Marvel Snap Meta Tier List: February 23, 2024 – Are We in the Hela Meta?

Welcome to our Marvel Snap Meta Tier List! Each week, we review the best decks in the ever-changing Marvel Snap meta. Then we bring you the deck lists, and we provide an in-depth report about them. This report contains information like how the ranks are justified, how the decks fare in both Ranked and Conquest modes, and how to build the deck with alternate cards to accommodate different collections.

This report is updated twice a week to make sure it is as close to the current meta as possible. Looking to figure out the impact of the newly released card or the latest balance changes? This is the place to be!

Marvel Snap Meta Overview

I had very high expectations for Corvus Glaive going into this week. Not only did I love the card from a deckbuilding standpoint, I also consider plus one energy to be a great bonus in Marvel Snap. Plus, the meta kind of felt stale, so a card that pushed for new synergies had all my attention.

I got most of my wishes granted with Corvus Glaive during these first two days. The card is pretty fun to build around so far. Multiple archetypes are using it, and it seems like it found success (although the most popular list aren’t the best performing ones).

However, when it comes to shaking up the meta, Corvus Glaive seems to have mostly pushed even more ways to abuse Hela, which was already a dominant card these last few weeks. It hasn’t taken the top spot yet, but Hela Lockjaw is still doing about the same as it has the previous weeks.

However, Hela as a card is now part of two Tier 1 decks, at least when it comes to this report. First, we have the Corvus Ramp deck, which is posting very solid results. It is based on simple concepts (reminiscent of Hela Lockjaw really) with a different engine for feeding Hela. Eventually, I would expect one of the two archetypes to disappear considering how similar they look.

The scarier prospect is Corvus Glaive and Hela making it into Thanos Lockjaw and posting a similar Cube Average as the traditional deck. Thanos was already among the decks able to develop a crazy amount of points while having the flexibility to pack an annoying card or two. Even with Corvus Glaive and Hela included, Thanos still manages to run Shang-Chi and Aero to disrupt the opponent. A scary sight for sure.

In the whole report, Hela is included in four archetypes with the weakest one being a high Tier 2 deck. The only one where Corvus Glaive and Hela aren’t together is the Hela Lockjaw deck, precisely that weaker one in Tier 2.

It might be too early to say Corvus Glaive and Hela are taking over, but if the situation looks the same when we take another look at it early next week, it might be true.

Are we in the Hela meta?

Happy Tier List, everyone!

Marvel Snap Meta Tier List

Disclaimer and Tier Explanations

In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive cube average in the Ranked mode. Win Rate is also taken into consideration, and it can greatly impact the ranking of a deck, particularly when several archetypes (or different builds of the same deck) have a similar Cube Average but big Win Rate discrepancies. The Marvel Snap mechanics do, however, push players to maximize cubes gained rather than win every single game.

In order to create this chart, den is using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker, as well as other available data online and his own expertise and opinion of respected players. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the meta, you can find it in the Silent Performers section. That section highlights decks with an excellent Cube Average but too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength.

Decks not good enough to be considered contenders but with a good representation will be ranked in Tier 3 in our chart. They won’t have their own dedicated write up here, but they may be transferred to the main Tier List section. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face them when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the meta changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tiers 1 and 2.

For each deck, you will also get a write-up about their performance in the Conquest mode. In that section, we’ll discuss how the deck is doing and which differences, if any, exist when compared to the Ladder performance. In the chart above, you will also be notified of a strong archetype in Conquest with a Conquest flag next to their name.

Silent Performers

Most players should know about Mister Negative by now; it’s an evergreen archetype in Marvel Snap that is known for its incredible high roll potential. With Hela slowly gaining tons of momentum but lacking in disruptive ability, Mister Negative could be among the decks able to face it in a point’s shootout. The inconsistency is still there, but the deck did much better this week than it typically does.

The other two decks are variants of existing archetypes, except their little twists allowed them to perform much better than their counterparts. Hammer Control is inspired by Sera Control, and Corvus Discard is a mix of Hela Lockjaw and Dracula Discard.

The amount of games available was minimal, so the surprise effect could have played a role in their success. Nevertheless, constantly adapting is what makes an archetype survive in Marvel Snap, so let’s keep an eye on these two.

Corvus Discard

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Hammer Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Mister Negative

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Tier 1

Thanos Lockjaw

Thanos Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Since Blob was nerfed, we haven’t seen a deck cross the symbolic threshold of a 60% Win Rate and 0.6 Cube Average over several hundreds of games… until now. Indeed, the same deck that did so the last time – and took a big nerf because of it – is now back on top.

Cull Obsidian has proven to be a great addition to the deck. It makes Skaar easier to play alongside giving the deck too many Shang-Chi targets for the tech card to handle. With a week under its belt, the deck only progressed, and its flexibility compared to Destroy and Hela gives it the edge compared to other decks looking to slam a ton of points.

