It took two months for it to happen, but the season of Move seems to have finally started! Indeed, after posting the best results in Conquest earlier this week, the mix of Move and Good Cards has confirmed its incredible start by also posting the highest Cube Average on the Ladder. For now, the list isn’t fully refined, as the twelfth card is contested by Hulkbuster, Nightcrawler, and some of the popular tech cards. Nevertheless, neither Darkhawk nor Zabu are part of the top archetype this week (although that deck remains one of the best to beat). Still, the Good Cards core seems to have some more competition for this season, as it isn’t often I get to include five decks in Tier 1 that all have similar Cube Averages.

However, before we start discussing the performance of each archetype more in depth, I’d like to discuss how messy the metagame really is. Sure, there are some decks with better numbers than others, as is always the case when we have to rank them. But, with five Silent Performers and ten decks worthy of a Tier 2 placement, Marvel Snap is showcasing a lot of different strategies lately. Why are so many decks able to post solid performances this season? I can see two reasons:

• The good one: We are in a metagame where tech cards can have a huge impact on your deck, meaning you can change the complexity of a match up through adapting one or two cards in your build. As such, a ton of archetypes have specific builds posting very high numbers, even though the global average for the archetype as a whole isn’t that impressive.
• The bad one: A lot of people have reported feeling like they’ve been facing more Bots lately, which would naturally boost every human player’s numbers and artificially make it look like every deck has improved all of a sudden.

It is impossible to really know how much the Bots impact our Marvel Snap experience, and Conquest, where there should be fewer Bots involved, has a lot of these decks posting similar performances. Let’s assume the rankings are not impacted too heavily by outside factors and dive into one of the biggest reports I’ve had to write in recent memory.

Plus, if we look at the rankings, it feels obvious that decks with the ability to impair the opponent are doing much better currently. Whichever way you look at it, cards like Shang-Chi, Leech, and Spider-Man are being included to mess with opposing plays. Even in the Silent Performers section, Thanos Zoo is posting great numbers on the back of limiting a lot of decks thanks to Armor, Cosmo, and Valkyrie. Evolved Lockdown also joins the Silent Performers, despite the deck losing popularity over time to Thanos Control. It might be a blessing in disguise for the deck, as limiting the opponent’s ability to play is often much stronger when they can’t prepare for it.

After several months of Shuri Zero, Lockjaw, and Bounce setting the tone by beating everyone else with numbers that were too difficult to reliably match, it feels like we have truly entered a new era in Marvel Snap where your points potential matters, but only if you can protect it well enough. Otherwise, flexibility in how you develop your strategy seems to be the premiere way to rack up Cubes.

Happy Tier List, everyone!

Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List

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 using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the metagame, you can find it in the new “Silent Performers” section. There, I will highlight decks with an excellent cube per game ratio 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 or 4 in our chart and won’t have their own dedicated write up here but may be transferred to the main Tier List section. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face those when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the metagame changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tier 1 and 2.

Tier 1

Move Legion

Move Legion

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
When a deck is the most talked about in the game, there will typically be a lot of players who pick it up, either with the hope that they’ll get great results or just for curiosity’s sake, which drops the archetype’s performance a bit. It is only normal if you think about it; many new players are using the deck, thus the average level of play with said deck should crumble a bit. Well, not Good Cards Move Legion.

Indeed, since popping off after Spider-Man was changed, the deck has only improved with larger sample sizes – more and more people are reporting how impressed they are with it. There are some counters to it, such as Shadow King, which turns Angela and Kraven back to forgettable cards. Professor X is also annoying, because it limits the deck’s ability to move freely. Even then, it seems like the deck really nailed it in the current environment, and only one card (Nightcrawler) is up for debate.

Otherwise, the other eleven cards have barely changed over the course of the week. They represent the best core to run in Marvel Snap and post a Cube Average ranging from 0.5 to 0.9, a number I don’t recall seeing over thousands of games – even from previous powerhouses like peak Shuri or Bounce.

With that much momentum and a growing popularity, I have no doubt more counters will start to arise in the near future. Until then, Move Legion appears to be the best deck in Marvel Snap, and it isn’t really close.

