Be warned mortal, the god of war is coming to Marvel Snap. If you want someone to obey your orders, you should have sent a soldier...NOT A GOD!
In the fallout from Secret Invasion, when Norman Osborne takes over the Avengers from Tony Stark, none of the existing Avengers stick with him. Except Sentry and Ares, that is.
Sentry does it just because he's actively crazy, but how could Ares side with the man who is clearly a villain? Isn't he an Avenger and aren't Avengers supposed to fight villains? It turns out Ares’ loyalty is to war itself, not to any particular side.
This is what makes Ares’ Marvel Snap card such a perfect flavor fit with Ares from the Marvel Comics. Ares:
- Loves to play war
- Is big and strong
- Only likes to hang out with big and strong people
- Loves a good d*ck-measuring contest
- Is a boring dork
Synergies
ARES ONLY LIKES TO HANG OUT WITH OTHER BIG DUDES! Ares isn't complicated. He goes in decks with a lot of big cards. Oh, and also he's an on reveal so you could try some sneaky plays with Odin or Grandmaster, one of the cards I'm most looking forward to playing with Ares (Ares will take the credit). 4 energy for 12 power is fine, but 6 energy for 21 is better. Repeating Ares’ ability may be the best way to play him outside of Surtur decks.
Despite Ares’ overconfidence in the face of puny enemies like Shang Chi and Shadow King you may want to protect him with a Russian dog or a Japanese teenager, Cosmo or Armor (Ares would hate that so much).
Maybe you want to please Ares by making his allies bigger or his opponents weaker. We have a few cards that can buff cards while they're still in your deck. We have two that can make your opponent's cards weaker, and we could also shuffle some 0-Power rocks into their deck.
Ares will be a loyal warrior in two deck archetypes (sorry C12 believers)
Mill
Other fringe potential homes for Ares include Shuri/Sauron, Lockdown, Hela, or any other decks that naturally play big cards.
Scosco’s Day One Ares Decks
Trad Surt
Scream Surt
War Mill
War Machinations
War is Hel
Deck Buff 2
Gods of Wars
Variants
Ares likes to pose sleeveless in front of fiery backgrounds
Final Thoughts
Much of the criticism of Ares as a card has centered around the fact that he only fits into only one or two competitive archetypes (Surtur & Mill) and doesn't have a great deal of flexibility as a card. In short, he's a bit boring. However, I expect him to be quite good in Skaar decks and he's worth trying out in Mill. If neither of these appeal to you at all, he's an easy skip. Misery has some interesting synergy with Ares and Ms. Marvel is good, but not what she once was. They're both useful cards to grab if you don't have them in your collection yet.
Come find me on Bluesky (@scosco) for even more decks! I'll be posting a few more Ares decks there on Tuesday!