The final Most Wanted update for January is upon us, and the end of the month is in sight. This month’s Most Wanted Poll, along with the Character Prediction League contest will close at the end of the day on Saturday, January 24th.
If you haven’t voted yet, there are still a few days left to leave your mark on the Most Wanted list. In addition, I strongly suggest you take a few minutes to predict which characters you think will fill out the Marvel Snap roster in 2026 as part of the Character Prediction League. And keep reading to see how you have two chances to win a season pass!
I’ll include the links at the end of the article, but if you just want to vote, use the links below:
VOTE HERE & PREDICT HERE
Most Wanted Update
Mephisto has clawed his way back to the top of the list for the first time since November, just slightly edging out Gargantos (Shuma-Gorath.) It will certainly come down to the last few votes, as the characters are separated by the smallest of fractions. Which ultimate villain would you rather see on top of the list? (Be careful, you don’t want to make the other one mad.)
Without biasing the vote too much, I would pick Mephisto over Gargantos. I’d make my decision based on the fact that to me, Mephisto seems more classic, and has also faced a wider variety of the Marvel pantheon throughout his appearances. That being said, if I were to base the vote solely on who I think would make for a more interesting card, I might vote for Gargantos. An extradimensional godlike being that can manipulate reality is sure to shake-up any meta.
Continuing to drop lower and lower on the list is Ken the Septapus, who is the first character in many months to have an average of less than 2. It seems that people really haven’t jumped on the Ken bandwagon yet. You know what that means…. We just need MORE KEN. Keep pushing him Marvel, and the fans will certainly come.
With next season on the horizon, I want to be able to do character spotlights on some less popular Guardians of the Galaxy. That might be difficult, though, if they fall off the list. Specifically, Martinex and Charlie-27 are some of the lowest ranked characters. Are there any fans of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (and 3) out there that might want to push them up? (Especially because I want to write spotlights for them…)
Character Prediction League
Fantasy Football season is almost over, but Fantasy Marvel Snap season is just beginning. In the Character Prediction League you earn points for guessing which characters you think will be in Marvel Snap in 2026. (No datamines!) I will begin keeping score in April, and I will update everyone on their stats throughout the year.
The prediction league entries will close in a few days, so enter now! I will also pick a Season Pass winner from all of the Prediction League entries, so if you keep losing to Shou-Lao and want to turn the tables, this is a great opportunity!
PREDICT HERE
Character Spotlight: Reptil
It’s been a blast keeping with the monstrous character theme this week. Last week I tried to imitate Fin Fang Foom with a slightly smaller Asgardian Alligator version. This week, I’m going to take Second Dinner’s “Dinsosaur = Dragon” to heart, and focus on everyone’s favorite Dinsosaur-themed superhero, Reptil.
Reptil made his debut in 2009 in Avengers: The Initiative, but was created primarily to be one of the leading roles in Avengers Academy, following the fallout of the Civil War event. Originally recruited to help fight Steggron, Reptil would soon be a founding member of the Avengers Academy, and train alongside Mettle, Finesse, Hazmat, Striker and Veil. (Snap season anyone?) Led by headmaster Giant-Man and instructors Tigra, Quicksilver, Justice, Speedball and Jocasta, the Avengers Academy ran for 40 issues and saw Academy members take part in a variety of events and crossovers, including Fear Itself, Avengers vs X-Men, and the standalone Avengers Arena event.
Humberto Lopez, or Reptil, gets his powers from a fossilized amulet embedded into his chest. The amulet is the creation of the Old Hag from Dinosaur World, in the Savage Land and was created to specifically work for Humberto, who will presumably play an important role in the future of Dinosaur World.
Reptil’s initial powerset allows him to transform parts of his body into the parts of different dinosaur bodies. When pushed to his limits, in a battle against Mentallo, Humberto is able to transform his entire body into a dinosaur, however this comes at the cost of losing full control of his mind and actions. (Lizard brain, you know?)
After a time displacement incident fighting against Korvac, Reptil finds himself in his own body as an adult. As an adult he has more control over his transformations, including when he transforms fully into a Dinosaur. Reptil eventually returns to his appropriate age, but his future self shows up again later, and informs the members of Avengers Academy that they were recruited not because of their power, but because in the future they all had the potential to turn to evil. (This does not go over great.)
