Table of Contents
Hi everyone, welcome to our latest Marvel Snap Meta Tier List, where I try to take a look at the current state of the game, ranking the most popular decks and breaking down their strengths in the current metagame.
In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment, and have a positive cube average using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the metagame, you can find it in the new “Silent Performers” section. There, I will highlight decks with an excellent cube per game ratio, but with too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength. These builds can either be decks on the decline popularity wise, such as Negative Surfer, largely eclipsed by Sera Surfer this season. It can also be unpopular decks because of the cards they include or the gameplay they push for, such as Thanos Zoo. Lastly, it can be a rising deck that I want to know more about before trying to rank it amongst the other popular decks, as it is the case for Electro Wong On Reveal this week.
For decks with a good representation, yet that aren’t good enough to be considered contenders currently, there will be ranked in Tier 4 in our chart, but won’t have their own dedicated write-up. See Tier 4 as decks that are good to know about, as you should face those when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the metagame changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks aren’t looking to be noteworthy picks at the moment.
Let’s talk about the third week in the Savage Land Season, one where we really saw the trio of the best cards in the game currently take over, and represent most of the current Marvel Snap metagame. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of very impactful cards in the game. Aero, Leader are still great despite their recent adjustments, Sunspot and Armor are becoming an incredibly strong early game duo, with Iceman and Scorpion trailing them from close. I could also mention Devil Dinosaur, Sera or Patriot, all three representing incredible building blocks for their archetypes. Lockjaw as well, made an impression comeback this week, and reposition itself as a contender. Yet, as time passes, it is starting to be very difficult to argue against the fact that Zabu, Shuri, and Silver Surfer have taken over Marvel Snap, and these three represent the strongest foundation for a deck as we speak.
It is difficult to really say which one is the best overall, and considering Shuri is a 4-Cost card, the card often ends up being paired with Zabu in their decks, one making too much sense not to be included in the other’s archetype. Zabu and Silver Surfer also coexist in a few builds, as the latest Season Pass card is a recipient for Silver Surfer‘s buff. Overall, It seems like these three just have a lot of shared synergies, and two out of three end up creating the strongest cores in the currently dominant decks.
It might not be for long, as we know the previous balance patch was somewhat of a trial run for a bigger one in the future. The upcoming Series Drop at the end of the month, too, could give the Second Dinner team more liberty to change some cards going down a rarity tier, such as Shuri for example. So the end of Savage Land Season could be filled with surprises, but for now, as we close the third week in Zabu‘s jungle, we can only recognize the mighty trio as the dominant one in Marvel Snap.
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name + Explanation | Go to Deck List |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Zabu Darkhawk 🔼 | Deck List |
| Tier 1 | Shuri Zero 🔽 | Deck List |
| Tier 1 | ZabuCula 🆕 | Deck List |
| Tier 1 | Seracle Surfer 🔽 | Deck List |
| Tier 2 | Patriot Surfer 🔼 | Deck List |
| Tier 2 | Lockjaw On Reveal 🔼 | Deck List |
| Tier 2 | Handsize Good Cards Priority 🔼 | Deck List |
| Tier 2 | Leech Leader Good Cards Priority 🔽 | Deck List |
| Tier 3 | Galactus | Deck List |
| Tier 3 | She-Hulk Baero | Deck List |
| Tier 3 | Zabu Control | Deck List |
| Tier 3 | Zerocula Kazoo | Deck List |
| Tier 4 | Cerebro 2 🔽 | Deck List |
| Tier 4 | Discard Lockjaw | Deck List |
| Tier 4 | Ongoing Destroyer | Deck List |
| Budget | Handsize Destroy | Deck List |
| Budget | Ongoing | Deck List |
| Budget | Sandman Kazoo | Deck List |
| Budget | Control | Deck List |
Silent Performers of the Week
Tier Explanation
Tier 1: Tier 1 represents decks with all the upsides we would be looking for to rack up Cubes. They have good matchups in the current metagame, offer different play patterns during a match, and often have the ability for explosive or surprising turns. These should be decks worth investing into in order to climb for the coming week.
