Junk fans rejoice: this week’s card release in Marvel Snap brings Selene, a low cost and very low power card that will undoubtedly annoy your opponents when played alongside the likes of last month’s Annihilus. Never fear, though — we’ve got counters to Selene to go along with her best decks.
How Selene Works in Marvel Snap
Selene’s ability is quite straightforward. A 1 Cost, -1 Power card, Selene’s ability reads, “On Reveal: Afflict the lowest-Power card in each player’s hand with -3 Power.” That means if your opponent has a Zabu in hand, that Zabu will now have -1 Power. However, you’ll also suffer -3 Power on a card in your hand. The key to Selene is to use that negative affliction to your advantage.
Best Selene Decks in Marvel Snap
You’ve likely noticed that Selene slides perfectly into an Annihilus deck that saw quite a lot of play last month before tapering off. Sending over both Selene and the card in your hand that was afflicted with -3 power is pretty powerful, a much-needed boon after the nerf to Viper that saw her Cost and Power raised and the same for Werewolf by Night. Here’s a list that cuts the former to make the most of the latter:
- The Hood
- Selene
- Spider-Ham
- Korg
- Shadow King
- Black Widow
- Rock Slide
- Beast
- Darkhawk
- Werewolf by Night
- Sentry
- Annihilus
The playline of this deck is to throw out as many cheap cards as you can to disrupt your opponent’s hand and deck before returning them to your hand with Beast. This includes Selene, who can drop Spider-Ham and The Hood to low Power. Then, drop Werewolf by Night and play out the low-Cost cards once again. Annihilus on turn 5 will all but ensure a victory. Sentry and Darkhawk provide alternative win conditions if you do not grab Werewolf by Night early enough to make the most of your low-Cost cards.
Selene also has great synergy with one of the most consistent decks in the game: High Evolutionary. Particularly, she works well with Abomination, whose ability read, “Costs 1 less for each enemy card in play that’s afflicted with negative Power.” With Selene, Abomination can quickly go from 5 Cost down to a 2 or 3 Cost with the right synergies. Expect to see something like this alongside Selene:
- Selene
- Sunspot
- Scorpion
- Luke Cage
- Shocker
- Cyclops
- Shang-Chi
- High Evolutionary
- The Thing
- Spider-Woman
- Abomination
- Hulk
For this list, Shang-Chi can be swapped out for other tech cards such as Enchantress. Otherwise, the playline is simple here: play Sunspot to absorb unused energy which in turn powers up Hulk and triggers Cyclops’ effect. Hit your opponent with Scorpion, Selene, and Spider-Woman before punishing them for playing any negatively affected cards with Abomination. Slam down a high-powered Hulk (be careful of Alioth if you do not have priority) and win the game. While he recently got nerfed, Luke Cage is here to negate the negative effect of both your Selene and the likelihood that you’ll run into your opponents playing her shortly after her release.
Selene Counters in Marvel Snap
As Selene is a 1 Cost card, it’s quite difficult to preemptively counter her with the likes of Cosmo. And since Luke Cage was nerfed to not affect your entire side of the board, he’s a bit of a waste in most decks. Therefore, the best way to counter Selene is to play a deck that counters the decks you’ll likely find her in.
The best deck to counter her in any regard is Destroy, as you can use the likes of Carnage, Killmonger, and Venom to eat the card she negatively afflicts in your hand while clearing any other junk your opponent might send your way. If you’re running into a lot of High Evolutionary, decks that roll Alioth and focus on priority generally make short work of it. Luke Cage should only be added to your list as a last resort.
Is Selene Worth Your Spotlight Cache Keys or Collector’s Tokens?
Yes — depending on whether or not you see yourself playing a junk-style or High Evolutionary deck, Selene is worth a Spotlight Cache Key or three. Selene’s effect is pretty flexible as you can control when to play her, thus mitigating the side-effect of having your own card afflicted. Furthermore, she comes with two other great cards that you should definitely pick up if you haven’t: Black Knight and Iron Lad. However, she isn’t worth 6,000 Collector’s Tokens — few cards are. Those are much better saved for the series drop coming in early January.
