Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List: April 19, 2024 — Thunderbolts Week 3

Welcome to our Marvel Snap Meta Meta Tier List! Each week, we review the best decks in the ever-changing Marvel Snap ladder meta.

This report is dedicated to the Ranked mode and lists the current best decks heading into and once in the Infinite Rank. We also provide a Conquest report, available every weekend, that highlights the best archetypes for that mode. Looking to figure out the impact of the newly released card or the latest balance changes? This is the place to be!

If you are looking for more information about a deck in particular, check out our Archetypes pages, with detailed information about each of the household names in Marvel Snap.

Marvel Snap Meta Overview

The current meta is a huge dichotomy, with super synergistic decks, many based around The Living Tribunal, looking to develop a ton of points, against disruptive decks, aimed at cancelling those deck’s game plan. So far, the proactive archetypes have the edge, with Hela or Negative Tribunal still posting the best performances over large sample sizes. However, the gap is closing as time passes, and it feels we are getting closer to a disruptive deck cracking the code of this meta, flipping the whole thing on its head.

Indeed, while The Living Tribunal, Onslaught and Iron Man are being slotted in a lot of archetypes, even unconventional ones such as Phoenix Force. Junk as an archetype, and Lady Deathstrike as a tech card, are gaining lots of momentum as well as a counter power, able to limit space or remove Iron Man.

Even if very effective at what they do, this isn’t enough to change the current landscape yet. Indeed, while the more balanced archetypes such as Move, Destroy or Silver Surfer often can’t do much against the points output of Tribunal decks. They are difficult to beat for disruptive archetype, which invested most of their cards into defeating the combo archetypes. This creates a situation with three distinct ways to play the game, each strong against one while weak against the other.

This last category of decks isn’t as strong as the other two right now, due to their bad match-ups being the most popular decks. However, because they are built and refined already, these archetypes could make a push anytime they aren’t facing too many of the high potential decks currently at the top of the power rankings.

The snap mechanic keeps favoring the proactive decks, which have a safer bet when raising the stakes as they bet on their hand. This naturally makes those decks a little better to grind the ranked mode, which reflects on the current rankings. Yet, if you can bait them into a snap and punish them with a counter card, there is the potential for big gains. But are you willing to take that risk ?

Happy Tier List, everyone!

Marvel Snap Meta Tier List

Disclaimer and Tier Explanations

In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive cube average in the Ranked mode. Win Rate is also taken into consideration, and it can greatly impact the ranking of a deck, particularly when several archetypes (or different builds of the same deck) have a similar Cube Average but big Win Rate discrepancies. The Marvel Snap mechanics do, however, push players to maximize cubes gained rather than win every single game.

In order to create this chart, den is using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker, as well as other available data online and his own expertise and opinion of respected players. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the meta, you can find it in the Silent Performers section. That section highlights decks with an excellent Cube Average but too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength.

Decks not good enough to be considered contenders but with a good representation will be ranked in Tier 3 in our chart. They won’t have their own dedicated write up here, but they may be transferred to the main Tier List section. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face them when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the meta changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tiers 1 and 2.

Silent Performers

Phoenix Force Tribunal

Phoenix Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

4

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Phoenix Force has become a meta staple over the past couple of weeks, and it’s starting to look like a deck that is able to go against the “big points” decks when it draw the appropriate tools. If I had to rank the traditional list, it would have been high in Tier 2, but this one felt much more interesting (and it also posted an impressive performance).

Indeed, with the help of The Living Tribunal‘s crew instead of the usual Nimrod synergy, Phoenix Force managed to post a 0.6 Cube Average, which is the mark of the great decks in the current meta. Plus, with a 53.5% Win Rate, it also beat Hela and Negative Tribunal in that category.

This might be the best deck in the game.

War Machine Pixie

War Machine Pixie

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Pixie keeps gaining momentum in the meta. It represents a way for flexible archetypes to cheat energy and bring some unpredictability to the game. This week, in addition to the Junk deck that has been more popular over the past couple of weeks, War Machine started using the 2-Cost with some success.

Their alliance resulted in a deck that aims to drop either Blob, The Infinaut+She-Hulk, or Cannonball at the end of the game to win two lanes. It’s still a work in progress, but it had a promising start.

Bounce Disrupt

Bounce Disrupt

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Bounce had disappeared for a bit since its flexibility wasn’t really a big upside in the current meta. With a strong new build (new-ish, this was a popular Bounce shell in the past), the deck has stopped trying to compete for points and instead focuses on limiting the opponent’s draws and board space.

So far, it has been struggling in the Cube Average category with only 0.25 (which would have placed it in Tier 3), but the 55.5% Win Rate is pretty good in this meta. Maybe this deck just needs to Snap more?

Tier 1

Hela Tribunal

Hela Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

4.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The Win Rate is on par with what the deck used to do in the past at around the 52% mark. However, it is hard to ignore a 0.65 Cube Average—0.6 is usually the sign of a very strong deck that borders on oppressive. Considering the low Win Rate, this means the deck routinely finds a way to win much more than it loses.

