Best Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross Decks In Marvel Snap

A new week sees new features, changes, and a new card arriving to Marvel Snap during the Brave New World season as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross enters the battlefield. This latest card debuts a day after developer Second Dinner finally released a long-awaited feature, the Character Mastery system, in which Snappers can be rewarded with unique items for their cards, like finishes, flares, and more.

Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross is already in Marvel Snap as his counterpart, the Red Hulk, and has been featured heavily throughout Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with the General's next appearance in Captain America: Brave New World. This striking deck aims to help Snappers learn more about the commanding General by looking at his card ability, best synergies, and top counters and spotlighting three decks that need his military prowess to strike opponents in Marvel Snap.

Marvel Snap Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross Card Abilities Explained

Dedicating his entire life in service to the US Air Force, he quickly rose through the ranks and gained the nickname "Thunderbolt" due to his striking "like a thunderbolt when leading" his troops into the battlefield. During his military career, he meets Dr. Bruce Banner, who oversaw the military's project to produce a gamma bomb; Ross developed much resentment towards Banner, which grows when he becomes The Incredible Hulk and spends much time tracking him down either as himself or his counterpart, the Red Hulk.

Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross has officially arrived at Marvel Snap as a Series 5 drop, with the official stat line as a two-cost and two Power card. This card has a unique ability that reads if their "opponent ends a turn with unspent Energy," the Snapper gets to draw a card with 10 Power or more to their hand.

Regarding key synergies, this card's niche ability somewhat limits itself to a handful of deck archetypes like Arishem, Discard, and Surtur decks but can be countered by the likes of Red Guardian if it's alone in a location and Lady Deathstrike. Despite this, the ability can be triggered multiple times depending on how soon it enters their hand and whether their opponent didn't spend all their Energy per turn.

For Snappers looking to add Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross to their current Collection, the card is available to acquire via the Token Shop for 6,000 Collector's Tokens and through the week's Spotlight Caches using Spotlight Keys. It's important to note that the week's Spotlight Caches features Nebula, which the card is confirmed to be dropping to Series 3, subsequently making this latest Spotlight Caches feel less valuable.

Best Marvel Snap Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross Decks: Thundering Fire

We mentioned that Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross synergizes with a few deck archetypes, with Surtur decks being one such archetype. Naturally, when building a Surtur deck with Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in mind, Skaar is perhaps the best card to feature alongside the General as its cost can be discounted by how many 10+ Powered cards are in play.

Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross only draws 10+ Powered cards to their hand, which is quite a strong ability for a card; however, the ability to draw is left to the control of their opponent, which is a drawback for this card. Nevertheless, this fiery Surtur deck from Marvel Snap content creator dddrewsky is premised on spreading power even across the board with key synergistic cards and protecting Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and Surtur with Armor and Cosmo.

Zabu is inserted to discount Attuma, Crossbones, Cull Obsidian, and Ares, but in the case, they don't have Ares, She-Hulk, and Sasquatch are good inclusions, especially the latter since Squirrel Girl is featured in this deck. Alternatively, Enchantress can be another card instead of Ares to counter Mobius M. Mobius or other Ongoing cards with Aero to move cards away for priority, which should have discounted Skaar to play alongside their final turn card.

Best Marvel Snap Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross Decks: Thunder Evolved

Another unique deck that may perform well with Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross is the High Evolutionary deck archetype, as the card will always guarantee one of the 10+ Powered cards is drawn to their hand. Additionally, pairing this card with key synergistic cards like Sunspot, Sam Wilson / Captain America, and Luna Snow to float Energy will ensure they have enough to play those all-important cards.

This Evolved deck from Marvel Snap content creator Alexander Coccia pairs Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross with the High Evolutionary and its EVO pack consisting of Misty Knight to power one of their cards with +1 Power, Cyclops to inflict their opponent's cards with negative power and The Hulk to gain power all from unspent Energy.

Alongside the EVO package, Sunspot is included to gain power from said unspent Energy, which this card, Misty Knight, Luna Snow's Ice Cube, and other six-Cost cards are protected by Caiera. Lastly, Magik is a great three-Cost to be featured to maximize not spending Energy while moving Cap's Shield per turn to play a discounted She-Hulk, Cull Obsidian beside a one-Cost card, and eventually EVO Hulk.

Best Marvel Snap Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross Decks: Knightly Discard

Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross may work best within Arishem and Surtur decks, but it could potentially add a wrinkle to their opponent's strategy by featuring the card within a Discard deck. This allows Snappers to draw a 10+ Power card to their hand before discarding, but under one condition by having Black Knight in play.

This knightly deck from Marvel Snap content creator Bynx Plays features a Discard and Blink package, which can be set up by playing Black Knight and Ross before they start discarding cards. Using Blade and Lady Sif to discard either Red Hulk, Magneto, or The Infinaut to generate the Ebony Blade with either card's power, they'll also have Jubilee and Blink together to draw out a card from their deck early onto the board.

They'll also have access to Red Guardian and Shang-Chi as tech cards to counter anything their opponent may play, which, likewise, Magneto can be utilized to move cards away from locations for priority. Finally, they'll have Ghost Rider to bring back a discarded card to the board, which Snappers can also use Hela for a similar purpose but to resurrect all discarded cards of different costs.

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