Table of Contents
With the OTA just a couple of days underway, alongside a Team Clash event keeping us busy, the metagame will likely take a bit longer to develop. Still, it is always interesting to take a look at the popular archetypes and see how they are doing after a balance update, especially as there won’t be one until January.
Then, consider this tier list as an early report to gather some idea and see which decks are making the most of the post-OTA chaos. However, keep in mind the amount of games for each archetypes is only a fraction of what we usually have to craft these reports. Next week, we will have a ton of games and a more established environment to look at.
So, how is Iron Hand doing following the OTA ? Not bad at all. It lost a good chunk of popularity, but its best list still contends for the top spot among competitive archetypes.
Did the buffs have any impact ? It seems like it, as High Evolutionary looked like a solid Tier 2 contender in the past few days.
Are the new cards finding their groove in this metagame ? Maverick is doing great, part of two of the top tier archetypes in Buff Surfer and Man-Spider Combo, alongside a few others in this report. Fastball Special also found a niche, as part of the Man-Spider deck, opening the way for Galactus to represent an alternate win condition.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Iron Hand 1.5 Cube Average / 73.5% Win Rate / 84 Games |
| Tier 1 | Man-Spider Combo 1.5 Cube Average / 72.5% Win Rate / 72 Games |
| Tier 1 | Buff Surfer 0.95 Cube Average / 73% Win Rate / 80 Games |
| Tier 2 | On Reveal Clog 0.85 Cube Average / 67.5% Win Rate / 84 Games |
| Tier 2 | High Evo Energy 1.45 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate / 102 Games |
| Tier 2 | Arishem Thanos 1.2 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate / 82 Games |
| Tier 3 | Galactus Ramp 0.8 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate / 140 Games |
| Tier 3 | Disruptive Destroy 0.45 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate / 119 Games |
| Tier 3 | Dormammu Destroy 0.3 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate / 88 Games |
| Tier 3 | Wiccan Created Cards 0.1 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate / 87 Games |
| Tier 3 | Deadpool Destroy 0.1 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate / 80 Games |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Buff Surfer | 0.7 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate |
| Man-Spider Power Combo | 0.5 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate |
| Chambre Ramp | 0.45 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| On Reveal Rocks | 0.3 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Negative Destroy | 0.4 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate |
Here is my usual annoying advice because I’m a coach and I like to think this helps people: Focus on controlling the stakes of each game and building trust in both your deck and your decision making abilities. Once you feel confident, feel free to take more risks. Reaching Infinite is all about understanding the process of grinding cubes. Also, constantly changing your deck limits your ability to learn the game fundamentals, as you are always focused on learning how to pilot the new deck.
Tier 1
Iron Hand
den
Performance: 1.5 Cube Average / 73.5% Win Rate / 84 Games
There aren’t many games, but when the exact same list of an archetypes still appears at the top of the charts after a balance update, it typically means the deck is still very good.
One could argue plenty of decks still have to be refined and counters cards are nowhere to be seen yet, so Iron Hand isn’t safe at the top. However, if we look at the other top perfomings decks, both Man-Spider or Silver Surfer rely on buffing their cards, which plays right into Shadow King.
Potential Additions
Quake, Armor or America Chavez replace Agony in other lists.
Man-Spider Combo
den
Performance: 1.5 Cube Average / 72.5% Win Rate / 72 Games
There were multiple lists of Man-Spider, but the result point towards Galactus plus Fastball Special being a great secondary win condition. The Eater of Worlds is often more flexible than Taskmaster, while it represents a very safe card if the opponent made the mistake of filling a location.
Except for this new duo, the goal remains to build the biggest Man-Spider possible, dodge opposing counter cards, and get that power spread on two locations.
Shadow King remains one of the most popular counter cards at the moment, although the decks using it aren’t being played a ton so far.
Potential Additions
Magik, Shuri or Adamantium Infusion see play in other lists.
Buff Surfer
den
Performance: 0.95 Cube Average / 73% Win Rate / 80 Games
Silver Surfer is a regular occurence in post-OTA metagames, but failed to remain in the competitive mix recently. Once again, the archetype is off to a great start, but these are the easiest tier lists to make it onto.
The deck got Maverick plus Spider-Man Noir to help lately, so we will see if that is enough to make Buff Surfer a long term contender.
Potential Additions
Red Guardian or some type of disruptive 3-cost, such as using Agony plus Killmonger instead of America Chavez and a 3-cost typically makes this deck much more flexible.
