How to Play Nico Minoru in Marvel Snap
Nico Minoru was a heavily anticipated card release for this month, and so far, she seems quite promising. While she isn’t deck defining or a must have, she is a very solid addition to certain archetypes.
While cards like Jeff are very universal, Nico Minoru is more like Iron Lad. She may not work in every deck, but in some decks, she can be quite strong.
Let’s get right into the guide.
Nico Minoru Effect
On Reveal: After you play your next card, cast a spell. (The spell changes each turn.)
Nico Minoru Spells
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, it becomes a Demon.
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, destroy it and draw two cards.
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, move it one location to the right.
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, give it +2 Power.
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, replace that card’s location.
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, add a copy of it to your hand.
- On Reveal: After you play your next card, double this card’s Power.
Nico Minoru Analysis
Nico Minoru provides a plethora of different effects. Every turn, her spell will change, which can give you very strong effects. At worst, she is either a 1 Energy for 4 Power, or a Scarlet Witch. In general, her strongest effects seem to be copying a card and drawing two cards with Destroy.
While Nico doesn’t consistently give you the effect you want, having the flexibility from lots of effects allows you to play differently every game. This flexibility is her main strength and these effects will see more exploration with time.
That being said, let’s go into some cards that synergize well with Nico Minoru.
Thanos
Thanos was an immediate thought for Nico Minoru. The Infinity Stones are perfect cards to utilize Nico’s effect. You can turn a Time Stone into a Demon, or destroy it and draw two cards. Nico’s effect will trigger after the card, so you will still get a card draw from most of the stones.
It can be awkward if you end up destroying the Power Stone or Soul Stone, but it can be worth it still. On the low end, Nico can provide something like +2 to your next card, and playing Jeff on 2. This gives you a 2/5 Jeff which is very flexible as you can move him anywhere you need to.
Thanos was already a deck with a lot of play lines, and Nico only expands upon that further.
Destroy
Another deck that synergizes with Nico can be Destroy decks. One of Nico’s effects is to destroy a card to draw two. This can be perfect after playing something like Bucky Barnes, Sabretooth, or Deadpool.
Furthermore, Venom and Carnage are great targets for the “add a copy” effect. Nico’s effect will trigger after Carnage or Venom finish their ability, so you can end up copying a 2/8 Carnage into your hand or a big Venom.
The other effects can be useful as well if the perfect scenarios don’t line up. Overall, Nico is a solid addition to Destroy decks, but not absolutely necessary.
Nico Minoru Decks
For this section, I’ll be mainly going over some decks that synergize with Nico Minoru.
Keep in mind that these decks are all first impressions, so things can definitely change rapidly. As new discoveries are made, 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.
Nico Minoru Thanos Deck
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This first deck is the Thanos Professor X deck. This deck looks to use Pyslocke or Time Stone on turn 3 in order to play Professor X or another strong 5-cost card on turn 4. The deck then has a variety of strong cards to win the other lanes, or Alioth can win you the game on the spot.
Nico Minoru fits right into the deck, and the synergy with the Stones is amazing.
Nico Minoru Destroy Deck
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This next deck uses Nico as a strong card for the Destroy archetype. There are a lot of effects that synergize well with Destroy cards, covered above.
Nico gives Destroy a plethora of beneficial effects, raising the ceiling of the deck. The deck could already reach very high Power with Deadpool. Nico simply adds another strong opener that can help facilitate the deck when the draws aren’t perfect.
Nico Minoru Thanos Destroy Deck
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If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you’ll know that Thanos Destroy is my favorite deck to play. With Nico Minoru, the deck has become much stronger. The deck struggles sometimes with getting good openers, but Nico provides just that.
The deck will definitely just draw poorly sometimes, but other times, you’ll be able to get unmatched Power on the board. The deck resembles the Thanos Professor X deck, except instead of Psylocke, we have X-23. Instead of playing Time Stone or destroying X-23 on turn 3, you will want to do so on turn 4. This will allow you to play Knull on turn 5, and Arnim Zola it on turn 6.
This finisher provides enough Power to compete with just about any deck, and can play around Alioth. However, Knull will only be as big as the things you can destroy. Sometimes he’ll only reach 8 Power or so if the only thing you destroy are a few stones.
Even still, this has been my favorite deck to play with Nico, and I hope it’s a blast for you to try out as well.
Nico Minoru Counters
To be quite frank, Nico Minoru doesn’t have any true counters. Her ability is On Reveal, so she technically can be stopped by Cosmo, but that would require your opponent to snipe your Nico on turn 3 or later.
In general, Nico doesn’t win the game on her own, and she doesn’t force you into certain archetypes. However, she will most often be played in Thanos and Destroy decks, and those decks definitely have counters.
Darkhawk
Darkhawk always comes back into the meta when Thanos becomes a strong deck. This is because Darkhawk will often have bigger Power against Thanos decks with larger decks. Giving Thanos decks rocks can also be difficult for them to utilize.
Armor/Cosmo
Armor and Cosmo don’t technically counter Nico, but they will counter Destroy decks if you are playing Nico in those decks. This is fairly common knowledge at this point, but you can still try to play around Armor/Cosmo if able.
Conclusion
Overall, Nico Minoru is a very flexible and interesting card. So far, she’s buffing up decks such as Destroy and Thanos, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people started running her in other decks just to be flexible.
She’s not a must buy for any deck, but she’s a nice card that can be more exciting to play as she adds variety to your games.
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.
- Best Decks Tier List
- Series 4/5 Tier List
Good luck in your games, and thanks for reading!