How to Play:
Mostly looking to build points proactively, Move Legion relies on Kraven and Angela to anchor your lanes. Either card is able to grow to eight, maybe even ten, power over the course of a match.

Then, with one lane contested via points, the second lane can be challenged through three different means:

• You can easily get points on a locked or unplayable location with Silk, Captain Marvel, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark.
• You can play a disruptive game with Legion, Spider-Man, and Shang-Chi.
• You can win a second lane on points with Silk, Legion, and a 1-Cost Miles Morales all representing good points for their costs.

Overall, it feels like once this deck is in the lead, its flexibility allows the pilot to dictate how the rest of the game will go. It does require some anticipation skills, but it has the ability to reach any location, develop points, and play counters, which gives you all the tools to turn an early lead into a successful Snap.

Potential Additions:
Aero, Polaris, and Hulkbuster are the most common replacements.

Magneto pushes the deck towards more of a Control play style, but it could replace America Chavez in the deck.

Sera Control

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
If Marvel Snap is about flexibility and answering the opponent on Turn 6 after gathering as much information about their plan as possible, Sera Control is the archetype that embodies that. Even more so lately, as Wave, Sandman, and other counter cards are absolutely nowhere to be seen. This means a Turn 5 Sera can only be punished by Professor X, but Thanos Control and Lockdown aren’t doing so good lately. As such, in the perfect environment, the most durable deck in Marvel Snap has no reason to struggle to post yet another dominant performance.

Even more impressive is that the Win Rate of the deck is also on the rise, when most of the Cube Rate had to come from precise Snaps and Retreats in the past. As I’m writing this, Sera Control has most of its popular builds (which is really the same deck with a different 2-Cost card over Jeff the Baby Land Shark) above 55%, something the deck has struggled to achieve previously. Winning more games has naturally boosted the deck’s Cube Average in the process, which is above the 0.7 bar over thousands of games.

How to Play:
This archetype relies on giving up priority going into the last turn, so it can punish the opponent with reactive cards like Shang-Chi and Killmonger. Ever since Hit Monkey joined the deck, it also unlocked a proactive pattern on Turn 6 with the monkey assassin able to challenge a lane with points rather than looking to counter what the opponent did.

Sera is at the core of this strategy, as she allows reducing the cost of cards in your hand, strengthening your Turn 6 potential and making it worth to purposefully give the lead to your opponent. Note that losing priority doesn’t mean losing the game – you can be in the lead on a location and close on the other two. Since Sera only has four power, your opponent will typically have a stronger Turn 5 than you do and take back priority. This way, you don’t need to have an incredible Turn 6 or perfectly guess your opponent’s plays to win every game. Most of this deck’s strength relies on its ability to be able to stay as close as possible while not having priority, so your reactive cards are at their best.

While the basic ideology of Sera Control remains the same from one build to another, this is one of the most flexible archetypes in Marvel Snap. As such, some builds will look to focus on reacting to the opponent, while others might have more of a proactive development in mind by answering one lane and developing points on another. Make sure to understand the goal of your build and how your deck aims to win over two lanes by game’s end.

Potential Additions:
Enchantress and Sentinel are two popular additions in the deck.

InSheNaut

InSheNaut

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
When I saw the archetype had dropped Moon Girl last season in favor of both an Evolved package and The Infinaut, it took me a bit to understand the logic. However, in a metagame where the emphasis is on trying to counter your opponent, the Moon Girl line was too obvious, which lead it to receiving punishment often.

With this new look and a much more proactive mindset, InSheNaut develops more points early on while retaining its ability to pass a turn if needed in order to slam She-Hulk alongside one of its two big cards. The change also allowed it to run Leech, a very good card currently because it protects Limbo from being destroyed on Turn 6 while making the game about raw numbers only. I don’t think I have to explain who is going to win a numbers face-off between Evolved Hulk and The Infinaut on one side and pretty much any two cards you want on the other side.

The older build with Moon Girl and Legion is still posting decent numbers, enough to land the archetype a Tier 2 placement. However, this more “to the point” version of the archetype is superior, both in the Cube Average and the Win Rate category, making InSheNaut go from a solid deck to one you should keep an eye on in the current metagame.

