Marvel Snap Metagame Tier List June 25, 2022: First Early Placements

Introduction

Hi everyone, welcome to our first article of what will hopefully be a long series: Marvel Snap’s metagame analysis and tier list update. In this snapshot, expect to find the most impactful decks currently being represented in the game, alongside how are players adapting against those.

I know it might sound weird to be talking about a metagame this early in the game lifespan, especially considering that it is officially only released in the Philippines and many players are still experimenting and collecting new cards.

However, defining the environment and staying on top of the meta is what card games player do! It is important to note that there isn’t a lot of data yet other than the 3 best decks in terms of win rate in the top MMR shared by Second Dinner’s principal data scientist, Tian Ding.

While we can already see some decks becoming very popular and impacting how players are approaching the game, we can only draw conclusions from personal playing experience and from the community.

Before getting into more details about the current dominant decks, I would like to remind you that Marvel Snap is designed to be a dynamic game, where things can change quickly – especially with new Featured Locations and Hot Locations. In this article, I will mostly showcase decks that have been performing up until this point, without considering them.

With the disclaimers out of the way, let’s get into the best decks currently in Marvel Snap!

Marvel Snap Tier List – June 25, 2022

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

Tier S

Moon Girl, Devil Dinosaur, Nova, and Carnage Walks into a Bar…

Found quite early in the game’s short lifespan, this combo deck is currently terrorizing the ladder from rank 50 and up to Infinite. Built around a highly synergistic logic of manipulating our hand and board to achieve the highest possible score, this deck is the best deck when it comes to raw power.

Variants

Devil Dinosaur

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your hand.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Devil Dinosaur

Variants

The Collector

When a card enters your hand from anywhere (except your deck), +1 Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with The Collector

Variants

Moon Girl

On Reveal: Duplicate your hand.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Moon Girl

There are 2 main combos to this deck. The first one relies on Devil Dinosaur and The Collector, which are growing as we generate a lot of cards in hand thanks to Cable, Sentinel, Agent 13. In this combo, the most important card is Moon Girl, which we can use on turn 3 to double our key cards, or keep for the late game to buff up our two point makers.

Variants

Carnage

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards here. +2 Power for each destroyed.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Carnage

Variants

Deathlok

On Reveal: Destroy your other cards at this location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Deathlok

Variants

Nova

When this is destroyed, give your cards +1 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Nova

The second opportunity we have at generating a huge score is with Carnage or Deathlok, destroying one Nova (or two, if duplicated by Moon Girl). Usually our go-to on turn 6, this combo allows us to lock down 2 locations, sacrificing the one where we executed the combo as only Carnage or Deathlok with be on it.

Variants

Iron Man

Ongoing: Your total Power is doubled at this location.

Starter Card

view card details Start a deck Decks with Iron Man

The card that is up in the air for now is Iron Man, which can be replaced with quite a lot of other possibilities. The upside of Iron Man is that it allows for an almost guaranteed win on a location when combined with the Devil Dinosaur or The Collector. But this slot can easily be seen as the tech card number one if you would like an edge on a specific matchup. You can also try to strengthen the core of the strategy with a card like Bucky Barnes.

The biggest strength of this deck is its flexibility in how it uses its Energy each turn. Outside of Iron Man, which can be taken out of the deck, the highest cost card is only 3 Energy. This very low mana curve allows us to be extremely flexible in how want to execute our combos. We can plan for a crazy turn 6 which the opponent needs to anticipate for as the game is about to end. The same goes for distributing our cards in the mid-game, as we can play The Collector or Devil Dinosaur early and then buffing them while playing several cards a turn like Sentinel, Cable, and so on.

Variants

Agent 13

On Reveal: Add a random card to your hand.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Agent 13

Variants

Cable

On Reveal: Put the bottom card of your opponent’s deck into your hand.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Cable

Variants

Sentinel

On Reveal: Add another Sentinel to your hand.

