Sure, Marvel Snap is a great game that’s completely taken over my Twitter feed and life. But not everything in Marvel Snap is wonderful. For example, there are some really annoying and terrible zones that can appear during matches. And I’m here to list the worst of ’em.
Out now on PC and phones, recently released free-to-play card battler Marvel Snap has quickly become one of my favourite games of 2022 thanks to its fast-paced matches, small decks, and non-predatory microtransactions. I also love how much random nonsense can happen during matches thanks to the various locations that can appear, many of which can change your plans completely, forcing you to scramble to win. However, some of these spots are just a drag to deal with, slowing down matches or taking away control from players entirely.
So here are the 12 worst zones that can appear in Marvel Snap as of November 2022. It’s, of course, possible future updates will add worse zones or even (hopefully) remove some of these, so this list may be changed and updated in the future. But for now, here are the worst ones:
Warrior Falls – After each turn, cards here fight! Destroy the weakest ones.
This is one of the newest zones in Marvel Snap, introduced in the current Black Panther-themed season. And while it can be a fun zone — I like playing Nova here to get power pop for my other cards — it’s a pain in the arse to deal with. If there are too many cards here, especially cards with abilities, it can take a long time for the game to figure out who won and who lost. And anything that slows down the usual snappy nature of Marvel Snap is bad.
Danger Room – Cards played here have a 25 per cent chance to be destroyed.
I know that this zone says cards only have a 25 per cent chance of being destroyed, but in my experience, it’s more like every time I need to play a card here to win, I watch it get killed. Funnily enough, whenever I play cards here that I want destroyed, they survive. Is this a petty reason to hate a zone? Perhaps. But here we are.
District X – Replace both decks with 10 random cards.
Sure, I love how random and wild Marvel Snap can get. I like the zones that add some random cards to your deck or to the actual board. But District X is too random, even for me. It basically means your deck is worthless. It’s really annoying when you are just trying to complete some missions using a specific deck and you get this zone. I don’t even care about winning, I’m just trying to play 15 ongoing cards. Yet here’s District X to ruin my plans and my fun.
Lechuguilla – When you play a card here, shuffle 3 rocks into your deck.
As with almost all of these zones, there is definitely a way to take advantage of this annoying location, which shoves mostly worthless rock cards into your deck. But more often than not, people just avoid this place until they can’t, usually toward the end of the match when you have already drawn the cards you need to finish your cool combo. It’s just not much fun to deal with. Speaking of zones that give you rocks…
Subterranea – Shuffle 5 rocks into each deck.
At least with the last zone, you had agency over when or if you’ll receive some crappy rock cards. But that’s not the case with Subterranea. This shitty zone just dumps five rock cards right into your deck. Get this zone early in the match and your chances of drawing a specific card get crushed under all that stone. Bleh. I hate it.
Weirdworld – Both players draw from their opponent’s deck.
Similar to District X, this zone is just a bit too much random for my taste. In theory, this sounds like it could lead to funny and wild situations and combos as players are forced to play with some of their own cards and all of their opponent’s cards. But in reality, most of the time, this just leads to boring matches where people play stuff without cool combos or interesting swings. It’s not the worst zone in the game, but still a bummer to play on most of the time.
TVA – After turn 4, end the game.
I love how fast matches in Marvel Snap are, but ending a match after only four turns is too fast. Usually, this stops any cool combos or wild endgame moments from happening. And if you get this on turn three as your final zone, well, good luck. Again, like other zones here, TVA can lead to some wild moments, but usually, it just ends things before the fun has really started.
The Space Throne – Only one card can be here for each player.
This zone is designed to punish players who like to play cards in unrevealed zones in an effort to gain an advantage. And that’s fine. I’ve definitely got screwed by this zone more than I’d like to admit. But the problem is that there are already so many zones that add friction to playing cards in its location. Adding this one into the mix, too, can lead to some really boring and frustrating matches. Thank God for Storm and her ability to change any zone to a flood.
Crimson Cosmos – Cards that cost 1, 2, or 3 can’t be placed here.
Oh hey, look, another zone that restricts what you can and can’t play. There are a lot of these, but Crimson Cosmos blocking 1, 2, and 3 cost cards can really stink if you get stuck with some other annoying zones like Space Throne and Danger Room, which can limit your moves drastically. For new players who might be relying on a zoo deck, these zones can ruin everything. But then again, that’s a good lesson to learn. Your plans in Marvel Snap are worthless and will nearly always fail. Remember that. Embrace that. Plan for it, even. It will serve you well.
Mindscape – At the start of turn 6, swap hands.
I’m not bitter about how this zone recently ruined two matches where I was likely to win and then my final combo and the cards I needed for it was ripped from me. I’m not bitter at all. But also, fuck this zone.
Miniaturized Lab – On turns 3, 4, and 5, no cards can be added here.
It’s one thing to have zones that lock out certain cost cards or limit how many can be played or whatever. But this zone just stops being a part of your match for three turns, some of the most important mid-match turns in the game, too. And like with the other zones on this list, if you get a few of these mixed together with Miniaturized Lab, you better be ready for everything to end. At least matches are short.
Ego – Ego takes over and plays your cards for you.
I almost didn’t include Ego on here because while this zone is annoying — especially if you are trying to finish specific missions — it’s also very funny. The only change I would suggest would be to have Ego stop playing for you on the final turn, so players are then forced to try and figure out a way to combo off whatever Ego’s AI has played in the previous turns. A bad, but very funny zone.
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