Marvel Snap Card Meta Report: Silver Surfer Returns!

Welcome to my Marvel Snap Card Meta Report! In this series, I’ll analyze and highlight individual cards that have been top performers based on all the data collected on Marvel Snap Zone, and any notable or drastic shifts within the meta. This series intends to explore individual cards and their popularity within multiple decks and archetypes—to showcase the individual cards that are making the biggest impact in the metagame, independent of specific decklists.

Don’t miss all the data! In addition to this curated write-up, we’re also releasing the newest version of my Ultimate Card Metrics Report Spreadsheet—updated for the new season and packed full of invaluable data to help you take your game to the next level and have full visibility into the performance of each and every card in Marvel Snap over the past week. It’s available for all Marvel Snap Premium readers. Get access here!

Marvel Snap Cards to Watch this Week

An important thing to note about this series is that many cards in Marvel Snap are highly synergistic with other cards—meaning a high inclusion of meta share for an individual card will often lend to increasing the meta share of cards that synergize well with that particular card. In addition, as new cards are released into the game, the player base is eager to experiment and explore new potential decks to play them. Representation within the meta for new cards naturally surges when cards are released, especially if community sentiment is positive and players are eager to invest their spotlight caches in hopes of opening the new card.

It takes a couple of weeks for a newly released card’s sticking power to surface, as well as any high-synergy cards to adjust within card rankings depending on the new card or strategy’s staying power in the meta. Over time, we’re able to determine if new releases are flashes in the pan, or truly something that can shift the metagame long-term.

In this week’s column, we’ll examine eight cards making big waves in the meta and dive into an analytical & crunchy view on meta share representation, card ranking, and week-over-week shifts over time in the biggest movers.

Let’s jump into the cards to watch this week!

Card	Meta Position Change	Meta Share % Change	Win Rate Change	Win Rate On Play Change	Average Cubes Change	Average Cubes on Play Change
Sebastian Shaw	–	–	–	–	–	–
Nakia	+175	1295.56%	12.20%	9.80%	+0.71	+0.60
Killmonger	+17	56.39%	3.50%	3.90%	+0.24	+0.60
America Chavez	+0	-14.58%	-0.90%	-0.10%	-0.06	-0.04
Sentry	+119	375.47%	4.90%	5.60%	+0.24	+0.26
Sera	+76	150.36%	5.50%	3.40%	+0.36	+0.24
Black Knight	+50	150.79%	3.20%	3.40%	+0.18	+0.16
Silver Surfer	+110	272.81%	7.20%	4.60%	+0.45	+0.34

Sebastian Shaw

Sebastian Shaw is the card on everyone’s mind. The new season pass card has found homes in multiple archetypes as a strong anchor card to contest and easily secure a win, rivaling even the likes of Werewolf by Night for power potential in a single three-cost card. In the first week of the new season, Sebastian Shaw has climbed to be the 30th most popular card in the meta, boasting the highest single-card win rate in the game this week at 64%.

Sebastian Shaw secures an average of 0.98 cubes per game. Notably, Sebastian Shaw has found a strong home in the Silver Surfer shell. When paired with Nova and Killmonger, the shell has the ability to put out some truly impressive power, while also enjoying the disruption capabilities of the archetype.

Nakia

Nakia is another card that benefited greatly from the release of Sebastian Shaw. Her play, win rate, and cube rate increased astronomically over the past week. In fact, her meta share inclusion is up almost 1300% from the previous week, and her win rate increased by a staggering 12.2%, climbing to 63.60%. Nakia synergizes extremely well with Sebastian Shaw and helps support the Silver Surfer shell in many powerful ways.

It’s no surprise since Nakia provides support to the rest of the shell and also synergizes well with Brood, among other cards. Nakia and Okoye were both big winners in the most recent update.

Killmonger

Killmonger enjoyed a nice climb in performance this week, as the premium choice and activator for Nova, a critical component to the Sebastian Shaw-enabled Silver Surfer deck. Killmonger is also great at dealing with the likes of Sunspot, Nebula, and Misty Knight—making it a strong tech option to play with or without the Nova combo. Killmonger climbed 17 meta slots this week, a 56.39% increase in meta inclusion. His win rate also increased 3.50% and average cube rate increased by 0.24 cubes per game.

With significant offensive utility, Killmonger’s inclusion in the Silver Surfer makes him a card that it seems tough to envision the archetype without. In terms of both putting and deleting points on the board, Killmonger is extremely well-positioned within the early meta of the season.

