Marvel Snap‘s season this August, known as Big in Japan, revolves around Wolverine in the Land of the Rising Sun. With the season comes new cards that are related to the theme of the season, with X-23 one such addition to the popular card game.
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X-23, who goes by the name Laura Kinney, is a Wolverine clone who eventually becomes Wolverine’s adopted daughter. Just like his father, she possesses various powers and abilities, such as fast healing and regeneration, superhuman strength, speed, and her iconic claws which serve as her main weapon in combat.
In Marvel Snap, she is another destroy and discard staple which gives advantages if affected by these mechanics.
Marvel Snap X-23 abilities, explained
X-23 is a one-cost, two-Power card with the ability that reads “When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location and you get +1 Energy next turn.” Like Wolverine, X-23 regenerates when she is discarded or destroyed. However, unlike Wolverine, she can be spammed more often since the utility of gaining one energy she provides could be game-changing, especially as a match runs long.
Once X-23 is available in Marvel Snap, she will be released as a series five card. You can get her by purchasing her from the Weekly Spotlight of the Token Shop for 6,000 tokens or by opening Spotlight Caches from your Collection Level since she will be a part of the four-card pool rotation from Aug. 21 to 28.
Strategy and best combos for X-23 decks in Marvel Snap
X-23’s effect will be triggered once she is discarded or destroyed. To do this, you will need cards that enable those mechanics to bring out her true potential.
For those opting into a discard strategy, you can use X-23 alongside cards that let you discard cards from your hand. This includes Blade, Colleen Wing, Lady Sif, Moon Knight, Swordmaster, and MODOK.
All of these cards enable the discard mechanic in different stages, so be wise in the timing of playing them to ensure X-23’s effect will be activated.
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If you wish to destroy X-23 to let her ability take effect, you can use cards like Carnage, Venom, Killmonger, Deathlok, Arnim Zola, and Destroyer. Destroying her multiple times means you can stack energy from X-23 many times.
The best X-23 decks in Marvel Snap
X-23 Destroy
X-23 is a great fit for a Destroy deck. This is the standard version which revolves around destroying cards in the early to mid-game to gain card advantage and eventually overcome your opponent in the final few turns.
Aside from X-23, some of the other cards that benefit from being destroyed include Power gainers such as Deadpool and Wolverine. As for Daken, his created card Muramasa Shard doubles Daken’s current Power when it gets destroyed or discarded. For your destroy enablers, you can add the likes of Carnage, Venom, and Deathlok.
For a bit of control and setup disruption, you can add Shang-Chi, who can destroy all of your opponent’s cards with nine or more Power on the location where you play him. Cap off the deck with your late-game finishers such as Arnim Zola, who can destroy a card and place a copy of it on the other two locations, Knull, who gains the total Power of all destroyed cards (both from you and your opponent), Destroyer, who is a last resort card with 15-Power in exchange for destroying all of your cards, and Death, who is an eight-cost, 12-Power card that costs one less for each destroyed card (both from you and your opponent).
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Daken
- Arnim Zola
- Destroyer
- Knull
- Death
- Shang-Chi
Daken’s potential power-doubling ability from the Muramasa Shard makes him a massive Power source for the deck. Combine with Arnim Zola to give your side two Daken copies with further Power doubling when the Muramasa Shard gets destroyed.
Destroyer, Knull, and Death are your go-to massive Power sources in the late game. Shang-Chi, on the other hand, provides the location disruption and destruction effect which can boost Knull’s Power and lower Death’s cost.
X-23 Discard
Another way of utilizing X-23’s energy regeneration effect is by putting her in a discard deck. This version of the deck takes a newer form compared to the standard discard deck with a couple of new additions.
To enable the discard mechanic, you can add cards such as Colleen Wing, Lady Sif, and MODOK. All of these cards allow you to discard cards at various stages of the game, so be wise about when you should use them; they have one-time On Reveal effects to do so.
Aside from X-23 and Daken’s Muramasa Shard, the cards that benefit from being discarded include Swarm and Apocalypse. The former adds two copies of itself when discarded but becomes a zero-cost, three-Power card, while the latter is a six-cost, eight-Power card that stacks plus four Power every time it is discarded.
Morbius is another great pick since he has an Ongoing ability to gain plus-two Power for each card you discarded. The combo of Storm and Dracula is also beneficial thanks to their location lockdown and Power gaining strategy which can already give you a win in one location.
Top off the deck with Captain Marvel who secures a winnable location to lock in your win once and for all.
Win condition cards for this deck
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Storm
- Dracula
- Apocalypse
- America Chavez
- Daken
- Captain Marvel
Storm and Dracula’s combo is almost a must-play in every game since it can almost guarantee you a win in the flooded location, especially if you manage to keep and discard either Apocalypse or America Chavez by the end.
Daken is another great alternative Power source since the Muramasa Shard can double his current Power when discarded. As for Captain Marvel, she can instantly assist in winning a location at the end of the game, even if it’s a flooded location by Storm or any other unplayable location.
X-23 decks’ current state in the meta
Destroy and Discard decks have both been staples in the meta for a long time already. They are not considered the top decks in the current format but still manage to give wins, giving a straightforward offensive engine which often proves reliable.
With the arrival of X-23, these decks have become more consistent, especially since her ability to regenerate herself and give bonus energy can pave the way for possibly playing at least two-six cost cards in the game. Destroy decks may now be able to do a turn six (or seven) Arnim Zola play to distribute two six-cost Knulls in two locations.
As for Discard decks, the bonus energy can create a slot for a possible one-cost card play in the late game, such as Iceman or Nebula.
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