Marvel Snap OTA Balance Update July 20, 2023: Analysis and Decks to Play — No More Bouncing, and Season Pass Cards Fight Back!

When Second Dinner announced the monthly patch last week, many in the community were shocked that Bounce was not included in any form or shape. Logically, the result was a week dominated by Kitty Pryde and her crew; Bounce posted the best results in Marvel Snap on both the Ladder and Conquest game modes. More than anything, the fear for a lot of players was that Bounce could not be changed enough through an OTA, which ultimately meant waiting another month for the big metagame shift many hoped to see.

It turns out Second Dinner had a plan, and an OTA was enough for them to limit Bounce’s power. And, even more impressive, a lot of other aspects of the metagame might change, making this OTA update much more impactful than last week’s balance patch.

With the nerfs, Second Dinner managed to touch four of the high profile decks in the current metagame. Bounce, obviously, but also Shuri Sauron, Evolved Lockjaw, and Sera Control have lost something with this patch as one (or more) of their strong cards being changed.

In addition to those changes (which would be enough for an OTA patch on their own), we also have four impactful buffs that might lead us to reconsider a lot of archetypes in Marvel Snap. The Phoenix Force and Magik, in particular, feel like they have improved a ton, and either one could be worth testing in a multitude of decks to figure out how good they just got. As for Ghost-Spider and The Living Tribunal, they look greatly improved as well, which is awesome news for several fringe archetypes that have used these cards in the past, such as Move and Hela Discard.

I don’t expect every future OTA patch to be as exciting as this one. Nevertheless, it truly feels like Second Dinner nailed it, so let’s discuss all the implications of the biggest OTA patch to date!

Is Bounce Dead For Real?

This is what the majority of the community has been wanting for over a month: get Bounce in line with the other decks. Still, when asking for a change, most of us were expecting Kitty Pryde to be changed, or maybe a couple other cards the deck could abuse. I don’t think anybody had both scenarios happening together on their bingo card for this OTA balance update.

With three nerfs total, Bounce should immediately be considered a bad deck. Not because it really became one — that will take a bit of time and testing to figure out. Instead, the feeling we get when playing the deck should lead to a lot of players dismissing it, as the comparison with the deck we had for the past two months will be extremely difficult to hold for whatever is next for the archetype.

If my personal opinion is at all relevant, I believe Bounce as we know it is probably gone… for now. It should remain a decent deck, but I don’t expect a lot of players to stick with the deck and invest the time to really keep it alive in the metagame. There were, however, a lot of hybrid decks existing in the shadows of Bounce, and those might have a much better time adapting to the changes.

One deck I’m particularly curious about is this mix of Bounce and the Silver Surfer shell from SafetyBlade. While the deck runs both Kitty Pryde and Hit Monkey (which should be considered a huge blow), it also uses the Silver Surfer synergy that has now gained Magik. As such, with an extra turn to work with and a secondary win condition that is currently one of the strongest in Marvel Snap, this kind of deck looks much more poised to bounce back than the more traditional builds of Bounce.

Bouncing Surfer

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
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5+

Shuri, Sera, and Lockjaw Also Took a Hit!

Outside of Bounce, Kitty Pryde became a staple in Marvel Snap in general. It found a slot in various archetypes, such as Good Cards Stature, Sera Control, and Shuri Sauron.

As such, the nerf to the game’s hottest card will impact many other decks outside of Bounce, reducing their energy flexibility or straight up lowering their total point ceiling. In all likeliness, Shuri Sauron will face some of the biggest collateral damage. Indeed, Shuri on Turn 5 could abuse a buffed up Kitty Pryde and copy it with Taskmaster on Turn 6.

Without this flexible second pattern, Shuri Sauron might become much more predictable and end up back to its old antics with one pattern (maybe two patterns at most) to develop enough points to compete.

Variants

Kitty Pryde

When this returns to your hand, +1 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kitty Pryde

As one of the few decks not running Kitty Pryde for the past weeks, Lockjaw still fell in love with another newly nerfed 1-Cost: Spider-Ham. Now a [2|2], the card will impact two main synergies for the deck:

• It is much more expensive to play behind Lockjaw now, limiting what we can do with the rest of our energy.
• We can’t hold it and play the card on Turn 2 to buff Evolved Hulk.

