Ares descends to the mortal realm to conquer and restore archetypes that have long been missing from the top tier in terms of win rate. How did the God of War end up in the comics?

After Norman Osborne takes over as the Avengers' leader following the Secret Invasion, none of the original members stay with him—except for Ares and Sentry. Sentry remains due to his deliberate insanity, but why would Ares support someone so clearly evil? He is an Avenger, isn't he? Aren't Avengers supposed to fight villains?

Image: ensigame.com

As it turns out, Ares is loyal to the concept of war itself, not to any particular side. This perfectly explains the flavor alignment between Ares in Marvel Comics and his Marvel Snap card. Ares thrives on conflict, prefers the company of the strong and powerful, and can come off as a bit of a brute.

Table of Contents

Best cards to pair with Ares • Ares is not a Big Bad, unfortunately • Conclusion 1 0 Leave a comment

Best cards to pair with Ares

Ares doesn't naturally fit into established synergies like Bullseye with Swarm and Scorn, or Victoria Hand and Moonstone with Wiccan—combos that generate value through duplication and cloning. So he has to carve his own path.

ARES (apologies for the caps) works best in decks packed with high-power cards. One card I'm especially eager to use alongside Ares (who will surely take the credit) also has an On Reveal ability, allowing for clever plays with Grandmaster or Odin. While 12 power for 4 energy is solid, 21 power for 6 energy is even better. Perhaps the most effective use for Ares outside of Surtur-focused decks is to trigger his ability multiple times.

Image: ensigame.com

Despite Ares' disdain for weaker threats like Shang-Chi and Shadow King, you may want to protect him with Cosmo, a Japanese teen, or Armor, a Russian dog—something Ares would surely hate.

Image: ensigame.com

Ares is not a Big Bad, unfortunately

While there isn't a straightforward [4/12] stat line in the Snap card pool, we do have cards that can reach Ares' level of power (hello Gwenpool, greetings Galacta). Additionally, with the recent rise of Control decks such as Mill and Wiccan Control, Ares exists largely to defend against Shang-Chi's destruction effect and shifting metagame. This already indicates that, unlike today's flexible deck-building trends, Ares demands a very specific type of deck to be effective.

In fact, it's hard to build a deck solely around raw power unless your point output exceeds that of Mister Negative (spoiler: it doesn't). Even Move decks, which can stack significant power, often include disruption tools to gain an edge. For Ares to succeed, he may need to outperform Surtur—a deck that hasn't been strong enough lately to be considered truly competitive.

By comparison, the Surtur 10-Power archetype (which dreams of a functional Cerebro-10) currently averages around a 51.5% win rate with a dismal 0.15 cubes at Infinity rank, and falls below 48% at lower levels.

Image: ensigame.com

So it becomes a 3 vs. 2 scenario if your opponent's top three cards include only one Rock. However, Darkhawk lacks robust archetypes in this context. Meanwhile, Mill can turn Ares into a 10000% [4/12] when your opponent runs out of cards.

The God of War feels slightly outdated because Death offers 12 power and often costs less than 4 energy. It's something to consider, but I'm unsure if Ares truly has a place here. Thankfully, Ares isn't just a stat stick—he's also a valuable source of intel.

Image: ensigame.com

Ares seems to be the season's weakest card, which is why I'm stretching to find his value. Dropping Ares on curve is like a coin flip—you commit, hope to win the power check, and react based on the numbers. Adjust your plays accordingly and secure the win.

Image: ensigame.com

With that knowledge, you can integrate Alioth, Cosmo, Man-Thing, Red Guardian, and others to disrupt your opponent's strategy. That’s all it takes for a clean Snap victory.

Conclusion

Overall, I consider Ares the card to skip this month. The 10-Power archetype has lost much of its appeal recently because it's often too easily countered compared to energy-cheating cards (like Wiccan) or those that spread power across the board (like Galacta). To consistently win with Ares, your deck must be meticulously built around him. Truthfully, a [4/6] is poor value unless it comes with a stellar ability—even though a [4/12] looks amazing on paper.