I’ve already covered the details of Battle Mode, but to put it simply: wagered cubes become damage dealt by the winner to their opponent.

This results in games that go beyond the typical one-and-done flow of regular Marvel Snap matches and can trip up folks who are out of the loop.

We traded rounds early with modest wins, but as the game went on, I got cocky and snapped when I shouldn’t have, resulting in a massive loss of health.

I won by single digits, but it was so exciting to have that kind of back-and-forth battle of decks that just can’t happen in a normal Snap match.

My first match was against my friend and former Kotaku colleague Zack Zwiezen, and he embarrassed me because his Dracula always sacrificed the right card to utterly ruin the leads I had over him.

And it’s always a neat added layer of interactivity when you can message your opponent after the fact to congratulate them on a sick combo or a well-executed play.