Marvel Snap Metagame Tier List, January 2nd, 2023: New Year Edition

, updated 5 months ago

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: While Psylocke into Mister Negative packs more of a high roll, the Sera builds win the competition of the Silver Surfer builds in the end. The deck feels more reliable and tend to have people stay in the game more often, while Mister Negative can often be met with a quick retreat. Additionally, the Sera deck is playing better cards overall, and can simply win through dropping its 3-Cost card and a turn six Brood into Silver Surfer.

Lastly, from a player’s standpoint, the Sera deck feels easier to read and visualize in the future. The big difference in between the two builds is that Mister Negative makes you play with your deck, while Sera does with your hand. As such, Sera makes it much easier to visualize what the rest of the game will look like, creating an easier decision process to know when to snap, and when to retreat.

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 the game status. 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, and 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:

As Sera isn’t as annoying as Mister Negative when it comes to including cards in her deck, many cards can work as substitutes:

Storm and Juggernaut as a nice duo in the deck.
Domino can be played to guarantee a 2-Cost on turn two. Then either play double 1-Cost or add another 3-Cost.
Wolfsbane is another good card when it comes to points. It can replace Bishop if you are more about playing late points rather than setting them up early.
Nova works well with Killmonger.
Lizard is another 2-Cost that fits well to seize priority.

Shuri Zero Panther 🔼

Shuri Zero

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: The current metagame really sees two kind of decks perform well: Those with a clear path to developing a ton of points, such as Silver Surfer, and those looking to seize priority and disrupt opposing strategies with counter cards. In that ocean of decks, Shuri Zero, at its core, definitely fits the first category. Hpwever, because it isn’t as demanding in terms of cards compared to a Silver Surfer build, it can still pack annoying cards for the opponent like Armor, or plan alternate routes to play around the common disruptive tools of the metagame.

This mixing of a little of everything together sees Shuri and Zero being the backbone of this strategy. These two serve as a crossroad to make Red Skull, Arnim Zola, Black Panther, Wong, or Maximus make sense when they are all tossed into the same deck.

Little side note here, but Shuri and Wong are probably the two cards to watch for once Zabu joins the game, as I have a feeling the two are going to be nuts when they only cost two energy.

How To Play: This deck is the definition of how to split your gameplan in two parts when building your deck:

Part one: Seize priority, develop points and play around the revealing locations.
Part two: Play Shuri or Wong, into Red Skull or Black Panther, into Arnim Zola or Taskmaster.
Part two sometimes: Play Shuri, pass turn five and She-Hulk plus Taskmaster becomes available.
Part three: Simply is looking at the humongous amount of points you have on the table, and maybe thinking about when to Snap during the game.

As a result, the deck’s gameplan is quite easy to figure out based on your hand. The big emphasis should be on maximizing your chances at realizing your win condition, planning ahead of how your opponent could try to counter it.

Potential additions: The deck takes its inspiration from the Wong On Reveal build and the Zero archetype, which you can try to pick ideas from both these decks. However, apart from Armor and She-Hulk, all the other cards are part of a package of multiple cards, making them difficult to change alone.

Typical standalone additions include:

Okoye instead of Armor, maximizing your points at the cost of Shang-Chi ruining your combo.
Sandman for Wong, which helps for Silver Surfer decks.
Aero instead of She-Hulk, giving you more ways to annoy the opponent, but reducing your combo potential.

Here is the other variation, labelled Shuri Pile, with more overall good cards included.

Shuri Pile

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Negative Surfer

Serative Surfer

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

2x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Probably the best deck in the game when everything goes according to plan, Mister Negative is also way too famous nowadays to trick anyone into staying in the game when one would Snap past turn two or three. As a result, the deck has fallen victim of its own popularity and struggles to get Cubes regularly.

Most of the time, the deck wants the opponent to Snap thinking they are in a good position and punish them with a counter Snap, which doesn’t happen very often. Overall, it feels like the Sera build has taken over as a more reliable build, able to get opponents to stay in more games while winning about as many of them.

How To Play: The obvious gameplan would be to play Mister Negative on turn four, three if you get an early Psylocke. Then, a three and a two on turn 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 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: Obviously, most cards with a power lower to their cost can be considered, especially if they are a 3-Cost. Wolfsbane is a great card in the deck in that regard.

