Marvel Snap abilities are what make many of the cards in the game unique. Marvel Snap is an online card game both on PC and on mobile devices, based on Marvel comics. Abilities are specific to each card, and all have different effects. Here is everything you need to know about Marvel Snap abilities.
Marvel Snap Abilities: How They Work
Not all cards in Marvel Snap have abilities. To find out if a card has an ability, and what ability that is, you need to inspect the card. This can be done from the Collection tab, but you can also do this during a game. Simply tap or click on a card to inspect it. Below the card portrait, there will be some text. If that text is just a quote from the character, then that card does not have an ability. If they do have an ability, you will see a description of what it does here.
The list of abilities is long, as each one is unique. Abilities create a lot of the strategy in the game, making effective use of the abilities of your cards is the key to winning. For example, Medusa has an ability which increases her power if she is played in the middle location. Hawkeye’s ability grants him +2 power if you play another card in the same location next turn, making him a great card to play on a location you plan to play more cards on. That would work well with Ant-Man, who gains +3 power if there are three other cards on the location he is played in, or Iron Man, who doubles the total power at his location.
Marvel Snap Abilities: Ability Types
While each ability is unique, there are overarching ability types that dictate how they work. Currently, there are only two types of abilities. Not all abilities fall under these two categories, because they do not apply to all abilities, but most do. The two types of abilities are Ongoing and On Reveal.
These different types of abilities are in reference to how the abilities activate. On Reveal abilities activate when the card is revealed, which is an important distinction. Each turn, both players play their cards, and the cards are then revealed one player at a time. Whether the ability activates instantly or later is determined by the ability, but regardless they activate only once. For example, the Sentinel card’s ability adds a copy of the Sentinel to your hand, once it is revealed.
The other type of ability is the Ongoing type. Once revealed, the ability is active so long as the card is in play. These abilities can be quite useful for setting up later strategies, such as playing Iron Man, which doubles the power of all cards in a location. His ability is Ongoing, which means that any cards played to the location after him will also have their power doubled.
It is important to note which abilities are On Reveal or Ongoing, as that can drastically change the use case of your cards.
