Marvel Snap Metagame Tier List, December 11th, 2022: The Power Cosmic Week 1

Welcome back to the weekly Marvel Snap Meta Tier List! Before we begin, I’d like to apologize for taking so long to publish this tier list. The new cards since our last update have impacted the game significantly, and it didn’t feel right to just publish something that would be mostly guesswork. Thanks a lot for all the messages though, it feels great to know the number of players expecting this content on a weekly basis.

Now, let’s talk about why it took so long: Bast is a crazy good card! Silver Surfer, too! And Valkyrie, Shuri, She-Hulk, Absorbing Man or even Galactus aren’t so bad either! Although it might not feel like a lot, 9 out of the 17 recently released cards have made it into the best decks in Marvel Snap. Arguably, I wouldn’t fault anyone for playing Agent Coulson or Maria Hill in a Devil Dinosaur deck either.

Marvel Snap is entering a new phase of its existence, as we will now get new cards weekly, more impactful locations added to the game, and who knows what features or balance changes might be on the horizon. As such, this tier list was really important to serve as the foundation for this new period, and I wanted to make sure this was something that could be updated easily in the future.

The biggest change has been adding a third section to our usual “Rank justification” and “How to Play” sections. “Potential additions” will cover how can the deck be adapted or explain why some cards were preferred in the deck. I didn’t develop that part too much this week, as most of the decks are new, meaning they are likely to change by next week, but I’ll make sure to develop the section in the future.

Finally, the meta stats data from our Marvel Snap Tracker will be ready for our next tier list update, allowing us to make more informed decisions when placing decks on the tier list. I hope you are all having a great time on Marvel Snap, and may this tier list help you in that regard!

Marvel Snap Meta Tier List

💡 You can always go to our Tier List section and view the latest updates, and more! Check out our new collection tracker, add your cards, and see what decks you can build or find a deck in our database!

Tier 1

Mister Negative is back on top!

Negative Surfer

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

25

MetaPool 5

2x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Already a strong consideration when the Series 4 and 5 cards were revealed, Silver Surfer seems to have sealed the deal: Mister Negative is back in full force!

With most cards in the deck being both a 3-Cost and with a higher cost than power, the pairing of the two signature cards in the deck feels obvious. In this still early season, several players are reported climbing to Infinite using the deck, and racking up 8 Cube wins whenever the opponent made the mistake to Snap back against a hand with Mister Negative in it.

However, if Mister Negative in hand might warrant an early Snap, it’s the deck’s ability to play without it that makes it truly special compared to previous decks around the card. Thanks to Bast, Adam Warlock is a playable card, and a very important one at that, as drawing in a highly synergistic deck is a great privilege.

Moreover, Bast offers solid play patterns if you don’t end up drawing into Mister Negative. Played with three or four other cards in hand, the card is able to represent a 10 power boost, easily the biggest ceiling for a mere 1-Cost in the game.

How To Play: The obvious gameplan would be to play Mister Negative on turn four, a three and a two on five, and unleash everything we can on turn six, profiting from our negative’d cards.

Even without Mister Negative, the deck still has some solid play patterns to try to win 2 locations:

• Brood combined with Silver Surfer can easily win a lane as it represent 15 power.
• Rogue is a nice surprise card considering there are many great ongoing abilities currently. Stealing a Blue Marvel or a Devil Dinosaur can be game winning.
• Bast and a 3-Cost into Iron Man, into two 3-Cost like Mystique or Silver Surfer over the last three turns can be a solid development.

Potential additions: Psylocke can replace another 2-Cost – I would vouch for Mojo. Most 3-Cost cards in Marvel Snap could be a consideration. If you do not have Bast, Adam Warlock needs to go as well.

BAEro keeps a top tier status

Baero

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

45

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: The addition of She-Hulk to the build has been largely enough to keep BAEro in the discussion for best deck in the game. In addition, Leader becoming a staple gave the deck a second very strong play outside Aero to make sure the opponent cannot develop as they wise.

Cosmo and Armor are still very popular, limiting how effective the Destroy synergy is able to be. However, with Mister Negative and Sera coming back strong since Silver Surfer was added to the game, BAEro might gain a little more room to shine in the future.

How To Play: The whole point of the deck is to be able to get two destroy effects while having reveal priority going into turn six. This should be achieved with a simple on-curve play during the first four turns, as the destroy synergy is able to generate solid power through its staple cards like Bucky Barnes, Deathlok, or Carnage.

