Marvel Snap June 29, 2022 Patch 2.0.2 Meta Analysis: Winners, Losers, and Decks to Play

Hi everyone, den at the desk looking to analyze the impact of the freshly released patch on the metagame of Marvel Snap.

So far, the game has been revolving around two powerful synergies found in Pool 1: Devil Dinosaur and Nova. Both cards were a source of a lot of power. Devil Dinosaur was routinely winning a location on its own, as manipulating our hand with cards like Moon Girl, Sentinel, Cable was easily doable.

As for Nova, it was simply too much for a 1 drop, often resulting in a 10 to 20 points boost when destroyed with Deathlok or Carnage on turn 5 or 6.

These cards have defined the playing field so much at most ranks of the game, with almost every player that were unable to build a deck using Pool 2 or Pool 3 cards were forced to include Armor and Enchantress in all their decks to tech again them.

In Marvel Snap Patch 2.0.2, both cards have been addressed alongside other game defining cards like Okoye or Moon Girl for example. Some underwhelming synergies are receiving some buffs, like the Move mechanic with Kraven and Doctor Strange getting an increase in their power.

In this piece, I would like to explore the impact of this patch might have on the game, looking at who gained the most and who might have to go back to the drawing board. Also, I will share some decks worth playing with the changes. Tech cards shouldn’t be needed to much for some time, allowing players to focus on their own synergy more than they could up until now.

Noe: All decks shown in the Losers and Winners section of this article are purely for illustrative purposes. If you are looking for a deck to play after the patch, look for the last section of the article.

Losers of the June 29, 2022 Patch

Most cards in the former Tier S deck

Tier S

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This ultra-dominant pile featured cards which were all highly synergetic to one another. With the change to Devil Dinosaur, Moon Girl and Nova, there is a good chance a lot of cards in the rest of the deck will lose some serious play rate as well.

Agent 13, Cable and Sentinel were used because they allow you to play a card but not change your hand size, which helped Devil Dinosaur quite a lot. Also, because the synergy around Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was so strong, The Collector was a staple card in the deck.

Regarding Nova‘s nerf, it obviously impacts cards like Carnage and other destroy effects like Deathlok or Venom. Armor being the tech card to counter that combo, we should be seeing a lot less in the near future.

Cards that have an effect if destroyed

Variants

Bucky Barnes

When this is destroyed, replace it with the Winter Soldier.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Bucky Barnes

Variants

Wolverine

When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it with +2 Power at a random location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Wolverine

Although they were not included in the best deck due to a lack of space, cards like Bucky Barnes or Wolverine could be impacted by the Nova change as well.
Indeed, Nova was the centerpiece of the “Destroy” synergy, which pushed all the other cards with a similar requirement to reach their full power.

With Nova now being much weaker, the interest to playing cards that destroy your other cards at the location also lost some of their value, downgrading other “When this is destroyed” cards in the process.

The On Reveal ability

Variants

Armor

Ongoing: Cards here can’t be destroyed.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Armor

Variants

Enchantress

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Enchantress

This one might be a bit far-fetched, but here’s my reasoning. Before the patch, every deck was forced to either play the now-nerfed cards, or to play their counters in Armor and Enchantress.

With their targets being nerfed, the two tech cards are logically going to lose some value as well, opening slots for other cards to be played in order to counter the opponent.

Up until now, the On Reveal mechanic was exploitable because Cosmo, its direct counter, was quite rare in decks. Now, with tech card slots completely open, the On Reveal mechanic should see much more people adjust to it if it turns out to be great on the ladder.

For example, this Exodia deck that was featured previously could be derailed more easily now that players aren’t investing all of their flexible card slots into countering Devil Dinosaur and Nova.

Exodia Gambit by robcote22

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Winners of the June 29, 2022 Patch

The 1-drop aggro decks

1 Drop Aggro Deck

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

2.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

It isn’t often that a card being nerfed actually helps make a deck become better, but I think it might the case here.

Okoye was changed from a 2 energy card granting +2 power to your deck, to a 1 energy card granting +1 power to your deck. This modification obviously makes the card a little weaker, and increases its variance as we now have 1 less draw in order to find it at the perfect turn (turn 2 now becomes turn 1).

