Snap Into Marvel: MCU Synergy Returns With “Brave New World” Season

“Brave New World” — February’s new season of Marvel Snap — brings with it the first Marvel Cinematic Universe synergy of 2025. Tying in with Captain America: Brave New World, featuring Anthony Mackie‘s first cinematic turn as the new Captain America, “Brave New World” features a handful of characters already known to be featured in the film, as well as one notable snake-themed villain-turned-love-interest from comic book Cap’s past (perhaps a nod to the rumored involvement of the Serpent Society — the group to which Diamondback belongs — in the upcoming film).

Before diving into “Brave New World”, let’s look back on “Dark Avengers” and see how that season’s cards matchup alongside one another (with my pre-season rank in parenthesis).

1. Iron Patriot (1) – Not surprisingly, the season’s Season Pass card is the dominant one. Not only did it reinvigorate the “Big Hand”/Devil Dinosaur and/or Loki decks, it proved to be just an all-around good card, earning a place as simply a solid 2 drop in a wide variety of decks.
2. Victoria Hand (4) – Appropriately enough, Norman Osborn’s right hand gal, Victoria Hand, turned out to be an able assistant to Iron Patriot, buffing the card it generates as well as the other cards created by the “Big Hand” cards. That said, it clearly plays a supporting role in some specific archetypes, and isn’t the universal addition that Iron Patriot is.
3. Bullseye (3) – Early after its release, there were some attempts to find a non-Discard deck to work Bullseye into, but in the end, it turned out to be a card that really only fits into one archetype. But it succeeded at opening that up a bit, creating an alternate Discard build to the typical Morbius/Dracula/Apocalypse build (not unlike the way there’s multiple ways to build a successful Destroy). What has surprised me the most about Bullseye is the way his value seems to come less in hurting your opponent and more in buffing your cards, with various tricks finding their way into the Bullseye/Daken builds to create multiple Muramas Shards or Scorns for Bullseye to discard (and buff your cards as well as hurt your opponent).
4. Ares (5) – Honestly, if Ares had come out earlier in the season and had more time to strut its stuff, it might rank higher. Like Victoria Hand and Bullseye, it’s a card that has really just elevated one archetype (Surtur Big Cards), but it is currently the most dominant one in the meta, so that’s not nothing. Time will tell if it can grow beyond Surtur and/or keep Surtur dominant.
5. Moonstone (2) – Its release coinciding with a mid-season buff to Mister Fantastic, Moonstone seemed poised for big things, but it has fizzled in the wake of Bullseye’s subsequent dominance, even in a meta still largely devoid of Enchantress. Yet, while the weakest card of the season, this feels like the one card other than Iron Patriot which, in time, might prove good enough to find its way into decks as a Good Card — at least any deck running a lot of Ongoings, like KaZoo.

Looking ahead, as “Brave New World” kicks off, the meta isn’t in a terribly different state than it was a month ago. It is still being driven by highly synergistic decks (very few decks succeed simply by playing one big turn 6 card), with an added emphasis on putting up big points (thanks to the dominance of Surtur). Which puts this next batch of cards in an interesting position. Based on those terms, this looks, on paper, like a much weaker season, with few cards that seem like obvious additions to any of the current meta drivers. Yet, at the same time, that perhaps opens a door for this season to shake up the meta a bit by driving some different archetypes.

Sam Wilson Captain America – To rank this card #1 suggests it is on par with recent Season Pass cards like Iron Patriot, Galacta, or Gwenpool. I don’t think it’s going to be that good, largely because those cards were, to varying degrees, about going wide (by pumping the power of other cards or creating a new card on the cheap alongside an element of control), this card is mostly built around buffing itself. By bouncing Cap’s shield back and forth to Cap — its signature move —  it has the potential to turn Cap into a 2/8 (possibly 2/10), even before any buffs (like from the recently-buffed-itself Spectrum, or Moonstone — both Cap and the shield are Ongoing cards). If Cap’s Shield has a similar relationship to Steve Rogers Captain America as Doom 2099 does with Doctor Doom, then it’s possible that the shield can move between Caps, buffing both in turn.And let’s not sleep on the shield’s synergy with Move cards like Kraven (which, alongside the two Caps, could anchor a lane) or Hercules (who could create more possible shield moves per turn), as well as the spark it could give to post-nerf Scream counter decks. All in all, there’s enough here to make this card look good, even if it may not be enough to make it ubiquitous in the meta.

Diamondback – This is a card whose path to success comes thanks to a couple different Toxic builds. There’s the Ajax-driven build, which this card could certainly boost. And, of course, as a three cost, it’s an easy inclusion in Toxic Surfer (played on Turn 6 with HazMat makes this a lane winner all on its own). Its effect is limited to one lane, but that didn’t stop US Agent from becoming dominant enough to recently earn itself a nerf. And given the supremacy of Big Power decks and Surtur decks, particularly at the moment, decks that look to reduce power are poised to succeed — Scorpion alone gives this card plenty of targets.

Joaquin Torres Falcon – It’s not clear into which archetype Falcon fits. As a scaled-back (in terms of cost and impact) Wong, its most likely place is in some kind of Black Swan-esque Bounce deck (where it pairs nicely with the OG Falcon). Bounce is a great archetype but tough to pilot, which may hold this card back. Outside of Bounce, this could turn out to be a boon to Big Hand decks (plumping your hand via Agent 13 or Maria Hill to buff your Devil Dinosaur), but it’s hard to imagine this as an essential card.

Thunderbolt Ross – These last two cards are both a bit of coin toss. Ross seems like a card that could come in handy in a Surtur deck (it doesn’t really carry any other two drops aside from Armor), helping get your 10 power cards out of your deck and into your hand. But it’s hard to envision it being very helpful anywhere else — or at least helpful enough to push out another card in established builds. Lots of decks have 10 power cards and getting one in hand is useful, but is that useful enough to eat up a spot in the deck, two energy, and a place on the board *for a chance* to make sure a 10 power card gets into your hand? Probably not.

Redwing – It’s not clear if Redwing moves on its own or needs to be moved. If the former, then it’s easily a better card than Thunderbolt Ross, and maybe even Falcon. But it probably doesn’t, which puts it in the realm of cards like Human Torch and Vulture. But instead of providing consistent, guaranteed power buffs, it throws a random card from your hand into its old position. With the right kind of hand, that effect could be hugely impactful, especially if you have a Kraven in a lane and can orchestrate multiple Redwing moves. But the randomness of it — and the fact that, to really succeed, it requires a lot of (no pun intended) moving parts — will likely hold it back.