While not the broadest mechanic in Marvel Snap, individual cards centered around destroying your own cards as well as your opponents’ have remained top-tier inclusions since the game’s inception. This list details the 10 best Destroy cards in Marvel Snap, ranked primarily by how integral they are to competitive decks.
10. Bucky Barnes – When this is destroyed, replace it with the Winter Soldier.
Destroying Bucky Barnes to pop out a 6 power Winter Soldier is one of Marvel Snap’s original high-value plays. He’s also one of the most thematically accurate cards to his comic book and movie counterpart. While he’s on the cusp of being cut from the current meta-standard Destroy deck as the likes of Nico Minoru and Forge have pushed him out, players in earlier ranks will no doubt make great use of him on their way to completing Series 3 and beyond. As more Destroy archetype cards are added, he’ll likely become a victim of power creep and forgotten about, with an off chance that some combo will come along, such as triggering a Destroy effect twice to make him more powerful. Furthermore, if Bucky got a point or two more of power, it wouldn’t break the game, making him a decent candidate for a future buff.
9. Alioth – On Reveal: Destroy all unrevealed enemy cards here.
Despite getting hit with a handful of nerfs to decrease its power and a change that made it only destroy unrevealed cards rather than all cards, Alioth still remains a potent threat in control-themed decks or decks that can almost always guarantee priority heading into the final turn of the match. Those nerfs were necessary because the gaseous purple monster made quite a lot of decks unfun to play against: no longer could you throw down a High Evolutionary-powered Hulk to win a lane with the threat of Alioth around. Currently, he’s prevalent in the Professor X, Ms. Marvel, and Gamora-centered lockdown deck, but he has even made his way into unexpected places such as Loki lists. Pre-nerf, he might’ve topped this list, but the question “Do I lose to Alioth here?” should still always be asked on turn 6 if you do not have priority.
8. Shang-Chi – On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards here that have 10 or more Power.
The original and most prominent tech card, Shang-Chi single-handedly makes players of high-powered cards sweat every match, especially if their opponent snaps on them after their Sunspot hits 10 power and they have a massive High Evolutionary Hulk in hand with priority. While Second Dinner raised his target to 10 power rather than 9, Shang-Chi is a must for Marvel Snap in order to keep the meta from centering around slamming down high power cards where the player with the best draw wins. Currently, he’s not super pervasive outside of the popular Loki Werewolf deck, but whenever something like High Evolutionary becomes popular again, expect this superhero to have a resurgence as he’s quite easy to slot into just about any non-combo deck.
7. Killmonger – On Reveal: Destroy ALL 1-Cost cards.
At only 3-cost with such a powerful board-wide effect, Killmonger’s ability to destroy unprotected 1-cost cards single handedly makes Zoo decks non-viable. The release of Caiera in January, which protects 1-cost and 6-cost cards, will undoubtedly allow Zoo decks (and Ka-Zar) to swarm the board more freely; however, even then, expect Black Panther’s nemesis to still see play. You see, Killmonger also provides a benefit to Destroy-themed decks, killing Nico Minoru, Yondu, Squirrel Girl, and – most importantly – Deadpool on your own side of the board, greatly reducing the cost of Death. As such, as long as the standard Destroy deck still sees play, Killmonger will as well, no matter how prevalent Caiera becomes.
6. Venom – On Reveal: Destroy your other cards here. Add their Power to this card.
In Marvel Snap Destroy lists, Venom has edged out Deathlok simply because of his utility when destroying the deck’s secondary win condition: Deadpool. His primary role in these lists is to gobble up Deadpool on turn 5, possibly absorbing 20+ power in stats while returning a 1-cost monstrosity of a card back to your hand; furthermore, he’s one of the most economical cards, as he won’t waste the power of the other cards he destroys and even further adds their total to Knull. That all said, he’s not at all flexible outside of a Destroy deck, making him an incredibly one-note card. Here’s hoping some future card releases help the villainous symbiote turned anti-hero out.
Related: What to Spend Gold on in Marvel Snap
5. Death – Costs 1 less for each card destroyed this game.
Once upon a time, Death would’ve been the best card on this list simply for how Wave made her infinitely more playable by reducing her base cost to 4. This combo found her a place in many different decks, particularly a Doomwave list that terrorized them for quite some time. While now an A-tier card instead of an S-tier, she’s still a must-include in any Destroy list because, simply put, a free or nearly free 12 power wins games. You’d be silly not to include her when you can drop her alongside a Knull or copy her for free with an Arnim Zola. While currently only frequently played in one deck, she also has utility in Discard lists as she guarantees Lady Sif, which discards the highest cost card, will hit Death and not an important card such as Hela.
4. X-23 – When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.
X-23 hasn’t been in Marvel Snap as long as all the other cards on this list, but she’s single-handedly responsible for making Destroy a top-tier archetype in the current meta-game. The usefulness of additional energy, especially when you’re already destroying cards, allows you to play out Deadpool more often and ramp into turn 6 threats, such as Knull, earlier. For a while, Destroy decks also frequently saw Arnim Zola included as, if X-23 is destroyed on turn 4, you can ramp into Knull before playing Zola to throw two massive eldritch gods of darkness across the board. While that playline has fallen off in popularity, the future only seems bright for X-23, and she won’t be cut from Destroy decks anytime soon. She might even begin to find her way into Discard lists.
3. Wolverine – When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it with +2 Power at a random location.
By far the coolest and most popular member of the X-Men and the greatest Canadian superhero (and a canonical fan of the writer of this article’s favorite hockey team), Wolverine lands near the top of this list because of his incredible snowball potential and inclusion in non-Destroy centric decks. Like his sister (or daughter?) card X-23, he can also land in inaccessible locations such as Sanctum Sanctorum or lanes that Storm has flooded. Furthermore, Galactus, which has seen his world-destroying stocks rising recently, benefits from Wolverine jumping into the last remaining lane, sometimes after gaining +4 power. Enough said, bub.
2. Carnage – On Reveal: Destroy your other cards here. +2 Power for each destroyed.
The greatness of the red symbiote isn’t hard to explain. Not only is Carnage a must-include staple and the best possible way to trigger the likes of Bucky Barnes and Wolverine, but he also slots into junk decks that run Debrii, The Hood, and Sentry in order to turn their negative effects into positive ones on your side of the board – that is, if you don’t want to send them over with the recently released Annihilus. And unlike Venom and Deathlok, Carnage can be played at just about any time before the final game of the match, often in conjunction with his progenitor symbiote to send Wolverines and X-23’s flying across the board to really buff up that Knull and decrease the cost of Death. Carnage will be a staple in Destroy and other Marvel Snap archetypes for the foreseeable future – count on it.
1. Deadpool – When this is destroyed, return it to your hand with double the Power.
While not always the best Destroy-themed card in Marvel Snap, Deadpool has risen to the top when combined with Nico Minoru (who should have an honorable mention in this list), Forge, and sometimes Hulkbuster, increasing his base cost so he can truly reach staggering heights. A 1-cost 20+ power card is totally possible with a surprisingly easy-to-pull-off playline. Yes, while Deadpool is only included in Destroy decks, his ability – along with a little boost from X-23 – has put the archetype back on top of the meta, making it one of the most reliable decks Marvel Snap has ever seen. You don’t need Deadpool to win, but he certainly makes it easier, and given the addition of more buffing and Destroy cards, don’t expect Deadpool to fall off this list anytime soon.