There are still other 1-Cost cards to consider in the deck, such as Iceman or Sunspot, that have seen play in the deck in the past. Nevertheless, after losing some momentum in the previous patch as well (and the builds with Spider-Ham doing much better than the ones without), the archetype could have some interesting development in the near future.

Variants

Spider-Ham

On Reveal: Transform the leftmost card in your opponent’s hand into a Pig, keeping its Power and Cost.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Ham

Although listed for Kitty Pryde already, Sera Control should also take quite a hit with this balance update. Indeed, the deck relies on both Kitty Pryde and Hit Monkey for its proactive point development, and it cannot be too happy about today’s announcement.

Considering Sera Control’s history and its extreme flexibility through the various metagames, I think it should have a bit of an easier time adapting compared to Shuri Sauron, for example. Still, the deck will need to find another way to develop a lot of points now, or at least make sure its counter cards are impactful enough to win a lane with less support around them.

Variants

Hit Monkey

On Reveal: Gain +2 Power for each other card you played this turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hit Monkey

Test Magik Everywhere!

We saw four buffs in this OTA balance update; three of them were rather obvious. Magik, however, has me very curious. The change to the card is quite big, and it changes the way we can use Magik from now on.

First, the card has obviously gained a lot of flexibility. The difference between five and three energy is absolutely massive. Magik can now be used on Turn 5 to play around an opposing Wave, similar to how it was being used already. Now the real unexplored potential lies in the combos the card opens.

So far, Magik was mostly worth running if you wanted to use two 6-Cost cards, with Electro often being preferred for the role. For anything else, since you had to use your entire Turn 5 to play Magik, the card didn’t really open much energy to work with (although the extra draw was a nice bonus for combo decks).

As a 3-Cost, Magik can be played much earlier in the game, opening up more energy to work with for your synergies — especially if you want to include a 5-Cost card in your combo. I think of Sera in particular, which you wouldn’t have to delay until Turn 6 anymore, opening up two turns of cost reductions instead of one. Otherwise, if you were already running Magik for the extra draw, you don’t lose anything. And a [3|2] is arguably better than a [5|3] anyway. This change alone could make the card worth exploring in Silver Surfer and Cerebro 2 shells.

I’m sure there are a lot of decks worth exploring with the new Magik, but here are three that already exist in the current metagame. These could definitely benefit from a cheaper Magik in order to pull off their combo more reliably.

MagikHela

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

One more turn to draw Hela is great on its own. Also, Turn 7 opens Blade plus Hela together, a worthy consideration if you played Hellcow earlier and Hela was not discarded.

Maybe even more importantly, the deck might be able to just play for points with seven turns by using Captain Marvel, Giganto, and Magneto to get points the traditional way.

Toxic Wombo Combo

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

4

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The toxic archetype has been playing much closer to Sera Control lately with Typhoid Mary and Sentry representing good ways to develop points when necessary. With more time (thanks to Magik), maybe the archetype can become more combo oriented.

It is probably much less flexible overall, but it could serve as a hard counter to decks that are forced to play cards proactively to develop their gameplan.

Negative

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 1-14

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
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5+

Mister Negative has always been among the archetypes not looking to rush in the early part of the match. Also, the deck always feels weird when it doesn’t play its signature card on Turn 3 since it can lack some power with just two negatived cards. The new Magik helps in both categories, giving more time to draw negatived cards while offering a perfect Turn 3 play before Mister Negative on the next turn (if we aren’t be able to play Mister Negative on Turn 3).

As a 5-Cost, Magik was always in the way of playing Iron Man when neither was negatived. The simple fact that both cards can be played separately now opens a lot of potential for Turn 6 and Turn 7 shenanigans, even with a [5|0] Iron Man.

Living Tribunal Gets a Massive Buff!

Ramping Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
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5+

Gaining three power is no joke, especially for a card that splits it evenly across every lane. In the featured deck that is looking to pair Iron Man, Onslaught, and The Living Tribunal all on the same lane, this buff actually contributes to a bonus two power to each lane. It won’t change the nature of the deck — it will likely remain a gimmick for the time being. Still, the deck can reliably put up 20 points per lane now, a threshold that few decks are able to accomplish without drawing perfectly.

Outside its own archetype, the buff to The Living Tribunal might also warrant a spot in other decks, such as Hela Discard or Lockjaw. Indeed, those decks are great at cheating a lot of power into play, but they have limited control over it. With a [6|9] Living Tribunal, those decks might try to use the card to spread their power evenly. This addition could mean Lockjaw and Hela would simply focus on developing as much as possible as their default gameplan, rather than trying to fit some kind of flexibility in their card usage.

