Best Gladiator Decks in Marvel Snap: Shuri & Surfer

❘ Published: 2023-11-13T05:47:53 ❘ Updated: 2023-11-13T05:48:03

The Gladiator charges into Marvel Snap with a groundbreaking new ability that is sure to surprise and frustrate many opponents. Here’s our complete guide to the best Gladiator decks in Marvel Snap.

Gladiator is introduced to Marvel Snap during the Higher, Further, Faster season, which revolves around Ms. Marvel.

The card will be available immediately through Spotlight Cache Rewards and the Token Shop before being available through any of these methods in the future.

Read on as we explore the best Gladiator decks in Marvel Snap, including the best synergies and counters.

Gladiator’s ability in Marvel Snap

Second dinner

Gladiator enters Marvel Snap as a 3-cost, 7-power card with an On Reveal ability: “Add a card from your opponent’s deck to their side of this location. If it has less power, destroy it.”

Gladiator will have strong, immediate synergies with players like Silver Surfer, Shang-Chi and Cosmo, among others. By increasing Gladiator’s power, Silver Surfer increases the likelihood of successfully destroying the opponent’s card. Meanwhile, Shang-Chi can handle the cards that exceed the gladiator’s power threshold.

However, the Gladiator’s ability is a double-edged sword. The randomness of the card added from the opponent’s deck introduces an element of unpredictability. This can sometimes backfire, especially if the card has beneficial on-reveal effects or ongoing abilities. Therefore, players need to pay particular attention to their opponent’s likely remaining cards and learn from experience in Ranked or Conquest mode.

Despite the challenges, Gladiator enters the game as an intriguing, powerful and disruptive card set that has a profound impact on gameplay with its combination of surprise and aggression.

Best Gladiator Decks in Marvel Snap

With Gladiator’s high power and unique disruptive ability, the card offers the opportunity for some exciting new deck types. But for now, two strategies seem to be the best path forward for Gladiator players: Shuri and Surfer.

Gladiator Shuri

• Zero
• Ebony maw
• lizard
• gladiator
• Sauron
• Shuri
• sorceress
• Typhoid Mary
• taskmaster
• vision
• red skull
• America Chavez

Of all the cards in Marvel Snap that could pair with Gladiator, Shuri may be one of the best. We’ve already briefly mentioned that while Gladiator’s ability can work in your favor, there can also be times when it works against you.

But if you can play Shuri before Gladiator, you can double Gladiator’s power from 7 to 14, destroying the vast majority of cards in the game. The only cards you can’t destroy include unusually powerful cards like Infinaut and Giganto, or cards with special abilities like Colossus or Armor.

Shuri remains one of the best decks in Marvel Snap right now, regardless of whether Gladiator is included in the deck. As such, this inclusion will likely add some spice to an otherwise already powerful deck.

Gladiator surfers

• Wrought
• Mr Sinister
• patriot
• brood
• gladiator
• Silver Surfer
• Absorbing man
• Iron Boy
• Ironman
• Shang Chi
• Blue miracle
• America Chavez

Gladiator has immediate synergy with Silver Surfer as a 3-cost card that can benefit from the +2 buff that Surfer provides. With Surfer on the board, Gladiator rises to a power option of 9 and can therefore destroy an overwhelming majority of cards that might ultimately be put into play.

We’ll be using Shang-Chi in the deck here just in case things don’t go as planned. Absorbing Man and Iron Lad also allow players to activate the Gladiator’s ability more than once in the game.

Check out our other best deck guides for current Marvel Snap cards here: Ms. Marvel | Werewolf at night | Black Knight | Men’s thing | Elsa Bloodstone | Möbius M. Möbius | Ravonna Renslayer | Alioth | Loki | Silver Samurai | X-23 | Daken | Mirage | Legion | Echo | Jean Gray | Phoenix Force