There’s a lot of big, muscle-bound Hulk-like characters in the Marvel universe, and another one is joining Marvel Snap with the release of Starbrand. Here are the best Starbrand decks in Marvel Snap.
Starbrand is a 3-cost, 10-power card with an ability that reads: “Ongoing: Your opponent has +3 Power at each other location.”
This isn’t an effect like Mister Fantastic that only affects adjacent locations – Starbrand will award the power to the location it’s not in. As an Ongoing card, most decks using Starbrand will look to mitigate this effect with the likes of Zero, Sauron, and Enchantress.
Starbrand is hard countered by Shang-Chi alone and combos incredibly well with the likes of Surtur; however, at the 3 cost slot, he’s a bit awkward to fit into a lot of decks as you’ll want to play Surtur or Sauron instead.
Starbrand has a couple ready-made shells that he fits into quite well: Shuri Sauron and Surtur. While the former has fallen out of the meta for a while now, let’s take a look and see if Starbrand has what it takes to revitalize the classic deck:
Click here to copy this list from Untapped.
This is a very inexpensive deck with only Ares as a Series 5 card; however, you can easily swap him out for Vision. As this deck leans into Zabu’s ability, he’s a slightly better choice than the classic move card.
If you’ve been Marvel Snapping for a while now you likely know how this deck plays; if not, it’s pretty straightforward: remove the negative effects of your Ongoing cards with Zero, Sauron, and Enchantress, buff up another lane with Shuri into something like Red Skull, and claim a final location by copying that massive power stat with Taskmaster.
Traditionally, this list ran Ebony Maw in place of Zabu, but given Taskmaster’s nerf to 6 cost, it’s much harder to slam them both down on the final turn. Instead, Zabu gives you the option to play Shuri alongside Starbrand or Ares on the final turns of the game, providing some surprise power spikes.
Since you’re going so tall with Shuri into Starbrand, his +3 power to your opponent’s locations isn’t as big of a drawback; however, you can always cancel it out with Enchantress right after playing him – and hopefully hit an opponent’s Ongoing card.
Related:Best Redwing Decks in Marvel Snap
With the recent nerf to Aero and Skaar, Surtur makes a great home for Starbrand. Let’s take a look:
Click here to copy this list from Untapped.
This is an expensive list with four Series 5 cards. Sam Wilson and Cull Obsidian are a synergistic package, while Surtur and Ares make the deck work at a high level. You’ll want them all.
With the addition of Starbrand, it’s now possible to get Skaar down to 1 cost on curve by playing Starbrand into two of Ares, Attuma, and Crossbones on turns 4 and 5. Zero makes this to mitigate the downsides of both Starbrand and Attuma, but even if you don’t weave Zero in seamlessly, he’s a great final turn play alongside your other cards and doesn’t have too much of a negative effect on the rest of the deck. Indeed, Crossbones, Cull Obsidian, and Skaar don’t care if you play Zero first – just be careful not to nuke your own Surtur or Aeres.
The difficulty with this deck will be knowing when to play Starbrand. You definitely want to play Surtur out first and hold Starbrand for perhaps the final turn alongside a Zero and Skaar, though that will not always be possible. As such, it’ll take a bit of trial and error to get Starbrand working well in this tried-and-true shell.
Starbrand is very much a “wait and see” card, as we’ve just gotten huge power spikes in the meta with the additions of Agamotto and Eson. Shuri Sauron may very well not be able to keep up no matter how good Starbrand is, and with the recent hits to Aero and Skaar, it remains to be seen whether or not Surtur decks have a place in this meta. Give it a few days to see how things shake out if you have the resources for this latest Hulk-like addition.
And those are the best Starbrand decks in Marvel Snap.
Marvel Snapis available to playnow.