Turn five should be a Wave play, and nothing else if we have She-Hulk in hand, so the card can be a 2-Cost next turn and be paired with Aero or Leader. If we managed to get to four destroys, Death becomes free and both her and She-Hulk can be played in addition to another card. Squirrel Girl being destroyed by Killmonger usually is the way to go to get our four destructions in time.

Outside this basic play pattern, looking to maximize energy usage, the deck still is quite flexible, and is able to develop points even without drawing into Wave. The destroy synergy especially shines when it comes to cleaning annoying cards that would appear on our side of the board, be it from locations or the opponent.

Potential additions: The Hood can replace any of the other 1-Cost cards, likely Nova, maybe Bucky Barnes. The reason I didn’t include it is that Armor is a very popular card. Nova at least is a +2 while The Hood is only worth it if we play the Demon as well in the game. With Killmonger in the deck, it can be awkward to play the 1-Cost outside of turn four, after Killmonger is revealed.

Otherwise, the deck wishes to play Wave on turn five and nothing else now that She-Hulk is in the deck, and turn six should be Death, She-Hulk alongside Aero or Leader.

Sera Miracle adapts and thrives

Bast Seracle

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

6

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Just like BAEro, Sera Miracle already was a deck before Series 4 and 5 were added to Marvel Snap. However, it is also a deck that found a card it liked and ran away with it. Well, in the case of Bast, a lot of decks like it, but you get the point.

In this new iteration, Bast being played anytime before turn five makes Sera incredibly scary. Even if you wouldn’t draw into the key card for the archetype, a 3-power Iron Man alongside three or four more boosted card in hand is a scary perspective in its own right.

How To Play: Just like it always did, the deck aims at using Sera‘s ability to have an incredible turn six and surprise the opponent. The difference with this archetype is that with Bast available to play on turn four, we are completely fine staying in a game where we wouldn’t draw into Sera. Simply play Blue Marvel or Iron Man, which still sets up a solid turn six with Mystique, Ant Man, and a 2-Cost card.

Outside the second part of the game being combo oriented, looking to surprise the opponent, we can still play our usual go-to card in the early game in the form of Angela and Bishop. Bast into Adam Warlock for extra draw is another great tempo pattern, forcing the opponent to commit resources to stop it. In this case, supporting Adam Warlock, so it keeps drawing, is absolutely a good enough reason to play cards, even more so if Sera isn’t in hand yet.

Potential additions: This archetype is known for its flexibility. With Bast in the deck, I would say most 2 or 3-Cost cards with less than three power can be a consideration. Without Bast, it might be worth going back to a destroy oriented build, or include cards like Maximus.

Silver Surfer pushes another archetype around it

Seracle Surfer

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

32

Pool 3Meta

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Just as we were talking about flexibility around the Sera Miracle archetype, here comes a brand new deck built around the card. Arguably, this deck could disappear over time, if the Mister Negative deck proves to be stronger and simply a better overall pick to play around Silver Surfer.

However, it is impossible to deny the strength of the deck, and the cards both include are different enough to call these two different archetypes. The big difference in this one is the ability to play more disruptive cards, such as Killmonger, Juggernaut or Polaris, which have no benefit in being played alongside Mister Negative. As a result, the ceiling in terms of points is lower, but the interaction with the opposing game plan is much stronger.

How To Play: We are using Sera to create more opportunities to exploit Silver Surfer, especially the ability to play three 3-Cost cards on the last turn of play. Before this point, we will usually play our tempo cards to annoy the opponent and develop 3-Cost cards to boost later on:

• Goose is great to play on a location where we know we will not play Sera.
• Cosmo is great to play on the location we know we will play Sera, as it protects her from a potential Enchantress or Rogue trying to snipe it.
• Storm into Juggernaut is a nice one-two punch to steal a location, and can make us look like a disruption deck.
• Nova is a fine card to play on turn one or four, simply to use energies. On turn one, it will usually draw on opposing Armor on the next turn if they have it.

Potential additions: It’s still up in the air whether Bast and Adam Warlock should make it over Nova and Maximus in this deck. Another way to build the deck is to have Domino as the sole 2-Cost to free a spot for an extra 3-Cost or a utility card.

Just like the previous Sera based deck, you can imagine a lot of combination in these archetypes if you would be missing a card, just stay away from the very expensive ones.

