Some of the most popular and powerful villains in the Marvel universe are the Big Bad cards of Marvel Snap. They provide game-changing effects that can potentially turn matches upside down. Most of their abilities are based on their comic book characters or movie interpretations, including High Evolutionary.
High Evolutionary is the main villain of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the movie, he is a creator of civilizations and beings. He evolves creatures’ intelligence, power, and more.
In Marvel Snap, he is a four-Cost, four-Power card with the effect that reads, “At the start of the game, unlock the potential of your cards with no abilities.” This game-changing effect unlocks the secret abilities of all the vanilla cards, making multiple deck archetypes of his own that may potentially change the meta.
Here are the best High Evolutionary decks in Marvel Snap.
All vanilla cards’ secret abilities in Marvel Snap
Before we dive into the best cards to use with High Evolutionary, the newest of the Big Bad cards in Marvel Snap, here are all the secret abilities of the vanilla cards that the villain himself unlocks:
- Wasp (0-Cost, 1-Power): On Reveal: Afflict a random enemy card here with -1 Power.
- Misty Knight (1-Cost, 2-Power): When you end a turn with unspent Energy, give another friendly card +1 Power.
- Shocker (2-Cost, 3-Power): On Reveal: Give the leftmost card in your hand -1 Cost.
- Cyclops (3-Cost, 4-Power): When you end a turn with unspent Energy, afflict two random enemies here with -1 Power.
- The Thing (4-Cost, 6-Power): On Reveal: Afflict 3 random enemy cards here with -1 Power.
- Abomination (5-Cost, 9-Power): Costs one less for each enemy card in play that’s afflicted with negative Power.
- Hulk (6-Cost, 12-Power): Ongoing: When you end a turn with unspent Energy, +2 Power. (If in hand or in play).
The best High Evolutionary decks in Marvel Snap
All-Out High Evolutionary
The standard way to play High Evolutionary is in a deck with all the current vanilla cards. This deck has two main mechanics, around which the overall strategy of its offensive and defensive engines revolve—conserving energy to put out multiple high-Powered cards and inflicting negative Power on your opponent’s cards to unlock powerful effects.
Wasp, Cyclops, The Thing, and Abomination benefit from inflicting negative Power on your opponent’s cards. Scorpion can be added for another powerful debuff option, and Luke Cage to prevent your opponent from doing the same to you, especially if you are facing mirror matches.
As for the “saving unspent energy” (floating) strategy, the abilities of Misty Knight, Shocker, Abomination, and Hulk all utilize the mechanic, especially with Hulk as your primary Power source for your locations in the late game. She-Hulk is an excellent addition since she is best used if you conserve energy in the mid-to-late game. Sunspot can also be a potential Power source thanks to its ability to gain Power equal to your unspent energy every turn.
Win conditions
All the cards in this deck are vital to bolster the harmful Power infliction or floating mechanics. But the following cards are the most important and impactful:
- Abomination
- Hulk
- She-Hulk
Abomination can benefit from both mechanics. Lowering his Cost can pave the way for unleashing the Hulk’s ability, potentially gaining a massive Power boost. Add She-Hulk to the picture for more offensive options in the late game, and you’ll be all set.
A powerful strategy enabled by this deck is to skip turn five to play She-Hulk, Abomination, and Hulk on turn six. You can also do a straightforward play of The Thing, Abomination, and Hulk in the last three turns to close the game with massive Power at every location.
Control High Evolutionary
The control High Evolutionary strategy focuses on disrupting your opponent’s setup through various controling effects that you can use as an offensive boost for your side. It’s a little weaker since Spider-Man’s rework, but it’s still solid.
Apart from cards like Wasp, Cyclops, and The Thing, which can inflict negative Power on your opponent’s cards, units that lock down locations help the deck fulfill the control strategy. This includes Storm and Professor X, both forcing your opponents to think quickly and likely make a mistake.
Cards that can potentially gain Power in the early game are also helpful in this deck. Nebula can gain Power when locked down in a location. Daredevil provides vision and is very useful to know whether you can to lock down and potentially secure a location for your side. Doctor Doom can be added as a surprise factor, since it can add a 5-Power Doombot to a location locked by Storm.
Win conditions
Aside from the massive Power boost from Hulk, other win condition cards for this deck are:
- Storm
- Professor X
- Daredevil
- Doctor Doom
As mentioned, Storm and Professor X are the critical factors to lock down and secure a location. It’s best if you’re sure your opponent can’t miraculously win a locked area. Locking down a location could be risky, especially if you’re disadvantaged before doing so. This is why Daredevil is vital in providing vision by turning five, improving your chances of locking a location.
Doctor Doom is there for an added offensive boost to all locations, especially locations your opponent thinks they’ve already won.
Lockjaw High Evolutionary
Lockjaw decks got a significant upgrade with High Evolutionary, especially with Wasp now having an ability. Its effect can be activated before it returns to the deck, since it is the go-to card for Lockjaw’s ability to fetch a random card once per turn.
The usual Thor and Jane Foster combo for Lockjaw decks still works, and Mjolnir is still a target for Lockjaw’s switching effect. It can boost Thor’s Power by six and potentially call another card from the deck. Jane Foster is there to get your zero-Costs, possibly using Wasp’s effect again, and Mjolnir to boost Thor once more.
Some of the best cards that Lockjaw can call include Abomination, Doctor Doom, and Hulk. On top of this, Misty Knight, Sunspot, and Cyclops are all great early to mid-game options that can provide Power boosts to your side.
Win conditions
The win condition cards for this deck are:
- Lockjaw
- Thor
- Jane Foster
Lockjaw is the primary facilitator of the deck. The card-switching effect it can provide is crucial to power up a single location. But also, it’s wise to use as a misdirection to eventually power up Thor and secure another location with Jane Foster, since it has a decent eight-Power stat line. The combo of these three cards can be unexpectedly influential in the late-game.
High Evolutionary decks’ current state in the meta
High Evolutionary instantly changed the meta when it arrived. The secret abilities of vanilla cards have disrupted many popular meta strategies, and the constant changing of these abilities by the developer proves their power. Also, the Energy conservation aspect is now an impactful mechanic, especially with Hulk, a new game-changer in the late game.
The most common High Evolutionary decks with the highest success rates are the Control and Lockjaw variants. The former is a proven and tested deck with a toolbox strategy, meaning various effects that can disrupt the opponent and boost its user’s side are present. It can adjust to almost any deck in the meta.
On the other hand, the latter is an absolute force when it comes to having enormous Power over locations. It has a high-risk, high-reward downside, since Lockjaw’s card switch effect is random, but it’s still an effective strategy to reach the highest ranks, making it a contender for the best High Evolutionary deck in Marvel Snap.