Tier 2: Tier 2 are very good decks but with a weakness holding them back – either not being as reliable in its draws as Tier 1 decks, countered by another popular deck, or still being a work in progress as you read this. A good pilot could probably take these and have the same results as with a Tier 1 deck, but their play patterns are more difficult to enact compared to the Tier above.
Tier 3: This tier is made of decks that have a pervasive issues compared to Tier One or Two decks. Usually, Tier 3 will be a mix of decks on the rise which don’t have much data about themselves, old archetypes on the decline, decks that require substantial experience and/or knowledge to pilot properly, powerful decks that aren’t well positioned, or niche decks.
Tier 4: Off-meta decks that have fallen off in recent times.
Budget: Decks that consist only cards in Pool 1 and 2 but are still capable of competing with an experienced pilot in a similar Collection Level, Rank, and MMR range. See our matchmaking guide for more details.
Meta stats and analytics directly from our Marvel Snap Tracker can also be found here. We’ll have more data being integrated soon for the tier list!
Tier 1
Zabu Darkhawk 🔼
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Rank Justification: The best Zabu deck has only progressed ever since the card was released, and has now reached the top of the mountain. What clearly makes the deck so special is Zabu opening some incredibly powerful turn 6 plays, which aren’t easily countered by an opposing Leader, as your Darkhawk and their Darkhawk usually will be of very different sizes. As a result, a good Zabu player with the perfect hand should always be able to play around the current traps of the metagame. For example, leaving priority before turn six so Enchantress and Shang-Chi can’t remove our big cards, as they haven’t been revealed yet.
Although the more traditional list of Zabu Darkhawk, packing many more 4-Cost cards, like Spider-Man, Absorbing Man or Shang-Chi are more popular currently. This very points focused take, taking a page from the Devil Dinosaur archetype, seems to be able to develop points even when not drawing into Darkhawk. It is unclear as which one is the clear-cut best, but both takes on the deck have been climbing to stupidly high ranks.
How to play: Just like any Zabu deck, the idea of the build is to go crazy as most of our cards cost half of their real value. Thanks to this discount, the deck is very flexible, and can spread hide its true potential until the last turn of the game. Darkhawk and Devil Dinosaur should carry the load when it comes to points, with Mystique able to copy either card’s ability. Ideally, we would look to shuffle Rocks and disrupt on turn four, develop Devil Dinosaur on five, and go all-in with Darkhawk, Mystique on turn six.
As for the utility cards, the trick is to play them so they can have an impact down the line, but not close any of our options early on. It can either be to help Darkhawk or Devil Dinosaur win their contested lane, or represent something the opponent has to beat on a lane we didn’t plan on fighting tooth and nail for. Note that Rockslide and White Queen can still represent a good amount of points each, even if they are labelled as support cards.
They aren’t any precise play patterns with the deck, as we are extremely flexible once Zabu is in play. Depending on your hand, you can show your Darkhawk and Devil Dinosaur early on, and grow them on turn six. Or do the opposite, with support cards first and the big haymakers on turn five and six. If you don’t find Zabu, you aren’t guaranteed to lose, as Devil Dinosaur still is a very solid anchor to a lane. Nonetheless, I would be very careful with how you play the game and if Snapping is a good idea.
Potential additions: This take on the deck would represent the more traditional, 4-Cost heavy approach of the deck:
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Shuri Zero 🔽
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Rank Justification: Edged out by Darkhawk being one of the few cards in the game able to rival the power of the cards Shuri helps create. Shang-Chi being easier to include as a counter in the other deck was the deciding factor for the #1 spot this week. Don’t be fooled though, Shuri Zero is still an extremely strong deck, and the addition of Sauron for those who collected the card has only made this feeling stronger.
The big upside of Shuri Zero is how simple it is to navigate the second portion of the game compared to other, more combo-oriented decks. Here, the deck can often fit the meme “Big Boy go BRRRR” as you are literally just playing a 30 power Red Skull on turn five and coping it on turn six to seal the win. As a result of this very simple take on how to create points, Shuri Zero definitely feels like a concept deck, where you immediately feel extremely powerful once you build a list that respects said concept.
For some, it can be a bit annoying to have so little room to work with in order to adapt to the metagame, for others, they are slamming big cards and racking them cubes.