How to Play:
In this new and improved build around She-Hulk and The Infinaut, the goal is to make the game about points – a battle you are more than suited to win. Ideally, the deck wants to play Magik on Turn 3, Leech on Turn 5, and profit from passing Turn 6 with Sunspot and Misty Knight before dropping two high power cards on Turn 7. However, there are many more play patterns in the deck to achieve victory:

• With Armor, Cosmo, and Leech, the deck has quite a formidable disruptive ability against many different decks, in addition to the ability to protect it’s own important cards.
• If Shocker hits The Infinaut, it unlocks a pattern where you pass on Turn 4, play The Infinaut on Turn 5, and then play Evolved Hulk on Turn 6. When reducing either of your 6-Cost cards, you can pass on Turn 5 and play the reduced one plus She-Hulk.
• Without Magik, you can try passing Turn 3 or 4 to play She-Hulk early and follow with a big Evolved Hulk on Turn 6. With Limbo and no Leech, you could also pass on Turn 5 to do the same The Infinaut into Evolved Hulk kind of pattern.
• With a hot start through the 1-Costs giving you a nice lead, you might not want to create Limbo and give your opponent more time to mount a potential comeback.

Through these various scenarios, you can see that this build of InSheNaut is actually trying to get away from the very rigid patterns Moon Girl was pushing for that made the deck too predictable as of late. Right now, you should consider this deck a High Evolutionary tempo build, except it can play around with its energy to change which turns it develops points and which it adopts a more passive stance.

Potential Additions:
Shocker and Cyclops are battling for the last spot in the deck.

Good Cards Stature

Good Cards Stature

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Marvel Snap’s poker play style can sometimes be a big disservice to a deck. Indeed, once you have been labelled as the best deck in the game for a few weeks, the community will start respecting you more and play much more carefully. As such, when most of your Snaps are met with a quick Retreat since everyone knows what is coming when Zabu is played on Turn 2, your Cube Average naturally drops a bit. Nothing huge, of course, as I’m sure Good Cards Stature would still easily climb the Ladder or rack up a few Infinity Tickets, but enough for it to lose its edge compared to another strong deck that still packs that surprise element.

It’s still great – possibly the best comfort pick in the game – but it comes with the drawback of most players being extremely cautious when the stakes are raised.

How to Play:
Good Cards is a very tempo oriented build looking to use its energy while staying flexible on where it can invest in the future. Ideally, one would be looking to stay flexible for a large part of the game before committing to lanes in the last two turns. Overall, this archetype relies a lot on how its built, which will impact your game plan a lot.

With so many options, it is difficult to outline a specific play pattern outside Black Bolt on Turn 5 with Stature in hand. Ideally, you want to set up Turn 6 to be a 4-Cost plus Jeff the Baby Land Shark or Stature, or two 4-Cost cards. The rest of your game plan should be based on which package of cards you draw and your opponent. Try to assess early on which cards are fundamental to play and which turns make the most sense to play them; you can then use your other cards to fill the holes in your established pattern.

Finally, keep in mind that the deck is able to play proactively with Darkhawk and Stature, but also reactively with Enchantress and Shang-Chi. This can lead to a desire to play every card since they all have their upsides. But remember, Darkhawk also requires Rockslide and Korg to be effective, and Stature needs Black Bolt. As such, don’t forget the commitment that goes with each card. It will help you plan how much energy you can work with, and thus how many other cards can fit into your plan.

Potential Additions:
Iron Lad is very often included instead of Killmonger, Enchantress, or Captain Marvel.

Evolved Lockjaw

Evolved Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x None

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Even with Shang-Chi as the most popular counter card in the game, Lockjaw continues to be a force to be reckoned with. This week, the deck posted its best performance since the nerf to Evolved Wasp and Evolved Hulk while still using a very basic build for the archetype: above 0.6 Cube Average over thousands of games.

There are two ways to look at Lockjaw‘s success for the start of the season:

• While climbing the Ladder, a deck you can play the same way against pretty much any kind of opponent is perfect for grinding several hours in a row.
• Compared to the other popular decks, Lockjaw develops enough points to consider Shang-Chi as collateral damage. It’s still able to contest the other lanes, or refill if Shang-Chi was played early.

