Snapalytics: Top-Performing Pairs

In last week’s Running the Numbers (Marvel Snap Meta Data Analysis), we looked at one of the most dominant duos in Marvel Snap — Shuri and Red Skull before its nerf. That got me thinking about what other pairs of cards might be especially powerful together. There are the common combos that most of us could rattle off — Galactus and Knull, Sunspot and She-Hulk, Hit Monkey and Mysterio… you get it.

Galactus

On Reveal: If you’re winning this location and this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.

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

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Decks with Galactus

Knull

Ongoing: Has the combined Power of all cards destroyed this game.

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

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Decks with Knull

It doesn’t matter what comes front of mind when I say “power pairing”, though! Throw that out the window, I’m here to dig into data. I really hoped there might be some hidden gems to reveal and whoo-wee, I was not disappointed! Excited?!

The idea behind this analysis is that maybe some cards are often used in a suboptimal way. Maybe averages for individual card performance or even averages for deck performance are hiding the potential of some cards. I hope some of you will find this as inspiring for deckbuilding as I did!

Of course, any single card or pair of cards is just a piece of a whole deck. Throwing a bunch of top-tier twosomes together isn’t gonna make a top-tier deck. You’ll also notice a dearth of the duos we rattled off earlier. While a pair like Shuri and Red Skull make a lot of appearances in top tier decks, there are also players trying to make them work in less-than-stellar decks, too — and that hurts their stats.

By the nature of this exercise, many of these high-performing pairs are going to be less common.

Overview

Some quick context before we get to the meat and potatoes.

I included every ranked match in the past 7 days of data collected by our Marvel Snap Tracker. Well, almost every match. Apologies to her fans, but I excluded any deck running Agatha Harkness.

When analyzing the top card pairs, I only looked at those represented in 400+ matches. I experimented with this number quite a bit. 400 proved to be a reliable cutoff to get top pairs that were consistent, not just lucky.

I also wanted each pair to be represented in 10+ decks — but there actually weren’t any top pairs that met the 400-match cutoff without also meeting the 10-deck cutoff.

Your Local Metagame

We’re not looking at the top performers in one overarching metagame today. The metagame you experience might be very different depending on various factors. I’ve broken up the data into six sections.

Trust me that things get weird if we look at all the data combined. Don’t believe me? The top pair for both win rate and average cubes is — drumroll, please…

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Domino and Lizard.

Domino

You always draw this card on turn 2, and not before.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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Decks with Domino

Lizard

Ongoing: -4 Power if your opponent has 4 cards here.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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Decks with Lizard

Yeah.

So I categorized the data by rank and collection level. There are other factors too, of course. MMR being one that’s important, but only available to Second Dinner.

Rank Categories

Mid: Rank 30–69
High: Rank 70–99
Infinite: Rank 100+

Collection Level Categories

Mid: Collection Level 486–1999 (pool 2 complete)
High: Collection Level 2000+ (pool 3 complete)

Alright, groundwork laid. Let’s dive in!

The Meat and Potatoes

Mmm, meat and potatoes. A top-tier pairing if you ask me, but enough ado!

For each category, you’ll see:

Top 10 pairs by usage
Top 10 pairs by win rate
Top 10 pairs by average cubes
Honorable mentions for win rate
Honorable mentions for average cubes

Mid Rank (30–69) and Mid CL (486–1999)

Cutoffs
Matches: 400+
Decks: 10+

Usage

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Matches
1	Killmonger	Shang-Chi	15,867
2	Armor	Cosmo	15,405
3	Armor	Sunspot	14,994
4	Killmonger	Nova	14,084
5	Lizard	Shang-Chi	13,906
6	Armor	Lizard	13,764
7	America Chavez	Sunspot	13,463
8	Cosmo	Lizard	12,117
9	Nova	Shang-Chi	11,387
10	She-Hulk	Sunspot	11,078

