This past Saturday, W won the latest Golden Gauntlet tournament. He came out on top amidst a field of 617 other players. To make it even more impressive, he pulled it off without a single Series 5 card in his deck!
As is becoming tradition, you can now grab the winning deck for yourself using the Tournament Packs in the Card Shop.
Pack Review
There’s a lot to like about W winning without a Series 5 card! There’s the great underdog story of overcoming recent meta tyrants like Fin Fang Foom and the new Star-Lord, Master of the Sun. It also means cheaper Packs for you and me.
And I love how they’ve split up the cards this time around! Breaking them apart by Series means you can avoid any risk of overpaying for a card. If you stick to the Series 3 and Series 4 Packs, those prices match the regular Snap Packs you’d find these cards in. Of course, the advantage with these is that you’re drawing from a much smaller pool of cards – there are five in the Series 3 Pack and only three in the Series 4 Pack.
It’s worth mentioning that Tournament Packs still include the two random bonus goodies, just like other Packs. Those are usually something small like Boosters or Tokens, but if you’re lucky it could be as big as an extra Variant or a new card!
If you’re into cosmetics or want to play it a little fast and loose, you can go for the Variant Pack. I think it’s super cool to offer every Variant from W’s deck (past Tournament Packs have only offered a few). There are twelve Variants in the pack, but you have the chance of drawing a variant for a card you don’t have. In that case, you’ll immediately unlock the base card, too.
There are some bangers in here, too! I love both the Nightcrawler and Supergiant (they’re the ones I run myself). I’m normally pretty tight with my resources, but I think I’ll try upgrading my Elektra and Master Mold.
The big hits are Master Mold, Elektra, Ronan the Accuser, and Shadow King. The Master Mold is a Spotlight Variant (normally 3,500 Tokens). The other three are from bundles, and cost 1,400–2,500 Gold in the Collector’s Vault (if you get lucky enough for them to show up).
The pricing on the Variant Pack is aligned with the average cost of all twelve Variants in the Pack. That means a couple things.
First, the cost of the base cards isn’t baked-in at all. That means the Variant Pack is more valuable the more base cards you’re missing. Of course, it’s not the most efficient option if you only care about the base cards, but it’s quite good if you want the Variants, too.
Second, the value of the Pack for you depends on which of the Variants you already have. It’ll be higher if you already have some of the Rare and Super Rare Variants.
The Deck Itself
This isn’t the sort of deck that only excels in tournament play. Marvel Snap’s own Gameplay Lead, Glenn Jones, took a similar list to Infinite this season. On X, he described the archetype as probably the best in the game, noting “it felt like I could win any game if I was smart enough”.
The deck being so budget-friendly makes it an accessible way for all sorts of players to jump in and start competing in Ranked, Conquest, or tournament play! Let’s talk about how the deck itself works.
Ronan the Accuser is your powerhouse. He can easily hit double-digit Power, especially with Master Mold and Maximus padding your opponent’s hand. Maximus giving draws to your opponent is risky, but you can dodge that risk by playing him on the last turn, or right after Supergiant. Maximus packs some good Power himself!
As movers, Nightcrawler and Mercury let you place Power without committing which lane it ends up in. That flexibility is strong on its own, but it works especially well with locations that you want to fill early, or locations that are hard to reach! Mercury also makes a killer partner for Cannonball. She helps make sure he can destroy an enemy card instead of just moving it. They can easily win a lane together. They’re great cards to own, as the pair can fit into all sorts of decks.
Cable gives you important, asymmetrical information. Sometimes, it’s the kind of info you can Snap on (did you take your opponent’s Hela?).
This deck packs a lot of tech! Over half the deck is populated with tools you can use to deal with different opponents. It may take some getting used to if you’re not used to interacting with your opponent so much. These cards are great practice for learning to read and punish your opponent’s plays. Almost all of the tech is straightforward to use.
Supergiant is the exception. She’s undoubtedly the trickiest card in the deck, but she’s very fun – one of my favorites! She actually serves a dual role here, both as tech and as support for your own game plan. Supergiant takes practice to master, but it’s a worthwhile investment!
She’s excellent disruption against decks that depend on Turn 5 to set up their game plan. Say… stopping that MisterNegative deck from pulling cards with Jane Foster Mighty Thor until it’s too late. You can play Maximus immediately after her to avoid giving your opponent draws until the game ends. You can also see exactly where your opponent’s Turn 5 play is, and play Negasonic Teenage Warhead on Turn 6 to blow up their Turn 5 card (which won’t flip until the game ends).
Conclusion
This Tournament Pack feels different from those that came before. The cards are separated by Series, every Variant is available, and the prices range from great to reasonable. Certainly that’s in part due to W pulling off the win without any Series 5 cards. Brady at Second Dinner also credits creators for giving tons of feedback that helped him make this happen.
This feels… experimental. Which is a perfectly normal thing for games to do. We’ve seen Marvel Snap experiment with its shop and limited-time game modes before. As always, we should be voting with our wallets. More than anything else, that’s what makes me wanna grab a few of the Variants. I want to see them offer more Packs like these. I want there to be accessible ways for new and returning players to snag meta-relevant cards.
Congratulations to W on his incredible win! You can find the champion’s deck (and Variants!) in Tournament Packs in the Card Shop from today until daily reset on Thursday, March 19th.
Sponsored by Second Dinner