If you read any of my Marvel Snap articles last year, you’ll know how much I wanted Hela. I coveted her. I needed her. Not because I’m a huge fan, not because the artwork makes me feel funny in my tummy, but because I had the perfect workings for a discard deck. I just needed Hela to make it work.

Last week, TheGamer alum Issy van der Velde was praising another of my decks – the brutal Infinaut and She-Hulk combo (it still holds up). He’d just unlocked She-Hulk, the core component to that deck, and wanted to gas up my deckbuilding skills. It was enough to pique my interest in the game again, having not played for about three months. I loaded up Marvel Snap, and who did I see staring back at me? You guessed it.

Related: Magneto Is Marvel Snap’s Biggest Troll

A weird gardening variant of Hela called to me from my phone screen. I don’t know why Odin’s firstborn suddenly has a thing for potted plants, but she was finally within my grasp. Before this, I’d had her pinned in my store, but was nowhere near the 3,000 Collector’s Tokens required to unlock her. I’d levelled up so many times without seeing any, and it was likely this seemingly insurmountable goal that led to me putting down the game for months.

Now, I could buy her for gold. Gold is the game’s premium currency, but I don’t buy many variants, and thus had hoarded enough to afford her for no IRL cash. It was a no-brainer, even with the weird art. Just like that, I had Hela. Finally.

I quickly built my dream team. Hell Cow, Lady Sif, Sword Master, and Black Cat would be my engine, doing the discarding. Morbius and Dracula thrive on discards, so the vamps are in, too. Throw in a few big lads: Giganto, Magneto, and of course The Infinaut. It wouldn’t be a Ben Sledge team without The Infinaut now, would it? I tried to work it with Apocalypse for a while, but since it returns to your hand after being discarded, it doesn’t synergise well with Hela. The same goes for Helicarrier, which fills your carefully curated hand with trash when discarded, rather than forcing your engines to discard the big guys.

Hela, if you didn’t already know, has an On Reveal ability which plays every card you’ve discarded so far. So all those 6-cost cards that I’ve filled my deck with? They all hopefully get played in the final turn, surprising your opponent and hauling in the cubes. There’s a slight element of randomness here, but the only win condition is not discarding Hela. I use Invisible Woman to ensure this whenever possible, playing my discarders and Hela behind her as protection. It’s a simple, fun deck, and I’ve never been happier playing it. Here’s the code for you, to:

I think there’s still room for tinkering, but it doesn’t matter. The fact is, I was sworn off this game in favour of other mobile titles. Puzzle games, Solitaire, that sort of thing. And Hela has swept me back in.

I’m not just discarding, either. I love my destroy decks, and the liberal application of Knull has only encouraged my most violent tendencies. I’m still waiting to unlock MODOK for that deck to reach its full potential, but you see the picture. I’m even trying debuff strategies with Wong and Hazmat (despite not owning Luke Cage either). I’m back in deep.

Marvel Snap Best Pool 1 Cards Lady Sif

The best thing about this is that I don’t feel like I ever left. I used to play Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, which I think has a better battle system, but the monetisation practices were downright predatory. You’d have to spend three-figure sums to unlock enough cards to make a decent deck, and then it would be countered a month later by the next set. I’ve missed three Marvel Snap battle passes and hundreds of opportunities to unlock new cards, but I’m climbing the ranks as well as I ever have.

I don’t know how long I’ll stick with Marvel Snap this time around. It might last months, it might last a week. But I know that I completed the first 50 levels of the battle pass in a few days, and unlocked a bunch of new cards to entice me deeper into the ecosystem free of charge. I missed you, Marvel Snap. Thank you for not having predatory monetisation.

Next: Ocean Fishing Hits Different After Dredge