Win Rate

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Win Rate
1	Red Skull	Titania	63.38%
2	Blue Marvel	Hulk	62.73%
3	Shuri	Titania	62.66%
4	Titania	Vision	62.63%
5	Kraven	Magneto	62.61%
6	Taskmaster	Titania	62.56%
7	Cosmo	Titania	62.47%
8	Magneto	Vulture	62.44%
9	Ebony Maw	Wolfsbane	62.42%
10	Lizard	Titania	62.39%

Average Cubes

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Avg Cubes
1	Ebony Maw	Wolfsbane	1.06
2	Polaris	Zabu	0.96
3	Angel	Knull	0.94
4	Kraven	Magneto	0.94
5	Blue Marvel	Hulk	0.91
6	Magneto	Vulture	0.91
7	Nightcrawler	Wolfsbane	0.91
8	Iron Fist	Magneto	0.90
9	Darkhawk	Lizard	0.88
10	Korg	Wolfsbane	0.88

Honorable Mentions

Pairs that would have made the top 5 if the cutoff was 300+ matches instead:

Win Rate

Avg Cubes

Mid Rank (30–69) and High CL (2000+)

Cutoffs
Matches: 400+
Decks: 10+

Usage

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Matches
1	She-Hulk	Sunspot	64,023
2	Lizard	Sunspot	61,580
3	Armor	Sunspot	56,538
4	Armor	Cosmo	54,923
5	Armor	Lizard	51,140
6	Cosmo	Sunspot	50,921
7	Cosmo	Lizard	50,614
8	Killmonger	Shang-Chi	49,405
9	Red Skull	Sunspot	48,486
10	Shang-Chi	Wave	47,960

Win Rate

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Win Rate
1	Spider-Woman	Zero	63.25%
2	Lady Sif	Storm	62.37%
3	Colleen Wing	Storm	62.36%
4	Morbius	Storm	62.31%
5	Apocalypse	Storm	62.31%
6	Red Skull	Spider-Woman	62.24%
7	Modok	Storm	62.23%
8	Storm	Swarm	62.22%
9	Spider-Woman	Taskmaster	62.09%
10	Kang	Magneto	62.05%

Average Cubes

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Avg Cubes
1	Hobgoblin	Hulkbuster	0.79
2	Kang	Magneto	0.77
3	She-Hulk	Swarm	0.75
4	Doctor Doom	Kang	0.74
5	Mister Fantastic	Shadow King	0.73
6	Colleen Wing	She-Hulk	0.72
7	Domino	Storm	0.72
8	Electro	Ironheart	0.71
9	Okoye	Ultron	0.71
10	Apocalypse	She-Hulk	0.71

Honorable Mentions

Pairs that would have made the top 5 if the cutoff was 300+ matches instead.

Win Rate

Kang & Sandman
Typhoid Mary & Vision
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Avg Cubes

High Rank (70–99) and Mid CL (486–1999)

Cutoffs
Matches: 400+
Decks: 10+

Usage

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Matches
1	Killmonger	Shang-Chi	11,755
2	Armor	Sunspot	11,065
3	America Chavez	Sunspot	10,946
4	Armor	Cosmo	10,600
5	Cosmo	Lizard	10,146
6	Armor	Lizard	10,091
7	Lizard	Shang-Chi	9,538
8	Cosmo	Sunspot	9,034
9	Lizard	Sunspot	8,914
10	She-Hulk	Sunspot	8,838

Win Rate

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Win Rate
1	Doctor Doom	Nova	63.48%
2	Darkhawk	Hit Monkey	63.11%
3	Hit Monkey	Zabu	62.66%
4	Abomination	Debrii	62.47%
5	Agent Coulson	Cosmo	62.37%
6	Mystique	White Queen	62.10%
7	Mysterio	Zabu	62.05%
8	Darkhawk	Quinjet	62.01%
9	Electro	Scorpion	61.68%
10	Doctor Strange	Human Torch	61.64%

