Marvel Snap: Nebula Decks and Synergies

How to Play Nebula in Marvel Snap

Welcome to another installment in our series where we cover new card releases and how to use them. The new May battle pass card is here: Nebula.

Nebula has an interesting effect where she will gain Power if your opponent doesn’t play on her location. This can make it difficult for your opponent to enact their own game plan, or make it easy for you to read their plays.

While there are lots of synergies to cover, overall, Nebula appears to just be a very strong 1-cost that can fit into many decks.

Let’s get right into the guide.

Nebula Effect

Each turn your opponent doesn’t play a card here, +2 Power. (except the turn you play this)

• Colorist – Ryan Kinnaird
• Artist – Jonboy Meyers

Nebula Synergy

There are a good amount of synergies to cover with Nebula. However, regardless of synergy, you can definitely look at Nebula as simply a strong 1-cost to play early. Her main drawback is that playing her late is much less effective than playing her early.

Rocket Raccoon / Star-Lord / Guardians of the Galaxy

Rocket Raccoon: On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +2 Power.

Star-Lord: On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +3 Power.

The first clear synergy with Nebula is to utilize the Guardian of the Galaxy cards. These cards gain more power if your opponent also plays a card in the same location.

Thus, if you can encourage your opponent to play in your Nebula lane, you can get some nice Power bonuses with the other GOTG cards.

Ka-Zar

Ongoing: Your 1-Cost cards have +1 Power.

I can’t help but list Ka-Zar in any new card that costs 1. Considering that Shanna also recently got buffed, we may see more Zoo archetype decks rise up in popularity. Even still, it’s hard to beat things like Hit-Monkey or Patriot in terms on consistently putting Power on the board.

Storm / Professor X

Storm: On Reveal: Flood this location. Next turn is the last turn cards can be played here.

Professor X: Ongoing: Lock down this location. (Cards can’t be added, removed, etc.)

The last synergy is with cards like Professor X and Storm. These cards lock down locations and make it so Nebula can grow in Power. This can make it so you don’t have to commit too many cards to these locations to win them.

With Storm, you can almost guarantee a +4 Power on your Nebula if played on turn 3. Professor X will only give your Nebula +2 on the final turn, but that may be enough to win a location. (Spider-Man also synergizes well in the same way)

Nebula Decks

For this section, I’ll be mainly going over some decks that synergize with Nebula.

Keep in mind that these decks are all first impressions, so things can definitely change rapidly. As new discoveries are made with Nebula, I will be updating our Full Tier List, rather than update this article.

Be sure to check it out to see what the best decks are, or if Nebula is even in the best decks at all.

Nebula Control Deck

Deck code:

eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlJvY2tldFJhY2Nvb24ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5lYnVsYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiWmFidSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRGFyZWRldmlsIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJKZWZmVGhlQmFieUxhbmRTaGFyayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3Rvcm0ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkVuY2hhbnRyZXNzIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJTaGFuZ0NoaSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiRHJheCJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3BpZGVyTWFuIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJQcm9mZXNzb3JYIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJNYWduZXRvIn1dfQ==

The first archetype that Nebula can slot into is a Control location lockdown type deck. This type of deck hasn’t seen too much success, but with Nebula, maybe the early Power is enough to make it competitive.

The deck looks to use tools like Storm and Professor X along with other Control cards like Daredevil and Cosmo. You can lean into a lot of 4-cost cards with Drax, Spider-Man, Shang-Chi and Enchantress to add in Zabu as well.

There’s definitely a lot of flexible cuts and additions to this deck. While I don’t expect this deck to hit Tier 1 or 2, it’s probably the most synergistic home for Nebula.

Nebula Jeff Deck

Deck Code:

eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IktvcmcifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5lYnVsYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiWmFidSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiSmVmZlRoZUJhYnlMYW5kU2hhcmsifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlBvbGFyaXMifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlN0b3JtIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJEYXJraGF3ayJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiTW9vbkdpcmwifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik1pbGVzTW9yYWxlcyJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiUm9ja3NsaWRlIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJQcm9mZXNzb3JYIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJTaGVIdWxrIn1dfQ==

This is basically another flavor of the Nebula Control deck, but leans more into Power rather than control tools. Jeff and Professor X is still a great combination, but instead of tech cards, we can fit in more Power cards in the 4-cost slots.

Nebula Zoo Deck

Deck Code:

eyJOYW1lIjoiIiwiQ2FyZHMiOlt7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFudE1hbiJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiU3F1aXJyZWxHaXJsIn0seyJDYXJkRGVmSWQiOiJJY2VtYW4ifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6Ik5lYnVsYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiQXJtb3IifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlphYnUifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IlNoYW5uYSJ9LHsiQ2FyZERlZklkIjoiS2FaYXIifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRyYXgifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkRyYWN1bGEifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkJsdWVNYXJ2ZWwifSx7IkNhcmREZWZJZCI6IkFtZXJpY2FDaGF2ZXoifV19

This last deck is basically just shoving Nebula into a Zoo type deck. With the recent changes to Shanna, we may see Zoo become more popular, but I imagine Kitty Pryde will become more of a staple in these decks rather than Nebula.

Nebula Counters

In this section, I’ll be covering some cards that counter Nebula if you don’t plan on playing decks with her. While these cards might not win you every game vs Nebula decks, it can definitely help a lot.

Killmonger

On Reveal: Destroy ALL 1-Cost cards.

As with any 1-cost card, Killmonger is a natural counter. If your opponent can simply destroy Nebula, they don’t need to care about her Power unless she’s behind Armor.

Shadow King

On Reveal: Set all cards here to their original base Power.

Shadow King is seeing a bit more play in Sera Surfer decks ever since his buff. With Shadow King, you can now reset Nebula back to 1 Power, and by playing him on turn 6, you ensure she doesn’t gain any additional power. This can also reset any buffed Guardians of the Galaxy cards played in the same location.

Jeff the Baby Land Shark

You can move this once. Nothing can stop you from moving or playing this to any location.

Jeff is seeing a lot of play as a flexible card now, and while he can synergize with Nebula and Professor X, he can also be used to counter Nebula as well. If Nebula is sitting behind a Storm or Professor X lane, you can still play Jeff there to potentially surprise your opponent.

Cosmo

Ongoing: On Reveal abilities won’t happen at this location.

Cosmo is in a bit of a weird spot as there aren’t too many decks that can fully utilize him. However, in the situation you’re worried about Guardians of the Galaxy cards, Cosmo can safely shut that down by playing him into Nebula. There will be situations where this may be helpful for your opponent, but it can also be a detriment.

Conclusion

Nebula is an interesting addition to the game, and while there are some synergies, she is also a very flexible card. She isn’t as mind blowing as some of the previous battle pass cards we’ve had, but she likely will see some play.

It will be interesting to see if she remains in decks as time passes, or if the release of Kitty Pryde makes her obsolete.

Hope this guide helped you out a bit, good luck in your games, and snap away!

Be sure to check out our Tier Lists for out current rankings on Marvel Snap decks and cards.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out our other resources for Marvel Snap. These can help you wherever you are in the Collection Track.

• Best Decks Tier List
• Series 1 Tier List
• Series 2 Tier List
• Series 3 Tier List
• Series 4/5 Tier List
• Series 3 Only Deck Tier List

Good luck in your games, and thanks for reading!