One of Reptil’s most heroic moments takes place during the Avengers Arena story, where he is one of the sixteen teenagers kidnapped by Arcade and forced to fight to the death on a mysterious island. The event’s conclusion involves Hazmat close to detonating an explosion of radiation across the island, until she is scooped up in the mouth of Reptil as a dinosaur, who swims her out to sea and absorbs the radiation blast.
Two of Humberto’s most recent appearances are also my favorites. During the King in Black storyline Humberto briefly teams up with Spider-Man to fight against Knull’s symbiote dragons who are terrorizing New York City, and more recently, Reptil finally got his own series, a four issue story that brings Humberto closer to finding his lost parents.
Reptil in Marvel Snap
Marvel Snap has a great history of cards that change their powers in hand, from the original Snowguard, to Nico Minoru. Reptil looks to continue this tradition, and offer a wide, but predictable range of utility.
Reptil - 0/0 - This card has a different form in hand depending on the turn number.
Turn 1: Raptor Form - 1/2 - On Reveal: Inflict an enemy card here with -1 power.
Turn 2: Pteranodon Form - 2/4 - On Reveal: Move to another location and pull the enemy card with the lowest cost from here to there.
Turn 3: Triceratops Form - 3/6 - Ongoing: This card can’t be destroyed.
Turn 4: Stegosaurus Form - 4/7 - On Reveal: Move an enemy card here one location to the left.
Turn 5: Brachiosaurus Form - 5/6 - Ongoing: Cards cost 1 less for each player (minimum 1)
Turn 6: Tyranosaurus Form - 6/10 - On Reveal: Destroy an enemy card here
Turn 7: Quetzalcoatlus Form - 7/20 - “You Wanted a Fight, You Got One!”
Reptil’s amulet gives him a variety of options of how he wants to face down a challenge. One of the trickier parts of using Nico Minoru is knowing what possible outcomes are available on future turns, and then hoping the spell you want times with the turn you need it. Reptil mitigates this randomness and tries to provide predictable utility on every turn, with the issue being will you have him in hand on the turn you most want to play him?
Many of Reptil’s forms are inspired by other cards, with slight changes to his power set to account for the fleeting opportunity to use the card. I thought about having the 1-cost raptor tie into the raptor token, but leading a pack of dinosaurs in this instance doesn’t seem so useful, nor is it something that Reptil has done much of. Instead, he’s most closely related to Silver Sable, with the idea being that he can do a little bit of damage, and be bounced back to your hand to do something else later in the game.
The 2-cost pteranodon is inspired by Spider-Man, who Reptil both trains with, and then fights alongside. The 3-cost triceratops is inspired by Colossus, but with a little bit extra power. In the right match, with full knowledge of the three locations available, this ability should come in handy surprisingly often.
The 4-cost stegosaurus obviously has to be the anti-Steggron card, thematically. Turn 5, Reptil transforms into the peaceful brachiosaurs, which acts as a Sera for both sides. Building your deck around this ability, and finding ways for you to benefit from it more than your opponent would be one of the most critical ways to take advantage of Reptil’s powers.
Turn 6 has to be the Tyranosaurus. I thought about ways to tie in Devil Dinosaur, but thematically it made more sense to look at the T-Rex’s violent nature. (And also reflect Reptil’s loss of control in Dinosaur form.)
Finally, on turn 7 Reptil transforms into the Quetzalcoatlus, which can’t be cheated out (because it’s only available on turn 7,) but is sure to lock down any lane.
Here’s a deck that Reptil might be fun to use in:
Most Wanted Reptil Deck
The idea here is, with the help of Wiccan, to lock down one lane with Storm or Professor X, and then take the second lane with either the T-Rex or Quetzalcoatlus. Mobius is there to help if you play Reptil on 5 and want to reap the benefits for yourself, and Spectrum is another strong closer to boost all of your ongoing cards.
I obviously have no idea if a card like this is balanced - but it sure looks fun. A majority of people would agree that Marvel Snap needs more dinosaurs.
Conclusion
I have two season passes to give away this week! You can win one season pass by voting in either the Most Wanted January Poll, or the Character Prediction League.
The second chance to win a pass is by commenting with your own Reptil dinosaur transformation. If you were creating a Reptil card, what dinosaur would he transform into, and what would his card do? I look forward to reading your ideas in the comments!
Voting and entries will close on January 24th!