America Chavez

America Chavez is a story of resilience and surprisingly little change in meta representation despite a MASSIVE rework that impacted one of the most foundational cards of Marvel Snap since launch. America Chavez’s meta share fell 14.58%, but her win rate fell only by -0.90% her average cube rate is only down by -0.06.

In her new form, five power for two cost spread across two different cards puts her stats above par. Comboing with the potential to hit cards like Mister Sinister, Brood, or Sebastian Shaw, there is plenty of upside to consider her for inclusion in the two-cost slot. Of course, she still has to compete with the likes of Armor, and Jeff. Time will tell where America Chavez lands, but for now, players are still happy to experiment with her new form in their decks.

Sentry

Since the last card meta report, Sentry has enjoyed a huge surge of popularity, teaming up with Annihilus to deliver devastating power swings in the right-most location of games. Sentry’s popularity is up 119 meta slots, a 375.47% increase from last report with an increase in win rate of 4.90% and a positive shift in cube acquisition rate of +0.24 cubes per game.

Notably, Sentry enables strong midrange strategies that try to overwhelm and out-value opponents in the early to middle turns of the game. In a lot of Sentry-based shells, it is easy to know if you will win or lose the game heading into turn five or six—a luxury that can help inform when to snap and when to retreat. While not as performant as Silver Surfer Decks, Sentry + Annihilus is still an archetype to watch closely in the emergent meta.

Sera

Sera is one of my favorite cards in the game, and is back in the spotlight thanks to her natural synergy with the Silver Surfer Archetype. Allowing players to play three three-cost cards on turn six is huge and enables a lot of versatility on the last turn of the game for how players choose to allocate their points. The flexibility can’t be easily matched in the rest of Snap. 

In the past week, Sera is up 76 meta slots, a 150.36% increase from the last report. Her win rate is up 5.50% and her average cube rate is up 0.36%. Without two-cost Mobius M. Mobius as an auto-include in every deck, cost reduction strategies like Sera and Mister Negative have more room to flourish. Sera is a clear winner of the second rise of Silver Surfer in December’s patch. It’s refreshing to get to play her again in a competitive shell.

Black Knight

Black Knight is one of my personal favorites of recent card releases. I played a Black Knight Control brew last season to achieve my Infinite for the month. I was surprised to see the buff to Black Knight in the most recent patch. If anything, it only made Black Knight stronger since the Ebony Blade is now immune to the likes of Shang-Chi and Shadow King.

The ability to place a massive power anchor in a lane and have confidence that it can’t be disrupted significantly boosts the power and utility of Black Knight. It also helps with locations like Death’s Domain, Rickety Bridge, and more, giving a powerful answer to these locations which can put a lot of pressure on opponents.

Since the last report, Black Knight climbed 50 meta slots, a 150.79% increase. His win rate is up 3.20% and cube rate is up +0.18. With a 59.70% win rate, Black Knight is definitely worth exploring as a staple of Discard now that America Chavez has been removed from the equation.

Silver Surfer

Finally, Silver Surfer is the biggest early winner of the new season in Snap. Climbing 110 meta slots, Silver Surfer’s meta share inclusion is up 272.81%. His win rate is up 7.20%, and average cubes are up 0.45. 

Despite the ability to put a ton of power on the board, Silver Surfer is a very telegraphed archetype. Opponents will frequently retreat if they are not confident in their own plays. But despite being telegraphed, one of the greatest strengths of the archetype is its flexibility in placing points all over the board on the final turn of the game, especially when paired with Sera. The archetype also has access to disruptive cards like Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Juggernaut, Spider Man, and Polaris that can further disrupt your opponent.

It will be interesting to see how the meta progresses throughout the rest of the season and if Silver Surfer remains the premium archetype on the competitive ladder!

Conclusion

That’s it for this week! Stay tuned for my next report as I look at how cards have shifted as the community evaluates which decks will land on top in the new meta.

The cards I covered in this article are only a single piece of the puzzle—there are many more stories that the data tells. Be sure to check out our new Marvel Snap Zone Premium benefit—my Marvel Snap Zone Card Metrics Report Spreadsheet which includes new features and enhancements each and every report. I’m confident it will be an excellent resource for you in your own deck building, and to help you improve as a player by better understanding the meta and data behind all the cards.

Have any questions about the cards featured in this meta card report? Drop a comment below or follow me on Twitter!