This can either be due to the meta being extremely favorable for the deck; there’s been little disruption around since Alioth was nerfed. Or maybe Hela Tribunal found a way to be super sneaky in how it operates. With Red Guardian as the spotlight card and Lady Deathstrike recently buffed, there should be more than enough to counter Hela Tribunal in Marvel Snap.

I guess it’s a matter of time until the balance shifts and the moderate Win Rate takes a bigger role in the deck’s overall performance.

Potential Additions

Supergiant and Magneto are common inclusions to replace either a set up tool or a big card that you might be missing.

Negative Tribunal

Negative Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

2

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With a slightly worse Win Rate than Hela Tribunal at 51%, as well as a slightly worse Cube Average at 0.6, Negative Tribunal’s biggest upside is winning the head-to-head thanks to Super-Skrull. Otherwise, this deck feels more vulnerable to its draws, and it will scare more opponents away after playing Mister Negative.

Overall, this deck is great if you see a lot of other decks based on The Living Tribunal, but it is probably worse in most other scenarios.

Potential Additions

Crystal can help with an extra draw, but it is otherwise difficult to change a card in this particular build.

Junk

Junk

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

2

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Junk is benefiting from the perfect environment since it is able to fill the board before combo-oriented strategies can develop their points. Indeed, not only is its game plan among the most disruptive ones for some of the most popular decks in the game, but Destroy hasn’t been that popular either.

The power level hasn’t changed much compared to the previous meta, but the dominance of The Living Tribunal is benefiting Junk a lot. This is the first time Junk posted a Cube Average north of 0.5, which shows its ability to Snap is much better than it used to be. The Win Rate hasn’t changed much and is still around 55% like it has been in the past few weeks.

Potential Additions

Here are two more successful Junk lists that you could try:

Pixie Junk

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

6x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Classic Junk

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Tier 2

Move

Move

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With the highest Win Rate in the game at 60%, Move is a part of those decks with a lot of flexibility and a hard time leveraging their Snaps. Indeed, unless you are willing to Snap super early in the match, your opponent will often have enough information to figure out if they stand a chance or not when you click that cube.

The problem with Snapping super early is that you can’t really do much against an Ongoing deck; their points potential is much higher than yours. As such, Move is a solid, high Win Rate deck, but it is unable to get the Cube Average you would expect to go with that Win Rate—even if 0.4 is really good.

Potential Additions

Enchantress or another counter card can replace Shang-Chi.

Thanos

Thanos

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

7x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This is an archetype I didn’t expect to see so high after the dive it took last week. Thanos returned to a more disruptive build and managed to boost its Win Rate to 59% in the process. Just like Move and other flexible decks, it is difficult to leverage your Snaps unless you’re willing to pull the trigger very early in the match.

The inclusion of Alioth is a potential sleeper, though, especially against The Living Tribunal decks. Thanos used to be the best deck to leverage the card before its nerf, and it should still be able to leverage priority in order to land Alioth when it needs to.

Potential Additions

Professor X is another card you could consider in addition to Alioth to specifically counter Hela.

Destroy

Destroy

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Destroy is still posting about the same results it did last week (a 0.4 Cube Average and 55% Win Rate), but the rise of the combo decks means those numbers aren’t as impressive compared to the best decks this time around.

Right now, this deck can’t do much against the other synergistic decks, but I’m very curious as to why the best performing Destroy list isn’t running Lady Deathstrike in the current meta. But, with Junk gaining momentum as time passes, Destroy could position itself as the next meta counter deck.

Potential Additions

Lady Deathstrike or Enchantress should help a lot against Ongoing decks.

Patriot

Patriot

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2x Recruit Season

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Patriot is the first of many decks with the ability to develop points on all lanes, but it just can’t do much against the perfect Hela draw. The performance is solid with a 55% Win Rate and close to a 0.4 Cube Average. However, there is a glass ceiling that the deck cannot break through due to choosing flexibility over potential. Maybe the Iron Patriot list with Alioth would be more fitting if you see a lot of Hela and The Living Tribunal.

Potential Additions

Iron Patriot

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Red Guardian helps Silver Surfer have that all-around disruptive card instead of picking either Rogue, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, or Mobius M. Mobius to round out the deck. So far, it doesn’t seem like that made the archetype particularly better, but it did allow Silver Surfer to adapt to the current meta after the Toxic variant struggled more and more as time passed.

Even if the archetype is still a solid Tier 2 deck, the ability to have multiple lists based on the current environment is a big upside to survive on the long run. I expect Silver Surfer to remain a staple for the weeks to come.

Potential Additions

Rogue or Enchantress can replace Shang-Chi or a 3-Cost. Also, Goose could replace Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Polaris can serve as a soft counter to Invisible Woman.