Tier 2

Electro is finally a metagame staple

Galactro / Electrus

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

21

ControlMetaPool 5

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Galactus being added to the Electro archetype made a huge difference for the deck in terms of results. First, the card works very nicely alongside other staples of the deck, such as Hobgoblin or Electro itself. Then, the card is quite strong into several of the popular current decks, which aren’t built to play on one location only, and usually use a location as a “dump” to set up their later synergies.

The rest of the deck also fits the Galactus theme well, creating a nice unity, with lots of room to potentially swap around some cards. Death particularly, is a star in the deck, synergizing with both Destroyer and Galactus, offering the deck a turn six similar to DeathWave on occasions.

With Knull being released soon, we might see even more of this archetype in the future.

How To Play: The archetype has two basic game plan to try to achieve victory: Galactus or Destroyer.

The Galactus plan has two different patterns:

• Wave on turn three, Galactus on turn four, Spider-man on turn five, just beat the opponent’s score on turn six.
• Electro on turn three or four, Galactus on turn five, Death or Leader or both on turn six.

For the Destroyer plan, it also has two patterns:

• Electro onto your already populated lane on turn three, Professor X on turn four to lock the lane. Turn five and six are dedicated to winning the second lane.
• Destroyer like a mad man to destroy mostly negative cards (The Hood, Electro…) so you get a cheaper Death and are able to contest the second needed location with it.

Potential additions: Tons of cards can fit the deck as most disruptive cards can accomplish something in the deck – Armor, Green Goblin, Leech, Polaris, Cosmo, Shang-Chi…

Patriot never disappoints

Patriot

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

22

Pool 3No AbilityMeta

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Patriot is one of these decks that feels like it reached the sweet spot where every card in the build makes sense, and we don’t really want to touch it anymore. However, as more cards are being released, and the Vanilla No Ability theme being an unlikely one for a Season Pass or Series 5 card, Patriot loses ground every time another deck gets a new card.

For now, I think Patriot still is a solid contender in the current metagame, and actually could be capable of including some new cards. For example, Silver Surfer has several targets in this deck, and Brood has been a card in previous Patriot decks. Valkyrie also, could make sense to play on the Patriot and Mystique lane, buffing both cards.

So who know, even if Patriot is amongst one of the rare archetypes yet to not include any new card, the future could surprise us.

How To Play: The goal for this archetype is to abuse Patriot‘s ability to grow all our vanilla units, which can in many forms, either cards from our decks or ones we generate, like Debrii‘s Rocks or Ultron‘s Drones.

In order to get the best out of our signature card, Mystique and Onslaught act as the boosters, and with Wave included in the deck, we can get Onslaught out before turn six. Magik also serves towards that purpose of being able to play Onslaught while not revealing Patriot already. Blue Marvel acts a poor man’s target in case we couldn’t find Patriot.

Potential additions: Invisible Woman helps disguise our intention and throw the opponent off for a bit. If you decide to try the Silver Surfer build around, make sure to include Brood in the deck as well.

Zero is back with Series 4 and 5 cards!

Zero

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

12

ComboMetaPool 5

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: On the brink of going extinct before Series 4 and 5 joined the game, Zero has found powerful allies in Shuri and She-Hulk, bringing back the archetype to life.

Shuri creates stupidly strong units that we can abuse with Venom or Taskmaster later on. Also, a 30-power Red Skull is likely to win its lane, and the following Taskmaster will likely win his as well. Regarding She-Hulk, because there are no 6-Cost cards in the deck, passing on turn five isn’t much of a problem. The other sweet thing is that Shuri isn’t limited in time regarding when you play your next card. As such, you can play Shuri on turn four, pass turn five, and have an incredible turn six with She-Hulk paired with Taskmaster or Red Skull.

The rest of the deck is the staple it has always been, with Sunspot finding a spot because of the She-Hulk interaction. Titania is being tested over Ebony Maw, as a more flexible 1-Cost. Once again, Enchantress is a valuable to run as a staple in the current metagame, the Ongoing synergy becoming more prevalent.

How To Play: The deck is a big ball of two or three cards synergizing together to create a lot of points in the end. We already discussed how She-Hulk and Shuri are greatly helping the deck, but here are the basic play patterns we are looking to accomplish:

• Taskmaster can be paired with Venom, Red Skull, She Hulk or Typhoid Mary to become a double-digit power 5-Cost card.
• Shuri works with most cards in the deck, except Venom, as she will grant her buff before Venom’s on reveal ability triggers.
• Zero should be used mostly on Typhoid Mary or Red Skull. Yet, Maximus or even Titania can be worthy targets to deny the opponent some cards or potential counter play.
• Enchantress should only be played when she is worth a lot of points, around 10 power kind of value. Otherwise, it is often better to keep developing big scoring cards.
• She-Hulk enables a turn six combo, but also can be a good turn four play alongside Zero. It involves passing on turn three, but allows a nice Red Skull follow up on turn five.