Another likely explanation for Lockjaw doing so well is Spider-Ham picking up a lot of momentum. Indeed, Destroy is still very popular, and Discard Dracula is on the rise; these two archetypes have some of the best targets in the game for Spider-Ham. As such, if Lockjaw was already a solid Tier 2 deck, seeing a little more of the decks its sole counter card can easily turn off naturally propels it to the higher tier.

How to Play:
Based on its signature card, the deck aims to use cheap, weak cards behind Lockjaw in order to summon much stronger ones without paying the required energy. In that sense, Lockjaw’s lane is often very strong, and it is important to keep in mind how to win another one and not get caught up in abusing Lockjaw only.

Most of the time, that second lane will be challenged by Thor, a 4- or 5-Cost card you don’t need to play behind Lockjaw, or a big Evolved Hulk at the end of the game. On the other end, Evolved Wasp, Spider-Ham, and Mjölnir are perfect to play behind Lockjaw in order to get huge cards for cheap. As the game progresses, you should be able to track where you are on each lane. For example, if Lockjaw summoned America Chavez plus Magneto by Turn 4, it might not be necessary to keep focusing on that lane. Similarly, if you already have Jane Foster Mighty Thor in hand, you can expect Thor to be a ten power card, which is a solid anchor for a lane.

The first two turns of the game can be very quiet for a Lockjaw deck, as you aren’t looking to do much (which feeds Evolved Hulk when in hand). On Turn 3, you will either look to have Lockjaw paired with Wasp, or Thor to shuffle Mjölnir into the deck. Turn 4 will often be Jubilee or the card you didn’t play on Turn 3 (if you had both Lockjaw and Thor available).

It is usually good to assess the situation at the end of Turn 4 to know where the match is headed. Once in the final two turns of the match, the goal is to think about your best outcomes and how you can high roll enough to win the game. If ahead, the goal should be to think about tech cards the opponent can use to turn a lane around, such as Shang-Chi. Otherwise, dropping more big cards to get ahead on all three lanes with priority should be enough to secure the win. If behind, it is important to know the chances of winning Lockjaw‘s lane based on what is left in your deck, while counting how big you can get Thor to challenge the second lane.

Potential Additions:
Killmonger replaces Spider-Ham on occasion, while the On Reveal build featuring Wave, Odin, and Doctor Doom is still worth exploring for specific match ups.

Tier 2

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Similar to Lockjaw, Shuri Sauron is one of those decks that seems perfectly fit to grind for hours thanks to its repetitive play patterns. Once again, Shang-Chi will be an issue for the deck. Shuri cannot cheat multiple big bodies the same way Lockjaw can, so protection is the name of the game here.

Armor and Vision were already staples in that regard, but Invisible Woman has joined them for this new season, providing an extra layer of protection if needed. Considering Enchantress is starting to see less play (particularly as the Move Legion deck cannot afford the space to run both her and Shang-Chi without removing a Move card), the move to replace the usual Sunspot or Nebula seems to make sense.

However, I don’t see Shuri joining Tier 1 again anytime soon, even if it could remain awfully close to it for the weeks to come. Indeed, even with Invisible Woman bringing some unpredictability, Shuri Sauron falls in the same category as Good Cards Stature. Everyone knows what is coming, so the deck can’t bait many players into staying in a game unless you are willing to Snap extremely early.

How to Play:
Shuri Sauron is based around the idea of cancelling negative Ongoing abilities with Sauron and abusing Shuri to create a huge amount of points. In that regard, the deck is very rigid in the mid-game since Turns 3, 4, and 5 are almost always the same: Sauron → Shuri → any card worth doubling the power. Often times, Turn 2 will also be dedicated to Armor as a way to prevent an opposing Shang-Chi from ruining your plans. Speaking of Shang-Chi, Vision is another way to play around it, as hitting a moving target isn’t so simple.

This leaves only Turn 1 and Turn 6 to be truly flexible, with Zero sometimes taking up the 1-Cost slot and Taskmaster usually being the default Turn 6 play alongside Ebony Maw.