Discard Dracula

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With Daken and Strong Guy replacing The Collector and Helicarrier, Discard Dracula has embraced the idea of maximizing points instead of flexibility. While I doubt that makes sense for many archetypes (honestly, there is little you can do against a perfect draw from Hela or Negative Tribunal unless you have specific counter cards), it might be a good idea for Discard.

With both Red Guardian and Lady Deathstrike available in the Spotlight Caches, Dracula can’t be considered safe to win its lane this week. As such, maximizing your points potential on the other two lanes limits how punishing it is to lose your 4-Cost, and it opens the possibility of just playing MODOK on Turn 5 and slamming Apocalypse on Turn 6.

I’m not sure why Colleen Wing is in the deck without Swarm, though.

Potential Additions

This was the best performing list according to the data I had available, so I’ll respect it. However, I find it very hard to believe Swarm isn’t a core card for the archetype, especially if Colleen Wing is part of the deck.

Lockdown

Lockdown

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

5x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With Hela and The Living Tribunal currently ruling the game, any deck that is able to set up a good Alioth has a big upside in this meta. This is exactly what Lockdown is doing apparently, as the 52% Win Rate shouldn’t net a 0.35 Cube Average for this type of deck. It typically averages two to three more percents in that category.

The list is still based around Zabu—even after its nerf—which is a little odd in my opinion. Still, if you can get four to eight cubes every time you match up against one of the synergistic decks, I understand how this could be a good pick.

Potential Additions

Magneto, the Guardians of the Galaxy, or disruptive cards can be considered in Lockdown since the archetype is fairly flexible.

Hela Corvus

Hela Corvus

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

With three more percentage points in its Win Rate compared to Hela Tribunal (55% vs. 52%), Hela Corvus only averaged 0.35 cubes per game. That’s almost half of what Hela Tribunal put up. Either this deck isn’t Snapping enough, or it is losing games that are worth way more. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hela Corvus was not favored against Hela Tribunal and Negative Tribunal and still Snapped recklessly. That might explain why the Cube Average is so low compared to those two.

Potential Additions

Ghost Rider is the flexible card in this build, with Sandman, Lockjaw, or Giganto able to replace it.

Tier 3

Zemo Mill

Zemo Mill

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Season Pass

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Still missing something to be able to leverage the Snap mechanic in Ranked, Zemo Mill clearly deserves better than a Tier 3 placement. But, unfortunately, it suffers from a low Cube Average compared to its Win Rate. Indeed, a 56% Win Rate places the deck in the top five for that metric, (there are a lot of archetypes in the 52% to 55% range). However, because the Snaps clearly favor the proactive builds, Zemo Mill only managed a 0.3 Cube Average.

If you feel you can get more cubes per games with this deck, there is clearly a ton of potential here, which is further justified by the deck ranking in Tier 1 in Conquest last week.

Cerebro 2

Cerebro 2

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

A Silent Performer in Conquest in our previous report, Cerebro 2 picked up enough popularity to make it into a tier for this week’s rankings! However, the deck is in quite low for both metrics, sporting a 53% Win Rate and 0.3 Cube Average. It is great to see a Cerebro deck pick up some momentum, but it isn’t enough in the current environment to consider it a serious contender.

Shuri Kitty

Shuri Kitty

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

There are a ton of decks that are able to develop more points than Shuri in the current meta, so unless you believe Cosmo can steal cubes left and right, this deck is more of a “climb to Infinite” kind of deal. Indeed, even if the metrics are respectable (a 55% Win Rate and 0.3 Cube Average), it is hard to imagine Shuri Kitty making a real push in this meta.

Loki

Loki

Created by den

, updated 14 days ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Loki is one of the best archetypes to go against the disruptive strategies because you can copy Annihilus, or generate cards to keep playing with an empty deck against Zemo Mill. Unfortunately, it is also one of the worst to go against Hela Tribunal and Negative Tribunal since stealing their deck does almost nothing (apart from hoping to grab Super-Skrull). Unless you can find a way to gain an edge against the synergistic builds, maybe with a Rogue or Enchantress, Loki needs the disruptive clan to win the battle to make a push in the near future.

Closing Words

Overall, the meta is very diverse in terms of playable archetypes, but it can feel extremely punishing if you keep facing difficult match ups. Looking at the popularity of each archetype, it feels like packing an answer to a few Living Tribunal builds is mandatory, even if you don’t like playing a disruptive deck. It can be an Enchantress in your Move deck, Lady Deathstrike in Destroy, or Silver Samurai in Discard. You just need a card that can turn a match up into a small win rather than an auto Retreat every time your opponent Snaps.

Apart from this need to have a way to punish those solitary decks, the other key success factor in the current meta is discipline. Figure out why your opponent Snapped before deciding whether you stay in the game or not. Try to pick up every possible piece of information about their deck before raising the stakes.

There will be a lot of one cube games; match ups can be solely based on finding that one card you included for it. But games like that should become routine after a bit. The difference maker will be your ability to spot a favorable situation as early as possible and then keep your opponent in the game to win more than one cube.

I know it is easier said than done, but these are the rules of the current Marvel Snap meta.

To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.