Other notable inclusions are Forge, Ironheart or the occasional Jane Foster or Morph if you like to take the high roll train.

Tier 2

Good Cards

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: As the season comes to a close, the “Good Cards” archetype saw a lot of players turn to it for help, either through the now expected Leech – Leader deck, or with the Devil Dinosaur – Moon Girl duo. The deck didn’t really get better with time, as it didn’t really evolve to be fair, and stayed close to its basic recipe.

The true upside to the deck is that it is quite simple to play compared to other high profile decks in the current metagame. With its very simple play patterns, a down to earth concept, the deck feels perfect for anyone without much confidence in their abilities to try for a late season push.

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.

Potential additions: Anything that can score a ton of points could fit this list, and there are a lot of variations of the build.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur can work very well instead of Shang-Chi and Magneto. It also opens double Maximus on six, not so bad.
Enchantress, Cosmo and other counter cards can replace Shang-Chi in the flexible slot.
Polaris or other high scoring cards for their cost make sense, as long as their ability is of some utility.
Doctor Doom is another good six, allowing for flexible spread of points compared to Magneto.

She-Hulk Baero

Baero

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: The meta has started to adjust to Leader and Aero being in every deck, and more highly synergistic builds, with lots of cheap cards, have emerged. While Baero might have a problem with Leader countering its turn six play. It doesn’t have any problem dealing with a sea of 1-cost cards as long as it draws into Killmonger.

As a result, after a few weeks struggling to adapt to the current format, Baeo seems to finally make a lot of sense, and should be back to be a contender. We have yet to confirm how Wave exactly works with Zabu, but if the cards set to a 4-cost by Wave are discounted by Zabu, we could see a lot more of Baero in the near 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 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, 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 deck usually rotates through four different 1-Cost cards (Nova, Yondu, The Hood and Squirrel Girl) with all having different merits. Mysterio is another inclusion in the deck, serving as a nice destroy fodder while setting up some points for the late game. Lastly, America Chavez still makes a lot of sense in the build, as she makes the deck more reliable, helping to find Wave on turn five as often as possible.

Galactus

Galactus Electro

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

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)

4.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: While Galactus should be more and more predictable as time passes, it seems like the end of the season is a good time for the deck. It might be a case of players focusing more on their own gameplay rather than what the opponent is doing, or simply because players still fighting for the Infinite rank aren’t used to facing the card as much. Nevertheless, Galactus seems to perform well currently and the lists build around finding Galactus reliably tend to do better compared to the more high roll oriented ones, stronger after landing Galactus.

This archetype is a curiosity of mine once Zabu will be available, as synergy oriented decks tend to not include many tech cards early in their development. Galactus could be a nice punish to Zabu deck who thought it could just develop their curve and forget about the opponent’s strategy.

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 unable to compete when we play Galactus on turn five. Snap timing is absolutely key in this gameplan, as most opponent 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. Or trying to cancel the opponent’s six with Leech or Doctor Octopus if we have a read on the opponent playing a very synergistic deck.

Potential additions: Galactus builds seem to change a lot from a week to another, so a lot of potential additions are on the menu:

Ebony Maw: Great for priority on Galactus, especially as Electro is a weak turn three for power.
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.
Psylocke: Another way to gain energy in addition to Electro and Wave.
Daredevil: We will usually play Galactus on five with Electro, so it’s valuable information.
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.
Knull: Obvious replacement for Captain Marvel in the deck, but consistency seems very important currently.

Electro Ramp

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: In my book, Electro is the best deck if I had to recommend someone without any Marvel Snap experience and looking to climb the ladder. The archetype has a very simple play pattern and, through playing only one card a turn, limits the decision making process for the pilot.

Most of the time, landing Electro on turn three and Leech on four is enough to get an early retreat from the opponent. Otherwise, the deck still is able to compete for points on several lanes thanks to its powerful 6-Cost cards.

The trick is to simply know the deck’s limitations, as it obviously isn’t as flexible as the other decks higher on the list. This will lead to more “non-games” where you just have to accept your 1 Cube loss, move on to the next one, and make every good hand count.

