One of the wildest cards in Marvel Snap history, Arishem, a Celestial that changes the way the card battler is played, is coming. While undoubtedly fun, let’s take a deeper look into whether or not he’s good. Here are the best Arishem decks in Marvel Snap.
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Best Arishem Decks in Marvel Snap
Arishem is a 7-cost, 7-power card with an ability that reads: “At the start of the game, +1 Max Energy. Shuffle 12 random cards into your deck.”
As you’ve likely noticed, Arishem is Marvel Snap’s first 7-power card, making him playable on the final turn of the game with the +1 energy he provides.
As Marvel Snap decks begin with 12 cards, Arishem effectively doubles your deck size, so you’ll likely only draw, on average, 4 of your own cards and 4 random Arishem cards. It’s a less than 20% chance you’ll find a specific card you put into your deck in your opening hand.
Arishem clearly has synergy with Quinjet, which will further discount the random cards provided. Other key synergies include how Loki will wipe out cards you do not want while having max energy to play with, and last week’s Phastos will buff the random cards with cost discounts or added powers. Wave is also a great option as she can be played on turn 2, allowing you to drop a powerful 6-cost card on turn 3.
Best Arishem Decks in Marvel Snap
Deck building with Arishem will take some time to sort out, as I believe the best decks with him will include 12 flexible cards with little synergy, but the following two decks are all but guaranteed to work with him shortly after he releases. First and foremost, we have Arishem/Loki, as the trickster god can replace a bad hand with your opponent’s cards. Here’s a list:
- Quinjet
- Snowguard
- Quake
- Mobius M. Mobius
- Red Guardian
- Agent Coulson
- Loki
- Nick Fury
- Sersi
- Mockingbird
- Blob
- Arishem
Click here to copy the deck code over at Untapped.
Quake is a personal preference and can be replaced with Jeff! if you have the little shark. Otherwise, Blob can be switched out for another powerful 6-cost card like Doctor Doom. Mockingbird works great in this deck, as so many cards will discount her; that said, you can swap her out for an impactful 5-cost card or a tech card like Shang-Chi. The same can be said for Red Guardian if you do not have him.
To play this deck, you’re likely going to want to Snap if you have a decent curve early on with Quinjet in hand. Agent Coulson and Nick Fury can add to the random power of this deck while also providing fuel for Loki. Without impactful cards in hand, you’ll want to Loki them away, depending on your opponent’s deck. Blob will eat away half your deck a turn early, giving you a major high roll that he’ll eat powerful random cards and help counter decks playing Darkhawk. Finally, Sersi can upgrade bad cards that you’ve dumped onto the board. Expect to see a lot of Loki and Arishem together.
After that, Arishem will work well in a control list that counters your opponent while trying to win with the random cards he generates. This is the list I personally brewed, though I expect many professional players and content creators will come up with something similar, if not better:
- Shadow King
- Quake
- Killmonger
- Mobius M. Mobius
- Red Guardian
- Ghost
- Gladiator
- Shang-Chi
- Enchantress
- Blob
- Alioth
- Arishem
Click here to copy the deck code over at Untapped.
It’s difficult to replace specific cards in this deck if you do not have them. Red Guardian or Gladiator can be replaced with something like Nocturne. However, you’re going to want the raw power of Blob to win a lane and counter Darkhawk
Otherwise, this deck is fairly straightforward to play if you have a good idea of the meta decks out there and a great pick for Conquest mode. The route you take playing this deck will depend heavily on what cards you draw from Arishem and your opponent’s deck, but by and large, you should do your best not to have priority going into the final turn. In fact, that’s why the rarely placed Ghost is in this deck. With a lucky draw of Blob on turn 5, you can play a tech card or two on turn 6 to steal away the game.
Related: Best Sasquatch Decks in Marvel Snap
How to Counter Arishem in Marvel Snap
Arishem is definitely a card you’re going to want to counter, and there’s one card that does it: Darkhawk. Not only will Darkhawk gain 24 power from the 12 cards added to the deck, but cards such as Korg, Rockslide, and Black Widow will make it even more difficult for an Arishem player to draw into good cards. The best Darkhawk deck features Sersi, like this one, though there’s another list that runs Pixie. Other than that, you can make sure to run Mobius M. Mobius as the little mustachioed man will counter Arishem players running Loki.
Who Is Arishem?
Arishem the Judge is one of many Celestials, which are basically a race of giant gods made of energy that wear futuristic-looking armor. Arishem judges whether or not races are worthy of existing, and he and his cosmic pals are directly responsible for creating three races through DNA experimentation: the Eternals, protectors of humanity like Gilgamesh, Thena, and Makkari, humans themselves, and the Deviants, physically mutated but powerful foes to the former two. Arishem was responsible for flooding the Deviant population, killing most of them, and ordering around his fellow Celestials in the cultivation of humanity.
Is Arishem Worth Your Spotlight Cache Keys or Collector’s Tokens?
Yup, Arishem is a pretty good pickup. While I don’t think he will be top-tier competitive due to the sheer randomness of his effect, he brings something incredibly new and variable to Marvel Snap that will undoubtedly make him a lot of fun to play. I do expect him to get better and more consistent as more cards are released, though the next month or so of releases won’t impact him much. Regardless, he forms his own archetype that everyone should have in their collection, and I’d go as far as to call him the most fun and impactful card released since High Evolutionary over a year ago.
And those are the best Arishem decks in Marvel Snap.
Marvel Snap is available now.
