In the Marvel universe, some heroes use mystical Powers to fight off their enemies. One of those is Amka Aliyak, better known as Snowguard, who can transform herself into different types of animals after gaining the ability to harness the spiritual energy from the Aurora Borealis and the Arctic.
In Marvel Snap, Snowguard’s ability is patterned to what she can do as a superhero. It may not be considered a win condition card like the abilities of Galactus and High Evolutionary, but what she can do may be game-changing, especially if there are locations you want to take advantage of or get rid of to win.
Here are the best Snowguard decks in Marvel Snap.
Marvel Snap Snowguard abilities, explained
Snowguard is a one-cost, two-Power card with the ability that reads “On Reveal: Add the Hawk and Bear auroras to your hand.” Both the Snowguard Hawk and Snowguard Bear have a stat line of two-cost, three-Power, and their abilities read as:
- Snowguard Hawk: On Reveal: Ignore all location abilities until the end of the next turn (or the game).
- Snowguard Bear: On Reveal: Trigger the effect of this location.
On paper, both the abilities of the created cards by Snowguard may seem underwhelming. But if you use them correctly, you can change the flow of the game in an instant, especially if there are locations with tricky and challenging effects that give you unexpected advantages.
Snowguard is currently a series four card, meaning you can get her in the regular rotation of the Token Shop for 3,000 tokens.
Strategy and best combos for Snowguard decks in Marvel Snap
Snowguard has a general effect that makes her a great tech card for almost any deck. Her usage is more dependent on the locations present in the game, so there is no direct synergy available for Snowguard to the other cards in the game.
Some cards that change location effects, however, can be easily countered by Snowguard Hawk. This includes Magik since she can turn a location to Limbo, extending the game into a game seven. Using Snowguard Hawk can deny the Limbo effect and may surprise the opponent since a turn seven won’t happen this way.
Snowguard Hawk can also deny the Flooded location effect of Storm, making the Flooded location open in the process. This can lead to surprise plays to disrupt your opponent’s setup.
The best Snowguard decks in Marvel Snap
Loki For The Win
A popular deck in the current meta where Snowguard can be included is in a Loki package with The Collector and Devil Dinosaur. This revolves around the strategy of building up the Power for both The Collector and Devil Dino while playing the discounted cards courtesy of Loki and Quinjet.
Loki was the season pass card for Marvel Snap’s season this September, known as “Loki for All Time.” He can turn all your hand cards into random cards from your opponent’s deck but has their costs reduced by one. Combining Loki’s ability with Quinjet can make the cost reduction to two, possibly paving the way for playing multiple cards with originally higher costs.
Your main Power sources for this deck are The Collector and Devil Dinosaur. The former can stack plus one Power every time a card that did not start in your deck enters your hand, while the latter has an Ongoing ability allowing it to gain plus two Power for each card in your hand. Both of them can heavily benefit from Loki’s effect.
Aside from Loki, the other units in this deck that can give you additional cards in your hand are Mirage, Sentinel, and Agent Coulson. Kitty Pryde can bounce herself every time you play her while stacking plus one Power in the process.
Cap off the deck with Angela as your other potential massive Power source, Armor for added protection, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark for his unstoppable ability to be played or moved anywhere.
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Loki
- Quinjet
- The Collector
- Devil Dinosaur
- Kitty Pryde
- Angela
Loki is the main card in this deck you need to play to pave the way for the potential Power boost for The Collector, as well as having more cards for Devil Dino. Kitty Pryde’s possible Power stack can make her another massive Power source, while Angela’s ability can be spammed with Kitty as well.
Con-Troll
Another deck where Snowguard can be used is a control deck focusing on lockdown and location manipulation. Through these ways, the control prowess can be converted into offense to help you win games in general.
The cards locking down locations in this deck are Storm and Professor. The former can flood a location, meaning the next turn would be the last turn players can play cards on that location. The latter, on the other hand, completely prevents players from putting or removing cards there in any form, except for Jeff the Baby Land Shark since he is literally unstoppable.
Legion is there to take advantage of a location, while Scarlet Witch can get rid of a location that may seem challenging for your side to play with. Nebula can be added since she can gain plus-two Power at every end of the turn while the opponent may not be able to play cards on the location where she is placed. Juggernaut can be used to provide surprise setup disruptions since he can move the cards the opponent played on his location.
Daredevil can be added for a vision for turn five, and Shang-Chi’s potential to destroy your opponent’s cards with nine or more Power on the location where you play him can be converted as an offense for your side. Cap off the deck with Armor and Doctor Doom for a surprise swarm on your locations by creating two six-cost, five-Power DoomBots for each other location.
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Storm
- Professor X
- Legion
Storm and Professor X provide the lockdown mechanic in this deck, while Legion is there to manipulate the locations in an instant. A possible play for this to do a surprise lockdown would be Storm on turn four, and Legion on turn five on the Flooded location. This can turn the game upside down, so make sure to build up your early game with Nebula and the other lower-cost cards of this deck.
How to counter Snowguard decks
On paper, Snowguard has an On Reveal ability. This means Cosmo is the biggest threat to making her dysfunctional since the latter has the effect of preventing On Reveal abilities from being activated in the same location as her. So, you should always check if Cosmo is already placed on any of your opponent’s side of the locations to make Snowguard’s ability effective.
For the Loki deck, the biggest counter to it right now is Mobius M. Mobius. He has an Ongoing ability that prevents you from decreasing your cards in any form. Mobius M. Mobius shuts down the discounts provided by Loki and Quinjet, making the deck weaker and preventing you from having the chance to execute multiple plays in a single turn.
The biggest counter to the Con-Troll deck would be directly for Professor X. Cards that can remove his Ongoing ability are useful against him, which includes Enchantress, Echo, and Rogue. A flooded location by Storm can be countered by cards that can also change locations, such as Scarlet Witch, Magik, Rhino, and even Legion.
Snowguard decks’ current state in the meta
Snowguard wasn’t a popular card back when she was originally released in April. However, she’s since become a vital part of the Loki strategy—a current top meta deck. It’s great how the deck can do a lot of things while keeping the created Power on both The Collector and Devil Dinosaur. Just be careful if you are facing a deck with Mobius M. Mobius.
The Con-Troll deck, on the other hand, is a less competitive yet fun deck that can be used to troll players.
