Table of Contents
The OTA had basically no impact on the meta. The same archetypes that were at the top of the rankings towards the end of last season and the early parts of this season are still dominant. I wouldn’t be surprised to still face some Discard despite M.O.D.O.K. lost one power, tons of Scream Move still using Rocket and Groot, and Sam Wilson in basically any deck with an open spot.
However, there are a few peculiar decks to discuss for anyone who is eager to try new things. In particular, there were two archetypes that everyone had lost track of that made a big splash this week: Clog and Bounce Move.
The board limiting strategy is posting great numbers at the moment, mostly thanks to Thanos being super popular. In the past, Clog was already a sort of counter to the Mad Titan, punishing the Infinity Stones for taking up space on the board. The lost board space quickly adds up when combined with Green Goblin and Rocks.
Bounce Move is more of your typical “I develop a ton of points” type of deck. That archetype is getting bullied by Scream Move, so I’m more interested in seeing if it is part of the Conquest data. Either way, you can always give up a cube in that match up in ranked and dominate other decks through the sheer amount of points you can develop.
In order to see other original ideas I had to dig a bit, hence why the Trending section features decks that would otherwise have been in Tier 3. This typically isn’t a good sign regarding the future of those decks, but they’re at least trying something different (even though the Kahhori Control deck just feels like a worse way to use Iron Patriot, Sam Wilson Captain America, and other strong standalone cards).
If we want the meta to change, it seems like we will have to take matters into our own hands as players. The OTA unfortunately did next to nothing, so it is time for us to figure out how to hard counter the dominant builds and the super popular standalone cards.
We already know Scream beats Sam Wilson and Clog is a nice Thanos counter. Toxic is sort of the Scream counter thanks to Luke Cage. That’s a good start.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Redwing Ramp 0.25 Cube Average / 52.5% Win Rate |
| Trending | Kahhori Control 0.15 Cube Average / 53.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Scream Move 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Clog 0.6 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Thanos Zoo 0.55 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Bounce Move 0.5 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Toxic 0.5 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Sauron 10 Power 0.2 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Good Cards Control 0.3 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Discard Dracula 0.15 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Bullseye 0.15 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Scream Move | 1.1 Cube Average / 72.5% Win Rate |
| Negative Destroy | 1.25 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate |
| Good Cards Miracle | 0.8 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate |
| Bounce Move | 0.8 Cube Average / 57.5 % Win Rate |
| Bullseye | 0.8 Cube Average / 57.5 % Win Rate |
Here is my usual annoying advice because I’m a coach and I like to think this helps people: Focus on controlling the stakes of each game and building trust in both your deck and your decision making abilities. Once you feel confident, feel free to take more risks. Reaching Infinite is all about understanding the process of grinding cubes. Also, constantly changing your deck limits your ability to learn the game fundamentals, as you are always focused on learning how to pilot the new deck.
Trending
Redwing Ramp
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 52.5% Win Rate
I like this deck because it encapsulates my thoughts about the OTA. An additional power to Redwing didn’t make the card better, but it reminded everyone it was a tool to build around.
Neither of the metrics for this Ramp deck were good enough to compete at the highest level, and the deck would have ranked in Tier 3 if it had more games under its belt. On the other hand, it is an unconventional deck with both a positive Win Rate and Cube Rate, so anyone looking to play something different can at least expect some wins with this list.
Kahhori Control
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Average / 53.5% Win Rate
This deck tells me more bad than good about Kahhori if I’m honest. Indeed, cards like Iron Patriot and Sam Wilson have nothing to prove anymore. When you see many of them in the same deck, you expect it to be a pretty good performer. Both the Win and Cube Rates are positive, but they’re quite far from the other decks using those same powerhouses like Good Cards Control and Scream Move.
Tier 1
Scream Move
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate
Sam Wilson continues to rule Marvel Snap, which means Scream continues to be a great card to run as a counter. When that counter also happens to have a strong supporting cast, it naturally leads to a fantastic build (which we have known for a while now).
On top of that, Scream Move is also showing some versatility after adding Uncle Ben, Killmonger, and Lady Deathstrike as a Destroy package. That little wrinkle helped against Thanos and other 1-Cost heavy decks, and Lady Deathstrike can remove plenty of annoying cards at the moment. Also, Rocket and Groot is still part of the deck.
Potential Additions
Aero, Iron Patriot, and Hydra Bob are the usual trio slotted in the traditional build. Kingpin and Juggernaut can also serve as backups for missing cards.
Clog
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate
A meta with established powerhouses opens the door for counter decks to target certain match ups. This is exactly what Clog is doing at the moment with Thanos (and the Ongoing synergy as a whole, really). Indeed, with Enchantress in the deck, Clog can simply block a lane to force all the Ongoing cards in one location before turning them all off at once.
The deck has many fewer games recorded than Scream and Thanos, though, so it will be interesting to see what happens once it gains popularity. This could help Destroy decks as well and represent the start of a new dynamic.
Potential Additions
Sersi and Grand Master can be good standalone additions. Sentry and Annihilus are a duo that could replace missing cards.
