Ares arrives on mortal Earth with a purpose: to conquer and revitalize archetypes that have long been absent from the top tier in terms of win rate. How did the God of War end up featured in the comics?
After the Secret Invasion, when Norman Osborn takes over from Tony Stark to lead the Avengers, none of the current team members remain with him—with the exception of Ares and the Sentry. The Sentry stays solely due to his fractured sanity, but why would Ares support such an obviously villainous man? Isn't he an Avenger? Aren't Avengers supposed to fight the bad guys?
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It turns out Ares is loyal not to any particular side, but to war itself. This perfectly aligns the Marvel Comics version of Ares with the flavor of his Marvel Snap card. Ares revels in warfare—large, powerful, and surrounded only by the mighty. And, frankly, he can be a bit of a lout.
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Best Cards to Pair with Ares Ares Isn't a Major Villain, Sadly Final Thoughts 1 0 Comment on this
Best Cards to Pair with Ares
Ares doesn't have an obvious, built-in synergy like Bullseye with Swarm and Scorn, or Victoria Hand and Moonstone with Wiccan, which empower those cards through copies and clones. Therefore, he has to forge his own path.
ARES (apologies for the all-caps) thrives in decks packed with large stat cards. One of the most exciting cards to pair with Ares—though he’ll claim all the credit—also has an On Reveal ability, opening up clever plays with Grandmaster or Odin. For 12 Power at 4 Energy is solid, but achieving 21 Power for 6 Energy is even better. Perhaps the most effective way to use Ares outside of Surtur-focused decks is to repeat his ability.
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Despite Ares's disdain for smaller threats like Shang-Chi and Shadow King, you may want to protect him with the Japanese teen Cosmo, Armor, or even a certain Russian dog (something Ares would surely detest).
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Ares Isn't a Major Villain, Sadly
While Marvel Snap doesn't have a raw 4-Cost 12-Power card, we do have analogues that can match Ares's potential (hello, Gwenpool and Galacta). Furthermore, with the recent resurgence of Control decks like Mill and Wiccan Control, Ares finds himself trying to dodge Shang-Chi's chi blasts and disruptive effects. This suggests that, unlike many current flexible deck options, Ares requires a very specific deck build to shine.
In reality, you likely can't build an entire deck around pure Power unless your point total surpasses Mister Negative's (spoiler: it doesn't). Even archetypes like Move, which can stack considerable Power, often incorporate disruption to gain an edge. For Ares to be successful, he probably needs to outperform Surtur—a deck that hasn't been competitive enough lately to be considered top-tier.
For comparison, the Surtur 10-Power archetype (which longs for a functional Cerebro-10) currently holds an average win rate around 51.5% with a dismal 0.15 cube gain at high-level Infinity play, and just 48% at lower ranks.
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It's a 3 vs. 2 scenario if your opponent's top three cards contain only one Rock. However, Darkhawk lacks strong archetypes in this environment. Mill, on the other hand, can turn Ares into a 4-Cost 12-Power card if you empty your opponent's deck.
The God of War feels a bit outdated because Death, which also offers 12 Power, is often cheaper than 4 Energy. This gives us food for thought, but it's unclear if there's actually a niche for Ares. Thankfully, he's not just a stat stick; he's also a valuable source of intel.
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Ares appears to be the season's weakest card, which is the challenge here. Playing Ares on curve is essentially a coin flip: you commit, see how the Power dynamics shake out, and then play accordingly to secure the win.
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With this intel, you can deploy Alioth, Cosmo, Man-Thing, Red Guardian, and others to disrupt your opponent's strategy. And there you have it—a straightforward Snap victory.
Final Thoughts
In my opinion, Ares is the skip of the month overall. The 10-Power archetype has lost significant appeal lately, as it’s often too easily countered compared to cards that cheat Energy (like Wiccan) or spread Power across the board (like Galacta). To win consistently with him, Ares demands a very particular deck construction. The reality is, while a 4-Cost 12-Power stat line is great, a 4-Cost 6-Power is terrible unless it comes with an outstanding ability attached.
