Marvel Snap’s Planet Hulk season this January introduced a handful of cards connected to the planet Sakaar storyline in the comics, namely the Contest of Champions. Among them is the final card of the season, Beta Ray Bill.
In the Marvel universe, Beta Ray Bill was the first character who isn’t a Norse god to receive the honor of wielding Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. He also has his own weapon, Stormbreaker, and possesses several superpowers including immense strength, speed, stamina, and durability, and an extended lifespan. In Marvel Snap, he can potentially be a massive Power source, so here are the best Beta Ray Bill decks.
Marvel Snap Beta Ray Bill abilities, explained
Beta Ray Bill is a four-Cost, six-Power card with an ability that reads “On Reveal: Shuffle Stormbreaker into your deck.” Stormbreaker is a zero-Cost, one-Power card with an effect that reads “On Reveal: Double Beta Ray Bill’s Power.” Beta Ray Bill has a lot of potential to provide huge swing turns, especially if you give him more Power before activating Stormbreaker.
Beta Ray Bill is a series five card, meaning you need to spend 6,000 Tokens to get him from the Weekly Spotlight section of Marvel Snap’s Token Shop. You can also get him from Spotlight Caches, since Beta Ray Bill is part of the four-card Spotlight pool from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6. So, use either your Tokens or Spotlight Keys to get Beta Ray Bill if you want to try him out.
Strategy and best combos for Beta Ray Bill decks in Marvel Snap
You can use cards to buff Beta Ray Bill’s Power before doubling his Power with Stormbreaker to maximize his massive Power potential. Cards that permanently add Power to other units include Forge, Nova, Okoye, Nakia, and Ironheart. Likewise, Shuri doubles the Power of the next card you play, so using Shuri before playing Stormbreaker can give you a 24-Power Beta Ray Bill. Taskmaster can also be incredibly impactful to get another 24-Power unit, which is best-placed at a different location.
In terms of protection, Armor and Cosmo are your go-to picks. The former protects your cards from being destroyed by card and location effects, while the latter prevents all On Reveal abilities from happening at the same location, including Shang-Chi’s destruction ability.
Stormbreaker’s zero-Cost stat is also useful for Jane Foster, thanks to her ability to pull all your zero-Cost cards from the deck. You can also include Skaar, as a double-powered Beta Ray Bill will substantially discount his Cost. So, aim to play Beta Ray Bill as soon as possible to bring out Skaar in the mid-game.
Grandmaster, Absorbing Man, and Odin can boost Beta Ray Bill’s Power even further, since they can re-activate Stormbreaker’s On Reveal ability again. Each activation of Stormbreaker doubles the Power of Beta Ray Bill, making it a force to be reckoned with.
The best Beta Ray Bill decks in Marvel Snap
Thor Lockjaw
The most consistent deck that uses Beta Ray Bill is a Thor Lockjaw deck. This is an already-established strategy for which playing out massive Power sources is the main offensive engine, and adding Beta Ray Bill gives the deck another layer of offensive prowess.
Thor has a similar ability to Beta Ray Bill, especially considering he adds a zero-Power unit to your deck (Mjolnir) that boosts Thor’s Power when played. Mjolnir, is a zero-Cost unit that gives plus six Power to the god of thunder. This makes both hammer cards effective targets for Jane Foster, as well as great fodder for Lockjaw.
Lockjaw is the main facilitator of the deck because of its ability to switch a card that you play at its location with a random card from your deck. Playing zero-Cost hammer cards courtesy of Thor and Beta Ray Bill at the Lockjaw location can both give their bonus Power effects to their designated gods while also fetching a random unit from your deck regardless of its Cost.
Massive Power sources that Lockjaw can fetch from your deck include Doctor Doom (for swarming your other two locations with five-Power Doombots), Odin (for re-activating your On Reveal abilities), Skaar (for a possible cheap-Cost card), Magneto (for moving your opponent’s three and four-Cost cards if possible), and The Infinaut (a 20-Power unit).
Also include Jubilee to call a random card from your deck, and Wasp and Yondu to act as additional sacrificial lambs for Lockjaw.
Win conditions
Consider snapping if majority of these cards are already in your hand:
- Lockjaw
- Thor
- Jane Foster
- Jubilee
- Doctor Doom
- Magneto
The Thor/Lockjaw package with Beta Ray Bill and Jane Foster is your main line of offense. So, playing Lockjaw and Thor or Beta Ray Bill with Jane Foster should always be your priority in every game, even better if both are present, since it can consistently create massive Power spikes at two locations.
Jubilee‘s ability to call a random unit can be game-changing, while Doctor Doom distributes your offense to all your locations as much as possible. As for Magneto, his ability to potentially move your opponent’s cards can disrupt their setup and secure you the win.
On Reveal
Another strong deck that can use Beta Ray Bill is in an On Reveal deck. As its name suggests, this deck focuses on using various On Reveal effects to win locations, like creating huge Power for your side, swarming locations with more units, and more.
Aside from the Beta Ray Bill and Thor package with Jane Foster, this deck also includes White Tiger. White Tiger creates a seven-Power Tiger unit at another location. Playing it with Wong can let you trigger all On Reveal abilities twice, creating at least two Tiger clones.
Odin and Grandmaster both help you spam your On Reveal abilities. Playing them at a Wong location can make your units and strategies even more dangerous. This setup, however, may be hard to pull off and may require more time to be effective. For this reason, the deck also runs Magik to transform a location into Limbo, extending the game to turn seven.
You can also use Ironheart as an alternative On Reveal strategy, since it can give three of your units plus two Power, while Iron Lad copies the text of the top card of your deck while also maintaining its four-Cost, six-Power stat line. Cap off the deck with Nebula to possibly build up Power in the early game, and Zabu, which lowers the Cost of your four-Cost cards by one (which includes Beta Ray Bill).
Win conditions
Aside from Beta Ray Bill, the other win conditions for this deck are:
- Thor
- Jane Foster
- Wong
- Grandmaster
- Odin
- White Tiger
Thor and Jane Foster are once again the most consistent offensive options in this deck, while Wong brings out the best of both Thor and Beta Ray Bill to create huge chunks of power. Grandmaster and Odin aid the strategy further, since they can repeat your On Reveal abilities. White Tiger is helpful if you run out of options to create big Power sources, especially if you won’t draw Beta Ray Bill or Thor in time.
How to counter Beta Ray Bill decks in Marvel Snap
Beta Ray Bill and Stormbreaker both have On Reveal abilities. This makes them great targets for Cosmo, whose ability stops their effects happening in the first place. So, always be cautious if there is a Cosmo at any location.
Additionally, Shang-Chi destroys cards with ten or more Power at the location he’s played, so he could potentially destroy a high-Power Beta Ray Bill. Similarly, Shadow King can reduce Beta Ray Bill’s Power to its base number, regardless of how huge it became. To protect your cards against these counters, run your own Cosmo and play it at Beta Ray Bill’s location after buffing his Power.
Is Beta Ray Bill worth pulling in Marvel Snap?
Beta Ray Bill is mostly an offensive machine that can be instrumental in outpowering your opponent in at least one location. Since winning having more Power is the name of the game in Marvel Snap, Beta Ray Bill is definitely worth pulling, especially if you’re fond of Thor Lockjaw or On Reveal decks.
You have plenty of options to take advantage of Stormbreaker’s effect to double Beta Ray Bill’s Power. Above all, Jane Foster is a great choice, and she’s fairly accessible to most mid-level players as she’s a series three card. Including her in your deck substantially increases your chances of drawing Stormbreaker.