The Phoenix Force Has a Second Awakening

Phoenix Full Force

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

It feels like we’ve covered more than an OTA update with everything we’ve talked about so far, but the big one is still to come. Indeed, The Phoenix Force‘s buff could be the most impactful in the entire patch as it completely changes the power of the card.

First, let’s get the Shuri versions of the deck out of the way. I’m not saying they are bad, and you should probably test them if you had some success with them already. But I don’t like them, and I believe the Human Torch build is vastly superior — especially with a cheaper Ghost-Spider and The Phoenix Force.

Now Shuri and The Phoenix Force have the same cost, which probably means Shuri only sees play whenever we don’t draw into our best possible pattern. I mean, developing The Phoenix Force on Turn 4 has to be the new go-to play for the deck. The deck can also develops more points with more flexibility without Shuri. Here are a few examples:

• If The Phoenix Force revives Human Torch unbuffed on Turn 4, we are still looking at a 14-Power card on Turn 5 (with 28 power by Turn 6). That’s enough to be an insane target for Arnim Zola or Taskmaster.
• Killmonger being a threat might go away once Bounce sees less play, reducing the need for everyone to run Killmonger. Otherwise, just Venom your Human Torch.
• Shang-Chi is much more threatening to Shuri than it is to Human Torch; one tells the opponent where to play Shang-Chi while the other moves.
• Ghost-Spider reduced to a 1-Cost card means we can Beast our Iron Fist, Human Torch, and Ghost-Spider to create tons of 0-Cost combos around Human Torch.

Sorry about the rant on what I believe to be the best way to build around The Phoenix Force. Let’s talk about how big it is to have the card as a 4-Cost.

Obviously, you get one more turn to move it on its own, which already great considering Multiple Man is the default target. It also opens much more flexibility if we don’t draw the card by Turn 4 and have to play it on Turn 5 (as we’ve already been doing). Indeed, just being able to pair The Phoenix Force with Iron Fist or Ghost-Spider on Turn 5 will bolster our potential points, opening a much stronger final turn as well. To be fair, the change to Ghost-Spider might entice some to continue using Shuri in the deck — Shuri into The Phoenix Force plus Ghost-Spider is looking downright insane when Multiple Man is guaranteed to be revived.

Then, even outside its signature deck, The Phoenix Force might become a solid inclusion in the Destroy shell, too. Indeed, the card was difficult to leverage in the deck as a 5-Cost. It locked an important turn for Destroy without providing enough of a payoff to justify it. Now as a 4-Cost, The Phoenix Force fits into a more flexible slot for the deck, opening combos with Venom while setting up huge Turn 6 synergies with Knull, Death, and other such cards. Hell, we might just revive Deadpool as a six power card so we can destroy it on Turn 5 and have a flexible 12-Power card on Turn 6!

If you look at this build, the only card that feels sub-par as a revive target is Bucky Barnes. Even then, it would be a [4|6] that is able to move every turn, and that’s not awful.

Destroy

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

For several weeks, I have been advocating a need for a big shake-up in Marvel Snap — even if it leads to complete chaos for a bit and needs to be readjusted the next week. This update finally feels like what I’ve wanted; both the dominant decks and some creative tools are being impacted.

Bounce and Sera Control getting hit should open a lot of room at the top of the meta. Sure, Silver Surfer is still there, Lockjaw didn’t take the biggest hit, and we could still just play Patriot or High Evolutionary. Nevertheless, this is one of the first times in a while that the best decks are taking a big hit instead of a slap on the wrist. The same goes for the buffs, as each one pushes us to rethink the card and how it can be used. A change in energy is massive for The Phoenix Force and Ghost-Spider, and gaining three power is a lot for The Living Tribunal. Finally,, Magik feels brand new, and it should be tested in a lot of different decks to assess how good it has become.

It feels like there are new puzzles to solve, and I love it! I know this might lead to a very confusing metagame for some, at least for a bit. But don’t sweat it; if you don’t feel good when experimenting with your own decks, there are plenty of old staples you can rely on. For all the daring deck builders, though, I foresee a fun week ahead of us.

As usual, it will be my great pleasure to let you know everything about the metagame and how it develops in future articles. Until then, 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.