In the 1-Drop Aggro deck though, Okoye should still be an auto-include card as it contributes greatly to the overall gameplan. Its cheaper cost also makes it now synergize with Kazar, Strong Guy, Angela, or Bishop as she will be easier to drop from our hand if we draw later in the game.

If this deck become more popular than it was before the patch, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Killmonger become a popular tech card to counter it.

The Move ability

Variants

Doctor Strange

On Reveal: Move your highest-Power card(s) to this location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Doctor Strange

Variants

Kraven

When a card moves here, this gains +2 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kraven

Doctor Strange is a staple in the Move deck, one that barely saw play up until this point. Kraven though, wasn’t even included in the deck, a shame for a Pool 1 card when finding all the cards to make the optimal deck is so difficult to do.

It is hard to evaluate how much will this archetype rise in the upcoming days, considering there are some great cards for the deck that are not available until reaching Pool 3, like Human Torch for example.

One thing is for sure, the Kraven change should have a very positive impact on the deck, as the card can be found in Pool 1. Also, it is a card that rewards the player for moving a lot, even erratically, something that wasn’t really rewarded up until this point outside of taking advantage of Vulture.

The Discard ability

Variants

Strong Guy

Ongoing: +6 Power if your hand has 1 or fewer cards.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Strong Guy

Variants

Sword Master

On Reveal: Discard a card from your hand.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sword Master

Variants

Apocalypse

When you discard this, put it back with +4 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Apocalypse

Variants

Hela

On Reveal: Resurrect all cards you discarded to random locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hela

One of the few synergies your opponents cannot truly counter, as there isn’t a tech card against it so far, the Discard mechanic not being touched is a win already.

Lately, several cards for this synergy have been rising, and we can see the 1-Drop Aggro deck playing cards like Strong Guy or Sword Master for example.

Also, with two of the biggest point generator in the game being nerfed, the Discard mechanic could be in line to become of the most explosive one. With high-end cards like Apocalypse or Hela, and a The Collector “clone” in Morbius, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rise in players looking to discard their hands a lot!

What to Play in the Post-Patch Metagame?

Obviously, keep in mind that I am not a wizard and nobody can exactly predict what will happen so soon after the patch. Here is a list of decks that either doesn’t use any of the nerfed cards or that could be on the rise with some of the buffed ones.

Cheap buffed cards and Discard synergy

Big Board Small Hand

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This deck from Oli Denning (source) featured highly synergistic plays, looking to use several play patterns. The goal is to buff our cards early in the game, using Okoye and Nakia. If we cannot found those, we can already develop Angela and Bishop as well.

Later in the game, we are looking to exploit the Discard mechanic and Sera‘s ability in order to create extremely explosive plays.

Exodia Gambit deck

Exodia Gambit by robcote22

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

While I listed this deck in the Losers category to illustrate the fact that the On Reveal synergy could be targeted next, I fully expect this deck to shine before it gets this point.

The author of the deck was kind enough to write a lengthy guide about it, so I would encourage you to go read it if interested in playing this pile.

1-Drop Aggro

1 Drop Aggro

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Recruit Season

2.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Quite simple to grasp and with a proven track records, I expect the 1-Drop Aggro deck to be the go-to deck for many players until more complicated strategies are figured out. It might even become the focus point of the metagame and push some tech card choices down the line.

Anti 1-Drop Aggro Control

Anti 1 Drop deck

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

It might be risky to play this deck immediately after the patch, as there is a strong chance people just mess around with new decks depending where you are on the ladder. However, if you start seeing too many aggro swarm decks, I fully expect a similar list to this one to be able to make them rethink their strategy choices.

Closing Words

As I believe everyone is, I am extremely happy to see this patch and expect to see much more diversity in the game in the coming weeks.

It will also be very interesting to see which directions are players taking, as this is the first major balance patch in the history of Marvel Snap. Will we see a ton of simple yet effective strategies, looking to quickly grind the ladder while others are experimenting? Or the opposite, will this patch wake up the deck builder in all of us and push us to rethink what we believed was good in Marvel Snap until this point?

I wish you all a great time discovering the patch, we will make sure to follow closely how it unravels and share you the best decks from top ranked players. Be sure to look out for our metagame and tier list update over the next few days.

For more content, follow us on Twitter at @MarvelSnapZone and myself at @den_CCG.

Good Game Everyone!