MARVEL SNAP is now out of closed beta, and available on iOS, Android, and PC. If you're new to this universe, you might want to know what you're getting yourself into before downloading the newest card game from Hearthstone veterans that are Ben Brode and his team at Second Dinner. In this guide, we'll be answering some of the main questions players may have about how progression and card acquisition works in MARVEL SNAP.

Have other questions? Check out these guides:


How Do You Acquire Cards in MARVEL SNAP?

In terms of card acquisition, MARVEL SNAP is very different from most other card games. Instead of opening booster packs, the way players collect cards is similar to a Battle Pass. Players move up the Collection Level, and in so doing earn cards and Variants, as well as other currencies that can help them acquire cards.

When you first start MARVEL SNAP, you get a clutch of starter cards and earn other, specific, cards as part of the Recruit Season. These cards are earned in the same order for every player, and do not take too much playtime to earn. The starter cards are:

The first cards you earn on the Collection Level are in this order:

The Recruit Season cards are in this order:

Once you've earned these cards, your card acquisition experience will get a lot more unique.


Card Series and the Collection Level Road

After the starters and Recruit Season cards, the rest of MARVEL SNAP's cards are grouped into five Series of cards. Players will first earn cards from Series 1, then, once they have all Series 1 cards, will start earning cards from Series 2. Once they have all Series 2 cards, they can starting earning cards from Series 3, 4 and 5. Within each Series, the order in which you earn these cards is effectively random.

  • Series 1 has 46 cards, which will be earned from Collection Levels 18 to 214.
  • Series 2 has 25 cards, and is found from CL 222 to 474.
  • Series 3 has 77 cards (currently), and is earned from CL 486 and up. Most estimates put a complete collection of Series 3 cards somewhere between CL 2700 and CL 3250.
  • Series 4 has 10 cards that can be earned before completing the Series 3 collection, and have a 2.5% chance to drop from a Collector's Cache or Reserve.
  • Series 5 currently has 7 cards that can be earned before completing Series 3 and 4, and have a 0.25% chance of dropping from a Collector's Cache or Reserve.

As you rank up the Collection Level, you will also earn Boosters and Credits, which can help you both get more cards and continue moving up the Collection Road.


Moving Up the Collection Ladder

To move up the Collection Ladder, you must increase your Collection Level by upgrading the cosmetics of cards in your Collection. There are seven rarities through which to advance your card's art (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Ultra, Infinity). To increase your card's cosmetic rarity, you spend Boosters and Credits.

Boosters are a card-specific currency (Iron Man boosters can't be used on Captain America, for instance) that you earn by playing the game. To collect Boosters for a specific card, you put that card into a deck and play with it. You will only earn Boosters from post-game rewards for the cards that start in your deck. You can also earn random Boosters from the Collection Ladder and the Season Pass.

Credits are the currency that are earned by completing Daily Missions, or can be gained from the Season Pass and Collection Ladder. Credits, unlike Boosters, are not tied to any particular card and can be spent on a variety of things.

Each successive cosmetic rarity costs more Boosters and Credits for the upgrade, but rewards you with a bigger boost up the Collection Ladder:

  • Uncommon: 25 Credits and 5 Boosters, +1 Collection Level
  • Rare: 100 Credits and 10 Boosters, +2 Collection Levels
  • Epic: 200 Credits and 20 Boosters, +4 Collection Levels
  • Legendary: 300 Credits and 30 Boosters, +6 Collection Levels
  • Ultra: 400 Credits and 40 Boosters, +8 Collection Levels
  • Infinity: 500 Credits and 50 Boosters, +10 Collection Levels

Once you've upgraded your card to Infinity, it Splits and gives you two copies of that card, except the new version gains a unique art-filter. The new Split starts out at Common rarity, meaning you get to move it up the chain all over again (and, once it hits Infinity, it will Split and acquire an additional art style).

As you advance up the Collection Ladder, you earn cards, Variants, Boosters, Credits, and other cosmetic goodies. We will note that earning cards from Series 1 and 2 is significantly faster than earning cards from Series 3, 4, and 5 as they are lower on the Collection Level and chances to earn them are much more common.


The Shop

MARVEL SNAP has a number of things for sale in the in-game shop, and many of them help you progress in your journey to collect more cards.

