The colorful Marvel universe offers a wide variety of characters, including gods and deities. One of those Bast, who is one of the goddesses worshipped in Wakanda and in Ancient Egypt. Her abilities include executing superhuman strength, teleportation, doing magical and mystical powers, and the gift of immortality.
In Marvel Snap, Bast can be a catalyst to unlock the full potential of some of the hardest decks to master and pull off. But once you are able to grasp the strategies revolving around her, you can dominate games and use her to climb the ranks.
Marvel Snap Bast abilities, explained
Bast is a one-cost, one-Power card with the ability that reads “On Reveal: Set the Power of all cards in your hand to three.” At first glance, Bast’s ability may not seem to be that useful since players must outpower their opponent in order to win in every match of Marvel Snap. But in reality, it can provide a huge advantage for your side if you are able to use Bast correctly along with cards that can benefit from having three Power.
You can get Bast as a series three card (reaching at least Collection Level 486), as well as a free series three card from the regular free card rotation in every season. You don’t need to spend tokens to get her, so you can just grind the game and upgrade your cards if you want to make Bast a part of your decks.
Strategy and best combos for Bast decks in Marvel Snap
There are a lot of possibilities that you can do by using Bast. But primarily, Bast’s effect is best used to eventually make your cards’ Power three, and the best cards targeted for her ability are those with less than three Power originally.
Related: Best Legion decks in Marvel Snap
Some of the cards that greatly benefit from Bast include low-powered cards like Iron Man, Mystique, Angela, Hit-Monkey, Darkhawk, Knull, Patriot, Bishop, Hood, and more. All of those cards can be instantly boosted, giving more Power options for your side while enjoying their effects, especially with those that stack Power throughout any given match.
The best Bast decks in Marvel Snap
Iron Patriot
As mentioned, Bast works well alongside cards with low Power. A deck centering around Iron Man and Patriot would be one of the best options to include Bast since the capability to provide a lot of Power to your locations, especially in the late game, can be fully maximized if the added three-Power boost can be given to the majority of this deck’s cards.
Since Iron Man has the ability to double the Power of the location where it is placed, granting it a base Power of three can already give you a six-Powered unit instantly. This can even grow bigger once you place other cards on the location. Patriot, on the other hand, gives plus two-Power to your cards with no abilities. And the three-Power bonus it can get from Bast significantly raises its original one-Power.
Some of the low-powered cards that can stack Power which also benefit from Bast’s effect include Angela, Bishop, and Hit-Monkey. The Hood and Squirrel Girl are there to take advantage of Patriot’s boost, as well as Mysterio which is the best partner for Hit-Monkey and another great booster for Bishop’s power-stacking effect. Kitty Pryde, on the other hand, can be another offensive option since it can gain Power every time you are able to bounce her from a location to your hand while giving a possible boost to Angela and Bishop’s Powers.
Cap off the deck with Mystique, which can copy the Ongoing ability of the last card you played, and Sera, to unlock more possibilities in terms of multiple miracle plays on turn six by lowering the cost of cards in your hand by one.
Win condition cards for this deck
Aside from Bast, the win condition cards for this deck are:
- Iron Man
- Patriot
- Mystique
- Bishop
- Hit-Monkey
- Angela
Iron Man and Patriot are the main catalysts of this deck’s strategy. Playing Bast to boost their Power can already be a big advantage for your side, you be patient on when you should play Bast to maximize its boosting potential to your cards. Mysqtiue adds more flare by copying Iron Man or Patriot to boost your cards or locations.
Bishop, Hit-Monkey, and Angela are your main Power sources for this deck. All of these cards also benefit from Bast since they have low Power.
Negative Bast
If you want to try something more of an explosive deck with Bast where a high-risk, high-reward strategy is used, you can opt to create a Negative Bast deck that focuses on playing Mister Negative early. This is to pave the way for an explosive and hard-to-read turn-six play, courtesy of the cost and Power-switching effect of the card.
Mister Negative can switch the cost and Power of all your cards in the deck. This ability can be best used for cards with low amounts of Power, such as Iron Man, Mystique, Darkhawk, Arnim Zola, Bishop, Hit-Monkey, and Leader. You can create a surprising turn-six miracle play if you are able to pull off Mister Negative’s effect, especially with the amount of Power you can create by playing multiple powerful cards all at once.
In this deck, Bast serves as more of a backup plan in case you won’t be able to draw and activate Mister Negative’s effect on time. The added three-power bonus it can give is beneficial for those low-powered cards.
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Mister Negative
- Darkhawk
- Arnim Zola
- Leader
Mister Negative is the heart and soul of this deck. So, you should know if you can still pull off the cost and Power switch strategy as early as possible, or if you need to resort to another winning strategy (primarily the Bast play).
Darkhawk is your main straightforward Power source for this deck thanks to its ability to gain plus two-Power for each card in your opponent’s deck. As for Arnim Zola, you can use it to target a lone card in a location that can be destroyed, summoning copies of it to the other two locations. Use Leader in case you can read the opponent well especially if they are playing a high-powered card in the final turn.
How to counter Bast decks
Bast has an On Reveal effect, so the direct counter to her would be Cosmo since she can shut down the On Reveal abilities of cards that are played in the same location as her. With Bast’s weak stat line, playing her in a location with Cosmo would make no sense at all. So, it should always be your priority to check if a Cosmo is present on any of the player’s side of the locations.
Cards that are affected by Bast’s ability can be prone to Shadow King’s ability. He has the effect of bringing back the Power of all the cards placed in the same location as him back to their base Power. So, if you played a three-power Iron Man, his Power would be back to zero if the opponent opted to play Shadow King.
As for the Iron Patriot deck, cards that can disrupt Ongoing abilities can be considered threats to make the deck a lot weaker. This includes the Ongoing disruption trio of Enchantress, Echo, and Rogue. So, be careful and always watch out for those cards if you are using a deck that is heavily reliant on Ongoing abilities.
Bast decks’ current state in the meta
The more meta deck in this list is the Bast Patriot strategy. It has a consistent engine that can produce explosive plays in the late game, especially if you are able to pull off the Bast effect on some key cards, such as Bishop and Iron Man.
As for the Negative Bast deck, it has a high-risk, high-reward strategy that makes it an inconsistent deck, especially in the current meta. Still, it is a fun deck to play which can give you some of the most epic plays that can be created in the deck if you manage to draw the right cards at the right time.