How to Play: The deck is the textbook definition of setting up early, and going all in late. When in doubt, go for the maximum amount of points.
In the first three turns, you want to set up your synergies, and then, depending on your setup, you will develop your points differently:
- Zabu pushes for a more explosive approach, with Attuma, Shuri and Typhoid Mary coming down for a big burst outside the expected turn four. Make sure to play Attuma with Armor, and disable Typhoid Mary’s ability if possible with Zero.
Sauron and Shuri make playing on curve, big cards very easy. Go for Typhoid Mary, Red Skull and either Taskmaster or Arnim Zola to duplicate their power afterwards. Zero pushes you to play one big card, but can be used flexibly because of its cost. Armor protects Attuma from itself, but also your big card on turn five from an opposing Shang-Chi. If you plan to use Arnim Zola, don’t play the card on Armor’s location.
Potential Additions: Previous iterations of the build have seen Vision, She-Hulk or Lizard be included. These represent more flexible options compared to Ebony Maw or Attuma in the presented build.
Sauron isn’t mandatory to run this deck, the card simply gives a little more reliability towards disabling Typhoid Mary, Red Skull, and makes Ebony Maw much more flexible as well. You could probably cut the later alongside Sauron if you didn’t have the card.
ZabuCula 🆕
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Rank Justification: The other, less Series 5 intensive build around Zabu has made largely enough strides this week to earn its own entry in our rankings. It seems to be the best deck without any Series 4 or 5 cards currently in the game, as long as you have Zabu, obviously…
Similarly to its Darkhawk counterpart, the ZabuCula variant tries to hide how many points it can really develop before it is too late for the opponent to answer those points. Also, because Dracula doesn’t require as much support as Darkhawk (Korg, Black Widow…) the deck can afford to play cards like Shang-Chi or Enchantress in order to gain some reactive power. These two inclusions seems to give the deck most of its game against Shuri, Darkhawk or Devil Dinosaur currently, giving the deck another route than trying to win a points’ shootout it seems just a little unfavored in.
You could see this deck as a bit of a hybrid from the Zabu Darkhawk and the Shuri Zero deck, cutting all the most expensive cards but keeping their core concepts.
How to play: The goal with this deck is to get set by turn five, so we can be flexible on turn six, where most of the important action takes place.
By the end of turn five, we want to have achieved of these two situations:
- A lane is a sure-fire win with Dracula or Red Skull, and we are in reasonable range in the other two lanes → On turn six, you can try to overtake a lane, either with your reactive tools, or using Magneto to move your opponent’s cards around.
- All lanes are contested, but we have Zabu in play and our 4-Cost cards in hand → This opens playing both Typhoid Mary and Enchantress on a lane to contest it, and Shang-Chi or Dracula on another one to surprise the opponent.
Ideally, we want to decide which situation to create based on our hand. A reactive hand will perform better in a contested situation, while a handful of points wants to make it easy to read where we should develop said points.
Potential additions: Jubilee and Omega Red are two solid 4-Cost cards to play in this deck, both cards synergizing well with our big cards. Spider-Man or other common inclusions in Zabu decks should be tested with caution, as they can make Dracula awkward at times.
Lady Sif and Ghost Rider have been spotted in the archetype as well, and represent another way to cheat out big cards.
The Sunspot – Armor duo is the most flexible part of the deck, and can be played around to fit your liking, locations or specific matchups.
Seracle Surfer 🔽
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Rank Justification: As good as you can be, there comes a point where you have reached your peak, and newer cards will come and push other archetypes to be able to adapt past your ability, or edge out their matchup against you. This is kind of what is happening to this deck currently, as it is arguably the most polished deck in Tier 1, but also the one where it is most difficult to come up with a clear improvement or meaningful change.
I don’t expect Seracle Surfer to become a bad deck anytime soon, and it should stay both a top deck for popularity and performances at least through the rest of the season. According to the Marvel Snap Zone Tracker, Seracle Surfer represents more the 35% of the metagame in the rank 80 and above, so the deck clearly has some time before being considered declining.
Simply, everyone else knows what it can do, and has adapted to it, so it is only logical the deck isn’t the absolute best anymore.