Starter Card

view card details Start a deck Decks with Sentinel

Variants

Mantis

On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, draw a card from their deck.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Mantis

A weakness that could be noted is the relative slow start to the deck, as we only have 4 cards we really wish to play before turn 3: Agent 13, Cable, Sentinel and Mantis as they do not empty our hand. Against swarm oriented decks, or tech cards that can deny part of our combos, this passive early game pushes the deck to willingly fall behind and have thing align perfectly to come back afterwards.

Keep in mind, a lot of the metagame is already playing Enchantress and Armor as a way to counteract the Devil Dinosaur or the Nova combo, as you will see examples of in the lower tiers below.

Here are a few possibilities of how the deck can manipulate its late turns and dominate locations that he otherwise wasn’t really invested into up until this point:

• Playing The Collector and Moon Girl on turn 5 on a location, copying Devil Dinosaur to play both on 6.
• Playing Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl at the same time on turn 6 to create a huge Devil Dinosaur.
• Swarming 2 locations on turn 4 and 5. On turn 6, playing Nova, Carnage and Devil Dinosaur on the same location (and in that order) to score a ton of points on all 3 locations.
• Playing Iron Man on turn 5 on an empty location to set up for Devil Dinosaur or a potential swarm turn on 6.

Tier 1

Considering how dominant the Tier S deck is right now, Tier 1 decks are decks that either contains cards from Pool 2 and Pool 3 that are difficult to access or playing tech cards like Enchantress to counter the power of Devil Dinosaur.

In this tier, we can find one budget deck along 2 synergistic decks which are difficult to assess as not a lot of people have the cards to play those. But for the little amount of data we have on the “Discard” and the “Move” archetypes, it would appear, they are worth going for if you have the cards for it.

1-Drop Aggro

Being one of the easier decks to access for free-to-play (F2P) players, the 1-drop deck is currently among the most talked about builds. The deck certainly deserves it, for its good power level compared to how easy it is to build.

Relying on securing strong plays on 2 locations while having enough flexibility to bluff on the third one, this aggressive deck probably is the entry door to climbing the ladder for most players.

Also, the list is very flexible, and I have seen several players reach Infinite rank with various iterations of the build. The low curve allows the deck to adapt and play more tech cards than most other decks in the metagame currently.

Discard

Discarding is something that can be quite frightening when you are new to card games. Most players like having a hand with lots of possibilities and being able to chose what is optimal to play on any given turn.

While scary, the Marvel Snap Discard archetype has made some strides so far, and it is getting more and more popular as time passes as players get access to Pool 2 and 3 cards.

Variants

Ghost Rider

On Reveal: Bring back one of your discarded cards to this location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Ghost Rider

Variants

Swarm

When this is discarded from your hand, add two copies that Cost 0 to your hand.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Swarm

The deck relies on units with solid numbers across the board in the early and mid-game, as a way to establish a strong presence on numerous locations. Ghost Rider or Swarm can allow for nice burst of points and turns, which shouldn’t be possible with only 2 or 3 Energy available.

Variants

Apocalypse

When you discard this from your hand, put it back with +4 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Apocalypse

Variants

Hela

On Reveal: Resurrect all cards you discarded from your hand to random locations.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hela

The big cashing in opportunity usually happens on turn 6. We can look to dominate a location with a buffed up Apocalypse, capable of winning one on its own, or by playing Hela and replaying all our discarded cards up until this point. This typically results in a ton of points, so make sure to manipulate your spots on each location to limit the random aspect of the card.

Movement

The Move archetype is probably the most difficult to access deck in the current environment, considering the amount of cards from Pool 2 and 3 you need to find. It should also be noted that the deck is quite difficult to pilot, as it requires a lot of anticipation and foresight on when and where to move your cards.

Most of the time when facing the deck, the opponent will not yet have unlocked Human Torch or Dagger for example, which can reduce the deck’s power quite a bit.

Variants

Human Torch

When this moves, double its Power.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Human Torch

Variants

Dagger

When this moves to a location, +2 Power for each card your opponent has there.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Dagger

However, for all the trouble you should go through finding the cards and learning how to play this deck well, imagine your opponent on the other side. Indeed, when playing a highly synergistic deck like the Move archetype, it will be a headache for the opposing player to figure out all the potential movements.

