Marvel Snap Metagame Tier List July 5, 2022: Post-Patch 2.02 Balance

Introduction

Hi everyone, welcome to this second installment of our metagame snapshot, where I will analyze and classify the popular decks based on their current power level.

Last Tuesday, an impactful patch note was released, basically dismantling the very popular Moon Girl, Devil Dinosaur, Nova deck as all 3 cards were changed to be less powerful. As such, its S Tier status was dethroned!

As such, the new top deck being now much weaker opened the door for a lot of strategies to become popular, although one deck rose above the rest to Tier S status: 1-Drop Discard Aggro.

Already a great deck before the patch, the Ka-Zar led deck is dominating the current ladder at most ranks, offering both a cheap and a powerful option for most players. However, the patch also provided an opportunity for weaker or more exotic strategies to become more popular, like the Move archetype or the up-and-coming Death + Wave decks.

A lot to cover in this new and improved Marvel Snap metagame, as we look to kick off Season Two Love and Thunder with the best decks to climb!

Marvel Snap Tier List – July 5, 2022

You can always go to our Tier List section and view the latest updates, and more!

Tier S

1-Drop Discard Aggro

1 Drop Discard Aggro

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

2

2x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

1.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Ka-Zar and the one mana cards join forces with the Discard mechanic to create what is the current juggernaut on the ladder. Combining both a cheap cost, this deck being highly adaptable, even for someone with pool 1 cards only, this deck has been over performing this week, and worthy of the Tier S status.

Looking to be extremely aggressive on several locations, the deck relies on Nakia buffing the hand on turn 3 to play like a combo deck afterwards, dropping double-digit points on all locations quite easily.

If Nakia wouldn’t be drawn by turn 3, the deck is still able to pressure numerous locations thanks to Angela, Strong Guy or Ka-Zar being super cost-effective.

Thanks to America Chavez coming in on turn 6, this archetype doesn’t really to save any resources. Most of the time, we will look to empty our hand on turn 5 and use America Chavez to put the nail in the coffin on turn 6.

It is hard to evaluate how good this deck really is, and the perfect 12 cards list is still up in the air as we speak. I personally love the inclusion of Swarm in the deck to push the discard synergy even more. The one drops can be quite flexible too, with Scarlet Witch being a common inclusion as well.

KanyeBest is also possibly the first player to reach the Infinite rank in the new season (as well as claiming #4 on the Cube leaderboard for the Atlantis Beach Boogie event) with a variation on the build that does not require Hellcow and is more beginner friendly:

Kazoo by KanyeBest – #1 Infinite Rank – July 2022

Created by Marvel Snap Zone

, updated 2 years ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

2.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

One thing is for sure, until the counter is available to most players, the new season should start with 1 Drop Aggro being a dominant force.

Tier 1

Control

Control

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Starter Card

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

We open tier 1 with an archetype I expect to be extremely durable in Marvel Snap, and one without a real name yet: Control.

Currently, the deck represents one of the best ways to answer the 1-Drop Aggro deck, mostly thanks to Killmonger being included. Indeed, a turn 6 Killmonger and Ghost Rider bringing back a big unit will often be a game winner for us.

At the highest level of play, we could see this archetype being the dominant one. Unfortunately, it might take a bit of time before it becomes a mainstream deck, considering it is much more demanding to assemble than our Tier S deck can be.

Based on several two-card combos (Wave + Odin, Storm + Jubilee, Lady Sif + Ghost Rider, and so on), this deck looks to develop large amounts of points in one turn. However, it is its capacity to include tech cards to match the current popular decks that makes it as powerful as it is. I go more in-depth into it in my dedicated guide to this topic:

Sera Buff

Sera Buff

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

3

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Another way to make use of Nakia‘s buff to your hand while spreading our points very effectively, this deck variant features Sera to enable insane turn 6 potential. Sera is a hot topic lately, with so many lists rising in popularity as the core card of the deck. The big upside compared to the 1-Drop Aggro deck is its ability to swarm the board while not being obliterated by Killmonger, as we play more 2 Energy cards than 1.

The concept is quite simple: We are looking to find Okoye, Sunspot, Nakia and Sera as our go-to cards during the game. Okoye and Nakia buff our cards, allowing us to generate more points during our combo turns. Ideally, we want to play both of them on the same location so we can maximize our points on the other ones. In addition, this strategy can also open for some bluffs and allow to take said location if the opponent decides to not invest into it either.

Sera is the combo enabler, reducing our 2 cost cards to 1 and allowing us to play on all 3 locations at the same time, leaving the opponent in the dark on what they need to answer. Lastly, Sunspot simply is a good payoff card for our passive turn 2 and 4 most of the time, unless we want to play Bishop on turn 4.

Our turn 6 should be self-explanatory looking at the list. We are looking to drop our full hand onto the board, as it should only contain very cost-effective cards, generating much more points than their cost would suggest.

Because of Sera, we play a lot of 2 mana cards, which will cost 1 on turn 6. The idea is that Angela, Mister Sinister and Strong Guy can all represent a solid card to lock down a location if supported accordingly.

Tier 2

Movement

Movement

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

7x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The Move archetype did get a lot better with the patch, but the deck still hasn’t been able to climb our tier list and establish itself as a contender in the current metagame.

Thanks to the buff, the deck can now use Kraven as one of its staple cards, acting the same way Angela does in many low cost decks as it grows during the game and allow pushing a location almost on its own.

The big problem with the list is the need to collect Human Torch to have a more competitive deck. Its synergy with Forge or with Hulkbuster, two support cards for the move synergy, allow Human Torch to grow to double digits points consistently as we can move the card reliably in the deck. The other line is to invest into Multiple Man and push all the locations at the same time instead of create a huge Human Torch to lock one specifically.

Death Wave

Death Wave

Created by den

, updated 2 years ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

An up-and-coming deck growing popular since the patch is the Death + Wave deck. The concept is to use Wave to change Death‘s base cost to 4 so the passive reduction from destroying cards bring it to 0.

Alongside, this specific synergy, the deck looks to destroy cards (Elektra, Carnage, Deathlok, Killmonger…) and set up its combo for late in the game.

Moon Girl, recently nerfed and who almost disappeared since the patch, finds a lot of utility in this deck, as it allows copying Death for a ton of points. Other great synergies with the card include copying the Demon we get from The Hood for a six points, a 1 Energy card, or Elektra if we couldn’t find Killmonger against the super popular 1-Drop Aggro deck.

Closing Words

Although I chose not to include too many decks in the tier list, in order to keep this article centered around the most popular and dominant decks you might see on the ladder, other synergies exist as well.

The Discard synergy still is quite strong, but is used in a support role to other decks so far. Low cost cards like Blade, Hellcow or Lady Sif are used as support to enable Strong Guy‘s requirement while Ghost Rider is slowly becoming a staple in slower, greedier builds.

The same could be said for the On Reveal cards, as Spider-Woman is a common tech card to fight off the Sera and 1-drop decks for players without Killmonger in their collection. Also, Odin is looking to be Wave‘s best ally in order to trigger her effect a second time.

The current direction of the metagame is a natural one for now. Cheaper, easier decks to play are dominant for now as they feature easy to comprehend combos and Nakia is an absolute beast in the post patch environment.

As time passes, we can see more counters rise, and the control archetype is being refined as we speak, so are highly synergistic decks such as the Death Wave deck.

I am sure this first week of Season 2 will be a great one to follow closely, as players might be enticed to be more creative now that everyone is back to square one on the ladder.

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.

Good Game Everyone.