How to play:
The basic play pattern for the deck would be:
- Play a 3-Cost on turn three.
- Play a 3-Cost on turn four. The sole 1-Cost can be played here if you have it in hand.
- Play Sera on turn five.
- Play several 3-Cost cards, including Silver Surfer as the last one on turn six.
Presented like this, it doesn’t seem like the deck is very flexible, but the whole point is that you have so many 3-Cost cards that you can use them flexibly depending on what you need. Cards like Bishop or Mister Fantastic are non-committal cards, meaning their effect is the same no matter the game state. Cosmo, Killmonger, and Polaris are more matchup based, but can help to derail the opposing strategy. Lastly, Maximus and Brood are payoff cards, which tip the opponent as to where we will invest our largest amounts of points. Ideally, we want to keep these for the last turn, as to maximize flexibility.
Potential additions: This deck is a best of all the current 3-Cost cards in Marvel Snap. So if you have a 3-cost you think makes sense in the environment, it probably can be included in the deck.
Popular replacements are Bishop and Rogue instead of the Storm, Juggernaut duo.
Tier 2
Patriot Surfer 🔼
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Rank Justification: Slowly but surely, this deck is climbing and threatening to be a menace for Tier 1 decks. The list hasn’t changed compared to last week, but I would attribute the rise to more players giving the archetype a shot, and probably playing the deck better with more time under their belt.
I am a bit scared about Enchantress making a comeback, as Zabu doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and Devil Dinosaur is very popular currently. However, Silver Surfer and Patriot dodge Shang-Chi perfectly, and Ultron is great to completely ignore Spider-Man as well. So for now, the stars seem to be aligned for the Patriot Surfer duo to maybe give a run for its money to Sera Surfer, as the best deck of the archetype.
Well, actually, Sera is in this one too… Never mind that last part.
How To Play: The idea around this deck is to show that we are a Patriot deck, as most players will recognize that in the first two turns of the game, but still keep the Silver Surfer a surprise to mess with their anticipation of our points spread. As such, Brood is often best kept in hand if possible, the card tipping our opponent on the Silver Surfer potential.
There are usually two ways to play this deck, on curve, or with a combo play style:
- On Curve: This is our Patriot typical gameplan, with the intent to play just Ultron during the last turn of the match, filling whatever is left of our board. Before this point, simply look to set up Ultron nicely and getting your Patriot out is key, even if it can be answered. By this logic, we are just playing our best turn possible points wise every time. It is typically the go-to route when Silver Surfer is nowhere to be seen.
- Combo: Sera helps, as she usually allows for a combination of three amongst Patriot, Mystique, Silver Surfer, and Brood on turn six. But even without Sera, we can get away with just Brood and Silver Surfer on turn six, while masquerading as a classic Patriot deck for the rest of the game. Patriot into Mystique also works perfectly, but tends to be more expected.
In this approach, try to think of your space ahead of time, and keep some flexibility to dodge annoying locations or Cosmo.
Potential additions: The build hasn’t changed during the week, which seems to indicate players have reached some form of agreement on the best way to build it. Here is another take on the archetype, including even more win conditions:
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If you’d like some game play of this deck, HowlingMines recently made some!
Lockjaw On Reveal 🔼
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Rank Justification: The comeback of the week definitely goes to everyone’s favorite good boy in Marvel Snap: Lockjaw. In a world where Zabu and Silver Surfer are battling to know who is the best 3-Cost card, and Shuri joins them to figure who is worth the most points, Lockjaw as emerged as a surprising, yet not illogical contender. Indeed, when it comes to cheating both energy and points, Lockjaw has been a staple ever since the beta day, way back before any of these cards were available.
There are two huge upsides to playing Lockjaw currently, one based on the decks ranked in Tier 1, and one regarding the next entries of our list:
- Lockjaw doesn’t care for any of the current popular tech cards, it seems, apart from maybe Shang-Chi on an early cheated The Infinaut. Even Cosmo doesn’t do much on Lockjaw‘s lane, apart from disabling Jubilee, but she can be played somewhere if the opponent commits Cosmo on turn three. This is a big upside to know your key card can’t be disabled by the opponent when Zabu, Shuri or Silver Surfer have Cosmo, Enchantress and Shang-Chi ready to counter them at the very first occasion.
