I am no stranger to collectible card games. 13 year old me was one of the OG suckers who was utterly beguiled by Magic the Gathering, spending whatever little allowance I had towards building and tweaking the ultimate competition deck. I was pretty good. I won quite a few tournaments in my day. It’s not something I talk about at parties, but it helps me sleep a little lighter knowing all that money didn’t go to waste. I eventually broke the habit and moved on to other distractions (girls… it was girls!), but a part of me is always a little tempted to buy a starter deck or two and pick up where I left off. The only thing holding me back is knowing how complex the game has become in the 28 years since I last played it. Enter Marvel Snap. A digital collectible card game that is so easy to get into, so cleverly constructed, and so damn addictive, that it might just be Disney’s most cunning asset right now.
But before we get into just why that is, a quick primer on how it all works.
How It Works
Getting started is easy. You download the app (it’s available for iOS, Android, and Steam), launch it, fill in the usual details, and you’re good to go. You start with a premade deck and a selection of cards. All of them are characters from Marvel comics, each one has a casting cost and a corresponding power, and they may have special abilities to boot. Every game has six turns, and each game lasts between four to five minutes. You use the energy that you’re allocated at the beginning of every turn (you start with one and end with six) to cast cards and you play them on one of three random locations. Each location holds up to four cards and, like the individual cards themselves, have their own distinct effects. (Kamar-Taj, for example, doubles your card’s “On Reveal” effects. Murderworld destroys all cards played there after turn three. Or you might end up with Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum which doesn’t allow you to play any cards on it.)
The objective of the game isn’t to hit your opponent or to destroy cards (though the latter can be used as a winning strategy), but rather to outscore the opponent in two out of three of the board’s locations.
What’s more, as the name of the game implies, you can also “Snap” by tapping the Cosmic Cube at the top of the screen. “Snapping” allows you to multiply the number of points you get whenever you win a game. These points unlock rankings, giving you power-ups, and tokens, and credits, and gold, which of course allow you to get new cards and upgrade your existing ones.
Get it? Got it? Good!
The Silver Couch Surfer
There are many layers to Marvel Snap’s genius. Almost every element of the game has been fine tuned to trigger different parts of our gaming brain. The competitor in you is going to want to keep beating random strangers on the Internet. The collector in you is going to want to keep playing in oder to accumulate those cards. And the casual gamer in you is thrilled at the notion of being able to do all of it in short, efficient bursts. It really is the pinnacle of instant gratification. A quick game can result in immense satisfaction. And even a loss means that a turn around is a mere five minutes away.
What’s more, everything happens in real time so it’s always your turn. You’re never sitting there waiting around for your opponent to play their cards. There is a real momentum to the game which means you’re never idle and never bored.
You can play it as a distraction when you’re on the crapper, or while you’re waiting for the pasta to cook. Or you can binge it, playing game after game, for hours on end. Marvel Snap really is as simple or as complex as you make it out to be. You will have just as much fun if all you’re doing is checking in ever so often, and playing your more than capable starter deck, as you would if you were poring over every card in an attempt to construct exciting new decks.
Because it doesn’t matter if you have super exclusive cards or how powerful you think your deck is, the three random locations that appear every round are the ultimate equalizer. Each one has the power to throw even the most experienced player for a loop, drastically changing the outcome of every game.
These locations truly level the playing field. God knows I’ve played games with some of my most basic decks and won only because the special feature of a specific location worked in my favour. You can’t buy your way into victory in such circumstances. But you can most definitely strategize a win. It’s that wonderful unpredictability makes Marvel Snap the most egalitarian of the collectible card games. It rewards you for dipping in and out and playing a little every day. It prioritizes a slow and steady path towards victory instead of incentivizing you to spend your money.
Zabu, No, Bad Kitty
The most cunning aspect of Marvel Snap, however, and the reason why it’s Disney’s most valuable asset, lies in the way it utilizes these characters. Sure you can play Captain America, and Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk, but the game also includes characters so obscure that even diehard comic book fans have never heard of them.
Every card is also reflective of that character’s personality and skills in both the MCU and the comics. Captain America, for example, boosts the stats of the other cards at his location because he is an inspiration. Wolverine gets randomly played at another location whenever he’s destroyed because you can never kill the Wolverine. And Captain Marvel will move to a location that will win you the game because she’s Captain Marvel dammit.
This game is a celebration of the heroes, the villains, and the worlds contained within the Marvel Universe. It places them within the palm of your hands, challenges you to manipulate them in fascinating ways, and allows you to play superhero in a fun new way. This game does more to introduce the public to the vastness of Marvel’s extensive back catalogue than any movie, television show, or comic book ever could. It will get you curious about Hell Cow, and Giganto, and Leech. It might make you seek out comics with Sword Master, or Moon Girl, or Aero.
Marvel Snap is a clever, clever game. But its real power lies in how it exploits the world’s largest library of characters, stories, and ideas, making it the ultimate gateway drug into the Marvel Universe. This one will have Disney laughing all the way to the bank.
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