Conquest Performance:
When Thanos Lockjaw does well on the Ladder, you can bet it will be a solid archetype in Conquest as well since the build is flexible enough to adapt to almost any environment. This logic proved to be true this week, as Thanos Lockjaw posted the highest win rate in Conquest (a little over 61%) with a similar list to the one featured above. Jeff the Baby Land Shark replaced Psylocke, and Black Swan or Wave were slotted instead of Leech.

Not sure I like that last change, but it doesn’t impact the fact that Thanos Lockjaw looks back on top of the Marvel Snap world.

Potential Additions:
A list using Corvus Glaive and Hela also posted great results, ditching Psylocke and a 5-Cost to include them. Devil Dinosaur is a logical withdrawal from the deck since Corvus Glaive reduces your hand size. As for Aero making it into the deck, I guess this is really a “slam big cards” kind of deal.

Thanos Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

6x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Corvus Ramp

Corvus Ramp

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
While it is really close to a Hela Lockjaw deck in how it operates, Corvus Ramp managed to look much more consistent over a large sample size. Indeed, the 57% Win Rate it posted is higher than Hela Lockjaw has ever had (it’s usually around the 55% mark).

If Hela has found a deck with a reliable game plan, this could be a scary prospect. Indeed, we already know this type of archetype is great at Snapping because they rely on their own information to do so. If they also start winning most of their games, they might become a real problem to deal with.

Conquest Performance:
This particular deck didn’t appear in the data for Conquest. I tested it and had some success, but a one person sample size is not a good representation of the deck’s strengths.

I could tell you there was a Corvus Ramp deck with a few thousand games in Conquest, but it only posted a 53% Win Rate. That is decent, but it’s still below plenty of other archetypes. The list was pretty different from the one featured for Ranked, though, so I would encourage you to test the Ranked build in Conquest for now.

Potential Additions:
Sandman has done a lot of damage lately in Ramp decks with most people reporting it was their best performing card in their own deck with Corvus Glaive and Hela. This is the card I would be looking to include to bring some disruption into this deck.

Bounce

Bounce

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Bounce is the odd deck out in the elite bunch for this report. It’s the only one with a clear disruptive side to it. With Spider-Ham, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress, Bounce is able to play reactive and gather most of its points on one lane while counter cards help win the other.

I thought Sandman would be a big problem for Bounce, especially with early Corvus Glaive decks featuring the card a lot. It seems like most of the best performing decks are focusing on their own potential and ditching disruption for now. This allowed Bounce to keep its usual performance of the past few weeks, a little higher with a 0.4 Cube Average, but with an impressive 60% Win Rate. These numbers used to rank it first in past reports, but it will now have to fight for that spot.

Conquest Performance:
While it holds the highest Win Rate in the game alongside Thanos Lockjaw in Ranked, Bounce doesn’t seem to be able to keep that great performance in Conquest. It only posted a 53% Win Rate this time around. The list with the most games was still playing Sentry and Annihilus, a build that didn’t hold a 60% Win Rate in Ranked either.

Maybe the featured build cutting the Junk synergy is the way to go for Bounce, even in Conquest.

Potential Additions:
Sentry and Annihilus were a part of the deck for the past few weeks, but it seems like Black Swan and Enchantress took their spot, ditching the Junk synergy as a result.

As for standalone inclusions, you could consider Bishop or Hit Monkey in the deck for extra power, while Iceman or Elektra are fine 1-Cost additions. The Darkhawk package is also a possibility, with Korg, Rockslide, and Darkhawk finding their way into the deck. I’m also a big fan of Quake and Valkyrie.

Destroy

Destroy

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Still part of the strong decks club with a 0.4 Cube Average and 56% Win Rate, Destroy is in a good spot – although it is losing momentum. The Corvus Ramp deck is playing Armor, which could be a problem if it keeps gaining popularity. Then, the amount of points Thanos or Hela can put out is only matched by finding Deadpool early on and growing it to at least a 12 power card.

Not so long ago, Destroy was the best deck when it came to outscoring its opponent because there were certain play patterns that could only be beaten by disruptive cards. Now, Destroy needs to work a little more to beat the other decks with a high potential, which naturally makes it look a little worse overall.

Conquest Performance:
Alioth was the dominant 12th card for Destroy in Conquest over the last couple of days. With it, the archetype managed to achieve close to a 60% Win Rate, while Arnim Zola was around 56% in the data.

Potential Additions:
As usual, the 12th card for Destroy is up in the air. Shang-Chi and Alioth battle Arnim Zola for the spot. The pick is based on which card you think will surprise your opponent more and bring you some cubes.

Tier 2

Hela Lockjaw

Hela Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The traditional build of Hela only ranked fourth among decks with Hela this week, which I clearly didn’t expect going into the data. This doesn’t mean the deck had bad results over the last days; quite the contrary. With a 0.35 Cube Average and 55% Win Rate, Hela Lockjaw is on par with its usual performance, even looking more reliable at 55%, rather than the usual 52% or 53%.

The question we should ask about this one isn’t whether it is a good or bad deck, as the answer clearly is “good”. We should wonder if this is the best way to play Hela going forward because this is as good of a reason to see it lose momentum.