- Leech and Leader are also not a problem for Lockjaw, as neither really impact the cards we will throw back in the deck. When the Priority archetype is amongst the most popular builds in the game, it is a nice commodity to be able to ignore most of its most annoying cards.
Lastly, one can note that Nightcrawler and Vision have started to get some good value with the latest, very disruptive locations added to the game.
How To Play: Based on its signature card, the deck aims at using cheap, weak cards behind Lockjaw in order to summon much stronger ones without paying the required energy.
As such, the first three turns of the game can be very quiet for a Lockjaw deck, with the last one being extremely eventful. Ideally, one would want to go all in on Lockjaw on turn five, and dedicate turn three to Thor, so we have time to find Mjölnir as well. It also opens turn four to play Dracula or Jubilee, usually good cards to anchor a location.
Once in the last two turns of the match, the goal is to think about good outcomes, and how to high roll enough to win the game. If ahead, a simple Magneto play could be enough to secure the win, otherwise, it is important to be mindful of what is left in our deck to calculate our odds of finding the right card with Lockjaw.
Potential additions: Considering the deck just re-emerged recently, there are various takes on how to approach the archetype, either looking to go for a safer approach, or for more potential points. There is even a build around Thanos, using the Infinity Stones in order to abuse Lockjaw.
Here is a list of cards that can make sense in the deck:
- Cheap cards, can be played behind Lockjaw: Iceman, Korg, Sunspot.
- Expensive cards, rewards to pull with Lockjaw: Captain Marvel, Hulk, Giganto, Death.
Handsize Good Cards Priority 🔼
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Rank Justification: With Silver Surfer slowly losing some ground to Shuri and Zabu, there is a need to develop more points currently, rather than heavily disturbing the opponent’s plan. As a result, the Devil Dinosaur build of the Priority archetype seems to perform better than its Leech counterpart this week.
If Lockjaw On Reveal was the Pool 3 archetype to take if you were looking to high roll your way to grinding the ladder, the Priority archetype wants to keep things under control. It can struggle if the game comes down to a points’ shootout against some of the strongest win condition in Marvel Snap, but is able to hold its own against most opponents without the perfect hand.
How To Play: The deck clearly has two different parts to it:
- Utility cards: Most of the deck can be considered a utility card – contributing for points, but also adding something else to the equation. We are looking to play those cards without locking options for ourselves later in the game. Cosmo is probably the most sensitive of the bunch, as we have to think of not playing it where we will play Aero or Leader. It can serve as a nice protection to our Devil Dinosaur, though, so positioning it properly is super important.
- Win Conditions: Devil Dinosaur, Aero, and Leader are the three big cards in the deck, with each expected to contest or win a lane. Most of the game should be conceptualized with those cards in mind, likely coming down in the last two turns.
The whole point when playing this deck is to set up the best possible situation for our Win Conditions to be successful at winning us a lane. If the utility cards are able to take a lane the opponent didn’t seriously invest into, it makes it even easier later on. Just like the other Good Cards archetypes, seizing priority when going into our Aero turn tends to be an important part of the card being at its best.
Potential additions:
- Aero and Leader can be replaced by any card representing a potential win condition, such as Magneto, Doctor Doom, etc.
- Cosmo is our flexible counter card, Enchantress, Shang-Chi or Killmonger could also be valid inclusions.
- Iceman is a flexible 1-Cost, as is Lizard in the 2-Cost cards. Nightcrawler and Armor are the most likely replacements.
Leech Leader Good Cards Priority 🔽
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Rank Justification: With Zabu and Shuri being as, if not more popular than Silver Surfer recently, Red Skull and Typhoid Mary have been much more popular as well. Alongside The Infinaut in some archetypes too. This change in the metagame isn’t a good sign for the Leech Leader deck, who sees Leech being much weaker compared to before. The card still seems to be necessary to the archetype in order to compete with Silver Surfer. Yet, keeping up with Zabu, or matching the power of an opposing Taskmaster, is something Leader isn’t able to do on its own.