Average Cubes

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Avg Cubes
1	Mysterio	Zabu	1.04
2	Doctor Doom	Nova	1.03
3	Doctor Strange	Human Torch	1.03
4	Cloak	Human Torch	1.01
5	Heimdall	Human Torch	1.01
6	Human Torch	Vulture	1.01
7	Human Torch	Kraven	1.00
8	Bishop	Zabu	0.98
9	Darkhawk	Hit Monkey	0.98
10	Angela	Zabu	0.98

Honorable Mentions

Pairs that would have made the top 5 if the cutoff was 300+ matches instead:

Win Rate

Cyclops & Debrii
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Carnage & Sentinel
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Avg Cubes

Cyclops & Debrii
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High Rank (70–99) and High CL (2000+)

Cutoffs
Matches: 400+
Decks: 10+

Usage

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Matches
1	She-Hulk	Sunspot	63,910
2	Lizard	Sunspot	62,926
3	Armor	Sunspot	59,704
4	Armor	Cosmo	57,377
5	Armor	Red Skull	53,726
6	Armor	Lizard	53,639
7	Cosmo	Lizard	53,534
8	Cosmo	Sunspot	53,495
9	Red Skull	Sunspot	52,407
10	Red Skull	Zero	52,188

Win Rate

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Win Rate
1	Maximus	Vision	60.72%
2	Polaris	Vision	60.64%
3	Nightcrawler	White Queen	60.58%
4	Arnim Zola	Leech	60.55%
5	Red Skull	Wasp	60.28%
6	Maximus	Taskmaster	60.25%
7	Scarlet Witch	Taskmaster	60.22%
8	Titania	Vision	60.10%
9	Maximus	Red Skull	60.03%
10	Vision	Zero	59.99%

Average Cubes

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Avg Cubes
1	Ebony Maw	Kang	0.91
2	Arnim Zola	Leech	0.80
3	Moon Girl	Squirrel Girl	0.80
4	Moon Girl	Yondu	0.80
5	Death	Moon Girl	0.78
6	Absorbing Man	Daredevil	0.77
7	Moon Girl	Wave	0.76
8	Scarlet Witch	Taskmaster	0.76
9	Red Skull	Wasp	0.75
10	Shocker	Storm	0.74

Honorable Mentions

Pairs that would have made the top 5 if the cutoff was 300+ matches instead:

Win Rate

Avg Cubes

Infinite Rank (100+) and Mid CL (486–1999)

Cutoffs
Matches: 400+
Decks: 10+

Usage

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Matches
1	Killmonger	Shang-Chi	2,830
2	Armor	Cosmo	2,705
3	Armor	Sunspot	2,539
4	Cosmo	Lizard	2,403
5	Lizard	Shang-Chi	2,391
6	Armor	Lizard	2,288
7	America Chavez	Sunspot	2,126
8	Lizard	Sunspot	2,097
9	Cosmo	Sunspot	2,037
10	Angela	Bishop	1,983

Win Rate

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Win Rate
1	Devil Dinosaur	Ka-Zar	59.48%
2	Cosmo	Thanos	59.26%
3	Mysterio	Scarlet Witch	58.92%
4	Ka-Zar	Thanos	58.68%
5	Sentinel	Zabu	58.40%
6	Devil Dinosaur	Thanos	58.28%
7	Korg	Shang-Chi	58.14%
8	Nova	Scarlet Witch	58.02%
9	Scorpion	Wolfsbane	57.97%
10	Enchantress	Scarlet Witch	57.92%

Average Cubes

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Avg Cubes
1	Bishop	Lizard	0.86
2	Angela	Lizard	0.84
3	Angela	Squirrel Girl	0.80
4	Nova	Scarlet Witch	0.79
5	Mysterio	Scarlet Witch	0.78
6	Nova	Zabu	0.77
7	Enchantress	Scarlet Witch	0.76
8	Enchantress	Sentinel	0.73
9	Scarlet Witch	Sentinel	0.73
10	Bishop	Scarlet Witch	0.73