If this very straightforward approach can lead to a ton of points on two lanes, it also often doesn’t equate to a lot of cubes. Indeed, unless you are Snapping aggressively, the opponent can see the points coming and will rarely stay in the game once you show Shuri (and they can’t handle it). This creates two important factors to take into consideration when playing Shuri Sauron:

• You have to accept Snaps early in the game, especially when Sauron and Shuri show up.
• You need to find lines of play even when you don’t have the best play pattern with the deck, especially when the opponent does not Snap. Even without Shuri, the deck can develop a solid amount of points, and Enchantress is able to steal a few wins.

The last important point to cover is positioning, especially when you don’t draw into Sauron or Shuri. Indeed, while both cards will dictate a lot of your strategies, there are other pairings to know about:

• Nebula and Armor is nice against Killmonger, and you could even follow it up with Ebony Maw if you don’t expect Sauron to show up.
• Enchantress can cancel the ability of Lizard, Typhoid Mary, and Red Skull.
• Taskmaster into an unprotected card is better to play with priority. On the contrary, if the target can’t be destroyed, playing without priority protects Taskmaster. Position your cards in order to gain or lose priority depending on the situation.
• Invisible Woman allows you to hide Taskmaster so it copies your last played card on Turn 6 (or the card that reveals before it behind Invisible Woman). This is a great way to lose priority and make an opposing Shang-Chi worthless.

Potential Additions:
Nebula or Sunspot often replace Invisible Woman.

America Chavez can help with consistently finding Sauron, as long as you don’t need Enchantress to counter certain opponents.

Hela Tribunal

Hela Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

4.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
To be honest, I did not expect to see Hela Tribunal doing so well; Move Legion seems to possess tools to annoy it alongside the usual decks that already limited the archetype. Still, just like most other proactive builds on the Tier List this week, this deck seems to have received its passive early season boost for its ability to grind the Ladder for longer periods of time compared to flexible decks that are more demanding to play.

However, if we look at the archetype’s results in Conquest, it feels clear that Hela Tribunal is better suited to the Ladder where it can quickly move on from a bad opponent and bully those unable to disrupt its play patterns. On the Ladder, though, Hela Tribunal is the only archetype with a Win Rate below 55% that reaches the 0.7 Cube Average. Although the average is much lower, it shows the deck’s ability to perform when in the right environment.

How to Play:
This deck looks to merge two synergies in the hopes that one makes it through and scores a lot of points. Here is what you are looking to accomplish:

• Discard your hand with MODOK and bring everything back with Hela to summon a ton of points at random.
• Have Iron Man and Onslaught together on the same lane with The Living Tribunal in play. Make sure to maximize points on Iron Man‘s lane.

For one of these two play patterns to happen, you need to use your support cards to maximize your chances of pulling it off:

• Invisible Woman can hide MODOK, which will only reveal on Turn 6 and before the Hela that you also play behind Invisible Woman. The card can also serve as protection from Enchantress for your Ongoing combo.
• Electro allows you to play MODOK on Turn 4 if you haven’t drawn Hela yet, giving you two more turns to find your second combo piece. Otherwise, the card enables the Iron Man → Onslaught → The Living Tribunal pattern on Turns 4, 5, and 6.
• Magik gives you an extra turn, which functions similarly to Electro. You get one more draw for Hela or the energy needed for the Ongoing combo.
• Jubilee can pull a piece of the Ongoing combo or give you a shot at Hela if she’s still in the deck. Iron Lad serves the same purpose, albeit with a slightly different ability.

Potential Additions:
Echo and Electro are popular inclusions, although they don’t seem to help for Ladder play.

America Chavez can improve the deck’s consistency.

Sera Surfer

Sera Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
With three different builds around it, Silver Surfer is one of the most used core cards in Marvel Snap. Unfortunately, it also creates a huge mess when it comes to sorting the data about the archetype. As it stands, it feels like the basic build is the best performing one, with only Rogue and Cosmo battling for the last spot. With Move Legion going strong, Shadow King feels like a great staple that is able to dismantle the power of Kraven and Angela.

Although it is only ranked eighth this week, I feel like Sera Surfer is part of the archetypes to keep an eye on, as most of its variations are posting similar numbers. This is usually the testament of a very solid core that gives you agency to build around and adapt to the environment if need be.

