In the Marvel universe, Magneto is one of the most renowned villains of the X-Men. He has the ability to control all things made from metal, and this even includes manipulating the Earth’s core. In Marvel Snap, he is a card that has an ability inspired by Magneto’s moving ability for metals.
Magneto is a six-cost, 12-Power card with the effect: “On Reveal: Move all opposing three and four-Cost cards to this location.” Playing him can be tricky since Magneto can pull your opponent’s three and four-Cost cards to the location where you played him.
But once you are able to have a proper setup to finish your opponent in the late game, Magneto can be dangerous.
Best Magneto decks in Marvel Snap
Thanos/Lockjaw
One of the most popular and powerful deck engines where Magneto can bring out his maximum potential is in a Thanos/Lockjaw deck. Not only can this deck be an offensive machine in the late game, but there are a lot of advantages you can have, especially if you use all six Infinity Stones courtesy of Thanos.
Thanos is a six-cost, 11-Power card. His stats alone are already massive, but his effect that reads: “At the start of the game, shuffle the six Infinity Stones into your deck” is the real deal here. All six Infinity Stones from the wider Marvel universe are depicted as one-cost cards that have various effects. These are:
- Mind Stone – On Reveal: Draw two Stones from your deck.
- Reality Stone – On Reveal: Transform this location into a new one. Draw a card.
- Time Stone – On Reveal: Draw a card. Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
- Space Stone – On Reveal: Next turn you can move one card at this location. Draw a card.
- Soul Stone – On Reveal: Draw a card. Ongoing: Enemy cards here have -1 Power.
- Power Stone – Ongoing: If you’ve played all six stones, Thanos has +10 power (wherever he is)
All of these stones provide advantages on your side, and Lockjaw can be the card that makes the stones more useful since it can swap your used stones to a random card from your deck once you play those in the same location as Lockjaw. This exchange that can be provided by Lockjaw makes the deck more consistent, especially on summoning the majority of your cards that you will need in the late game.
As for the other late-game finishers in the deck, you can put the likes of Aero which can move all the enemy cards to the location where you played it, Devil Dinosaur which gains Power equal to each of your cards in the hand, Blue Marvel which gives plus one power to all of your cards on the field, She-Hulk which is a six-cost, nine-power card that costs one less energy for equal to your unspent energy, America Chavez which is a six-cost, nine-power card you will always draw in turn six, and the 20-power The Infinaut.
Leech may not contribute much in terms of power, but its ability to remove abilities on all of your opponent’s hand cards can instantly change the flow of the game. Sunspot is also a good addition since it can be an alternative offensive option even if you play it in the early game. Cap off the deck with Shang-Chi which destroys all of your opponent’s units with nine or more Power on the location where you played it.
The key to using this deck is to maximize the usage of all the Infinity Stones to call out more powerful cards. All of these will benefit your side, especially in having massive power boosts to your locations courtesy of Thanos and his friends.
Win condition cards for this deck
This deck’s main engine revolves around the combo of using Lockjaw’s effect alongside the six Infinity Stones. All of the stones have certain advantages that can help you in all aspects, may it be your offensive or defensive strategies, or possible outplays.
Your win condition cards for this deck are:
- Lockjaw
- Six Infinity Stones
But always remember Lockjaw calls random cards from your deck every time you use its effect. There is no guarantee what it will summon. And in case you did not call cards with enough power to win your locations using Lockjaw, here are cards that can outplay your opponent in the late game to help you win the game (if these are in your hand):
- Aero
- Magneto
- Shang-Chi
- Leech
All of the cards above provide control effects that can disrupt your opponent’s play in the late game. Aero and Magneto can do wonders and prevent your opponent from doing their desired formations on locations. Shang-Chi can destroy your opponent’s high-powered cards in an instant. Leech can make your opponent’s cards vanilla units once it is placed on a location.
Electro Ramp
Another way to use Magneto in a deck is by putting it in an Electro Ramp deck. This strategy focuses on playing multiple high-cost cards in the mid to late game. You can do this by taking advantage of cards that can give you bonus energies, as well as units that can lower the cost of your five or six-cost cards.
Electro is a must in this deck. It can give you max one energy per turn after you play it with the setback of restricting you to play only one card per turn. Psylocke can also help you with a bonus plus one energy in case you won’t be able to draw Electro in time. Wave, on the other hand, can make any five or six-cost card cost four after the turn you played it.
This deck’s engine can be a lot more powerful once you play Sandman. It will restrict both players to playing one card every turn. This can disrupt your opponent’s strategy, especially if their deck relies on cards that swarm the field using multiple lower-cost units such as Sera Control.
Aside from Magneto, the other late-game finishers you can include in the deck are Aero, Doctor Doom, which can summon a Doombot to the other locations aside from where you played it, Odin, which activates all the On Reveal effects of the other cards on the location where you played it, and America Chavez.
Cap off the deck by putting units like Sunspot, Ebony Maw, which is a one-cost seven-power card that you can’t play after turn three and restricts you from playing other cards in the location where you placed it, Lizard, which is a two-cost five-power unit that gains minus three power if your opponent has four cards on the location where you played it, and Shang-Chi.
The key to using this deck is to know the timing of playing your energy-giving cards, as well as Wave. Prioritize bringing out Sandman as early as possible to restrict both players to playing just one card per turn.
Win condition cards for this deck
The cards which can provide the winning condition for this deck are:
- Electro
- Wave
- Psylocke
- Sandman
The main winning combo for this deck will begin as early as turn three. By turn three, you should be able to play Electro to pave the way for playing Sandman on turn four. This will restrict your opponent to just playing one card on turn five or six.
But in any case, if you won’t be able to draw Electro by turn three, you should play either Psylocke or Wave by this time. Playing a Sandman on turn five could be useless.
By turn four, you should already know your winning condition for the deck. If you have Sandman by that time, play it. But if Sandman is still in your deck by turn four, you can resort to the other late-game finishers on your deck. These are:
- Doctor Doom
- Odin
- Aero
Play Doctor Doom by turn four or five (four if you used Wave, five if you have Electro or Psylocke). Then Odin by five or six on the same location as Doctor Doom, depending on the energy booster/cost reducer you use. This will re-activate the On Reveal effect of Doctor Doom, giving you two Doombots on each other location by turn five or six.
Aero, on the other hand, is for your potential outplay in the late game. If you played Sandman earlier, your opponent is guaranteed to only play one card in the final turn. You can outplay them by using Aero on a location where there is still more space.
Magneto deck staple cards
Here are the staple cards you should play in a Magneto deck along with their effects:
- Sunspot – At the end of each turn, gain +1 Power for each unspent Energy.
- Wave – On Reveal: Next turn, cards in both players’ hands cost 4.
- Aero – On Reveal: Move the last enemy card played this turn to this location.
How to counter Magneto decks
Magneto’s direct counter is Cosmo. It prevents the On Reveal ability of Magneto to work. Also, cards that can lock down locations like Professor X won’t allow you to add cards on the opponent’s side of the location where you played Magneto.
Magneto may also struggle against Patriot decks. The chances of pulling your opponent’s three or four-cost cards against a Patriot deck while swarming the field with multiple plain units are low.