The Fast Upgrade shop resets every day, and is where you can exchange Credits for card-specific Boosters to upgrade that card. If you're one of those players who finds themselves drowning in Credits but lacking the right Boosters, this could be useful - our personal recommendation is to save your Credits for other uses. Only cards that you own will appear in the Fast Upgrade Shop.

The Credit shop is where you can buy Credits, in the amounts shown above. The first deal in the shop is 50 Credits for free - this is a daily offer that you should plan to pick up the first time you log into MARVEL SNAP every day (resets at 8 PM PT). It's like a log-in bonus, but with hoops that you get to jump through!

The Variant shop offers Daily Deals on different Variants of cards from your collection. A Variant is an alternate-art version of a card that can be played in place of the base-art card. Variants in the Variant shop are totally random, and the Variants in the shop reset every 24 hours (at 8 PM PT). Variants can be bought from the Variant shop for Gold, which is an in-game currency players can buy with real-world currency - although there are a few ways to earn Gold by playing. There are currently two rarities of Variant. Rare Variants can be earned from the Collection Ladder or bought from the Variant shop for 700 Gold. Super Rare Variants can only bought from the Variant shop, and cost 1200 Gold.


The Token Shop

The Token Shop is MARVEL SNAP's solution to the problem of targeted card acquisition, and unlocks after you reach Collection Level 500. The Token Shop shows you one card that you haven't yet collected, and refreshes every eight hours. The currency used to buy cards from the Token Shop are Collector's Tokens, and the prices for a card in the Token Shop are as follows:

  • Series 3 Card: 1000 Collector's Tokens
  • Series 4 Card: 3000 Collector's Tokens
  • Series 5 Card: 6000 Collector's Tokens
  • Ultimate Variant: 5000 Collector's Tokens

If you don't have the Tokens to buy a card you want, you can Pin it and the card won't change until you either buy it or Unpin it. After you buy a card, the Token Shop won't immediately refresh to a new card; you still have to wait until the regular refresh time to see a new card.

For a more in-depth look at the Token Shop, how it works and the various odds associated with it, see our dedicated guide to MARVEL SNAP's Token Shop.


Daily Missions and the Season Pass

Before we let you go, we've got to talk about a few more things that effect your progression journey in MARVEL SNAP: Daily Missions, and the Season Pass.

Every eight hours, you get two Daily Missions that you can complete to earn Credits: the easier ones reward you with 50 Credits, while the Hard Missions (which are generally a lot more persnickety) give you 100 Credits. Daily Missions also reward Season Pass XP. Your Missions log can hold up to 6 Missions maximum, so try not to go too long without clearing some missions. If you have some empty Mission slots, the game gives you the option to spend 120 Gold to refill those slots immediately, instead of waiting for the timed refill. For a more in-depth dissection, and a list of all Daily Missions in-game, see our dedicated Guide to Daily Missions.

Once you've finished the Recruit Season, you'll start your first true MARVEL SNAP season, and start your journey along that month's Season Pass.

The Season Pass is another way to gain in-game currency, and has three versions: Free, Premium, and Premium+. The Free Season Pass contains an assortment of Credits, Boosters, and Gold, as well as a Variant. The Premium Season Pass (9.99 USD) has a new card and exclusive cosmetics, on top of everything in the Free Season Pass. Premium+ (14.99 USD) boosts players up ten levels from their current level on the Season Pass.

The Season Pass card is exclusive to the Premium Season Pass for that Season, and can be picked up by purchasing the Premium Season Pass. The Season Pass card is added to Series 3 - eight weeks after first becoming available in the Season Pass, spending the interim Season in Series 5. For instance, the Season Pass card for Symbiote Invasion (Miles Morales), was added to Series 3 at the beginning of the December 2022 Season.

The Season Pass is fifty levels, climbed by completing Daily Missions and Weekly Season Chapter Missions for Season XP. The Chapters unlock every week (but can be completed retroactively, if you *for some reason* missed the first two weeks), giving you new Missions to complete to climb the Season Pass.

Seasons last four or five weeks, and usually start (and end) at 8 PM PT on the first Monday of the month. The current season, Symbiote Invasion, ends on November 7th at 8 PM PT, so you have about three weeks to complete its Season Pass.


Now that you've got the low-down, it's time to get out there and start building your collection!