How to Play:
The deck follows a pretty simple play pattern that culminates into an explosive Turn 6 and hopefully catches the opponent off guard.

On Turns 2, 3, and 4, you will usually just play a card, focus on spending your energy efficiently, and advance your game plan. Apart from the Storm–Juggernaut duo on Turns 3 and 4, there aren’t many synergies going on. Look to play cards you won’t be able to fit in on Turns 5 and 6 but still need to have in play.

If you are running tech cards like Rogue, Killmonger, or Shadow King, you will be looking to keep those for Turn 6 in order to get the most out of them. As such, you need to play the more proactive cards during the early turns. Usually, Nova is better played on Turn 4 with more information available rather than on Turn 1. It also disguises your archetype from the opponent better.

On Turn 5, the deck typically runs a card dedicated to this turn – which is most often Sera. While these are the go-to plays most of the time, a 3-Cost plus Goose can annoy a lot of opponents as well, especially those relying on a big card on Turn 6. In that scenario, Goose is basically a cheaper Professor X.

Turn 6 will almost always have Silver Surfer included, plus another 3-Cost (or two with Sera on board). While Silver Surfer is a big buff to all of your lanes, it is usually correct to focus on two lanes for the end of the game – especially if you kept a Shadow King or other such card that is able to flip one in your favor on its own.

Potential Additions:
This completely different take on Sera Surfer shows the versatility of both signature cards. You can go in a ton of directions as long as you keep the deck’s basic principles intact.

Daken Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Discard Dracula

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The most improved archetype with Daken joining the game, Discard Dracula got back to Tier 2 thanks to gaining even more proactive ability and points potential. Also, it is one of the rare decks on this Tier List that can play with very few thoughts given to Shang-Chi (except for maybe growing Morbius too fast).

Daken was not enough to propel Discard Dracula to compete with the likes of Shuri or Lockjaw, as the deck feels less flexible than Lockjaw and can’t build two lanes as big as Shuri can. However, Discard Dracula is much stronger at hiding its points potential, although Dracula might become predictable once you discard Apocalypse at least once. Still, with Daken added to the mix to help Morbius or to anchor the third line, Discard Dracula feels perfect for those with an aggressive mindset when it comes to Snaps and Retreats.

How to play:
The Discard archetype relies on growing Morbius and Dracula out of proportion through discarding your hand. Most of the time, either of these two cards are able to challenge the lane they are played into on their own. Morbius can fall to Enchantress, which pushes you to support the card much more or not consider that lane a surefire win. On the other end, Dracula isn’t weak to any card in the metagame – its ability isn’t Ongoing, and it protects itself from Shang-Chi. As such, whenever you have Apocalypse in hand and start discarding it, you can almost guarantee Dracula will be able to take over its location.

Daken could be considered the third anchor in the deck at eight power. Combined with Hellcow or MODOK, the location can quickly force the opponent to invest several cards to contest it.

Last, you have two turns to discard as much as possible and develop points the old-fashioned way. Most Discard oriented cards have solid power for their cost, so you can build a decent total through playing several of them in the same lane.

Discard’s biggest strength is also its most common weakness: it is pretty simple to understand. The hand manipulation part, as well as maximizing your odds of hitting the right card, are not such easy feats when you pick up the deck. However, the deck’s strongest points contributors are well known at this point. As such, it can often be difficult to get more than a cube out of a Morbius plus Dracula start if you did not Snap early. Similarly, your opponent should know to be careful if you start discarding Apocalypse, while they can feel better if Lady Sif discards MODOK instead.

Because the Discard deck gives the opponent a lot of information through showing the discarded cards, it is important to have an aggressive mindset; otherwise, you will regularly be forced to play by your opponent’s rules.

Potential Additions:
The Collector and the 3-Cost discard crew (Sword Master, Gambit, and Moon Knight) see some play as well, although they don’t seem to bring much.

Absorbing Man and Lockjaw are the more exotic inclusions.