It is way too early to call the strongest Pool 3 archetype of the past month on the decline, but this week is one to forget for the Priority archetype.
How To Play: Get priority early on with Lizard and Maximus, keep it while gathering information with White Queen, and then just dictate the last two turns with Aero and Leader.
If this plan would fail, or the draws don’t align, you still have a couple of other patterns thanks to alternate plays on every mana cost.
Leech is the most important card in the deck as it can make or break some matchups. Look to play it as early as possible against highly synergistic builds like Silver Surfer or Zabu, for example, but be careful against Zero decks or if you suspect your opponent to run The Infinaut.
Potential additions: Anything that can score a ton of points on its own could fit this list:
- Thor was a popular inclusion in the past.
- Scorpion can be in the 2-Cost card rotation.
- Shang-Chi can be included to help against Shuri decks.
- Polaris sees play in the Devil Dinosaur Priority build.
Tier 3
Galactus
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Rank Justification: Spider-Man slowly disappearing from the most popular Zabu decks should be great news for Galactus, and Knull is as good as any other card in the game in order to win a power-base battle on a lane. For those reasons, I believe things could be looking up for Galactus in the near future, and the deck could be on the rise soon.
The deck isn’t showing the same results as those in Tier 2, hence the inclusion in Tier 3, but it is important to note Galactus is also showing much more promise than the other decks in Tier 3 as well. Consider it a Tier 2.5 deck I guess.
How To Play: The deck really has two key turns: four and five, or four and six depending on our hand, leaving the rest of the game to be flexible.
If we played Electro on turn three, our turn four should ideally be Leech or Doctor Octopus. Both cards serve the similar purpose of disabling the opponent’s hand, and making them unable to compete when we play Galactus on turn five. Snap timing is absolutely key in this game plan, as most opponents will retreat once they understand what is going on.
The other way of getting Galactus out is through Wave on turn three. We then have a flexible turn five and likely will look to go Shang-Chi plus Death on turn six without priority in order to beat an opposing Leader. In that sequence, turn five is flexible, and can be dedicated to pushing for points with Maximus. Alternatively, we can also try to cancel the opponent’s six with Leech, or Doctor Octopus if we have a read on the opponent playing a very synergistic deck.
Knull is the “I Win” card that usually win the power war except by an opposing Leader copying it.
Potential additions:
- Ebony Maw: Great for priority on Galactus, especially as Electro is a weak turn three for power. Feeds Knull nicely
- Wolverine, Sabretooth, Green Goblin, Hobgoblin: All these card have a nice synergy with Galactus but are a big tell of what we are currently playing.
- Aero: Before Galactus, she can help make sure the opponent doesn’t have too many points on the lane we want to keep active.
- Destroyer: Can be an alternate plan if we don’t draw Galactus, destroying Electro and opening for a Maximus plus Shang-Chi on turn six, or Knull if we destroyed enough power.
She-Hulk Baero
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Rank Justification: The Armor problem still is very much present for Baero, who doesn’t seem to be able to develop its game plan in peace for now. The deck is great below the Infinite rank, as it seems the player base still fighting in the 80 – 100 range isn’t following the meta as closely as those who already completed the climb. According to Marvel Snap Zone Tracker, the deck gains about 3 to 4% win rate when played outside the most competitive ranks of the ladder.
As such, it could be worth trying Baero if you aren’t seeing so many opponents with the now expected Sunspot – Armor duo to open the game.
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 destroy effects, 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 and looking to maximize energy usage, the deck is quite flexible and is able to develop points even without drawing into Wave. The destroy synergy especially shines when it comes to cleaning up annoying cards that would appear on our side of the board, be it from locations or the opponent.
Potential additions: The deck usually rotates through four different 1-Cost cards (Nova,
Zabu Control
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Rank Justification: Still trying to find its footing in the current environment, the control archetype keeps trying new cards week after week, showing similar results in the process. This time, it is Professor X which seems to make a lot of sense to help the deck limit the opponent’s potential moves. Also, Daredevil being a natural fit for the deck, Professor X already has one of its best pairing included.