Honorable Mentions

Pairs that would have made the top 5 if the cutoff was 300+ matches instead:

Win Rate

Avg Cubes

Infinite Rank (100+) and High CL (2000+)

Cutoffs
Matches: 400+
Decks: 10+

Usage

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Matches
1	She-Hulk	Sunspot	10,536
2	Armor	Sunspot	9,700
3	Lizard	Sunspot	9,454
4	Armor	Cosmo	9,139
5	Killmonger	Shang-Chi	8,975
6	Shang-Chi	Wave	8,907
7	Cosmo	Sunspot	8,710
8	Cosmo	Zero	8,115
9	Cosmo	Lizard	7,989
10	Armor	Lizard	7,988

Win Rate

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Win Rate
1	Doctor Doom	Maria Hill	60.70%
2	Captain Marvel	Polaris	60.22%
3	Dracula	Jane Foster	60.14%
4	Magneto	Shuri	60.08%
5	Agent Coulson	Doctor Doom	59.69%
6	Darkhawk	Maria Hill	59.59%
7	Dracula	Thor	59.56%
8	Maria Hill	Zabu	59.37%
9	Maria Hill	Rockslide	59.35%
10	Captain Marvel	Titania	59.31%

Average Cubes

Rank	Card 1	Card 2	Avg Cubes
1	Beast	Thanos	0.86
2	Deathlok	Thanos	0.79
3	America Chavez	Carnage	0.78
4	Green Goblin	She-Hulk	0.70
5	Darkhawk	Polaris	0.68
6	Darkhawk	Scarlet Witch	0.66
7	Polaris	Sentinel	0.65
8	Moon Girl	Viper	0.65
9	Doctor Doom	Jane Foster	0.64
10	Darkhawk	Nova	0.60

Honorable Mentions

Pairs that would have made the top 5 if the cutoff was 300+ matches instead:

Win Rate

Black Widow & Devil Dinosaur
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Avg Cubes

Conclusion

Isn’t it interesting that Shuri only showed up twice in the data? Or that Galactus didn’t show up at all? I also found it really interesting to see how different the results are depending on a player’s rank and collection level.

Raise your hand if you expected Maria Hill anywhere on this list, let alone taking the #1 spot for win rate in our highest-level category. Nobody? Yeah, me neither.

I think one of the biggest takeaways is that many decks do well to use a hybrid of card packages. So many of the pairings don’t have direct synergy with each other, but they represent packages that do well together. Or single cards that boost a deck we don’t normally see them in.

I think it’s worth looking at the top lists for categories besides your own. Some takeaways are only relevant to that local category (the Move archetype seems to be a cube thief on your way to infinite if you haven’t finished pool 3 yet). Other takeaways can surely have wider value.

Here are some highlights:

Spider-Woman boosts Zero/Shuri decks
Storm and She-Hulk boost Discard decks
Hulkbuster boosts Galactus decks
Moon Girl and Death is a powerful combo
Vision wins games
Maria Hill is underrated

In conclusion, looking at the top card pairings provides some valuable insights. By examining the pairings across different rank and collection level categories, both dominant and unexpected combinations were surfaced. I know this data will change the way I think about some cards and deck archetypes the next time I’m deckbuilding.

How about you? Any surprises? Any pairings you want to try or any adjustments you want to make to that deck you’ve been developing? Any unusual pairings you love that didn’t make the cut?

Most importantly, are you prepared for the Lizard-Domino meta? 😜

A final reminder that an analysis like this is powered by the data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If you thought this was cool, would like to see more, and are playing the game on PC or Android, consider giving it a download. It also automatically syncs your collection to our site and powers useful tools like the Meta Snapshot over at MarvelSnap.Pro.

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