Negative Surfer

Negative Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Similar to Hela Tribunal, Mister Negative is doing much, much better when it doesn’t have to face the same opponent several times in a row. It isn’t enough to consider Surfer Negative on the same level as the other proactive builds, as they don’t have a need to find very specific cards in time to have a fighting chance. They might also not have the same Snapping power when they do find their key cards, though. Nevertheless, if Conquest seems to be a place for the reactive builds to shine and dominate, this many proactive builds posting solid performances over thousands of games on the Ladder shows it is a much wider environment.

It’s worth noting that this is one of the first weeks ever where Mister Negative has posted a Win Rate above 50% in a very long time. The Surfer build is known to be more reliable overall, and the pure Negative archetype didn’t pass the 50% bar. If this kind of deck with flexible power finds a way to become reliable, we might have the metagame completely changed, as none of the current decks can really compete with an inverted Iron Man without Enchantress or Rogue.

How to Play:
Just like other Mister Negative decks, your goal is to play your signature card as early as possible so you can draw as many Negatived cards as you can. To make that happen, you have Zabu to get it down a turn earlier and Magik to give you an extra draw. At times, Bast can be enough to have a fighting chance, but it is considered a backup plan more than anything else.

Past that step, the deck functions just like a Surfer deck that wants to develop points by the end of the game. Ideally, you are able to keep your Negatived cards in hand until the last possible moment in order to prevent the opponent from knowing how much they have to beat. However, don’t hold onto your cards if you suspect a Professor X, Wave, or other such limiting card from your opponent.

Here are your two main synergies to develop points on several lanes:

• Wong into Ironheart, Wolfsbane, and Silver Surfer on the same lane.
• Iron Man copied by Mystique on two separate lanes.

Potential Additions:
The Jane Foster Mighty Thor build was buffed with the recent change to Mister Negative.

Pure Negative

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Pure Evolutionary

High Evolutionary

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

5x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Luke Cage losing popularity has clearly helped High Evolutionary stabilize in the metagame, although InSheNaut could be considered the best Evolved build this week. Still, through investing the whole deck in the same direction, Pure Evolutionary is able to create a final turn where both Evolved Hulk and Evolved Abomination can be played. Without priority, this completely removes Shang-Chi from the equation – a huge bonus in the current metagame. Sure, Killmonger remains a problem, but Armor can see play in the deck.

Overall, the main thing holding Pure Evolutionary back is not drawing Evolved Hulk early enough, as the deck immediately loses a lot of its potential to match the opponent’s power.

How to Play:
High Evolutionary seems to push a proactive play style and tries to play cards while keeping unspent energy in the process. Ideally, the deck will be able to build a very strong lane in the first few turns on the back of Sunspot and Evolved Misty Knight building your points total early on. Then, the deck can become more disruptive, looking to counter what the opponent is doing, or anticipate a future counter play from them.

Due to its off-curve play style that typically looks to keep one unspent energy to trigger Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, and Evolved Hulk, the deck can be a bit awkward at first. Keep in mind that each point of unspent energy can be worth up to six total points if all your cards trigger their abilities. Here is a normal play pattern with the deck:

• Pass on Turn 1.
• Sunspot on Turn 2.
• Evolved Misty Knight or a 2-Cost on Turn 3.
• Evolved Cyclops on Turn 4.

The last turns of the game are much more flexible, as Abomination and She-Hulk can push your play patterns in various directions. These two will impact your timing for Hazmat and the amount of energy you are looking to keep unused.

Although this looks suboptimal for many decks, the various synergies in the deck will make such out of sync play patterns worth it in the end. Note that this kind of pattern is only worth going for if you have several cards that gain something from unspent energy.

Potential Additions:
Rogue is the tech card in the deck, and Scorpion feels flexible. Armor and Shang-Chi might be considered in those slots.

Thanos Death

Thanos Death

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The newly dominant Thanos deck (although Zoo might have a say in this shortly), Destroy finally managed to get an archetype in Tier 2 after many weeks of trying. This is the perfect time to pick up momentum with X-23‘s release coming soon. As it stands, Destroy does not have any points problems, with Knull, Death, and a simple Bucky Barnes followed up by Carnage or Deathlok doing wonders for one of your lanes.

