Jean Grey is not only one of the most recognizable X-Men characters, but also one of the most powerful heroes – and sometimes universal threats – in the Marvel universe (and my favorite character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3). So you’d expect her card to be a must-have in Marvel Snap, right? Well, the truth is a bit more complicated – her 3-energy, 3-power statline doesn’t stand out, but her ability reads: “Ongoing: Players must play their first card here each turn. (if possible),” and it will certainly threaten to ruin the day of many Marvel Snappers in the right situation. This guide will review Jean Grey deck strategy and potential weaknesses in Marvel Snap.
Jean Grey will cost 6000 Collector’s Tokens in the Token Shop, or you can nab her from a new Spotlight Cache. Regardless, she’s one of the better card releases in recent memory, and if I had to guess, she’ll stand out more than the Phoenix Force season pass card we got last week.
Early Jean Grey Deck Strategy in Marvel Snap
Jean Grey will slot into just about any Control-style deck that can fill up spaces quickly. It’s difficult to say whether she’ll be a toxic, fun-ruining card or a great way to bring High Evolutionary down a notch or two. Either way, she fits into quite a few decks such as the ever-present Sera Control. However, I believe she’ll slot into two decks much better: Silver Surfer and Ongoing Thanos. Here’s the Silver Surfer list:
- Nova
- Invisible Woman
- Brood
- Silver Surfer
- Storm
- Jean Grey
- Juggernaut
- Killmonger
- Shadow King
- Polaris
- Maximus
- Sera / Spider-Man
Much like earlier iterations of this deck, the goal here is to spread three drops around the board and buff them up for a surprise swing on turn 6 with Silver Surfer. A recent tech to this deck is Invisible Woman, which allows you to hide your Killmonger to counter Bounce decks that rely heavily on Kitty Pryde. You may also see that I recommend Spider-Man; while dropping an extra 3-cost card on turn 6 with Sera is great, Spider-Man can win a lane single-handedly for you — and is often quite unexpected. Last, Jean Grey, along with Storm and Juggernaut, can absolutely ruin your opponent’s plays as they’re forced to play at your pace, not theirs. Dropping a Brood into the Jean Grey slot will free you up to play elsewhere for the remainder of the match. Furthermore, playing Jean Grey on turn 5 will be a sneaky play to control where your opponent has to play for the final turn.
Second, this Jean Grey might be just the card to make Ongoing Thanos / Thanos Zoo viable again after the Lockjaw nerf. Here’s the list I think will work best:
- Ant-Man
- Jeff / Goose / Mojo
- Armor
- Cosmo
- Jean Grey
- Kazar
- Blue Marvel
- Devil Dinosaur
- Professor X
- Klaw
- Spectrum
- Thanos
The goal with this deck is to play Thanos’ Time Stone on turn 3 to ramp into Professor X and lock down a lane. As you have plenty of 1-drop cards to play, filling up the lane with Jean Grey in it will be quite straightforward, especially with the Soul Stone and Power Stone that have Ongoing effects to buff with Spectrum. And if you’re still hurting in that lane, Klaw can come in handy to give you that extra push to win it.
Jean Grey Weaknesses and Counters
The only direct counter to Jean Grey is Enchantress, as Rogue will continue her effect for both you and your opponent. Consider playing decks that make the most out of Zabu and Enchantress if you wish to counter her, or patiently wait for the release of the Ongoing-destroying Echo, which will release a week after Jean Grey. Otherwise, playing decks such as the ever-popular Bounce, which can return cards to your hand with Falcon and Beast, can help mitigate the problem Jean Grey poses somewhat.
With Jean Grey, it’s safe to say that playing decks that like to drop big cards will have a hard time in the coming weeks until a sufficient counter strategy is formed. Time will tell whether or not we fear Jean Grey the same way the X-Men do when she assumes the Dark Phoenix persona, or if she flames out in the face of more powerful, established decks.
