Table of Contents
Introduction
Hi everyone, welcome to our third week of our metagame snapshot, where I will analyze and classify the popular decks based on their current power level.
The first ever balance patch for Marvel Snap completely changed the state of the meta. After last week’s breakdown, players had one more week to test and refine their strategies. Many have also advanced quite a lot in terms of Collection Levels deck building, and a lot of shakeups are expected in our Meta Tier List.
Mostly at the top of the rankings, last week’s Tier 1 deck can be considered no longer the top dog in the metagame. More intricate synergies and Killmonger have managed to dethrone the 1-Drop Discard Aggro, although it stays a very competitive deck nonetheless.
As for the other decks on our list, don’t be afraid if you see a TON of Nakia today, as it has become the current meta-defining card. On turn 3, almost every deck in the game would be glad to play her, and a lot of games can be determined by one player finding the coveted 3 drop while the other doesn’t. This Sunday didn’t really help either, as Kamar-Taj was the Hot Location, making it even more obvious that Nakia was an auto-include in your deck.
Lastly, as more time passes, the Pool 3 cards are becoming available to more and more players, which leads to more different builds of a single archetype. As such, I would encourage you to keep an open mind when presented with 12 card decks anywhere as most archetypes could currently play with a 15 card rotation depending on what they are looking to adapt against.
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List – July 12, 2022
You can always go to our Tier List section and view the latest updates, and more!
| Tier | Deck Name |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Sera Buff Miracle |
| Tier 2 | Control Death Wave Apocalypse Discard Combo Swarm Aggro 1-Drop Ka-Zar Zoo Ghost Rider Discard |
| Tier 3 | Patriot Buff Beast Bounce Movement Hela Discard |
Tier 1
Sera and Nakia take the top stop
den
For the tier list this week, I had to think for quite a long time about which deck I felt was the current very best. There could be a case made that there isn’t a Tier 1 deck in the metagame this week, as more synergies are emerging and the environment is diversifying itself as players are advancing to collect a more variety of cards.
However in the end, flooding the board with a lot of cards we previously buffed with Nakia, while buffing Angela and Bishop in the process, is still the best way to rack up Cubes currently. The problem with the more traditional build of 1-Drop Aggro (which is still well ranked in our tier list nonetheless) is that players have adapted to it, and have become much more effective at countering the deck.
With a similar ceiling, but in a much more unpredictable way of developing its board, the Sera variant now looks both more adapted and simply stronger. The deck develops few points before turn 6, which means we can let our opponent reveals its cards first, and therefore completely ignore Killmonger‘s effect. We should have Okoye, and maybe an extra 1 drop on the board when the card triggers, something we can completely accept.
If you still find Killmonger to be a problem, and want to play the archetype as a combo deck, you can even consider removing Sunspot for Wolverine or another card that will be summoned on turn 6 for free.
Tier 2
Killmonger keeps Control as a top tier deck
den
As a lot of players expected, the Control archetype is still swinging as it represents one of the best counter to the still very popular 1-Drop Aggro decks.
With Killmonger now a staple in the list and Juggernaut being a great one-two punch with Storm to lock down a location, the deck is even more effective at limiting what a Zoo deck can do.
Relying on its basic mechanic, the deck is looking to limit the opponent’s range of motion while locking down one of the location before turn 6. During the last turn, we can always rely on the Lady Sif, The Infinaut and Ghost Rider combo in order to win over a second one and take the game.
As time passes, the control archetype really is showing that being flexible is a huge asset for a competitive deck in Marvel Snap. While it will always rely on its best point makers in Jubilee, Sunspot and the combo mentioned earlier, every other card feels strong but not mandatory. As such, the deck can be adapted to various micro-environment and is seen competing during the climb towards the infinite rank or once looking to play for a leaderboard spot.
Death Wave solidifies its spot as a metagame deck
den
She-Hulk can be replaced by Moon Girl, White Queen, or Rockslide.
Still an emerging deck last week, Death Wave has found a lot of love from the players who could afford to build it, and is now popular enough to be considered a meta deck.
As the only archetype still using the Destroy synergy since Nova‘s nerf, Death Wave could be considered a hybrid deck. Its gameplan, a mix of the Control and Combo play styles, is looking to set up a huge turn 6 play where we are able to play Death and another 6 drop.
It is hard to really assess the power of the deck currently, as it is still quite marginal compared to the other archetype in Tier 1. The main reason being that the deck is unplayable without the signature card Death, which is found in Pool 3, and Wave, which is unavailable (added as a Pool 3 card in after the July 2022 season) for anyone who didn’t buy the Premium Season Pass in last month’s event. The deck’s low play rate for now might be a great thing, as the surprise element sure is helping with stealing a couple of wins here and there.
Discard keeps getting better
den
Although I expected more growth out of the Discard archetype during this week, the deck still gained some solid points as a contender for a top spot.
Once again, as players are adapting to the most popular builds, a lot of Pool 3 cards being able to swing the game if played at the right time. The emphasis is now put on how explosive are you able to be, and how much of a crazy turn 6 can you pull off.
With several ways to create a lot of points (Swarm, Dracula, Apocalypse, The Collector, Morbius…) the full discard deck can attack several locations at the same time and hide its true intention until the last moment.
Wave is a bit of a problem for the deck, the card being used mostly to destroy 1 Drop based decks synergies, but works really well against a discounted Swarm in this deck. The complete absence of Leech, and Moon Knight occasionally discarding a key card for the opponent on turn 4 or 5 in this very synergistic metagame, puts the deck in a wonderful spot to keep climbing our tierlist in the coming weeks.
