Best Cards To Use With High Evolutionary In Marvel Snap

High Evolutionary is one of the most powerful cards in Marvel Snap, although you never want to actually draw the man. This is because he adds effects to existing cards that normally have no ability, like Hulk or Shocker, and makes them incredibly versatile, but the Evolutionary himself does nothing of note.

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There are seven cards affected by High Evolutionary, meaning that you can just add them all to a deck and have a rather solid foundation. The real synergy, however, comes when using only a selection of these cards with other existing effects, and developing a devastating combo. High Evo centers around two in-game mechanics, affliction and Energy conservation, so the cards and, consequently, the combos you can pair together aren’t limited by any means.

Updated on January 11, 2025, by Daniyal Sultan Malik: Since release, High Evolutionary’s only change has been going from 4/4 to 4/6. In terms of the meta, you can often find him in affliction-based decks with cards like Ajax, Cyclops, Scorpion, and Hazmat. As a whole, though, High Evolutionary continues to be a highly popular card in Marvel Snap with a consistent track record.

14

U.S. Agent

Series: 5

With a few improvements after a poor launch, U.S. Agent is now an extremely oppressive card that’ll tear any late-game play apart. -4 Power on any card is a substantial affliction, which High Evolutionary needs, and when you afflict it on two or more cards, U.S. Agent becomes a Cube-stealer if played properly on the final turn.

Similar to Hazmat, he’s a double-edged sword, afflicting your high-cost cards with the same debuff. Fortunately, unlike your opponent, you know exactly how to play around his effect, minimizing self-inflicted damage. If you’re in a meta where high-cost cards like Hela and Wiccan are dominating, this card could mean all the difference.

13

Hulk

Series: 1

Cards that synergize with High Evolutionary’s energy-saving aspect have relatively low Power, which is precisely what the Hulk fixes. 12 Power is already beefy enough for a card that costs six Energy, but his powered-up ability with High Evo gets him up to 24 Power — a monster on the board.

High Evolutionary’s Hulk is an ideal pairing for She-Hulk to launch an explosive Turn Six or Turn Seven play. You can play both cards on the final turn after skipping the prior one, letting you sweep locations unsuspecting. In most cases, the Hulk is a better alternative to The Infinaut since he’s easier to play and has a higher ceiling.

12

Ajax

Series: 5

Ajax is one of the few cards in its respective cost category that can win a location alone. He can regularly reach 15+ Power in most circumstances, but the real reason he performs so well is because of his deck’s counterplay dominance. With common inclusions like U.S. Agent or Red Guardian, you can easily prevent the opponent from reaching high Power levels.

As such, High Evolutionary, alongside Cyclops and The Thing, naturally fit into Ajax’s deck. They constantly keep enemy cards from reaching enormous stats while ramping up Ajax to be a location winner. The overall output is reliable, disruptive, and meta-relevant.

11

Cassandra Nova

Series: 5

On top of being the “Arishem killer”, Cassandra Nova is a powerhouse that deals affliction while gaining Power beyond the average 3-Cost card. If you play her on the third turn, she’ll reach a whopping seven Power, excluding the -1 Power she afflicts on every card in the opponent’s deck. Thus, her effective output is well into double digits.

For High Evolutionary, Cassandra is yet another exceptional affliction card you can add to the deck. However, the fact that she can completely decimate Arishem, one of the most prevalent cards in the game, makes her a must-have in several matches.

10

Sunspot

Series: 2

With so many ways to cheat Energy, Sunspot is no longer relegated to decks that skip turns, as there is always a bit he can take from turn to turn. Since High Evolutionary already has cards that benefit from not using all your Energy, Sunspot is there to take whatever is left.

While valuable, he is still as vulnerable as ever to things like Killmonger or Shadow King, but he isn’t your only source of Power. That makes him nice to have, and a great use of Power you were wasting anyway, but if he gets negated or destroyed, it isn’t that big of a deal.

9

Misty Knight

Series: 1

When High Evolutionary was first released, Misty Knight’s added ability seemed exclusive to one kind of deck. It felt like the affliction version of the deck would have no use for her, but again, all decks have some Energy they don’t use, so her inclusion is always a net positive.