Tier 2
On Reveal Clog
den
Performance: 0.85 Cube Average / 67.5% Win Rate / 84 Games
Werewolf By Night plus Merlin might be the best duo in the game, granting any deck with flexible tools and a lot of potential points. However, the tandem failed to be dominant in recent times, being countered by Mercury in November, and still vulnerable to Shadow King or cards able to remove their text.
In this deck, they are paired with their typical friends in the clog package, and already are a step behind the top contenders, especially the nerfed Iron Hand.
It is likely this remains a solid, yet not top tier pick in the future, just like it has been in recent weeks.
Potential Additions
Quake, Spider-Ham and Cannonball are the flexible inclusions. Replaced them with flexible cards, ideally On Reveal, and preferably not 3-cost cards as the deck already runs plenty of those.
Hawkeye Kate Bishop, Grand Master, Nico Minoru highlight flexible picks. Otherwise, look for match-up specific cards.
High Evo Energy
den
Performance: 1.45 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate / 102 Games
only two of the buffed Vanilla crew made it into the best performing build of High Evo, but Misty Knight and Hulk are enough to represent a real change.
1-cost cards getting a power boost help a lot to grab priority, a potential snap for a deck running Cosmo. As for the 6-cost, the card is responsible for winning its location on the last turn of play, so more power can’t be a bad thing.
Potential Additions
Juggernaut and Shang-Chi are the flexible cards this deck uses for disruption. Rogue, Enchantress or Lady Deathstrike would help against Mobius M. Mobius. Otherwise, look for 4-cost as this deck will pass turn 5 when She-Hulk is in hand, unless you decide to run Magik as well.
Arishem Thanos
den
Performance: 1.2 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate / 82 Games
The go-to pick for those who can’t figure out what to play, Arishem Thanos is another regular of these post update reports.
The list is pretty close to what it was in the past, relying mostly on strong standalone cards plus Quinjet, Mockingbird and Blob, representing the Arishem package.
Potential Additions
Lady Deathstrike is another 5-cost to consider, while plenty of 4-cost can make sense (Kahhori, Galacta, Shang-Chi…).
Quinjet is also not mandatory if you wanted to run another strong standalone such as Iron Patriot.
Tier 3
Tier 3 features archetypes with a win ratio below 60%. Typically, the results Galactus Ramp or Disruptive Destroy posted would be Tier 1 worthy. However, this isn’t a regular report, and every deck got inflated results due to fewer games being recorded.
Overall, all the decks in Tier 3 existed before the OTA, and are fairly simple to recognize as the opponent. Then, I would assume these decks don’t benefit from the rather chaotic environment, instead representing comfort picks.
Another worthy note is the fact all three Destroy oriented decks are in this bottom tier, and neither Dormammmu nor Deadpool are using the buff Wade Wilson. Either that wasn’t enough, or those picking those decks just kept their pre-OTA lists.
Galactus Ramp
den
Performance: 0.8 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate / 140 Games
Disruptive Destroy
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate / 119 Games
Dormammu Destroy
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate / 88 Games
Wiccan Created Cards
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Performance: 0.1 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate / 87 Games
Deadpool Destroy
den
Performance: 0.1 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate / 80 Games
That’s it for this week! To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or shoot me a direct message (@den_ccg) for specific stuff or coaching.
Good Game Everyone.
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 Win Rate, 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. 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 Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Silent Performer: Decks with a very little presence in the meta that still showcase a Cube Average and Win Rate worthy of a Tier 2 deck (or better). Oftentimes, these can be archetypes with some nice game play that have been left unchecked in the current environment, or decks on the rise that found a few good match ups to abuse.
Tier 1: Tier 1 represents decks with all the upsides we would be looking for to rack up Cubes. They have good match ups in the current meta, offer different play patterns during a match, and often have the ability for explosive or surprising turns. These should be decks worth investing into in order to climb for the coming week.
Tier 2: Tier 2 are very good decks but with a weakness holding them back – either not being as reliable in its draws as Tier 1 decks, countered by another popular deck, or still being a work in progress as you read this. A good pilot could probably take these and have the same results as with a Tier 1 deck, but their play patterns are more difficult to enact compared to the tier above.
Tier 3: This tier is made of decks that have a pervasive issue compared to Tier 1 or Tier 2 decks. Usually, Tier 3 will be a mix of decks on the rise that don’t have much data, old archetypes on the decline, decks that require substantial experience and/or knowledge to pilot properly, powerful decks that aren’t well positioned, or niche decks.
Budget: Decks that consist only of cards in Pool 1 and 2 that are still capable of competing with an experienced pilot in a similar Collection Level, Rank, and MMR range. See our matchmaking guide for more details.
Meta stats and analytics directly from our Marvel Snap Tracker can also be found here.
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