You probably suck at snapping in Marvel Snap

Snapping is an art form in Marvel Snap. Snap too early and you might give up precious cubes during a match where the universe is intent on you losing. Snap too late and your opponent retreats and leaves you on the cusp of executing your perfect plan, with only a lone cube to show for it. Don’t snap at all and even the best winning percentages won’t take you to Infinite. Unfortunately, most people fall into one, if not more, of these categories. Yes, you too probably suck at snapping.

We’ve all been there. It’s the end of turn five and the final card swoops into our hand. It’s not the one we were looking for, and we’re handily losing two of the three lanes. We take a moment to consider what we could do to turn this around. Do we go for it? After all, it’s only two cubes if we fail. That’s not bad.

It’s in that moment that our opponent, who clearly sucks at snapping, does so. Now we’re staring at the likelihood of losing four cubes instead of two, and that’s a price we’re just not willing to pay. We back out, forfeit that single cube, and move on to the next match. Meanwhile, our recent opponent, if they’re smart, is kicking themselves for that snap. Sure, they secured a victory and a single cube, but they were going to get the win and two cubes if they just kept a low profile. If they just let us talk ourselves into giving it the old college try.

Contrary to what players may think, snapping on one also isn’t a great thing. Sure, as Second Dinner’s own Ben Brode suggested some time ago, snapping on one is better than not snapping at all, but that doesn’t make it ideal. In fact, I’m here to tell you that if you snap on one because you don’t know how to snap properly, you suck at snapping.

It’s nothing to feel bad about if you’re just realizing you have a lackluster snap game. It just means you’re probably not going to Infinite until you work that out. I’m guilty of this myself. Yes, I do feel I have a great grasp on the concept of snapping, when to do it and when to retreat to save myself some cubes. The problem is that I, like all of you, lose focus. Maybe you’re watching television and half paying attention, and you just forget to snap. Given that Marvel Snap is primarily played on your smartphone, it’s common.

What does a good snap look like? For that you need to ask yourself what it is you are trying to accomplish with your deck? What cards do you need to pull off your ideal game? Which locations benefit you and, more importantly, which locations give this deck fits? If you’re consistently getting the cards you want, are snapping at the right time and still losing, maybe it’s your deck that sucks. You should look into that.

For me, it’s primarily about getting the cards. If I’m playing my new Silver Surfer deck and I land Jean Grey, Brood, and Silver Surfer, I’m snapping. Those are the cards I need to box my opponent into one lane while I’m playing the other two and buffing almost every card I have on the board on turn six. Is it a guaranteed win? No, but there’s no such thing, so we play the odds. If I get Silver Surfer but not the other two, I’m waiting to see what cards I get on two and three, and what locations show up over those same turns. If I’m snapping, though, I’m ideally getting that out of the way by turn three.

You see, the perfect snap happens when you are confident in your cards, but your opponent isn’t discouraged by theirs. Hit them with that snap when they foolishly think they still have a chance. If you snap when they lose that false hope, they are going to bounce right out of there and leave you with your pathetic single cube. You donkey, as Chef Ramsay would say. You could have had it all.

Okay, so maybe I’m getting a bit carried away here, but the message is true and that’s what you should pull from this. The secret to success in Marvel Snap is not finding a way to win 70 percent of your matches. Second Dinner is going to nerf that deck into the ground. No, success is recognizing when you’re probably going to win and snapping early, while also identifying when you’re likely to lose and getting out of there with as many of those eight cubes still in your pocket as possible. The secret to success is to not suck at snapping, and that’s a tall order for most of us.

Bill Lavoy

Managing Editor

Bill, who is also known as Rumpo, is a lifelong gamer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He made his mark early in his career through guide writing and a deep understanding of editorial SEO. He enjoys putting in the work to create a great content, be it a wild feature or grinding out an in-depth collectible guide. Tweet him @RumpoPlays if you have a question or comment about one of his articles.