Besides, depending on where she puts that Power, she’s very hard to counter. She might be destroyed by Killmonger in later turns, but considering she gives extra Power to other cards, she still adds a lot while being a dispensable card.

8

Cyclops

Series: 1

Cyclops is a nightmare to deal with given that he can single-handedly keep a lane in check with the sheer amount of turn-by-turn affliction. He’s the bridge that ties all High Evolutionary decks, and his potential Power output is nine or even higher, due to all the turns he afflicts your opponent with negativity.

There are ways to counter Cyclops, mainly Luke Cage, but if you see too much of him, you can always add Enchantress or Rogue and negate that game plan entirely. You’ll soon notice that the rest of the cards aren’t only synergistic with High Evolutionary, but are mainly pointed to being matches for Cyclops’ ability in specific.

7

Hazmat

Series: 3

Hazmat’s reach is both a blessing and a curse. It’s good because she can target cards that aren’t at her location, but that includes your own cards, meaning that if you have more cards than they do at a location, you’ll be the one targeted the most.

You can always shift that difference in your favor with things like Luke Cage, but then you’ll be too dependent on drawing him. The key is actually to think of Hazmat as an early game card, catching only a few cards of your opponent and using that early push to your advantage.

6

Scorpion

Series: 2

Hazmat might have reach, but she can’t target the cards Scorpion can: the ones still in their hand. This is thanks to his On-Reveal ability, afflicting all cards in their hand with -1 Power, which is often a great swing in your favor unless they happen to run Green Goblin.

What Scorpion brings to the table is reliable, early gameplay that you can throw anywhere at any time. Granted, his impact is lower the more the game advances, but when he lands, he can wreck entire game plans for things like Iron Man or Cerebro.

5

Abomination

Series: 1

Abomination saw basically no play before High Evolutionary, considering he had nothing to offer for the Power he brings. Mockingbird has the same stats as Abomination, but she comes with an added positive effect, so when compared with other cards, the green giant falls short.

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High Evolutionary gives Abomination the ability to have its Cost lowered for each enemy card afflicted with negative Power. This is why adding things like Hazmat and Scorpion is key, since they frequently make Abomination cost no Energy, which opens up plenty of unexpected combos.

4

Hope Summers

Series: 5

The idea behind Hope Summers is to play big things earlier since each card played at her location adds one extra Energy the following turn. At first, no one was playing it with the High Evolutionary package, but there are a varietyof things you can do with extra Energy here.

Clearly, all decks welcome the chance of playing big things earlier, but with High Evolutionary you can just add more Energy for a turn and not actually use it. This allows for more hits from Cyclops, more buffs from Misty Knight, and an even bigger Sunspot.

3

Moon Girl

Series: 1

Moon Girl is a card associated with combos, mostly due to her ability to duplicate the cards in your hand. Yet you do need cheap cards to play after Moon Girl triggers her effect, so you need to have cards that are both cheap and powerful.

Abomination fits this description perfectly, at least when powered by High Evolutionary. With all the negativity you’re spreading to all enemy cards, he often costs less than two Power, meaning that Moon Girl can enable powerplays of up to 18 Power, and that’s only counting one green giant.

2

She-Hulk

Series: 3

In most High Evolutionary lists, Red Hulk is the final card added as he can grow to incredible heights as long as he is in your hand. Yet here, while you’re still skipping Energy, you’re better off going wide than high, putting a lot of Power in multiple locations.

With a combination of Hope Summers/Luna Snow and cheap cards, you no longer need Magik to have She-Hulk cost next to nothing. In fact, you can ‘skip’ turn five by playing something like Wasp or even Misty Knight on top of Hope, having a free She-Hulk that you can even copy with Moon Girl.

1

Red Guardian

Series: 5

You can have Enchantress or Rogue to deal with Luke Cage, who becomes your main counter in these decks, but Red Guardian counters him while adding negative Power. This is thanks to his ability to trim two Power and remove its text, essentially nullifying anything they could do.

This can potentially counter all sorts of effects, which lets you use Red Guardian as a counter card that still fits with the synergistic aspect of it all. You can even hit things like Deadpool, killing the card completely and forcing your opponent to an early retreat.

Systems

Franchise

Marvel

Released

August 22, 2023

Developer(s)

Second Dinner

Publisher(s)

Nuverse

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unity

ESRB

e

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

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