Thanos Zoo
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate
Thanos is probably the most stable deck in the game when it comes to spending energy, which makes it the ideal proactive build for anyone looking for a rather simple deck to pilot. However, Thanos is also the easiest build to target among the current top contenders, and you might have noticed Super-Skrull is in the best performing list of the archetype.
The Win Rate should always be decent thanks to Thanos‘s ability to be competitive in most games, unlike other decks that are forced to Retreat when they miss certain patterns. However, it is also easy to stay in games because of that trait and lose more cubes than necessary—especially against counter strategies.
Thanos is equally as good to play as it is simple to target at the moment.
Potential Additions
Kahhori plus Alioth can replace Spectrum and Super-Skrull to keep power and add a different disruptive tool to the deck. Captain America, Gorgon, and Mobius M. Mobius are good Ongoing abilities to consider as well.
Bounce Move
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate
Scream Move is a big threat to this deck and likely a match up that Bounce Move has to give a cube to and move on (especially the build with Killmonger). However, with all the counter cards targeted at other decks, Bounce Move looks pretty good against any other opponent that is forced to beat it on points alone.
Until Shadow King comes back or Scream Move becomes the only thing you see, Bounce Move should be a good pick.
Potential Additions
Cosmo is the flexible card in the build, replaceable with any strong standalone or counter card you would see fit.
Toxic
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate
Luke Cage is an Ongoing card, which means Toxic could get countered at any point in this Ongoing heavy meta. But, until that happens, Toxic feels like the counter pick in this environment. Indeed, the deck packs Luke Cage to deny Scream from stealing power as well as Cassandra Nova and Hazmat, both of which are great cards against Thanos.
The meta is bound to change at some point, and Toxic players should be wary of that, but until then this is a solid contender.
Potential Additions
The more explosive High Evo Toxic deck also exists, sporting a similar Win Rate despite a lower Cube Average.
Tier 2
Sauron 10 Power
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate
The honeymoon period is over for the new Sauron, which has kept posting a strong Win Rate even though it is now unable to transform that into cubes. The deck needs to figure out a twist of some sort, or it is bound to win only one or two cubes while regularly staying in unfavorable games worth four.
Potential Additions
Armor replaces Surtur in some lists to protect against Shang-Chi.
Good Cards Control
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate
Good Cards was already quite low in the rankings last week, but it was difficult to know for sure with the bots as a part of the equation. Now that I can look at Infinite only data, it seems like the deck is indeed struggling compared to where it was last season.
I would attribute that to the deck being too greedy. Indeed, you are often forced to concede if you miss Zabu and Sam Wilson. Iron Patriot isn’t enough alone, especially against the likes of Scream and Thanos. You can only make a comeback from so far on the last turn.
Potential Additions
Copycat, Hawkeye Kate Bishop, and other such cards could help bolster the deck’s early game.
Tier 3
I have a hard time believing the change to M.O.D.O.K. impacted the discard synergy this much, but here we are; both Discard builds ended up at the bottom of our rankings. A 55% Win Rate isn’t that bad to be fair, but the ability to convert wins into cubes is more concerning. As such, the nerf to M.O.D.O.K. combined with the fact that Discard isn’t catching anyone off guard anymore means that it had to rely on developing more points than opponents could anticipate. That could be the problem.
Discard Dracula
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate
Bullseye
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate
That’s it for this week! To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or shoot me a direct message on discord (@den_ccg) for specific stuff or coaching.
Good Game Everyone.
Disclaimer and Tier Explanations
In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive Cube Average in the Ranked mode. Win Rate is also taken into consideration, and it can greatly impact the ranking of a deck, particularly when several archetypes (or different builds of the same deck) have a similar Cube Average but big Win Rate discrepancies. The Marvel Snap mechanics do, however, push players to maximize cubes gained rather than win every single game.
In order to create this chart, den is using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker, as well as other available data online and his own expertise and opinion of respected players. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the meta, you can find it in the Silent Performers section. That section highlights decks with an excellent Win Rate, but too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength.
Decks not good enough to be considered contenders but with a good representation will be ranked in Tier 3 in our chart. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face them when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the meta changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Silent Performer: Decks with a very little presence in the meta that still showcase a Cube Average and Win Rate worthy of a Tier 2 deck (or better). Oftentimes, these can be archetypes with some nice game play that have been left unchecked in the current environment, or decks on the rise that found a few good match ups to abuse.
Tier 1: Tier 1 represents decks with all the upsides we would be looking for to rack up Cubes. They have good match ups in the current meta, 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.
Cube Average > 0.5
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.
Cube Average > 0.3 or Win Rate > 58%
Tier 3: This tier is made of decks that have a pervasive issue compared to Tier 1 or Tier 2 decks. Usually, Tier 3 will be a mix of decks on the rise that don’t have much data, 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.
Cube Average > 0.15 & Win Rate > 52%
Budget: Decks that consist only of cards in Pool 1 and 2 that 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.
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