How To Play: The deck relies on very simple play patterns and combination of cards:

Turn one and two are ideally Sunspot plus Armor to protect it from Killmonger. Ebony Maw is great at taking priority, especially if you have Electro or Leech and want to avoid an opposing Cosmo.
Turn three is the key turn, where you should play Electro if possible, but could also decide to go on a Wave → 6-Cost scheme, which allows playing Leech on turn five still.
Once at five energy, we need to pick either going for disruption (Leech) or points (Klaw) before slamming our big 6-Cost. It should be your bigger cards that help you chose the better 5-Cost to play.
Sandman doesn’t really fit any play pattern, and is played to counter certain opponents rather than develop our strategy.

Potential additions: Although I would tend to keep the On Reveal theme strong for the 5 and 6-Cost cards, a lot of addition can make the list:

Aero: Leech seems to be preferred currently in the deck, but she in the 5-Cost cards rotation.
Captain Marvel or Vision are nice, flexible cards, and completely ignore an opposing Aero moving them around.
Lizard or Scorpion are also solid 2-Cost cards, depending on what you are trying to accomplish or counter.
Black Panther and Arnim Zola are a duo to consider and see more play in other archetypes. They work well to support Ebony Maw.

Patriot 🔼

Patriot

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

Pool 3 No Ability Meta

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2x Starter Card

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: The oldest archetype this high in our rankings, Patriot keeps being relevant, although it clearly suffers from most players knowing quite precisely what to expect from it. Recently, we saw Patriot being mixed with the Sera Silver Surfer core, and it seemed to have some decent results. I guess at this point, the deck reached its ceiling, and represent a solid option overall, but needs that little twist in order to compete with the best of them.

How To Play: The goal for this archetype is to abuse Patriot‘s ability to grow all our No Ability (vanilla) units, which can come in many forms – either cards from our decks or ones we generate, like Debrii‘s Rocks or Ultron‘s Drones.

The biggest challenge with this deck is to place our cards correctly. Indeed, with Patriot and Mystique being very weak in terms of points, we need to win the other 2 lanes, even if we get some help from Onslaught or Ultron to reach 10 points or so.

If you take a look at the deck, you’ll see that every card either helps boost the other ones, or has vanilla synergy. Ideally, we want to have two vanilla lanes and one with the boosters, potentially hidden behind Invisible Woman.

Enchantress on Patriot will usually lead to an immediate retreat, but with the current metagame being most about developing a ton of points, and Leech being more popular than Enchantress. I would recommend just playing Patriot before turn 5, even if it tells our opponent our whole gameplan.

Potential additions: Greedier, more combo oriented builds exist, including cards like Sera, Wave or Magik, leading to a potentially higher points ceiling. But with Leech in the metagame, we’d rather play a more proactive gameplan, and not keep our key card in hand for too long.

Here’s the Surfer plus Patriot build that recently emerged:

Moops Infinite

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

4x Starter Card

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Seracle Control 🔼

Sera Control

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Reactive decks aren’t the norm currently, and until now, most decks on our list were focusing on their points more than disrupting the opponent’s gameplan. Galactus and Electro have a disruptive potential, but aren’t starting the match with the intent to counter what the opponent does. This makes Seracle Control, a deck that looks to find out the opponent’s game plan and abuse this information, a bit of an odd pick in the current metagame.

It seems to work fine so far, and Shang-Chi or Enchantress routinely find situations to shine and steal a game. Particularly, this deck is great at making the opponent feel like they are in control, snap, and then punish with the counter cards discounted by Sera.

What is limiting this deck is the current power of the decks you are looking to beat, as a slight mistake can immediately cost you the game. But towards the end of the season, where you tend to see a lot of the same decks, it makes it a bit easier to anticipate your opponent’s next move, as you will tend to see the same play-patterns repeat from a game to another.

How To Play: The deck is looking to win a lane with points while taking over another one on turn six thanks to its reactive tools.

The lane we intended to win on points will usually be solidified by Angela or Carnage, both reaching six points for a two cost quite often. We can also use the real Mysterio and Forge‘s boost to make the lane stronger. Typically, it is also the lane we will intend to play Sera later on.