As the metagame progresses, we should get to a point where it becomes clear what decks are worth countering, and those who we should simply retreat against. For now, it seems like the big problem for Zabu Control is the Silver Surfer deck, which isn’t particularly weak to any 4-Cost card. Maybe Professor X will be able to help with that. Otherwise, there might be a need to wait until Silver Surfer does not represent over a third of the metagame for the control archetype to shine.
How To Play: The deck aims at locking down the game, and benefiting from Zabu discounting our key cards in order to be very flexible and explosive during the second part of the game. Without this explosive power, it is usually very difficult to catch up to an opponent with the points lead on several locations.
If we have Dracula, Sunspot in a way, to compete for points on a lane, the deck needs to find a way to win another one with limited points development:
- Professor X can steal a lane on turn 5, so can Spider-Man in an imperfect but similar fashion.
- Enchantress or Shang-Chi can turn a lane around on turn six.
- Spider-Man plus Absorbing Man can lock two lanes on turn five to impair the opponent from being able to play. America Chavez needs to be enough to take one of those lanes alone then.
Potential additions:
- Killmonger for another reactive tool. You could even consider another 2-cost then instead of Nightcrawler, such as Armor or Lizard.
- Magneto, Doctor Doom, Aero, or Leader can top the curve, replacing Dracula and Red Skull as the points scorers.
- As usual with Zabu decks, feel free to play with your 4-Cost cards to find your perfect balance.
The previous Sera Control deck still makes sense, but definitely packs less high roll compared to the current Zabu decks.
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Zerocula Kazoo
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Rank Justification: This particular take on Kazoo has not moved in the last few weeks, and could be considered at its peak in this specific form. The deck is performing nicely below the Infinite rank, particularly in the 50 to 79 rank range, where Series 4 and 5 cards seem to make less of an impact. There, Kazoo represents more than 13% of the popular deck, far behind Silver Surfer, but still amongst the most likely encounters.
Shanna just joined the game, so the card could push some new variations of the Kazoo archetype. We will keep you posted as those appear.
How To Play: The goal of this deck is to quickly develop our side of the table to allow for some flexibility in the later turns. This will make it much easier to play around the usual suspects of Aero, Leech, or Leader in the later turns. Also, emptying our hand is a great setup for The Infinaut, either for Dracula to discard it on games end, or simply to not look too suspicious if we pass on turn five.
There aren’t any specific spread of points that makes particularly more sense and the deck can either go really hard on two lanes, pairing cheap cards with Dracula on one, and Red Skull on the other. Alternatively we can spread our points more, and simply assume one of our big scorers will be able to contest almost on its own.
Thanks to being in the lead often in most games, we should be able to try our luck with Cosmo or Armor at times, sniping important abilities for our opponent.
Potential additions: The upper part of the deck seems quite difficult to change, with Dracula needing both Red Skull and The Infinaut to reliably find a good discard. America Chavez could fit the role, proving more consistency at the cost of a smaller Dracula. The low end of the curve can be adapted, although the current inclusions seem optimal. I would vouch to replace Sunspot first if you have a card you want to include, especially if you see yourself rarely passing any energies.
Closing Words
Every week as we release what is the biggest piece of the website, there are comments about how it is a reflection of the Pay to Win agenda Second Dinner is pushing in Marvel Snap. And for once, the people might be in the right, as the current metagame clearly took a turn to become a three-way battle between a Series 5 and two Battle Pass cards this week.
Still, I would like to direct your attention towards several decks in Tier 2 which are made entirely of Pool 3 or lower cards. Also, the meteoric comeback of Lockjaw On Reveal this week shows that there are edges to be found, even if they can be very difficult to spot at times.
Lastly, this stale part of the metagame is arguably the worst part of most card games, as we are playing for the excitement of trying new things and discovering new synergies first and foremost. Without this annoying part, though, we would never have a chance at finding the appropriate counters to these strategies, and rack up some cubes on their behalf once done.
So let’s hope next week features exactly that, and we can share some rising decks who managed to shut down the dominant cards in a way we didn’t expect, and reinvigorate this metagame going into the end of Savage Land Season.
Thanks everyone for tuning it to this week’s Tier List, as usual, find the whole Marvel Snap Zone team on Discord, and myself on Twitter for any questions or inquiries.
Good Game Everyone.
