Second Dinner’s Ben Brode described High Evolutionary as “seven new cards in one” in the Guardians Greatest Hits announcement video, hyping up fans even more for the debut of this classic Marvel villain in the game. Devs already confirmed that High Evolutionary is Marvel Snap’s next “big bad,” joining Thanos, Galactus, and Kang in the select group of cards that have their own unique animation and remain exclusive to Series 5 for quite a while. He certainly wasn’t a force to be reckoned with in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but continue reading to find out if he gives any worth to your cards in Marvel Snap and which decks are the best for High Evolutionary.
Is High Evolutionary Worth Buying in Marvel Snap?
High Evolutionary is a 4 Energy and 4 Power card with a bold premise: at the start of the game, it gives your No Ability cards… abilities. Yes, the typically useless cards that you’d only slot in your Patriot deck now have cool and exclusive powers. Have a look below to see all the seven cards that can be ‘evolved’ and their new skills:
- Wasp: On Reveal: Afflict 2 random enemy cards here with -1 Power
- Misty Knight: When you end a turn with unspent Energy, give another friendly card +1 Power
- Shocker: On Reveal: The leftmost card in your hand costs 1 less
- Cyclops: When you end a turn with unspent Energy, afflict 2 random enemies here with -1 Power
- The Thing: On Reveal – Afflict a random enemy card here with -1 Power. Repeat this twice more
- Abomination: Costs 1 less for each enemy card in play that’s afflicted with negative Power
- Hulk: Ongoing: +2 Power for each turn you ended with unspent Energy
It’s important to clarify some things about High Evolutionary: he triggers at the beginning of every game, meaning he doesn’t need to be played for his power to have an effect; he doesn’t give secret abilities to cards like Squirrel Girl’s squirrels, Debrii’s rocks, or Mysterio’s clones; and both he and the cards he evolves can’t be buffed by Patriot. That said, if you have 6,000 Tokens in your pocket, High Evolutionary is a worthy purchase as it is, in fact, the definition of a game-changer. Also, as mentioned before, Second Dinner has shown no plans for these big bad cards to leave Series 5, meaning that High Evolutionary likely won’t be leaving the rarest tier in the game any time soon.
For those who didn’t complete Series 3 yet, though, I’d usually always recommend waiting to build your collection more – but for this card, I’d say it’s actually worth it since there are plenty of cards in Series 3 and below that this works with, but only if you have the Tokens to spend, of course. Overall, this card is worth grabbing!
Best High Evolutionary Decks in Marvel Snap
If you choose to buy High Evolutionary, you likely won’t regret it because he’ll just continue to give new purpose to cards you probably don’t typically use much outside of your Patriot deck. Now dust off your Wasp and Cyclops and try out these three effective decks that we’ve found.
Unspent Energy
- Wasp
- Sunspot
- Scorpion
- Cyclops
- Debrii
- Enchantress
- High Evolutionary
- The Thing
- Spider-Woman
- Abomination
- Hulk
- She-Hulk
Since the evolved cards High Evolutionary creates are all about unspent Energy and inflicting damage to opponents, this deck might have the best of both worlds. The sooner you drop Sunspot the better so he can benefit from all the small Energy you’ll save the next turns. Scorpion will help inflict some damage to their hands while Debrii will force them to have cards on the table for you to attack. High Evolutionary shouldn’t be played at all since he’s a weak card on its own; you’d be better skipping a turn instead of playing him to power up Sunspot, make She-Hulk cheaper, and boost the Hulk in your hand.
Enchantress is another card that should only appear for emergencies, to counter a strong Ongoing enemy, or even Luke Cage. The late game will depend on your hand: if you have Abomination and She-Hulk there, skip turn 5 to play both at the end. Oh, and don’t forget Wasp!
Evolved Sera Control
- Wasp
- Scarlet Witch
- Zabu
- Lizard
- Shocker
- Killmonger
- Enchantress
- The Thing
- High Evolutionary
- Rescue
- Shang-Chi
- Sera
High Evolutionary proves to be a great addition to the classic Sera Control archetype in this deck created by Hooglandia Marvel Snap on YouTube. First of all, don’t go wasting Wasp on turn 1, Lizard on turn 2, Killmonger on turn 3, etc; these cards should work as surprise elements on later turns at a cheaper cost. Shang-Chi and Enchantress can also have their cost reduced to 2 or even 1 by turn 6, countering powerful cards like Knull, Devil Dinosaur, or a busted Kitty Pryde. Make sure you drop Zabu on turn 2 or 3 and Sera on turn 5 to do so. Evolved Shocker can also help to reduce the energy of a card on the left side of your hand.
Evolve & Reveal
- Wasp
- Sunspot
- Zabu
- Luke Cage
- Hazmat
- Lockjaw
- The Thing
- High Evolutionary
- Wong
- Abomination
- Odin
- Hulk
Zabu is a safe play on turn 2 as it will benefit your Sunspot by reducing the cost of Wong and The Thing. High Evolutionary will also become 3 Energy, and unlike the other decks on this list, he can now be a bit of help if played on Lockjaw later on. For turn 3 you can either go with Wong or Lockjaw, depending on what you pull. If you stick to Lockjaw, definitely play Wasp on him in the same turn, as she can return to your hand and immediately bring Abomination, Hulk, Luke Cage, or even Wong to the table.
With Wong down, on turn 4 we can hit him with The Thing – it will reduce Abomination’s cost for turn 5 or 6, and the leftover energy will benefit Sunspot and power up your Hulk. You can also play Hazmat on Wong, just make sure Luke Cage is available. For turn 6, you can play Odin on Wong/Hazmat. If you pursue power, you might have an insanely strong Hulk and a pretty cheap Abomination at your disposal as well.
Those are all of the best decks for High Evolutionary so far, hopefully, you’re able to gain some cubes with these! For more on Marvel Snap, like the best decks for Howard the Duck and Iron Lad, check out the related posts below.
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