Marvel Snap: May 2023 New Pool 5 Cards Review

Iron Lad

Iron Lad first appeared in the comics in Young Avengers #1, 2005. This is the code name of Nathaniel Richards, who discovers that he is Kang in the future, so he goes back in time and goes to Earth, to prevent his terrible future from happening. With that, he forms the Young Avengers team and ends up having a relationship with Stature.

Iron Lad on Marvel Snap

Review

The first point that draws attention to Iron Lad is its status. 4/6 is excellent and maybe even overkill considering the effect of the card. He can, for example, copy Galactus' text and enter turn 4, with much more power than Galactus and without giving much flag, because, generally, the move that announces Galactus is the Wave, so Iron Lad can be much more surprising.

Of course, for this to happen you need to know which is the top of your deck and, without that, Iron Lad ends up depending on the RNG and in some cases it can be strange.

Therefore, there are two paths for this card: First, if you really want to take advantage of the maximum potential of Iron Lad, you will have to buy Howard, the Duck, but then it will be an investment of 12 thousand tokens. And there's plan "B", where you can play Iron Lad in a full On Reveal deck, with Wong, Black Panther, White Tiger and Doctor Doom, where there are several viable options for him to copy, even if you don't know which will be on the top of your deck.

Despite depending on another card to be better, Iron Lad's design is quite interesting and is worth buying if you have some tokens left.

Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck arrived in comics as a supporting character to the Man-Thing #19, from 1973. Due to his popularity, he got his solo comic in 1976 and a movie in 1986, directed by George Lucas.

In the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, he already has some appearances in the Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Endgame and in the animated series “What If?”.

Howard the Duck in Marvel Snap

Review

Here's the only way to find out which top deck you have in Marvel Snap. It's a very interesting mechanic which will make Jubilee stronger and can wreak havoc with Iron Lad. However, even though Howard is a very charismatic character that offers something new to Marvel Snap, its price of 6,000 tokens doesn't justify its purchase.

When he drops to Pool 4 and starts to cost 3,000, it will probably be worth buying, mainly because the next two cards that I will present are much more interesting and, in a priority list, they are at the top.

High Evolutionary

First appearing in comics in 1966's Thor #134, the High Evolutionary, code-named Herbert Edgar Wyndham, is the Marvel universe's greatest geneticist and created his own race, the New Men. He will make his MCU debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

High Evolutionary in Marvel Snap

The abilities of cards without abilities enhanced by the High Evolutionary are:

Wasp: Afflict 2 random enemy cards here with -1 power.

Misty Knight: When you end a turn with unspent energy, give another allied card +1 power.

Shocker: On Reveal: give the leftmost card in your hand -1 cost.

Cyclops: When you end a turn with unspent energy, afflict 2 random enemies here at -1 power.

The Thing: On Reveal: Afflict a random enemy card here with -1 power. Repeat this two more times.

Abominable: Costs 1 less for each enemy card in play affected by Negative Power.

Hulk: Ongoing: +2 power for each turn you end with unspent energy.

Review

The High Evolutionary is a card I never thought could exist, and it's simply amazing! He is similar to Thanos, who only needs to be in your deck to perform his effect, only unlike Thanos, who adds new cards to your deck, the High Evolutionary turns all cards without abilities into new cards with abilities !

The fact that he created a new deck and made cards that were only played with Patriot have new uses is already a good reason to buy the card. But in addition, the abilities of these cards are strong and the High Evolutionary still has an affordable cost (only 4) and a lot of power (7)!

I don't know about you, but I already foresee a nerf for this card. However, as Snap balancing tends to take time to happen, you can get a lot out of High Evolutionary in its release week, so you'd better save your tokens.

About his synergies, the most obvious are She-Hulk, Sunspot, Hazmat and Luke Cage. I can only think of Hazmat lowering the power of the cards and zeroing the cost of the Abomination! And the Hulk, who is finally going to be giant? Yep, the High Evolutionary is definitely going to be one of the most fun cards in the game!

Living Tribunal

The Living Tribunal is a cosmic entity that acts in cases of cosmic imbalance and is considered the second-strongest being in the Marvel universe. His first appearance was in Strange Tales #157, from 1967.

Living Tribunal on Marvel Snap

Update: At the last minute, they changed the status of the Living Tribunal, so it is now a 6/6.

Review

The Living Tribunal needs to play with cards like Shuri, Iron Man, Massacre Wong and Black Panther, as it will be easier to have more power to be divided between all its locations.

It's great for countering decks that use Professor X and Storm, and it works great in games that have locations like Luke's Bar and Death's Realm.

However, as it is an Ongoing card, it is countered by Enchantress, who recently gained a buff. So if the Living Tribunal becomes very popular, it's possible that we'll see Enchantress more often, so you'll need to use Cosmo so that the Tribunal isn't hindered by the Enchantress.

The Living Tribunal is another card worth picking up, but for cases where players are low on tokens, you'll need to think hard and decide between it and The High Evolutionary.

I'm gathering my tokens to buy the High Evolutionary, although I also want the Living Tribunal, but I want to hear from you: Which of these cards do you most want to have in your collections?

Until the next article!