Potential additions: Sunspot would likely be cut from the deck, if you wanted Ebony Maw for example, or another 2-Cost such as Armor or Wolverine (Venom synergy). Cosmo might be a worthy inclusion, but will have to be played on turn 3 most of the time, it does synergize with Maximus in the deck. Otherwise, this archetype is difficult to modify, and would rather focus on its raw power rather than adapt to its opponents.

Sera has been included in the deck on some occasions in the past, opening a Venom plus Taskmaster play on turn six. However with She-Hulk in the deck now, we might want to pass turn five more often.

Deadpool finds another way to grow in Bast

Deadpool Bast

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

8

DestroyMetaPool 5

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: I stated in the introduction that Bast was going to be featured in a lot of decks – pretty much all the ones with low-power cards at the core of their gameplan. Here, Bast is simply used as a general buff, only Deathlok losing power when affected. On Deadpool, it is Forge buff that you can play on turn one. It loses value once Deadpool started growing, but can still be fine alongside The Hood, Venom or Arnim Zola for example…

Similarly to the Zero archetype, Deadpool managed to increase its power ceiling with Series 4 and 5 cards joining the game. However, the problem for the deck is that it suffers from the Destroy synergy being targeted by Armor or Cosmo as BAEro is a dominant deck. Depending on how the metagame evolves, I could see this deck rise or fall in the next few weeks.

How To Play: Deadpool wants to grow, as much as possible, and then be copied, either with Taskmaster or Arnim Zola. It is simple, but you could win a few games with this simple recipe.

Otherwise, a key point for this deck is the reveal priority. Indeed, we want to avoid our opponent being able to block our Deadpool chain of destruction. As such, revealing first means we only have to worry about what is visible on the board for our effects. If we are second to reveal, the opponent might be able to snipe our play with timely Armor, Cosmo or Aero.

Potential additions: It is difficult to say if Arnim Zola will stay in the build long term, and I could see the card and Shuri be cut to get Wave and Death back in the deck at some point.

Disruptive cards keep Ongoing Destroyer in the discussion

Ongoing Destroyer

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

19

Pool 3OngoingMeta

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: With no new cards included in the deck, it is only logical to see the Ongoing Destroyer archetype lower in our rankings. Also, the deck suffers from being really popular when most others deck have gained some new surprising elements, meaning opponents are more likely to play well against this deck compared to others on this list.

Yet, not all hope is lost for one of the most played decks of the past month, as Sandman once again appears to be a nice counter to all the decks listed in tier 1. As these look to pull off amazing last turns. Alongside Armor and Cosmo still being very annoying cards for a lot of decks, Ongoing Destroyer isn’t a deck to forget about.

How To Play: The deck aims to fill the board with ongoing cards while trying to limit what the opponent can do. As such, the deck could be split in two separate part, the proactive ongoing effects, and the reactive ones.

In the proactive category, we find Ant Man, Goose, Lizard, Mojo, Captain America, Mister Fantastic, Warpath and Klaw. These cards should be our main source of points during the first part of the game. Keep in mind, because we are running Warpath, we don’t want to expand on all three locations.

As for the reactive ones, Armor, Cosmo and Sandman fill this role. The first two allow to set up a good Destroyer while annoying Destroy or On reveal based decks in the process. Also, because Spectrum can buff them on turn six, they contribute to the overall score quite nicely.

Sandman is the new addition to the deck, and sees play to deny opposing combo turn on six. If you have Klaw and Destroyer or Spectrum, you might as well drop Sandman on turn four and not look back. Otherwise, you probably want to play Warpath first, and keep Sandman as a surprise to an opponent that thought he would set up on five and be rewarded on six.

Potential additions: Most Ongoing cards can be played in the deck. Ebony Maw is often listed as the other 1-Cost card alongside Ant Man. Professor X is a common inclusion as well, and would usually replace Sandman. Iron Man is another strong 5-Cost Ongoing if you want to replace Klaw or look for a second one.

Ronan the Accuser could see play with Sandman in the list, and Super-Skrull has me curious, although I have never seen the card included in the deck.

Tier 3

Bounce is a new deck

Bounce Thanos

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+