Best Wave decks in Marvel Snap and how to counter them (June 2023)

One of the most popular cards to play in Marvel Snap, Wave is a go-to option for players looking to get their high-cost cards on the board earlier, and her versatility makes her highly desirable across numerous different types of decks and playstyles.

Wave abilities in Marvel Snap, explained

Wave is a three-cost, three-Power card with the ability: “On Reveal: All cards cost four until the end of the next turn.”

A Series three card, Wave can be attained from collection level 486 and above or as a free selection in the Token Shop, where you can grab a free Series three card once per season.

Strategy and best combos for Wave decks in Marvel Snap

Wave is a card that can be utilized in either an offensive or defensive manner in Marvel Snap, bringing high-cost cards onto the field early or preventing your opponent from playing multiple cards a turn. Some of the cards with the best synergy with Wave include:

Galactus
Doctor Doom
Aero
Magneto

By using Wave on turn three, players can play end-game cards Galactus and Doctor Doom earlier to leave only one location remaining or provide a Power boost to all locations in one fell swoop.

Utilizing Aero or Magneto is also an effective option, with both cards providing a power boost and moving opposition cards to a selected location, which can really throw a spanner in the works for your opponent’s tactics.

The best thing about Wave is she can be utilized in a variety of ways, capable of slotting into popular decks like Destroy, Control and other meta builds.

The best Wave decks in Marvel Snap

Wave Destroy

Players should consider snapping if several of the following cards have been drawn:

Wave
Galactus
Knull
Death

The best combo I found in this deck is getting as many of Nova, Wolverine, Deadpool and Sabretooth in play as possible before playing Wave on either turn three or four, then bringing Galactus into play.

While my opponent was left cursing as Galactus destroyed their cards, I benefitted vastly with Nova providing a boost to my cards, Wolverine moving location and getting a Power increase, Deadpool returning to my hand with double the Power and Sabretooth returning to my hand with zero cost. If I were really lucky, Wolverine would be destroyed twice and receive two Power boosts.

Ideally, I would get to play several of those cards before playing Wave in turn three, then utilize her ability by bringing in Galactus early on turn four. On turn five, my tactic varied to either using Spider-Man to lock down the location for my opponent on turn six or I played Doctor Octopus to fill the opponent’s location with cards from their hand. The second scenario works best if a few cards are already played on your opponent’s side.

To finish it off, Knull worked as the perfect final touch, with his Power increasing for every card destroyed, and, if things went perfectly, the cost of Death was also reduced to zero, allowing me to play both.

Wave Doom

Players should consider snapping if several of the following cards have been drawn:

Wave
Doctor Doom
She-Hulk
Shang-Chi

In this deck, my priority with Wave was to bring Doctor Doom into play early, which provided the added boost in other locations with his Doombots. If I had not drawn him, I would use Wave instead to bring She-Hulk, my other high Power card, into play.

I found this deck to be an effective way of countering my opponent from also benefitting from Wave’s ability, as they more often than not used the opportunity to play a high-cost, high-Power card. When that happened, Shang-Chi was the perfect solution to swift things back to my advantage.

Using White Queen, I could predict pretty accurately what the final card my opponent would play was going to be, and I could then predict where it would be played. I used this to my advantage by working out what I needed to do to ensure I won at least two locations.

America Chavez was the perfect card when I needed one final boost, as she was always guaranteed to be drawn on turn six and provided a timely boost.

Doom Thanos

Players should consider snapping if several of the following cards have been drawn:

Wave
Shang-Chi
Thanos
Death

I had a lot of fun with this particular deck due to the variety of tactics at my disposal, with Wave allowing me to bring any of Doctor Doom, Odin, America Chavez, She-Hulk, Thanos or even Death into the game early.

Lockjaw was the perfect card to get as many of the Infinity Stones as possible into play, while, like in the above deck, Shang-Chi was a welcome member of my squad to swiftly destroy the high-cost card my opponent brought into the fold.

I came across a few decks using a lot of one-cost cards during my test, which were easily destroyed using Killmonger, and Leech was my go-to card on the fifth turn to remove all abilities from cards in my opponent’s hand at the start of the final turn.

Killmonger was also useful to destroy the Infinity Stones, which then reduced the cost of Death, allowing me to boost my total Power further by bringing her into play on the final turn, and Odin also capped off the deck perfectly when Doctor Doom was brought into play early on, resulting in more Doombots being sent out.

How to counter Wave decks in Marvel Snap

The most effective counter for Wave is Cosmo, who prevents her On Reveal ability from activating, but this only works when you know when and where she will be played. As such, the best counter is by impacting follow-up cards.

Enchantress can remove the Ongoing abilities of any cards at a location, including any high-cost cards brought into play by Wave. She is particularly effective against Knull, making the card completely redundant, while Rogue can be used as an alternative to steal that ability.

Shang-Chi is another simple way to counter high-power cards brought into play by Wave, with the ability to destroy any cards with nine or more Power when played. Using this strategy can quickly undo the work your opponent has put in.