As an avid Marvel Snap gamer, few things get me more excited than digging into a new card pool release. The game‘s pool 3 in particular adds over 50 fresh options that open up game-changing possibilities.
But effectively utilizing pool 3‘s complex interactions takes time. As someone whose battled through the learning curve first-hand, I‘m here to cut straight to the most powerful tactics and card synergies.
In this extensive 3000 word guide, you‘ll discover how to fully leverage pool 3‘s potential across different deck archetypes. I‘ll be drawing on hundreds of hours of personal gameplay experience as well as trends seen at top-level competition.
Let‘s dive straight into the awesomeness!
An Exciting New World of Card Abilities
I distinctly remember hitting collection level 486 and getting my first taste of pool 3‘s capabilities. Right away Venom and Carnage sprang out as having phenomenally unique effects. The higher complexity cards inject so much more variety into matches compared to pool 2‘s more basic "add X power" type stuff.
Here‘s a quick overview of why pool 3 changes the game:
Higher Costs – Pool 3 introduces the first 5, 6 and even 9 cost cards. These let you build towards truly monumental late game power swings.
Expanded Design Space – Abilities range from flat power bonuses to highly situational effects that alter lane positions or trigger from cards moving between them. This greatly expands the viable card synergies and matchups you need to account for.
Shake Up The Meta – Pool 3 fully rewrites competive deck building convention. Synergistic combo and disruption focused decks become much more viable against pool 2‘s more mid-range pile of good stuff builds.
As someone constantly seeking out novel card games, this influx of new gameplay dimensions had me theorycrafting for weeks on end. The lessons learned from those experiments are what I‘m excited to share with you today!
Crafting a Deadly Destroy Deck
Destroy centered decks aim to utilize cascade effects from cards like Venom, Carnage and Killmonger annihilating both yours and your opponent‘s units. This playstyle thrives on creating immense tempo swings from these self damage synergies.
I refined a particularly vicious destroy deck build popularized by #1 ranked player Bonaparte that served me well on the ladder. Here were the key card choices:
Venom (3 cost) – The deck‘s centerpiece. It replaces any destroyed cards at its location with a 6 power Winter Soldier while granting you a fresh Venom to play again. This efficiently converts your energy investment into beefy units.
Carnage (2 cost) – Triggers cascading destroys from being played while providing an on-curve body. Sets up critical mass for Killmonger.
Killmonger (3 cost) – Rewards you with +1 power on all cards at a location for each destroyed there. This can result in 10+ power swings in the late game.
Bucky Barnes (2 cost) – Functions both as Winter Soldier payoff and Venom activate fodder. Thins your deck when destroyed as well.
Filling out the remaining deck slots with Nova, Wolverine and Deadpool provides additional discard fodder to enable your core destroy effects.
If you like playing aggressive tempo focused strategies in other card games like me, this build rewards good sacrifice sequencing decisions with some extremely satisfying power spikes in the late game.
Optimize Your Destroy Chains with Proper Placement
While piloting destroy decks during numerous tournament qualifier runs, I learned subtle placement adjustments make a big impact optimizing your combos‘ effectiveness.
Here are some key tips I‘ve picked up:
Funnel destroy triggers onto one location – This allows Killmonger‘s ability to stack exponentially. Similar to buffs in other CCGs, concentrating your discard effects creates maximum value.
Break wide On Reveal abilities like Carnage‘s – You want to carefully consider adjacency when playing cards like Carnage. Balancing destroys across multiple lanes denies your opponent‘s ability to efficiently trade while enabling your Killmongers to grow in power.
Lead with 1 drops to force opponent commits – An early Nova or Deadpool pressures your adversary into placing backup units to block, walking right into your destroy combos next turn. This is where you can punish misplays by dropping a Carnage into Venom series for example.
With practice, you‘ll be leveraging these types of positioning decisions to force opponent mistakes while unlocking your destroy deck‘s maximum power turn after turn.
Satisfying Destroy Combos to Obliterate Your Opponent‘s Board
Few sensations compare to having assembled the perfect destroy sequence. Here are two examples of utterly crushing combos I live to pull off with this style deck:
Venom into Winter Soldier Transition
This efficient combo converts low cost units into high power threats:
Turn 3 – Play Bucky Barnes on a location
Turn 4 – Play Venom at the same position, destroying Bucky and replacing Venom with 6 power Winter Soldier
Walking away up a 6 power unit after only investing 3 total energy over two turns sets you up beautifully for later dominance.
The key is then playing additional Venoms and Buckys to repeat the process. If done correctly, you can easily control two lanes with 12+ power Winter Soldiers. Brutal!
Carnage into Killmonger Bomb
Carnage and Killmonger combine gloriously to exponentially multiply your location‘s overall power:
Turn 1 – Play a 1 cost unit like Nova
Turn 3 – Play Carnage, destroying Nova
Turn 4 – Follow up with Killmonger at the same placement, gaining +2 power from Nova and Carnage‘s earlier destroy
Sprinkle in extra disposable units like Deadpool or Wolverine to push Killmonger to 10+ attack. And don‘t forget its ability impacts ALL cards at that location, making this an extremely formidable stacked threat for just 4 total energy.
Mastering these types of high synergy discard sequences canogen bb ocombos to utterly dominate matchups. It leaves opponents staring at brutal double digit power units as early as turn 5 wondering where it all went wrong.
