Table of Contents
Welcome to our Marvel Snap Meta Meta Tier List! Each week, we review the best decks in the ever-changing Marvel Snap ladder meta.
This report is dedicated to the Ranked mode and lists the current best decks heading into and once in the Infinite Rank. We also provide a Conquest report, available every weekend, that highlights the best archetypes for that mode. Looking to figure out the impact of the newly released card or the latest balance changes? This is the place to be!
If you are looking for more information about a deck in particular, check out our Archetypes pages, with detailed information about each of the household names in Marvel Snap.
Marvel Snap Meta Overview
It is simple to look at another Tier List with Arishem ranked on top and just move on to play something else once your quests are done. However, even if the OTA seems to have once again missed the mark on making Arishem just another deck in Marvel Snap, new contenders have risen.
Indeed, Wiccan managed to push some very interesting decks—especially in the Silent Performers section. If they hold this type of performance over a few hundred games, both Good Cards Wiccan and Galactus would have made it into Tier 1.
At the top of Marvel Snap, there is clearly a battle based around available energy, as that is the most important resource in the game. Whether you are trying to play a certain card earlier than its cost would indicate, or you just have enough cards to spend all the energy you have available, more energy leads to more cubes.
To be fair, we knew that already. Energy is also the most restrictive resource in the game, so it is only logical for it to allow the largest excess as well. The question now is what can we do about it? Is there a way to match what your opponents can do when they have more energy available than you?
So far, the answer appears to be a resounding no. The top three archetypes in this report (if you give credit to the two Silent Performers) look to play with extra energy.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Good Cards Wiccan |
| Silent Performer | Galactus |
| Tier 1 | Arishem Loki |
| Tier 1 | Silver Surfer |
| Tier 1 | Sandman Midrange |
| Tier 2 | Kazoo |
| Tier 2 | Stature Darkhawk |
| Tier 2 | Loki Bounce |
| Tier 2 | Phoenix Force |
| Tier 2 | Destroy |
| Tier 3 | Junk Move |
| Tier 3 | Discard |
| Budget | Ongoing Kazoo |
| Budget | Devil Dinosaur Destroy |
| Budget | Swarm Discard Aggro |
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 Cube Average 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. They won’t have their own dedicated write up here, but they may be transferred to the main Tier List section. 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 Tiers 1 and 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 leverage.
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 Cube average or 60% Win Rate.
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 > 0.25
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
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.
Silent Performers
The most popular builds with Wiccan didn’t do very well in Ranked, but two under-the-radar decks are definitely worthy of your attention. Good Cards Wiccan had a 0.7 Cubes Average and 65% Win Rate, and Galactus had a 0.55 Cube Average (albeit with a 50% Win Rate). It seems that gaining two energy has done a lot of good for these two decks.
Galactus didn’t have many games under its belt, and the low Win Rate indicates that the surprise factor must play a huge role in the deck’s success. Still, the idea looks brilliant, and the inclusion of Nick Fury gives the deck a decent secondary game plan when you need one.
As for Good Cards Wiccan, there were multiple lists in the data I looked at. Instead of ranking the more popular one (which would have been a Pixie Wiccan deck with a 0.3 Cube Average and 52.5% Win Rate), I felt that this one deserved to be showcased more.
There’s nothing crazy here; Wiccan was slotted in a deck with a lot of strong cards. But it seems that Wiccan giving you a nice high roll is better than building around the card.
den
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Tier 1
Arishem Loki
den
Playing Arishem now gives you 15 cards shuffled in your deck, which was a solution the community tossed around immediately after Arishem started to become really dominant. Well, it appears that it wasn’t the solution, as the 0.7 Cube Average and 60% Win Rate indicates the other decks lost much more than Arishem Loki did after the OTA.
In the Silent Performers section, Good Cards Wiccan posted the only comparable performance, but we’ll need to see more of that build to call it a contender.
So what is there to say? Play Cassandra Nova in your deck, or just be careful when Arishem Snaps you. There are at least several decks with more games under their belts, so maybe Arishem just benefited from being ignored.
Potential Additions
Cassandra Nova is included for the mirror match, but it could be any strong standalone you wish. Same for Legion, which provides some location control.