1-Drop Aggro suffers a bit of a setback
den
Marvel Snap Zone
This might still be the deck you are hearing people rave about, and how it feels easy to reach Infinite rank using it, which isn’t wrong. Through its simple gameplan and easy to understand synergies, the Zoo, or 1-Drop Aggro deck represent a perfectly viable option to grind the ladder.
The reason it dropped to Tier 2 this week is due to the other decks adapting to it. Killmonger is now a much more popular option, and the mirror match is a difficult one to edge, as it revolves a lot around who gets Nakia and who doesn’t.
I think the Swarm-based version is doing better in the current environment, because it offers for more flexibility in how to attack our opponent and is less vulnerable to Killmonger too. America Chavez also feels great currently in this Nakia driven metagame. It gives you a better chance of finding her and Okoye early, considering you draw from an 11 cards deck rather than a 12 cards (as America Chavez can’t be draw before turn 6).
I didn’t include Hellcow in order to keep the build centered around Pool 1 and Pool 2 cards, but feel free to replace Lady Sif if you have Hellcow.
Tier 3
Patriot and the No Ability synergy makes a splash
den
The Patriot deck appeared out of nowhere the same way Sera did last week, being a Pool 3 card. Just like our now Tier 1 deck, it has been talked about quite a bit for a new deck.
The concept is quite simple, we are looking to duplicate Patriot‘s Ongoing ability thanks to Onslaught and Mystique, in order to massively buff the rest of our units. This allows us to attack all 3 location at the same time, as we routinely create units worth 8 to 10 power out of otherwise insignificant cards.
Wasp, Squirrel Girl and Brood are our go-to buff targets, and they allow us to be very energy-efficient in the way we attack the board. Bucky Barnes and The Hood give us a chance at much bigger units, as the base 6 points of the Demon or Winter Soldier represent a good foundation already. The Destroy mechanic allows us to trigger both cards, removing The Hood negative impact and transforming Bucky Barnes.
Nakia and Okoye have honestly nothing to do in the deck’s overall synergy, but they are just that good you can include them anywhere at this point. Misty Knight, Shocker or Cyclops could even be included here as they have no abilities, but it looks like mass buffs are worth more than being recipients for Patriot‘s buff.
Beast and Falcon push a new 1 drop archetype
den
As if we didn’t have enough decks based around taking advantage of the cheap cards in the game, a new archetype emerges, once again looking to benefit from good effects at the lowest price.
In this deck, we are looking to play, bounce and replay our 1 cost cards in order to trigger their effects multiple times and buff Angela, Bishop and The Collector in the process. Those 3 cards will represent our anchors in order to attack the various locations, and we can be flexible on how we want to use the 1 cost cards for disruption.
We can either attack our opponent’s deck, using Yondu to remove cards, while Korg shuffles a Rock in it. We can also attack their hand with Iceman, looking to disrupt their timing, or their board with Elektra, doing a wonderful job against other 1 cost cards decks.
It is quite early to say if this deck will be able to compare to the other dominant 1 drop based decks, or if it will stay at the gimmick level. Doing research, I found a couple of players who used this deck to reach the Infinite rank, so the potential is definitely there.
Move exists, but still struggles to be competitive
den
Another week passes where players are trying to refine the Movement archetype, but it still is very hard to change the archetype to a higher tier on this list for ow.
The ceiling for the deck looks to be incredible, and it can compare to other top decks on our list, when everything goes right. For example, being able to land Hulkbuster or Nakia‘s buff on Human Torch or Multiple Man on turn 3, and then moving them around for the remaining of the game will likely guarantee you win at least 1 location.
Similarly, being able to move Dagger twice against a Zoo deck will give you a card which can compare to The Infinaut.
However, the problem with the deck is that its lows are much lower than other deck’s on this list, and it has least of that unpredictable factor too. Because we have to play our best cards first, and then use the support ones to move them around and buff them, we lose the element of surprise that other top decks can have with their super explosive turn 6.
As such, when Human Torch is hit by Elektra because we didn’t move it for a turn, immediately it is a disaster, and potentially loses us the game. Dagger is looking great on paper, but against decks which aren’t playing too much before turn 5 or 6, she usually doesn’t buff herself that much.
Lastly, the Control archetype and its ability to stop some locations from being usable with Professor X for example, completely shuts down the Move deck.
Due to all these difficult to overcome interactions, Move continues to be a decent deck, but one that hasn’t fully realized its potential yet.
Closing Words
It feels great to see the metagame still moving so much in the second week after the patch. Obviously, all players not having access to Pool 3 cards yet makes this tier list difficult to adapt to everyone, but it is also this aspect of progression that keeps the metagame fresh so far.
There are a few decks I didn’t include as they aren’t being talked about outside of very specific circle of players, but I feel they are worth mentioning as a “keep an eye on” for the future. For example, Hela or Mister Negative decks do exist, and have been performing well for some players, but they are still very marginal strategies that would be weird to include in a tier list aiming at the average player.
On July 9th, the developers have released some answers from top players in Season 1 to questions like “what would you nerf or buff currently?” or “could you give us your deck recommendations ?”. Some answers could heavily impact the next balance patch. I invite you to go read it in the #player-qna channel of the official Marvel Snap Discord.
If you’d like to discuss the current metagame or have questions about a specific deck, feel free to leave a comment in the section below. To get in touch with me for any question, you can find me on Twitter or on our brand new Discord Server!
Good Game Everyone.
