You Can’t Imagine How Addicted The Marvel Snap Card Game Will Get You

If you drag a little on the ranking of the most downloaded games of the Play Store or the App Store, you must have seen marvel snap in the first positions. If you are a fan of this type of game, you must have even played it before. For all the others, we make you discover the card game of the moment. But beware, addiction is waiting for you!

What is marvel snap ?

marvel snapis a card game existing only in digital format (not in physical therefore), in the manner ofHearthstoneon iOS, Android and PC (and Mac with Apple chip, on which you can download the iOS version).

The comparison with its competitor from Blizzard is not insignificant, since the boss of the development studio is Ben Brode, former director and public face… ofHearthstone. We also feel a certain affiliation between the two games – on many aspects.

It is a confrontation game for two players, free-to-play , based, as its title indicates, on the Marvel license. It currently has a rather impressive cast, with more than 200 characters.

It was released on October 18, 2022, after a few months of closed beta.

How it works ?

marvel snap offers a gameplay rather simple compared to other games of the same genre.

Each player has a deck (a deck) of twelve cards, draws three from his starting hand, then an additional one at the start of each of the six rounds that a game lasts.

The cards each represent a character from the Marvel stable (Elektra, Blade, Spider-Woman, Hulk…), with a cost, a power level and potentially a special ability.

At the start of each turn, players receive extra energy to play their cards. One energy in the first turn, two in the second, three in the third… If it is not spent, it is lost and is not kept for the following turn.

Simultaneously, players spend this energy to place one or more cards on three slots, which also have effects. They can affect the cards placed, those in the hands of the players or even give a bonus for a turn. There are over 70 of them, and three are randomly picked each game. But their effects are not known in advance: the first location is revealed at the start of the first round, the next at the second round, and the last at the start of the third round.

The object of the game is to win the majority of power in at least two of the three locations by the end of the sixth and final round.

You climb the ladder of the ranking by earning “cubes”. Basically, a victory brings two cubes, a defeat makes you lose two. But, once per game, each player has the possibility of snap», if he feels confident, or why not to bluff. Each snap doubles the gains, but also the losses. If both players snapent , so it is possible to win, or lose, eight cubes in a single game. Fortunately, a clever retirement system makes it possible to limit losses if the game gets off to a bad start.

Each game brings credits, boostersfor pimphis cards, and experience to advance in the season pass . Card upgrades are purely aesthetic (3D effect, shiny, etc.), but that’s how we get new cards: each upgrade increases our collection level, and we receive new random cards at intervals regular.

A few failures…

All is not perfect in marvel snapand some small problems of youth come to taint the experience.

The PC interface, first of all. Admittedly, the game is still in early access, but the fact remains that it is purely and simply an emulation of the tablet version. We still feel cramped on our big screen, stuck in the dimensions of a mobile device. But everything should be back to normal next year, when a real computer interface should be offered.

We’re also a bit limited in terms of game modes. Limited is an understatement, since there’s one and only one: the ranked mode against strangers. Again, the designers have promised additions in 2023: an unranked mode, perfect for testing its decks without losing hard-won places in the rankings, and the possibility of playing against a friend – a mode that is sorely lacking in this first version.

Having started playing it the day it was released, we often came across bots . The increasing number of players should remedy this. In any case, as you move up the rankings, their frequency decreases, until they completely disappear.

Let’s end with a problem specific to the French version. The latter indeed suffers from some somewhat quirky syntactic constructions, but above all from some translation errors in the effect of the cards. We advise you to discover the game in French, to fully understand how it works, then, if you are comfortable in English, to switch to the original version.

… but many good ideas

These few small problems do not manage to spoil the very many good ideas of the game.

Starting with its rules: marvel snapis really very easy to understand. Everything is visible, the only unknowns reside in the cards of the hand and the deckof the opponent. Character abilities or slot effects fit in two lines at most. And each part lasts about five minutes at the most.

The reduced size of decks , twelve cards only, also helps make the game accessible. Significantly more than its competitors Hearthstone, Runeterra Where Magic.

The game is no less tactical. It requires anticipation, bluffing, and above all a good knowledge of the cards available to the opponent. The chance is still present, and each party can potentially switch on a detail.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to learn the 200 cards of the game by heart. These are classified by level. There are three at the moment, and you’ll move on to the next one as you increase your collection level. The order in which new cards are assigned within a tier is random. For example, you can quickly get Carnage and wait a while to get Wolverine, when it might be the other way around for another player. In any case, you are guaranteed to have all the cards of the first level before moving on to the second. This system makes it possible in particular to meet many decksdifferent, rather than always falling on the same cards.

But above all, the game is entirely free-to-play and, more importantly, in any way pay-to-win . You can of course spend money, but it will only be to buy card variants (an alternate illustration, in pixel mode, etc.). In the same way, the season passregularly offers free stages, and if you choose to pay for it, it will basically be to support the game. By spending money, one can still accelerate its collection.

The design is not to be outdone, and the illustrations of the cards are all very successful. If, in addition, you are a fan of the Marvel universe, you will have plenty of time to admire your favorite characters.

All these elements put end to end make the game really pleasant, and above all highly addictive. The novelty effect helping, many content creators, on YouTube or Twitch, have gotten into it. Anyway, you would be wrong not to try at least a few games, the time of a journey in transport or a visit to the toilet. To, why not, replace Nick Fury.

Tips for getting started

We end with some tips for getting started in the game… and especially to avoid making the same mistakes as us:

• Upgrade your cards when you can, but only once each to start. It is indeed the first improvement of each card that is the most profitable.
• Don’t buy upgrades in the shop, they cost more in credits, and you’ll end up getting the upgrades boostersyou need.
• New missions arrive throughout the day. Do them to earn maximum credits and experience points for the season pass.
• Save your gold for now. If you really want to spend it, use it to refresh your daily missions — it’s significantly more profitable than buying credits directly from the store.
• Many YouTube channels already feature content for the game. Our favorite is from Faberstein and Neandril, who regularly post presentations of decksexplanations of rules and other tips for getting started inmarvel snap.