So satisfying!
Disrupting Opponents with Pool 3 Control Tools
Beyond raw power strategies, pool 3 also equips you with more strategic control options as well. Disruption decks utilize new card effects like:
Korg (1 cost) – Shuffles an unplayable rock into the enemy deck to congest their draws
Yondu (1 cost) – Removes the top card of your adversary‘s deck, denying them resources
Iceman (1 cost) – Increases the cost of a random card in your opponent‘s hand, hampering their tempo
Black Widow (2 cost) – Prevents enemy card draw as long as she remains on the board
The goal becomes impairing your opponent‘s ability to efficiently progress their game plan. If you can buy enough time slowing them down, eventually your base unit stats will prevail in a war of attrition.
I‘ve had great success frustrating opponents with these styles of disruption focused control decks. If that sounds like your kind of playstyle from other CCG experiences, the following tips will equip you to become a true frustration master!
Dictating the Pace with Proper Disruption Sequencing
Pacing your disruption effects to continuously choke key phases of your adversary‘s turn represents the hallmark of a masterful control player.
Here is the general sequence I follow playing control:
Turn 1: Pass. Wait to react until seeing opponent‘s plan.
Turn 2: Drop early disrupt like Korg or Iceman to hamper opponent‘s next draw phase. This delays their follow up tempo play.
Turn 3: Play mid-curve disruption like Yondu or Black Widow. Further deny card or resource advantage.
Turn 4: Continue forcing opponent off curve with more disruption if you still dictate pace.
Turn 5+: If in control, you can now look to drop win condition power plays as opponent whimpers under your deny pressure!
The key takeaway is that correctly staggering your disruption suite turn after turn lets you take over the driver‘s seat in dictating match flow. Never let the pressure up so your opponent feels like they never get to properly play!
Curse Your Enemies with Black Widow Lockdown
Of all the control tools pool 3 offers, none frustrates me more to face than Black Widow. A properly timed Widow essentially seals the game, especially if followed up by additional discard support.
Here‘s the dastardly sequence to look for as early as turn 2:
Turn 1: Pass
Turn 2: Play Black Widow
And just like that from turn 3 onwards your opponent is denied any sort of card or tempo advantage from refreshing their hand each turn. Without removal options like Cosmo they are forced to constantly bank unused energy.
This allows you to continually develop threats and answers, essentially playing solitaire until you eventually overwhelm their board.
I can‘t properly describe the immense frustration felt staring at a slowly growing Black Widow or trying to math out if you‘ll survive long enough to play a critical response from a dwindling deck. It feels even better being the one piloting this style of boa constrictor denial win!
Unleashing Pool 3‘s Maximum Mayhem in Mixed Decks
Once familiar with pool 3‘s various combo and control components, the real fun begins mixing and matching them together.
Vicious hybrid concoctions containing both proactive and reactive elements can prove utterly dominant. Cards like Killmonger, Black Widow and Nightcrawler make particularly spicy disruptor fusion ingredients.
Here are some ways I‘ve blended pool 3‘s most synergistic effects into all-star mixed rosters:
- Killmonger – Reaps rewards from your destroys while disrupting enemy placements trying to deny his exponential growth
- Black Widow – Stalls out opponent‘s hand refill after baited over-commits to your threat units
- Nightcrawler – Repositions your cards to set up killer Venom combos
- Green Goblin – Punishes opponents stacking multiple units at a location
- Hobgoblin – Functions as both disruptor and powerful mid-game bomb
Don‘t be afraid to experiment with unusual card mashups – that‘s half the fun mastering pool 3‘s rich depth! Between destroy triggers, battlefield control and disruption you have amazing customization potential at your fingertips.
Annihilate and Disorient Your Opponent‘s Strategy Simultaneously
Once comfortable with both play patterns, combining viscious tempo power spikes with debilitating disruption represents the peak of pool 3 mastery.
The following mixed deck I‘ve successfully piloted from rank 50-70 is an example of perfectly blending these mechanics:
Destroy Core
- Venom
- Carnage
- Killmonger
- Bucky Barnes
- Nova
Disruption Package
- Korg
- Iceman
- Black Widow
This specific list focuses on setting up Carnage into Killmonger bombing runs while using cheap disruptors to hamper the opponent‘s ability to react or trade efficiently.
By unsettling their hand and removing key blockers, you open wider attack angles for ideal destroy sequencing. Nothing leaves an opponent more tilted than having their best cards discarded while taking 10+ overwhelm damage to the face at the same time!
The moral here remains: blend pool 3‘s unique components together until you discover combinations that specifically punish current meta threats. Maintain intimate knowledge of trending lists so you can tech against today‘s most prominent strategies!
Concluding Thoughts
And there you have it – everything I wish I knew starting out with pool 3 from hundreds of epic, sob inducing hours of experience. I hope walking through these tips from passionate gamer perspective helps fast track your own mastery!
Pool 3 represents the height of Marvel Snap complexity and fun so far. We‘ve come a long way since the simple abilities seen back in pool 1. Personally I can‘t wait to see the continued evolution in card design and gameplay as the competitive scene matures.
Now get out there and start brewing the ultimate disruptive death machine! Let me know which awesome card mashups perform best for you in the comments below. That combo insight could easily make my next tournament deck.
Happy snapping!
