High Voltage: Overdrive Strategy Guide

How to Have Fun and Dominate High: Voltage Overdrive

Marvel Snap's most chaotic mode, High Voltage: Overdrive returns from January 12 at reset to January 19 at reset (yes, the event shop will stay open an additional 48 hours). I'll run through how the mode works, how it's different from High Voltage, and how do make the most of this limited time mode to grab Dragon Lord in the easiest and most enjoyable way!

How it Works

Unlike classic High Voltage, HV:O is played over four turns (instead of three). At the start of the game you'll have eight random cards shuffled into your deck that will be marked as "charged." Each charged card gets -1 Cost and +1 Power. The arc reactor at the top of the screen generates extra energy and when 5 charged cards total get played, a wacky special effect will go off. Here are the ones we know about from last time:

Scaling Effects (they get bigger if they go off on later turns):

• Give each charged card +1/+2/+3/+4 power (no matter where they are)
• Add 1/2/3 Chimichangas to each player's side of each location.
• Move 2/4/6 (total) cards one location to the left
• Transform charged cards in play into ones that cost 0/1/2/3 more
• Destroy the 1/2/3/4 lowest powered cards for each player(on ties, choose one at random)
• Repeat 1/2/3/4 random 'On Reveals' for each player
• Each player draws 2/3/4 cards. Their costs all become 3.

Non-Scaling (can only happen on turn 4):

• Destroy the two locations with the lowest powers. (if there is a tie, leave one at random)
• The winner of this game gets twice as many volts.
• Each player adds a Blob to a random location. (if able)

More Energy! But Also Less Energy!

In classic High Voltage you get between 2-5 Energy each turn. This is lowered to 2-4 in HV:O. What does this mean? Why would they do this?

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Some High Voltage staples like Sera are far less playable. I also use Wiccan, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Gwenpool and other 4-Cost cards as staples in classic HV. I generally run 3-5 4-Cost cards in every High Voltage deck. Now, those 4-Costs will come out on Turn 1 far less often. I'm planning to play more 2 and 3-Cost cards this time around. Boards can still get pretty crowded with this amount of extra Energy, but there's still plenty of room for Chimichangas. Oh, and they specifically sped up the interminable animations, my number one complaint from last time. You'll hit 4 Energy Turn 1 less often than in classic HV, but it also means you'll hit 2 more often, something I basically don't build my HV decks to cope with at all in the 2-5 system.

What are the Some Mode-Specific 3-Cost Cards for Turn 1?

What are the Some Mode-specific 2-Cost cards for turn 1?

Is Shou-Lao Good?

Maybe! He doesn't have enough space to grow quite so large, but with four turns and a lot of Energy you might be able to get three turns with 2+ cards. It will be hard to tell if this season's dominant card is also dominant in HV:O until the mode gets going. Feel free to sneak a Maverick/Shou-Lao package into any of the decks below.

What to Play

Does it even matter? Well, that depends on you. The mode has low stakes, a bunch of your cards are random, and missions matter more than wins. But I enjoy playing decks that can win, and trying to “solve” new modes, no matter how wacky or casual they are, is my main interest in them. So I have decks below that are designed to win big and often, but there are also a some that are specifically designed to knock out particular missions quickly.

HV:O Good Cards

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Raw Power

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Ultrongoing

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Jube First

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HVEson

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Hostile Merger

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Spend Energy

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HV Destroy

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HvELA

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Keep an eye on this space! After the mode starts, I'll post some of the decks that are working best for me right here! Including probably multiple Shao-Lao decks.

Thanks for reading! May all of your Overdrive reactions be chaotic and silly! Enjoy!

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