Best Ghost Rider decks in Marvel Snap and how to counter them

Let the ride begin.

Galactus appearing as a large figure in a Marvel Snap promotional image.
Image via Nuverse

In Marvel Snap, Ghost Rider is a four-cost, three-Power point card with the ability that reads: “On Reveal: Bring back one of your discarded cards to this location.”

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Though this may seem a bit underwhelming at first glance, a deck built around the famous skulled antihero can be devastating given the right tools, and can pull off some of the best combos in the game.

Here are the best Ghost Rider decks in Marvel Snap.

Best Ghost Rider decks in Marvel Snap

Ghost Rider/Lady Sif/Infinaut Combo

Screengrab via Marvel Snap Zone

The best option you can do with Ghost Rider’s effect is to target a card with massive Power points since it can bring back a unit instantly without the need of spending energy. One of the best possible targets for the antihero’s ability is The Infinaut, which can quickly turn things upside down if you manage to pull it off.

The Infinaut is a six-cost, 20-Power point card that has the ability that reads: “If you played a card last turn, you can’t play this.” This might seem that you need to sacrifice a turn to be able to play it, but if you manage to call it by using Ghost Rider’s ability, you won’t need to worry about the summoning conditions. The fact it has 20-Power points already puts you at an advantage unless your opponent can match the Power that you will have upon playing it.

You can’t just discard The Infinaut easily. You will need cards that will let you discard units from your hand. This includes Lady Sif, which is a three-cost, four-Power point card that lets you discard the highest-cost card from your hand. Swordmaster is also a great addition to make the discard mechanic more consistent, as well as being a decent three-cost, six-Power point card for an additional power boost on one of your locations.

As for the other cards in the deck that you can play in the early to mid-game, you can put Scarlet Witch in case one of the locations may provide a disadvantage on your side, Armor for protection on your board, Mister Sinister and Sentinel to fill up your locations in the early to mid game, and Killmonger for disrupting your opponent’s strategy by destroying all one-cost cards on both sides of the locations.

For your late-game finishers, Warpath is an excellent inclusion since you can target only two locations to boost their power, making it unpredictable for the opponent and potentially harder for them to distribute their cards on all of the locations. This provides an added plus four-Power points to Warpath, making it a nine-Power card in the process. Spider-Woman can inflict minus one-Power to all of the cards on your opponent’s side of the location where you played it, and Iron Man to double the power of one of your locations.

The key to using this deck is to always aim to discard The Infinaut and target it with Ghost Rider’s effect. This will pave the way for you to control the late game by potentially dropping other late-game finishers and securing at least two of the locations for the win.

Win condition cards for this deck:

Ghost Rider is more of just a tool to get your late-game finishers. This will pave the way to potentially bolstering your Power in the location where you played it.

The other win condition for this deck are:

  • The Infinaut
  • Apocalypse
  • Spider-Woman

This discard deck’s engine still relies on power plays in the final turn to secure your locations. The Infinaut’s humongous 20 Power can instantly secure you a location. Apocalypse can also have its Power increase every time you discard it, so it’ll definitely be your main turn-six drop.

Spider-Woman is a great alternative as a target for Ghost Rider’s effect. It has some control abilities which can convert to your offensive advantage.

Full Discard Deck

Screengrab via Marvel Snap Zone

If you want even more consistency in a deck with Ghost Rider, using a full discard engine will definitely work. Ghost Rider is not your finisher, but it will pave the way to potentially summon a powerful finisher with a great sum of Power points that can help you secure at least one of the locations.

Aside from Lady Sif, there are still other cards in Marvel Snap that can let you discard units from your hand, like Blade and Moon Knight. These cards can help you do the discard mechanic in the early to mid-game, so including them is a viable option for the deck. Black Cat is also a great addition thanks to its three-cost, seven-Power point boost, though you will be forced to discard it if you haven’t played it in a turn. Luckily, Ghost-Rider can target it in case you won’t be able to discard The Infinaut.

For your mid to late-game finishers, you can put the likes of Apocalypse, which can return immediately to your hand and gains plus four Power if you discard it. Hela is also a good choice since it can bring back all of your discarded cards if you play it. Jubilee can help you play multiple late-game finishers thanks to its ability to randomly call a card from your deck without spending energy for its cost.

As for the other cards in the deck, you can include Shang-Chi to destroy your opponent’s high Power cards, as well as Dracula, which lets you discard a card by the end of the game and grants it Power equal to what you have discarded this way. Add Scarlet Witch if you want to change one of your locations.

The key to using this deck is to use the cards that can let you discard your other units from your hand as early as possible. This can cause unpredictability for your opponent, especially if you manage to pull off the mentioned combos courtesy of discards.

Win condition cards for this deck:

Just like the first deck, having lots of Power through the discard mechanic is the key to triumph. Here are the win condition cards for this deck:

  • Hela
  • The Infinaut
  • Apocalypse
  • Dracula

Hela is like a pseudo-Ghost Rider but can do more damage since everything that you discarded gets returned to random locations upon playing it. It is also a decent six-Power card, making it an additional Power booster in the process. Of course, the gigantic Infinaut is present, as well as the potential Power monster, Apocalypse.

This deck runs more six-cost cards with high Power points. And there may be times that you may not be able to play all of those cards. This is where Dracula comes in handy since it can potentially turn into one of them.

Ghost Rider deck staple cards

Here are the staple cards you should play in a Ghost Rider deck, along with their effects:

  • Scarlet Witch – On Reveal: Replace this location with a random new one.
  • Morbius – +2 Power for each time you discarded a card this game.
  • Lady Sif – On Reveal: Discard the highest-cost card from your hand.
  • Swordmaster – On Reveal: Discard a card from your hand.
  • Apocalypse – When you discard this card from your hand, put it back with +4 Power.
  • The Infinaut – If you played a card last turn, you can’t play this. 

How to counter Ghost Rider decks

Since Ghost Rider has an On Reveal ability, Cosmo can completely shut down its effect since it has the ability that reads: “Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen at this location.” If your opponent can time it right, Ghost Rider can turn into a complete vanilla unit, unfortunately.

Also, lockdown decks with cards like Professor X and Spider-Man may prevent you from putting cards in the late game. Their abilities can disrupt your strategy in an instant. 

Author
Image of David Gealogo
David Gealogo
Strategic Content Writer for Dot Esports from the Philippines, mainly for Marvel Snap, Fortnite, card games, MOBA, battle-royale, general gaming, and more. Previously wrote news articles and guides for Gfinity Esports, Sportskeeda, Esports.net, and GINX Esports TV. Also a competitive Marvel Snap player under my in-game name: Davidwaaaa, a leaderboard Infinite player and joining multiple Snap tournaments. Sheesh. Let's get in touch: dgealogo@gmail.com