One of the most consistent deck archetypes in Marvel Snap is discard. This strategy involves playing cards that have either an On Reveal effect that causes you to discard a card from your hand, or gains some type of benefit when you discard it or another card from your hand.
Several fan-favorite heroes and villains are focused on discarding cards. Heroes like Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and Blade, as well as villains like Apocalypse, Hela, and Dracula. Discarding your hand may seem counterintuitive at times, especially when Marvel Snap games are so quick, it turns out there are plenty of ways to win even with an empty hand.
10 Gambit
Gambit has a unique ability in Marvel Snap. On Reveal, Gambit will force you to discard a card and then destroy a random enemy card in play. This type of trade technically puts you behind in cards as you are playing a weak card and discarding another to get rid of something random, not even guaranteeing you destroy something good.
But if you play it in a combo deck with Wong, Onslaught, and Mystique all at one location, and then play Gambit, that’ll give you 16 destroy effect triggers, all but guaranteeing you can destroy their entire board. Discarding a card is not required for his ability to trigger, so even if you run out of cards in hand, Gambit will keep destroying cards.
9 Wolverine
The notoriously hard-to-kill Wolverine won’t go away in Marvel Snap. If you were to discard Wolverine from your hand, or if it is destroyed, the card is played to a random location. This ability makes Wolverine a perfect inclusion for discard strategies.
Any time you discard a card you are setting yourself back in card advantage, but with Wolverine in hand, you get to have your cards and play them too.
8 Moon Knight
Much like his comic book and MCU counterpart, Moon Knight is a little unstable, but thankfully that works in your favor in a discard-based strategy.
Moon Knight’s On Reveal ability has both players discarding a card when you play it. Hand disruption is relatively rare in Marvel Snap, so any chance to ruin your opponent’s strategy is good.
7 Ghost Rider
One of the best payoffs for discarding cards comes from Ghost Rider. It's On Reveal ability brings back a card that you discarded earlier in the game. The big downside is that Ghost Rider pulls a random card that you have discarded.
If you have discarded a one energy card and a six energy card, there’s no way to control which one you get back. Sure, you can manipulate which card you bring back by trying to control what you discard, but with so many discard effects being random, it can be somewhat unreliable.
6 Lady Sif
Lady Sif adds a new twist to discard effects in Marvel Snap. This card’s On Reveal effect has you discarding the highest-cost card in your hand.
Since Lady Sif specifically targets the highest-cost card, it allows you to manipulate which card you are putting into your discard pile. Lady Sif combos nicely with Ghost Rider, letting you discard your highest-cost card for the Rider to bring back next turn.
5 Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing has a similar but opposite effect from Lady Sif. When Colleen Wing triggers its On Reveal effect, you discard the lowest-cost card from your hand.
This ability allows you to protect a higher-cost card in your hand if you don’t want to discard it. Colleen also pairs nicely with Wolverine, allowing you to discard Wolverine and put it into play.
4 Sword Master
A relative newcomer in the Marvel comics scene, Sword Master is one of the strongest cards you can play in a discard strategy deck, at least stat-wise. For just three energy you get a six-power card with an On Revel effect that you have to discard a card at random.
The energy versus power tradeoff on Sword Master is great, especially since the ‘downside’ of discarding a card just fuels your overall strategy.
3 Blade
Blade has possibly the best stats for a one-energy card in Marvel Snap. For just one energy you get a three-power card, immediately outclassing just about every other card in Marvel Snap. When Blade is played at a location, its On Reveal ability triggers, forcing you to discard a card at random. Setting up discard strategies with Ghost Rider or filling your discard pile for a bigger play later in the game.
2 Apocalypse
Apocalypse is hands down the best discard target you can play. Its special ability allows Apocalypse to return to your hand if you were to discard it. Apocalypse also gains +4 power every time it is discarded, continuously powering it up over the course of the game.
Since it starts with an already impressive eight-power, it isn’t uncommon to see an Apocalypse come down with anywhere from 16 to 20 power.
1 Hela
The queen of discard decks, Hela is the ultimate payoff for all those times you discarded cards throughout the game. When Hela enters a location, its On Reveal ability plays all the cards you have discarded from your hand to random locations.
Decks that utilize Hela will discard other powerful cards with incredibly high power but have unique casting restrictions, like Death and Infinaut. Playing Hela after discarding so many high-cost cards all but assures you a victory.