities.

Mystique may be Patriot’s ultimate combo because she will replicate his Ongoing ability to give all of your non-ability cards plus-four Power, and they can be further buffed by other cards like Ka-Zar, Blue Marvel, or Onslaught.

Meanwhile, you can buff up any other playable card that comes with no abilities to begin with. The current cards in Marvel Snap with no abilities are as follows:

• Wasp
• Misty Knight
• Shocker
• Cyclops
• The Thing
• Abomination
• The Hulk

The best Patriot decks in Marvel Snap

Standard Patriot

This is a pretty standard Patriot deck most Series Three players should have the cards for. The goal is to fill up your board with cards like Wasp, Misty Knight, and Shocker before playing Patriot on turn three, followed up by Mystique on turn four.

After that, you can either use Blue Marvel to buff up every card, or Ka-Zar to buff all one-energy cards and then finish them off by filling up the board with Ultron’s Drones, which are all one-energy.

You’re also able to use Storm on turn three and then forget about that lane for a while as you can use Doctor Doom or Ultron to play cards with no abilities into it without having to play that lane itself.

You can alternatively play Onslaught into the Patriot or Mystique lane to double their Ongoings to give plus-four to all cards with no abilities.

Patriot Leech

One of the most popular Patriot decks on Untapped.gg, this one is similar to other Patriot builds, only it uses Leech to prevent Enchantress or Rogue plays on turn six.

The fastest way to have your opponent snap when playing a Patriot deck is for them to have Enchantress or Rogue in hand with no counter for them. Both cards will take away your Ongoing ability, making all the cards you played pretty useless without their Patriot buffs.

This deck also uses Shang Chi as a fallback, though, to take out any big cards the opponent plays. But the goal is to fill up your deck with non-ability cards, play Leech on five to take away their potential Enchantress or Rogue play, and then play both Patriot and Mystique together to add a whole bunch of Power at once.

Patriot Wave

The main difference in this deck is it uses Wave on turn three instead of Patriot to enable you to play one of the big cards very early on turn four, like Doctor Doom.

You can fill up two lanes with his Doombots, which have no ability, and then work on buffing them over the course of the rest of the game.

How to counter Patriot in Marvel Snap

As mentioned above, Enchantress and Rogue are an absolute nightmare for Patriot decks. Enchantress will remove every Ongoing ability at the location she’s played, while Rogue will straight up yoink the Ongoing ability from an enemy card. Both of these will ruin your day real quick when playing Patriot.

Leech is also a catch-all for players who are trying to save up their best play for turn six. If you see the board filled with small, no-ability cards, use Leech on five before they can Patriot, and that will really mess up their entire plan.