The second lane will usually be where we intend to punish our opponent on turn six, swinging the momentum with Shang-Chi, Enchantress, or now Valkyrie, giving a lot of value to Forge or a fake Mysterio looking harmless over there. On some rare occasion, we can even contest an empty lane at once, with Brood plus Valkyrie, or through destroying Nova will Killmonger.

Potential additions: Sera Miracle is arguably the most flexible archetype in Marvel Snap, so the most important thing is to understand the game concepts we are trying to abuse with the deck. Ant Man is a card that seems strong with Valkyrie, as he should win the lane and they are playable together on turn six. Armor, as well, is a good card in the build to annoy the destroy synergy if you need to, and will protect Ant Man from your Killmonger.

The biggest hurdles will probably be Valkyrie, which makes a lot of other cards worse if we are taking her out, such as Mister Sinister or Brood, taking Forge down with them. Here is another way to build the deck, courtesy of another Marvel Snap Zone contributor, Paper:

Basic Seracle Control

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Tier 3

Thanos Zoo

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

Combo Meta Pool 5

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: Killmonger has made its comeback in the metagame, and it is obviously very bad news for Thanos Zoo. The deck seemed to have settled on the Ka-Zar variation lately, focusing on spreading a ton of points across three lanes, but that plan is being heavily punished currently. The only reliable way to use Ka-Zar now is to wait until turn six to play our 1-Cost cards, but that means passing on the On Reveal ability of our stones, which seems like too big of a setback.

This forces the deck to adapt, both in the cards it plays and the play patterns it uses. For a deck that was already among the most difficult to pilot, it is another hurdle to overcome and logically dipped its performance a bit over this last week.

How To Play: The simple formula is being able to contest two lanes using Angela, Bishop, and Valkyrie potentially stealing one on the last turn. We can then support them with our cheap, buffed units, which usually contribute for six to ten additional points. Beast and Carnage help in freeing space or getting our cards back, so we can play more of them, and keep the ball going. Blue Marvel then buffs our army up!

The reality is, you better be focused when playing this deck, as you’ll need to manage your hand, On Reveal orders and space on the board to play this deck to its full potential. Most of the time, the ideal scenario is to have Angela on our bouncing lane, as to grow her through replaying cards behind her. Bishop on the lane, we anticipate to play cards we do not intend to bounce or destroy, such as Blue Marvel or Quinjet. Lastly, have a lane to dump our cards that will be eaten by Carnage when we need space or Valkyrie for a steal on turn six.

Spider-Man is a real star in this deck, as we can play on all lanes at once. He should routinely find a lane to lock on turn five, and make it very easy to win while we can focus on the other one we need for complete victory.

Thanos can occasionally contribute as an 18 power card, but I wouldn’t play for it to happen, see it more as an opportunistic event.

Potential additions: Most of the time, Iceman would be the flexible card to remove. Spider-Man and Ka-Zar are great in the deck, but also not vital for the gameplan.

Devil Dinosaur: Another potential win condition on a lane, and a reward for not playing cards if our board is full.
Mystique: With all locations and our hand likely full, we often get a +10 from her if we copy either Blue marvel or Devil Dinosaur.
Ant Man, Mojo: Nice Valkyrie and overall synergy, but feel a bit like overkill.
Armor: Killmonger‘s greatest foe.

Zerocula

Created by

, updated 5 months ago

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification: As the build seems to have become the default choice for the Kazoo archetype lately, we’ve had a better insight at how good it is, and it’s pretty good to be fair, mixing a nice flexibility with high scoring play patterns. Killmonger coming back though, was a big rough for the deck, and if Dracula still is able to win its lane, the other one can sometimes be more complicated to lock down.

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 game’s 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 its 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: Kazoo is an archetype that evolves constantly as long as you keep the basic concept, relying on flooding the board and supporting your units. As such, the more expensive cards in the deck, apart from Ka-Zar himself, can be largely replaced to create different play patterns.

Sandman, especially, is a card that pushes the deck in another direction, focusing more on buffs with Spectrum, Blue Marvel or Klaw as the late game cards.

Lockjaw On Reveal

Lockjaw OnReveal (Thanos Edition)

Created by