However, Destroy clearly lacks some flexibility, which gives the opponent way too much information early in the match. This is a problem Thanos helps solve. It doesn’t solve all the issues around the Destroy synergy, and both Armor and Cosmo remain major issues that the deck will probably never fix. However, delaying the moment we commit our points through playing the Stones early on greatly helps maximize the power of our late game bombs.

How to Play:
Thanos Death is a proactive build looking to play with priority in order to limit the impact of the opponent’s counter cards. Early in the match, the deck will use the Infinity Stones to gain priority and therefore ensure the On Reveal effects can be used safely. Later in the match, once you start working towards contesting two locations, the deck will destroy those same Stones to set up a cheap Death, a big Knull, or a Shang-Chi.

If you know your opponent is not running any potential counters, the deck is still able to play like a basic Destroy deck. It can aggressively grow Wolverine and use the Time Stone to get both Thanos and Knull on board.

This flexibility in deciding who will reveal first is key for Thanos Death to perform in an environment where the Destroy synergy has been struggling, as several of its counter cards are roaming Marvel Snap.

Considering Knull is able to win a lane almost on its own (or, at least, should be played with that intent), Thanos Death does not necessarily need to develop a massive amount of points to challenge two lanes. Death plus a Winter Soldier, a Wolverine, or an eight power Carnage could be enough to secure the win.

Potential Additions:
Just like most Thanos decks, there are plenty of cards you can consider in the deck, such as Nimrod or another card to cheat with the Time Stone. Here is a Galactus build that performed nicely this week, much better than the one simply including Galactus for the surprise factor:

Thanos Death Galactus

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

4.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Tier 3

For another week, the most popular synergy in Marvel Snap, Destroy, end ups in Tier 3. It falls prey to being dismantled by Armor and Cosmo, two cards that are simple to include in many decks. In particular, I suspect Thanos Zoo to have been fed by Destroy, hence why the unpopular deck looked so good this week. As for Discard, it feels like the best decks are the most unpredictable ones, or at least the ones able to develop lots of points in the second part of the game. This way, you might entice your opponent to play their counter cards early, and you can still abuse a Shuri plus Nimrod kind of synergy safely.

Galactus is also picking up a bit of momentum lately; it’s been featured more in Thanos Death, and its own archetype is doing well, too. The Move synergy might have a say in this, as Spider-Man and Aero could put a dagger in the heart of Galactus at any point. However, with Killmonger now the staple 3-Cost card in the other Good Cards decks over Polaris and Cosmo, Galactus did pretty well during the start of the season.

Joining the Destroy synergy in this tier is Thanos Control; this deck is kind of undergoing a rebuilding phase in order to fit this new environment a little better. Devil Darkhawk is a deck that progressed nicely towards the end of last season, but it seems to have lost a bit of momentum this week.

For some reason, the more proactive builds did much better this week compared to the more disruptive ones with Shang-Chi, Cosmo, and Super-Skrull. It might be explained by the sample sizes being quite different in size, or maybe being proactive is much better to start the season since it fits the grind mindset better.

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Devil Darkhawk

Devil Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Nimrod Destroyer

Destroyer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Galactus

Galactus

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

On Thursday, Second Dinner will hit us with another OTA Balance Update, which many expect to be as good as the last two we got. I’ll be honest: I have no idea what could be changed to make the current environment even more diverse. As it stands, a new archetype is on top, at least ten decks feel like competitive options, and at least ten more could climb to Infinite or claim an Infinity Ticket with an experienced pilot.

Cerebro might be worthy of a buff, as the archetype never really picked up massive momentum even when the metagame felt great for it. Destroy can’t really be buffed with X-23 on the way, and its problems are really the counter cards being too effective. Galactus, Sandman, and other restrictive cards are not dominant, but the team has said plenty of times that they like to have those synergies be niche rather than in the spotlight.

It is not often we can say it, especially after months of proactive decks just crushing any counters thrown at them unless a majority of the metagame specifically decides to take them down, but the metagame feels great. We have a nice balance of great decks, unpopular decks quietly picking up momentum, and popular synergies kept in check by their natural predators. So, what could be in the upcoming OTA Balance Update to make the situation even better?

I won’t even offer a suggestion so I don’t influence anybody, but I’m curious to know everyone’s opinion on the matter. To reach out, find me at the usual places, the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.