Best Anti-Venom Decks In Marvel Snap

"We Are Venom" is almost no more as Marvel Snap's current season has reached its final week in-game, with the Second Anniversary celebrations wrapped up! But with a few spooky surprises in two for Marvel Snappers in the final week of the season, there's one more card release, Anti-Venom, a character created with "remnants of the Venom symbiote" fusing with Martin Li / Mister Negative's Lightforce-based abilities which saw Eddie Brock's body responding in a fascinating way resulting in the Anti-Venom symbiote.

Possessing abilities similar to those of the Venom symbiote and Mister Negative in terms of healing capabilities, how will it fair on the ever-expanding battlegrounds of Marvel Snap? Well, let's figure that out together as we look into everything we know about the Anti-Venom symbiote, highlight its in-game abilities and key synergies, spotlight some notable counters, and provide three interesting decks to try in Marvel Snap.

Marvel Snap Anti-Venom Card Abilities Explained

The "We Are Venom" season is drawing to a close, and it certainly flew by faster than Venom could ask for chocolate, thanks to the High Voltage game mode. But there's one more card release, Anti-Venom, awaiting its debut in Marvel Snap, which has a fascinating backstory on its creation on the Marvel Comics pages that we won't divulge too much on.

Nevertheless, following the weekly refresh, Anti-Venom will become available for acquisition, and the card will be released as a four-Cost and seven Power card, previously revealed as a six Power card in the Developer Update video. Nevertheless, the card launches with an interesting ability that may be confusing at first when thinking of synergies, which is that its On Reveal ability will set the Cost and Power of the top card within their deck to 0.

Regarding key synergies, Anti-Venom can target cards with really strong abilities like Arnim Zola, Blob, Iron Man, Knull, or Leader, which have low power and have already been synergizing with Mister Negative and Ravonna Rensalyer in certain deck archetypes. As we'll discuss in detail when deckbuilding, as expected, Anti-Venom can be countered by the likes of Goose (prevents 4 Cost and higher cards played at its location), Cosmo (prevents On Reveal cards played at its location), Mystique (if copied either Goose or Cosmo's ability) and Mobius M. Mobius which could see players with Iron Man's default stats or a Magneto with six Cost and zero Power.

With Anti-Venom as the final Symbiote to join the popular card battler game for the season, this mischievous card can be obtained from the week's Spotlight Caches, which can be opened or unlocked with Spotlight Keys earned from the Collection Level tracker. But if Snappers want to hold onto their keys for a while longer, they can use their Collector's Tokens and spend 6,000 tokens on getting the card from the Token Shop now; let's look at three unique decks to try upon its release.

Best Marvel Snap Anti-Venom Decks: Mister Venom To You!

Due to the card's potential and notable key synergies, Anti-Venom could find a home in Negative decks, as most cards that are great targets for Mister Negative share the same capabilities with Anti-Venom. However, Anti-Venom isn't a replacement for Mister Negative as they'll still need the card to swap the remaining cards in the deck that Anti-Venom didn't hit.

In that case, this venomous Negative deck from Marvel Snap content creator Docty is built around Mister Negative and Anti-Venom in opening the gameplay wide open for some incredible plays. As Snappers will have Turn 4 to play Anti-Venom or Mister Negative, this can be mitigated if Zabu enters their hand (and is played) with Ravonna Renslayer played after that to bring down Mister Negative's cost to at least two Cost and Anti-Venom down to three due to Zabu.

Depending on when Anti-Venom is played, it could target Mystique, Jubilee, Iron Man, Blue Marvel, Sera, Onslaught, or The Living Tribunal, all incredibly powerful cards to have their Cost and Power set to 0. Having Magik in the deck will extend the match by one turn if they need more time to set up locations for a victory!

Best Marvel Snap Anti-Venom Decks: Living For Venom

The main utility for Anti-Venom is cost or energy reduction, as it's simply giving away a free card to play without stripping away its card text/ability. In some instances, like with Mystique, Iron Man, Blob, and Knull for example, which cares cards with zero Power, it's greatly beneficial to have them brought down to zero Cost if they have board space to play them to maximize their board space and of course set up crucial plays.

This card may not be as groundbreaking as other card releases, but it can supplement valuable cards like Mister Negative (as previously mentioned) and Iron Lad, prominently featured in Living Tribunal decks. This Anti-Tribunal deck from Marvel Snap content creator Ankh pairs Iron Lad with Anti-Venom, as strategy-wise, one wants to play Iron Lad first to copy the topmost card, giving them another chance to play that card before Anti-Venom gets on board to target any remaining card that doesn't mind being at zero Cost/energy.

The Iron Lad/Anti-Venom combo will be key to the Living Tribunal's success as they'll need to get this combo out, but it's essentially important to set them up with Zabu, Ravonna Renslayer, and Sera to reduce card costs. Much like the Mister Negative deck earlier, Magik is utilized here again to extend the game and set up the Iron Man/Onslaught/The Living Tribunal package.

Best Marvel Snap Anti-Venom Decks: Anti-Mill Is King

With Mister Negative and Living Tribunal decks being the best synergistic decks that really benefit from Anti-Venom's utility, how does it fare with other deck archetypes? Well, it's been confirmed by the developer that Anti-Venom will synergize with Luke Cage, which will restore its power after being hit, and Shadow King can do the same but at a specific location.

With that in mind, pairing Anti-Venom with either card will restore the targeted card's power once it has been played, and if it's spicy gameplay they're after, then look no further than this Mill-inspired deck from Marvel Snap content creator DenHearthstone. And yes, it, too, features cards that wouldn't mind being reduced to zero Cost and Power, which can be restored once Shadow King or Luke Cage as an alternative is played.

This deck still plays like a fairly traditional Mill deck with Yondu, Cable, Baron Zemo, and Gladiator with Grand Master and Misery to retrigger their abilities and Killmonger and Lady Deathstrike to destroy specific cards on the board. Ideally, Snappers will want Anti-Venom to target Arnim Zola or Knull (either card is great), which can be paired for a combo play to copy Knull at other locations once Zola is played on top of it.

For more Marvel Snap news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below: