Priority
What is priority? Why do I need to know about priority? Will knowing help my gameplay? Priority in Marvel Snap is a simple concept however it isn’t exactly explained within the game itself. In the tip section the game mentions that whoever’s name is highlighted has their cards flip first but that is it. This can lead to some confusing interactions and some game losses if you miss out on the importance of priority. Simply put, priority is which player's cards flip first. It is designated by who is winning the most locations at the start of a turn. If there is a tie, it is based upon who has the highest power overall. Even further if there is equal power, and equal locations then it’s a 50/50-coin flip. This also happens on turn one of each game of Marvel Snap.
How Priority Works
Here is an example of how priority is decided in a typical ladder match. Every match is different, but this will illustrate the basic concept of how you gain or lose priority.
Turn 1 - No one has played a card and therefore everything is tied. 50/50-coin flip. As of right now I have priority so my cards will flip first.
Turn 2 - my opponent played Nebula on the rightmost lane. I played nothing. They are winning more lanes and therefore they have priority. Any cards played this turn will flip first for them and then me second.
Turn 3 - I played Daredevil on turn 2. They played nothing meaning I am now winning more lanes and have retaken priority. Any cards played this turn will flip first for me and second for my opponent.
Turn 4 - I played Storm on the left. They played Jeff on the right. Currently the location won is tied but my opponent has more overall power thanks to Mojoworld and therefore they have priority. Their cards will flip first, mine second.
Turn 5 - I played Sentry last turn, my opponent played Ms. Marvel. Lanes won is still even, but my opponent has more overall power, so they have priority. Their cards flip first, mine second.
Turn 6 - I played The Hood and Jeff last turn, my opponent played Iron Lad. Again, my opponent has kept priority by having more overall power with the lanes won being even. His cards will flip first and mine second for the final turn.
Game Over - They played Spectrum and moved Jeff. I moved Jeff and played Demon plus Valkyrie. Since my opponent had priority spectrum buffed all their cards and then my Valkyrie flipped and erased all buffs.
Marvel Junk
Why does priority matter?
This seems super simple, why do I need to care if I have priority or not? While priority might seem simple as a general concept many games are won or lost depending on who ends up with priority and when. Take for example my game just above. I used Valkyrie to erase the negative power from The Void and The Hood. This also equalized all four cards of my opponent’s cards on their side. If I had priority and revealed first, Spectrum would have buffed all of the cards Valkyrie just set to 3 power as well as remained at 7 power herself. Thus, losing me the location. On the flip side, since the opponent had priority and there were zero cards in the mid lane if they played a card like Alioth I would have lost since that destroys all cards played on a lane even when they are unrevealed.
Here is another example, my opponent played Shuri and then Red Skull creating a huge 28 power card that is sure to win the lane. Typically, Red Skull is paired with Taskmaster to create two cards with 28 power. That is game winning most of if not all the time. Luckily, Snap has this card called Shang-Chi which can destroy any card with more than 10 power. If I have priority, I can destroy the 28 power Red Skull before my opponent can play its own Taskmaster because I reveal first. Then when the opponent flips their cards there is nothing for Taskmaster to copy. However, if I don’t have priority my opponent's Taskmaster will flip first, copy the Red Skull and create two 28 power cards. Priority matters in that game.
These two examples illustrate why priority matters. If you don’t pay attention, you might play a Shang-Chi or a Shadow King and not realize it won’t hit when it’s supposed to because you have priority, so your card flips first. Or you are thinking you’re safe with your Cosmo, but the opponent has priority, and they play their Shang-Chi, tech card, or execute their game plan before your Cosmo can block any on-reveals.
Throwing Priority
Throwing priority or actively trying to avoid having priority is an important tactic when playing Marvel Snap. Certain deck archetypes actually have this in mind going into turn six. However, typically this concept is more reliant on the tech type cards you have in your deck rather than the deck itself. Let's look at a popular bounce deck at the moment that includes the tech card Shadow King.
Bounce Hawk
The main idea behind this deck is to play out your low cost cards and then bounce them back to your hand to play them again. This helps create both a big Darkhawk or Werewolf by Night. In theory this sounds really simple, except that proper sequencing and management of priority can make or break a game. Take this for example -
Turn 5 and I have Shadow King in hand. I am playing against a Phoenix Force type deck which plans on moving around Multiple Man to create a bunch of 8 power cards at multiple locations. However, Shadow King can negate that extra power and bring every MM down to 3 power. That makes whatever lane I play SK a win for me as long as I have some extra power there. Also, the Phoenix force deck plays cards like Venom, Nimrod, and Shuri which all get negated by SK. I need to make sure I do not have priority going into Turn 6 so if any card is buffed or moved my Shadow King will negate it after the fact and not before.
So with that in mind I play out my cards making sure my WWBN which is huge already at 11 power ends up in the middle lane and I don’t end up winning the other two at all.
Turn 6, this is an easy win. Going through a check for what cards my opponent might have I can not see a line of play that allows them to win. Shadow king will win the right lane by itself and all I need to do is add some power to the middle as a safety measure.
Now, to be clear looking at the actual play, If I had just played Darkhawk I would have won the game, but I wasn’t accounting for them playing Heimdall and moving everything because it seemed like a losing play and they snapped on the last turn so I figured they had at least some play that made sense number wise.
However, sometimes when you have certain cards not correctly throwing priority can cause them to be useless. For example, I am playing a Zabu Darkhawk deck that includes three different tech cards, Shang-Chi, Shadow King, and Killmonger. If I have priority going into turn six at any point those cards are relatively useless. I play my Killmonger and the opponent responds with one drops after the fact. I play my Shang-Chi and the opponent then flips over their Death or Knull. I play my Shadow King and the opponent plays their taskmaster or their Loki and rebuffs The Collector. Most of the time throwing or maintaining priority is situational to the cards in your deck.
Zabu Darkhawk
Conclusion
Priority is simply whose cards flip over first during a turn. But, knowing when you have priority, when you need to gain priority, and when you possibly need to lose priority can elevate your gameplay immensely. There are numerous cards that depend heavily on priority and can make or break your game-plan if played on the wrong side of priority. So, the next time you are laddering or playing conquest, pay attention to the significance of priority and how you might make a different or better play because you either have or do not have priority.