Silver Surfer
den
With both decks in the Silent Performers section posting better results, Silver Surfer is only second due to its high popularity. It didn’t steal its spot in the highest tier, though; a 0.5 Cube Average and 59% Win Rate is a great performance. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the deck drop some ranks if the meta featured less of KaZoo and more of the Wiccan decks in the near future.
This is a great comfort pick after the OTA, but I don’t think it is super safe either.
Potential Additions
Spider-Ham and Copycat can replace Nova and Killmonger if you see more combo-oriented decks rather than ones built around 1-Cost cards.
Sandman Midrange
At a 0.4 Cube Average, Sandman Midrange should be in Tier 2, but it just felt wrong to not include the highest Win Rate of the report (60.5%) here.
As usual with a disruptive build—especially one that’s been around for several weeks already—the struggle is keeping the opponent in the game when you Snap. Maybe it’s better to take a bit more risks with earlier Snaps, even if the Win Rate slightly drops as a result.
Potential Additions
Makkari was part of the original build of Sandman Midrange.
Tier 2
KaZoo
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Early after an OTA, particularly one where most of the top performers took a hit, the next best proactive deck is likely to do great. Silver Surfer is in the higher tier, and KaZoo almost made it there. Unfortunately, that same Silver Surfer list playing Killmonger, alongside Sandman limiting explosive Turn 6 patterns, is probably stopped it.
Still, at a 0.4 Cube Average and 59% Win Rate over 1500 games (the most for any archetype in this report), it looks like Kazoo is a reliable pick once again.
Potential Additions
Nightcrawler could be another 1-Cost if you value another ability over flexibility. Spider-Ham, Nico Minoru, and Echo are fine candidates.
Stature Darkhawk
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Just like Midrange Sandman, Stature Darkhawk features a great Win Rate (58%) but struggles to put up the Cube Average you would expect to go with that Win Rate. At only 0.25, the deck simply feels like it does what it is built for, which is bully Arishem or disrupt the other decks. Unfortunately, you can’t just disrupt your opponent without expecting them to Retreat whenever you raise the stakes.
You’ve got to Snap aggressively with this one to find success.
Potential Additions
Loki Bounce
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Bounce has been in the competitive mix since the OTA that buffed both Werewolf By Night and
Potential Additions
Phoenix Force
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Phoenix Force is a great measuring stick to know how disruptive the meta truly is. If the deck is nowhere to be seen or posts terrible results, it means there is too much disruption around to reliably Snap early when you get the god draw. On the other hand, if you see the deck post some decent results (such as the 0.25 Cube Average and 55.5% Win Rate it posted this week), it often means you can afford to play a purely proactive deck and Snap your best hands early on.
Potential Additions
The deck hasn’t changed a card in a long time, so it is hard to recommend a switch for this one.
Destroy
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The popularity of KaZoo might have played a role in Destroy making it back into Tier 2. Even then, it is important for Marvel Snap’s health to see these basic archetypes have a fighting chance because it shows a diverse environment.
Sure, a 0.25 Cube Average and 54% Win Rate isn’t close to the top performers, but Destroy doesn’t need to be a Tier 1 archetype for it to do its job.
Potential Additions
Arnim Zola can be Shang-Chi or Lady Deathstrike.
Tier 3
Junk Move
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Discard
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Moon Knight appears to be a staple in Discard now, which shows that the previous patches and OTAs had a positive impact on the archetype. However, even with a bit of disruption added to the mix, the deck simply looks limited in how it can play Marvel Snap. Everyone knows why you would Snap with Discard Dracula, and everyone knows when to Snap against you as well.
Closing Words
Looking at the rankings, it is clear that gaining energy is the best thing you can do in Marvel Snap, but disruption isn’t doing so bad either. Although it doesn’t run any form of energy cheating, Sandman Midrange posted the highest Win Rate. Plus, Silver Surfer is also a contender.
In this context, even though it appears that there is a better way to rack up cubes currently, the key is to identify when your opponent is getting what they need and when they aren’t. Arishem will draw perfectly at times and a Turn 3 Wiccan will likely seal the deal, but that is just how the game was designed.
We need to Retreat the bad games and Snap the good ones. This has been the deal from day one, but it’s even more important now. The difference in the current meta is that you might want to give more weight to your opponent’s draws rather than your own, at least if you decide to stay out of the energy gaining contest.
To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.
Good Game Everyone.
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