Conquest Performance:
With a 60% Win Rate over more than two thousand games, Hela Lockjaw almost took the top spot in this mode this week.

It is really interesting to see that no Corvus deck did great in Conquest, even if the builds with the best performances in Ranked didn’t appear in the Conquest data. Then, one could wonder whether Hela Lockjaw is now a Conquest build, with other possibilities to explore for the Ranked mode, or if Corvus Glaive is coming after that mode in the near future as well.

Potential Additions:
The list has not changed one bit over the full month of February, so I wouldn’t change a card except if you were missing one. If you did and have Corvus Glaive, you might want to look at the other archetypes. Otherwise, look for a card with a similar role in the deck.

Discard Dracula

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

3x 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)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
A 0.25 Cube Average and 56% Win Rate isn’t so far from the usual performance of Discard Dracula, although the extra Win Rate pushed it into Tier 2 this time around. However, this is a discard deck with a worse record than every Hela deck we discussed already, which shows there is a clearly better way of building around Corvus, at least for now.

However, the new card seems to have had a positive impact on the deck, so if you are an aficionado of Discard Dracula, this is still good news.

Conquest Performance:
Discard didn’t do so well this week in Conquest, even with Corvus Glaive added into the mix. The archetype only managed to post a 51% Win Rate overall.

Compared to the Ranked mode, the predictable aspect of the deck probably hurts it way more in Conquest since the only way to raise the stakes is to Snap very early in a match. Then you wouldn’t know how good your opponent’s hand is.

Potential Additions:
Sunspot could replace Miek if you didn’t have it. Quinjet is another consideration since it has a nice synergy with Helicarrier. Otherwise, look at the Corvus Discard in the Silent Performers section for a similar, yet more high roll based build.

Good Cards Junk

Good Cards Junk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Good Cards took quite a hit this week; this is the only build that managed to stay afloat. The others dove from solid a Tier 2 position to Tier 3 over the last few days.

The reason for this is simply Hela not caring too much about the standard disruptive cards. Instead, you should look to play Alioth, maybe Cosmo, and reduce their chance of finding Hela as much as possible. This is exactly what Good Cards Junk is about.

The 0.2 Cube Average and 54% Win Rate are far from the archetype’s best performance, and Bounce using the Junk package would probably be a stronger pick. However, this remains one of the easier decks to pilot, and it’s a great one to reach Infinite if you don’t enjoy the more high roll based synergies currently on top of the rankings.

Conquest Performance:
Good Cards Junk did much better in Conquest than it did in Ranked over the last two days and posted an almost 60% Win Rate with the exact same list. Considering most of the deck is based around disruption, it must help to know what the opponent is playing, which is much easier to do in Conquest.

Potential Additions:
Shadow King is the flexible card in the deck, with Jeff the Baby Land Shark representing its proactive counterpart. Rogue or Enchantress are also possibilities, while Mobius M. Mobius, Echo, or another proactive disruption tool could also work just fine.

Tier 3

We have a lot of strong archetypes in Tier 3 this week, which shows the meta is starting to be more demanding to perform at the highest level. This is something important to understand about these decks this week: they aren’t bad, they’re just struggling to enforce their strategy in the current environment.
Let’s take a look why.

First, now that Corvus Glaive opens a Hela play on Turn 5, Alioth and Galactus seem to be a little worse against it, which is a problem for Lockdown. Then, if they keep Hela in hand going into Turn 6, they rarely will have priority, which makes Shang-Chi less of a problem.

We are just a couple of days after the release of Corvus Glaive, meaning the trend is to find more ways to abuse rather than counter it. As such, the decks playing their usual builds might not have adapted yet, particularly when it comes to the disruptive cards. This naturally makes them look worse for now.

The important thing to look at for the decks in Tier 3, then, is their ability to adapt and rebuild some momentum now that they know what they have to beat.

Sera Control

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Lockdown

Lockdown

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

6x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Galactus Junk

Galactus Junk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Good Cards Darkhawk

Good Cards Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Loki

Loki

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

Even before Corvus Glaive released, Hela was gaining momentum in every report and solidifying its position as a top archetype (although it never actually took the top spot). With an extra ally to work with, Hela still hasn’t cracked the top of the list, except if you count it being a potential inclusion in Thanos Lockjaw. However, there are more decks using the card now than we ever had in the past, and they all look very effective so far.

Marvel Snap, just like every other card game, works based on new decks rising and other decks adapting to that. With a report just a couple of days after Corvus Glaive released, it is normal to see the emphasis on new decks rising. I would refrain from saying Hela has taken over until our next report. However, if the landscape looks the same, we might have to search for a way to target Hela specifically (if that makes sense considering Thanos Lockjaw might be a bigger threat).

There are already a couple of cards I can think of to help against Hela, such as Goose, Storm, and Jean Grey. All of those limit the spots the opponent could play Hela on, which makes your Cosmo or Alioth more reliable as a result.

The next week should be fascinating to follow, as its development should picture what the meta will look like until the next OTA in about a week.

To reach out, 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.