This lack of knowledge regarding how we could manipulate our cards usually results in our opponent just playing for max amount of points without bluffing or concealing their gameplan. It might not sound like much, but it can actually impact a game quite a lot when one player is dictating the board and the other can merely follow along with your plans.

Tier 2

Most decks in the lower tier for now aren’t bad per se, but are more draw dependent than the other ones. The four decks we saw previously on this tier list have very little chance to brick, and typically allow the deck to play optimally in most situations.

In these tier 2 decks however, locations can have a bigger impact on your deck’s strengths. In addition, the difference between finding your big impactful cards can make a huge difference on your total point score at the end of the game.

On Reveal

The On Reveal synergy is honestly quite a good one, and maybe the deck simply hasn’t found its best 12 cards so far. There are a lot of cards we can get early on in our adventure that represents the foundation of a good deck. Odin, Spider-Woman and most of the early On Reveal cards are all very interesting and worth including in a competitive deck. What is holding the deck back for now is the need to draw well compared to other decks, as not finding Odin on turn 6 can be a disaster.

Variants

Odin

On Reveal: Activate the On Reveal abilities of your other cards at this location.

Collection Level 1-14

view card details Start a deck Decks with Odin

Variants

Spider-Woman

On Reveal: Afflict all enemy cards here with -1 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Woman

Variants

Enchantress

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards at this location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Enchantress

There are a lot of On Reveal effects in the game, and with Enchantress being one of the best ones to counter the Tier S Devil Dinosaur deck, the upside clearly exists. I would expect this deck to rise in the future as it gets figured out, and more cards are being unlocked by a majority of the player base.

Lockdown Control

Another deck that is slowly getting traction is the control archetype, or “lockdown” depending on how you want to call it. The deck is just being explored for now, as it requires both cards outside of Pool 1, and knowing what you want to counter with your tech cards.

Variants

Storm

On Reveal: Flood this location. Next turn is the last turn cards can be played here.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Storm

Variants

Jubilee

On Reveal: Add the top card of your deck to this location.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Jubilee

Variants

America Chavez

Starts on the bottom of your deck. Draw this on turn 6.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with America Chavez

There are a lot of cards that can be played in this deck, from 1-cost cards up to the biggest ones in the deck. Storm, Jubilee, America Chavez and building a cohesive curve seems to be the focus point of this deck for now. Most of the other cards are being played to adapt to what is popular on the other side of the table.

Variants

Professor X

Ongoing: Lock down this location. (Cards can’t be added, removed, etc.)

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Professor X

Variants

Hobgoblin

On Reveal: Your opponent gains control of this.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Hobgoblin

Professor X is also usually played as a counter to the Nova combo, but with other decks slowly gaining traction, I went for Hobgoblin as a more flexible option for now. Feel free to play Professor X if you want to specifically beat the Nova decks.

Variants

Enchantress

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards at this location.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Enchantress

Variants

Armor

Ongoing: Cards at this location can’t be destroyed.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Armor

Variants

Shang-Chi

On Reveal: Destroy all enemy cards at this location that have 9 or more Power.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Shang-Chi

Enchantress and Armor and the common answers to the currently very popular Devil Dinosaur and Nova deck. Shang-Chican counter the growing units like The Collector or with Featured Locations such as Monster Island.

There is also a lot of flexibility with the 1-cost cards. Agent 13 is a nice and flexible card, Yondu always helps with disruption especially against cards like America Chavez, Iceman and Nightcrawler are also slowly becoming a staple in a lot of decks.

Conclusion

This first metagame snapshot was very difficult to do, as the game is still in its super early stages. Players are experimenting with the cards as they collect them (as is the developer’s intention), and the decklists I posted here are very much adaptable to fit the current Featured Locations or popular decks. Feel free to have fun with them!

I tried to keep this report to decks I knew were being played and had a shot at being relevant for at least a bit of time, until a future patch would affect the game and as players collect more cards. It is very likely the Tier S deck will see some nerfs in an upcoming patch in the next week or two. It feels way too easy to climb the ladder using it and every other deck is forced to play tech cards against it.

The reports will keep coming, so every kind of feedback is appreciated. You can find me directly on Twitter. Good game everyone!