How to Play Ravonna Renslayer in Marvel Snap
Welcome to another installment in our series where we cover new card releases and how to use them.
Ravonna Renslayer is a recent addition to Snap, and to be quite frank, she hasn’t affect the meta much. Her ability is quite strong, but she seems to be more of a sidegrade for decks, rather than an improvement.
Furthermore, the release of Mobius will only make Ravonna decks struggle more.
Even still, she can still be played in some decks, and in the future, there may come a time where Ravonna sees more play.
Let’s get right into the guide.
Ravonna Renslayer Effect
Ongoing: Your cards with 1 or less Power cost 1 less. (minimum 1)
Ravonna Synergy
It’s quite clear that Ravonna synergizes with cards that cost 1 or less. There are a decent amount of low Power cards in the game, so there’s a decent amount to explore, but there’s less than you think.
One more thing to note is that Ravonna doesn’t look for base Power, but current Power. So if you play a card like Bast, a 5/3 Iron Man won’t be discounted by Ravonna.
Iron Man / Mystique
The first thought most players had with Ravonna is to pair her with Iron Man. Iron Man has a very powerful ability, and playing him for 4 Energy is already quite good. Mystique is also 0 Power, so being able to play Iron Man for 4 and Mystique for 2 Energy respectively is quite strong.
However, the issue most Ravonna decks run into is being able to capitalize on these stats. Iron Man is great for winning a lane dominantly, but in many games, you may not have enough Power beforehand to even win the lane. The same goes for any lane you plan to play Mystique on.
Mister Negative
Mister Negative is another deck that can utilize Ravonna quite well. Mister Negative decks already run a lot of low Power cards like Iron Man, Mystique, Iron Heart, Wolfsbane, etc.
The main issue with Ravonna in Mister Negative is that she’s not better than a card like Psylocke or Zabu on turn 2. This allows you to play Mister Negative on turn 3. With Ravonna, you still have to play Mister Negative on turn 4. Furthermore, some cards, like Wolfsbane, will be higher than 1 Power after being swapped by Mister Negative.
Overall, the synergy exists, and can be quite good, but doesn’t really improve consistency over a card like Bast in Negative decks.
Darkhawk
The last card I want to talk about is Darkhawk. Darkhawk is arguably the best place for Ravonna, as discounting Darkhawk and Mystique is generally a stronger play than Iron Man. (Although you can run both)
Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, Darkhawk isn’t in a great spot in the meta. Rockslide was nerfed, and 4-costs like Shang-Chi and Enchantress aren’t seeing much play in the meta.
However, should Darkhawk rise to prominence again in the future, Ravonna may find a suitable home.
Ravonna Decks
For this section, I’ll be mainly going over some decks that synergize with Ravonna.
Keep in mind that these decks are all first impressions, so things can definitely change rapidly. As new discoveries are made with Ravonna, I will be updating our Full Tier List, rather than update this article.
Overall, there are 2 main strategies with Ravonna so far. There are the Negative Ravonna decks, and the Darkhawk Ravonna decks.
Unfortunately, neither of these decks are meta contenders, but they can perform fine.
Darkhawk Ravonna
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The Darkhawk Ravonna deck looks to utilize junk cards like Black Widow and the Goblins to annoy opponents and get good value off their discount.
Darkhawk has a little engine with Rockslide, Black Widow, and Korg. Lastly, we have other strong low Power cards like Iron Man, Mystique, Angela, and Bishop.
Negative Ravonna
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This next deck is a Negative deck that looks to use Ravonna to further discount your low Power cards. The main issue with this deck is that there are very few cards you want to play early. Zabu, Ravonna, and Mister Negative. If you don’t find these cards on curve, your deck is extremely weak.
Even still, you can leverage your high roll games by snapping early to try and climb the ladder.
Ravonna Counters
Ongoing: Your Costs can’t be increased. Your opponent’s Costs can’t be reduced.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Ravonna will basically become unplayable during the week Mobius comes out. Mobious is already looking to completely change the meta, and his effect wrecks Ravonna.
You can potentially counter Mobius back with cards like Rogue or Enchantress, but that just adds one additional step you must complete for your deck to even function. If you don’t draw your counter, or they play Mobius on turn 5, you lose so much value in your Ravonna deck.
When Mobius releases, he will be everywhere, so be ready for that. It’ll be quite interesting to see how the meta plays out once Mobius releases. There are so many cost reducing or increasing effects in the game. Soon that may change.
Conclusion
All in all, Ravonna has been a let down as a new card release. She didn’t really buff up the archetypes she fits into, but is more of a side grade.
Hopefully Second Dinner will buff up Ravonna to either be a 2-cost card or maybe give her some more Power. Either way, I don’t expect Ravonna to do much in the meta for a while.
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!
