Table of Contents
Looking for a sweet decklist to climb the Ladder? Every week, we scour the community for decks and highlight the interesting ones that reach the Infinite rank on the Marvel Snap ranked Ladder. We also provide commentary on each list, which allows us to discuss how the overall Marvel Snap metagame is developing and how these players took advantage of it.
Overview of the Week
We are just a few days after an OTA Balance Update that tried to tackle a lot of cards in the current metagame. Shuri, Alioth, and Forge were changed for the worse, while Black Widow and White Tiger got a little buff.
As expected, the nerfs had a much bigger impact than the buffs (even if White Tiger had a few people curious and the On Reveal deck’s play rate saw a slight rise). Otherwise, it seems like the major difference in the game right now is how we use Forge; the card is now featured more in Destroy and Bounce than the usual Iron Patriot.
Alioth and Shuri don’t feel much different so far, at least when it comes to the feedback I saw across the community. There are still many decks using Alioth, and Shuri Sauron remains pretty much the same deck it was before the OTA.
For this installment of Infinite Decks of the Week, I wanted to focus on some of the rising archetypes after the patch, as well as the reasons why they are picking up momentum. I could identify two big tendencies, both of which are pretty common in a metagame right after some changes.
First, we have the decks using the modified cards. The On Reveal archetype has received quite a bit of praise, and Destroy appears to be Forge‘s new home for the time being. Also, as Elsa Bloodstone appears to be the card to beat right now (a logical development of Alioth feeling a little weaker), Junk has picked up in popularity. However, we are seeing a different way to build it, using Elsa Bloodstone herself to bring more points into the equation.
Compared to the two previous balance updates, which were considered off the mark by many, we finally got one that targeted many of the cards in the current metagame. How much did it impact Marvel Snap already? Let’s take a look!
The Improved White Tiger Helps On Reveal Perform Better
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Talking about the On Reveal synergy when referring to the White Tiger + Odin duo hearkens to beginner decks that are typically used in Pool 1 or 2. The deck unlocks several solid cards to use later on with Wong, Mystique, Absorbing Man, and Arnim Zola. However, the popularity of the archetype is incredibly small once we start looking at the player base in Pool 3. With the change to White Tiger, that same deck was tested more among players with a high collection level, and the results looked promising.
Now at eight power, the Tiger Spirit is able to challenge many more decks than it could before. When the purpose of the deck is to summon as many of these as possible, that one power buff quickly adds up to four, five, or more power all together.
Against Shuri Sauron, Shuri + Red Skull is 29 power after the nerf to Shuri. At seven power, four Tiger Spirits would add up to 28 power, but now they add up to 32 total power on a lane. Against Vision, being able to send one Tiger to an unplayable lane will now tie, when it would lose the one on one in the past. Same for the Jeff the Baby Land Shark plus Doctor Doom or Silk combinations.
It didn’t seem like much at first, but that threshold actually changed quite a lot of interactions in the current environment.
Junk Packs More Power in a Wider Environment
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With Elsa Bloodstone expected to take a much bigger role in the metagame now that Alioth was nerfed, many anticipated Junk to be a nice archetype to consider (myself included).
But because Elsa and her friends are able to put a lot of points on the table, just locking down lanes didn’t feel safe enough. As such, Junk is starting to include Elsa Bloodstone as well, and also a few card from the Move synergy because they are perfect support for the Season Pass card.
Since sharing this build, I’ve also seen some people suggest playing Man-Thing plus Luke Cage in the deck over The Hood and Viper. Nebula and Polaris could also be considered as the sacrifices instead, though.
Some might feel like we are getting away from the original idea of Junk, as we are using the lane lock strategy more as a flexible package rather than the go-to plan. Still, this early in a new environment, proactive strategies tend to do much better. Indeed, predicting what the opponent will do isn’t as simple when everyone is testing new ideas – especially compared to when most of the builds are established and we know who will likely be our most popular opponents. Then, a flexible spread of points, which is what Elsa Bloodstone and the Move cards are providing, can go a long way towards helping the deck adapt to the variety of situations one will have to deal with.
Destroy Comes Back Since We Have No Space for Armor
Armor is not a bad 2-Cost in Marvel Snap by any means. However, the competition is so fierce that most decks can’t afford to run it when Elsa Bloodstone, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Mobius M. Mobius, Angela, and other cards feel more valuable to have in the deck.
Up until this point, Alioth was the reason Deadpool couldn’t exist as a dominant deck. The whole point of playing Deadpool on Turn 6 after destroying it plenty of times was often met by a devastating Alioth. With the nerf to the 6-Cost card lowering its play rate, Armor hasn’t made a return in the most popular archetypes, and Junk is quite a good match up for this deck as well. Destroy might be on the verge of finally being the scary archetype many believe it should be, even with Mobius M. Mobius preventing the deck from using Death.
Of course, the community will likely adapt if Deadpool and company become too much of a problem, and we might see more of Armor and Cosmo (or even Shadow King and Valkyrie) in the near future. For now, Destroy is looking pretty nice until that happens.
Closing Words
The very top of the metagame still feels relatively similar so far. Move probably remains among the top archetypes in the game, with Shuri Sauron and a few Elsa Bloodstone decks in the conversation as well. However, the early aftermath of the patch have involved decks that were on the brink of feeling really strong, but simply couldn’t because Alioth was holding them back.
Now that the metagame has much more space to develop your own synergy, we are seeing various ways of developing a lot of points thrive.
Keep in mind, though, Alioth isn’t completely gone. Decks like Junk, as well as cards like Cosmo, are on the hunt to punish purely proactive synergies who thought they would get away with not interacting with their opponent. Therefore, let’s not think the metagame is a completely new and unexplored land where one can just play whatever and get away with it.
The fun of the first few days usually only serves to initiate a new baseline for the metagame where we can assess the power of the new archetypes and see which ones are worth trying to counter. Right now, the gold standard is Elsa Bloodstone, which you need to be able to beat on points if you want to play a proactive strategy. If you can do that reliably, you might have a target on your back very soon and see more counter cards thrown your way.
Don’t refrain from testing new ideas for that reason, though. You may still reach Infinite doing so. I hope you are having fun with Marvel Snap, and I can’t wait to see what the metagame will be once we revisit it for the Ranked Tier List early next week.
As usual, If you need anything, 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.
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