Marvel Duel just released and we’re having tons of fun with Netease’s latest CCG. Being able to collect many different cards based on our favorite characters from the Marvel universe is pretty cool, and using them to create specialized decks with which to destroy your enemies is even cooler still!

Marvel Duel - The Best Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Expanding Your Decks and Winning Matches

However, like with many other CCGs, there’s a learning curve in Marvel Duel that you’ll have to master in order to get good. Specifically, this title has many, many different mechanics compared to other similar games, especially in its free-for-all-style combat system, like in auto-battler games such Auto Chess or DotA Underlords. We reviewed this game’s major mechanics in our beginner’s guide, so you should definitely check it out if you’re new to this game.

This time around, however, we wanted to get you started with some of the best tips, tricks, and strategies for Marvel Duel, so that you don’t waste any time and start dominating your enemies ASAP.

Use the Right Decks for Your Playstyle

Not all players play the same, and not all subdecks can do the same things. It’s important to consider your general playstyle before choosing your combination of subdecks to take into battle.

If you’re more about turtling and playing defensively while stalling the enemy enough to build up a few powerful characters, then you might want to consider adding a few Asgardian characters to your deck as they’re the masters of armor and Guard effects. Alternatively, if you want to play with a more technical approach, you will want to use cards belonging to the Intergalactic War subdeck.

Marvel Duel - The Best Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Expanding Your Decks and Winning Matches

Regardless of your playstyle, however, you’ll always want to choose a combination of subdecks that can supplement each others’ weaknesses. Take a look at our detailed subdeck guide if you want to learn more about what each of the decks can do.

Focus on Building Your Strategy Instead of Countering Your Opponents’

In contrast with other CCGs, Marvel Duel doesn’t offer a 1v1 battle experience, instead opting to adopt a battle royale format, similar to the ones in the aforementioned auto-battler games. This means that, instead of fighting against one player, you’ll go up against 5 other users simultaneously. For obvious reasons, this makes it really hard to counter each and every strategy since all other players might be using completely different strategies.

Marvel Duel - The Best Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Expanding Your Decks and Winning Matches

In a way, this is pretty cool because you get to let loose and not worry about what your opponent is doing. But on the other hand, if there’s no emphasis on directly countering your opponent’s strategies from early on in the match, then we fear for the state of this game’s competitive scene later on.

The best way to go about winning your matches in this game is to simply focus entirely on building your own strategy. The good thing here is that, unlike with Auto Chess, your cards aren’t drawn from a common pool, and are instead taken from your deck, which means that you won’t be fighting against other players over specific characters or skill cards. In other words, every single match in Marvel Duel is a race to build your strategy in order to defeat your enemies before they overwhelm you.

The Order of Your Actions Matters

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s actually one of the things that took us a while to get used to in Marvel Duel. simply put, some effects only activate when certain conditions are met. And even when those conditions are met, the effects might not activate if the related card isn’t in the right state.

Marvel Duel - The Best Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Expanding Your Decks and Winning Matches

For instance, many Stark Industries cards get boosted whenever you upgrade the shop. However, in most cases, the card in question needs to be deployed to the field in order to receive this benefit. In this sense, if you have an “Iron Man Model I” card in your hand, and you upgrade your shop, it WILL NOT receive the armor bonus—it has to be deployed on the field in order to benefit from this effect. Similarly, other cards benefit exclusively the characters in your hand, or in your shop. For instance, the Taskmaster card increases the power of every other card in your hand by +2 at the end of each turn.

In this sense, remember to slow down and think about what you’re doing as it’s not only important to set the right cards on the field at the right moment, but also to do it in the right order.

Complete Those Season Pass Tasks

If you want to expand your decks, then you’re going to need funds, lots of them. Luckily, one of the best ways to earn Coins is by completing the tasks in your Season Pass, which also reward you with Medal Exp. You can then take these Coins to the Pack Shop and trade them for General Expansion packs, which contain cards from many different subdecks.

Marvel Duel - The Best Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Expanding Your Decks and Winning Matches

The Medal Exp., on the other hand, is used for leveling up your Season Pass which, in turn, unlocks tougher challenges with even better prizes, as well as grants you special rewards every time you level up. In other words, always try to complete your Season Pass tasks

Grab Your Free Items From the Shop Everyday

If you’re starting just now, there are quite a few freebies you can claim from many different sources. For starters, if you’re playing soon after the game’s launch, you’ll likely find a couple of packs in your inbox that contain Tickets that you can trade for General Purpose Expansion packs. However, the in-game store also has a bunch of freebies that reset every 24 hours and that contain lots of awesome items to power up your decks.

Marvel Duel - The Best Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Expanding Your Decks and Winning Matches

The free packs on the store include the “500K Pre-Registration Pack”, and the “Free Gift” packs. The former contains Tickets for purchasing Packs, while the latter contains Coins and Stardust. Stardust is really important since it’s the game’s premium currency, which you can use in the Pack shop to purchase specific character packs to further specialize your decks with certain subdecks.

Are you already playing Marvel Duel on PC with BlueStacks? Leave us your opinions about this game in the section below!