As we head into the last part of the Big in Japan season, Move Legion seemed like it was going to retain the top spot for the entire month of August. But the arrival of X-23 and a buff to Forge changed everything. Indeed, Destroy got even more popular with a new 1-Cost card to abuse; all Destroy archetypes progressed this week. In particular, Deadpool finally cracked Tier 2 after many, many Tier Lists spent in Tier 3, which is an impressive feat and proof of how much the archetype has improved – especially because most decks had Armor slotted in their decks. However, the best performing archetype for Destroy this week sits in our Silent Performers section: Destroyer Nimrod. Quite ironically, that deck is among the few in the Destroy synergy that isn’t running X-23. However, the ability to duplicate Knull with Arnim Zola is a great way to win the mirror match against fellow destroy decks like Deadpool and Thanos Death.

Speaking of Silent Performers, the deck of the week, Patriot Surfer, was also placed in that category due to a lack of a big enough sample size. It’s the winner of two tournaments, first being piloted by Yasui and then by Moyen in Twitch Rivals. The deck quickly became the talk of the competitive community. Several players have already mentioned they hold the deck in very high esteem and consider it the biggest threat to Move Legion going into the end of the season. Also, the deck puts a spotlight on the Forge, Brood, Absorbing Man curve, which develops 15 points on two different lanes early in the match.

This synergy is wreaking havoc on the current metagame by opening very flexible late game turns since most of the points are on the board by then. Silver Surfer was already capitalizing on the trio to reclaim a Tier 1 placement, but it couldn’t quite challenge for the top spot. Now that it has joined forces with Patriot and firmly established itself in the competitive community, we’ll have to see how much damage the deck can do before we enter the next season.

These two massive changes have obviously impacted the metagame a lot. Even though the rankings look similar to previous weeks (with Tier 1 even featuring similar decks), there are a few major differences to note. Good Cards Stature claimed the top spot from Move Legion because it can capitalize on its ability to counter Destroy easily through shifting its counter cards. Then, Sera Control kept falling in the rankings; it’s now a mid Tier 2 deck after almost a full year of being a Tier 1 contender. Finally, and this is probably the most important information this week, the gap between the highest tiers has never been this close. Indeed, even if the top decks of Tier 1 remain in a world of their own, the decks at the bottom of Tier 2 seem to have progressed in the chaos that X-23 and Forge created.

This is a perfect situation going into the last week of the season. The Ladder is open to a huge variety of decks. Right now, anyone could perform with anything from the highly synergistic and proactive Destroy to the more reactive and counter oriented Thanos Control. And if you don’t like the diverse metagame because you struggle to figure out which deck you should pick, this report is here to help you.

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. These decks would likely be ranked in Tier 1 or 2 if they managed to post a similar performance over thousands of games.

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 Tier 2.

Tier 1

Good Cards Stature

Good Cards Stature

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x 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+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
When a very flexible deck nails the perfect counter cards, it immediately boosts its performance by quite a bit. With X-23 pushing Destroy to new heights (and with Destroy as the most popular synergy by quite a large margin), Good Cards Stature immediately saw an opportunity to do what it does best: adapt. On the back of Spider-Ham and Armor, the deck shuts down Destroy really well. It catapulted its Average Cubes to 0.7 this week, beating Move Legion‘s usual 0.6 by a small margin.

Other decks could make the same changes to their decks and perform exceptionally well, too. I can think of Thanos Control, for example, which could easily make the adjustment. But Good Cards Stature is the only deck that keeps functioning the exact same way after changing two cards from the default build. Plus, if the opponent uses your own Armor to protect a big card from Shang-Chi, Enchantress can be used to remove that protection.

With Silver Samurai feeling like an auto-include in the deck after it releases on Tuesday, Good Cards Stature is looking very strong going into the end of the season.

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 it is 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:
Killmonger is seeing much less play after X-23 joined the game, so either Polaris or Cosmo are probably the go-to 3-Costs for the deck. Jeff the Baby Land Shark is the next strong card to include if you want to replace something.

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:
Apart from Nightcrawler feeling better than Vision this week, Move Legion continues to be a great, flexible deck. One might wonder how the deck would perform if it removed Kitty Pryde and Angela for more disruptive cards (such as Armor, for example), but it doesn’t seem like the deck is adapting to match the current metagame. Instead, it’s relying on its own strengths to win games.

A few players have expressed their concern regarding the deck’s future, though, as the new synergy between Forge, Brood, and Absorbing Man is pushing decks to challenge Move Legion extremely well. Silver Surfer was already abusing it, and now Patriot Surfer relies on the same curve. From the few opinions I collected, as well as my own testing, it seems like Patriot Surfer is regarded as the best deck of those two right now, at least in the head-to-head match up. A fascinating development this late into the season.

Don’t be alarmed if you spent time learning Move Legion; the deck remains a powerhouse no matter what, and it should remain a solid Tier 1 deck for the rest of the season (if not longer).

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, Spider-Man, or 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:
Vision was part of the deck in previous weeks instead of Nightcrawler. Polaris, Aero, and Magneto are some cards to consider as well.

Silver Surfer

Sera Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Still torn between a million different lists (which I have very little data on, making it difficult to know how good any one truly is), Silver Surfer remains one of the most improved decks with the last OTA. Forge has been a wonderful addition, and it’s part of the best mid-game curve in Marvel Snap currently.

Also, with Armor gaining tons of popularity with Destroy’s rise to stardom, Shadow King is slowly taking over Shang-Chi as the most effective power reducing card right now. It puts in work against Forge, Venom, Kraven, Angela, and Shuri, which encompasses a lot of the current dominant decks if you think about it. However, it also means that Silver Surfer had to cut Rogue from the list for now, which has lead to other decks rising.

Nevertheless, Silver Surfer can take on any deck in the metagame as long as the deck is build for said opponent – just like Good Cards Stature. So, for those who might have some trouble adapting or picking the right tech cards for an evolving environment, Shuri Sauron should remain a great comfort pick as we head into the last week of the season.

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. Your two most common patterns are Forge, Brood, and Absorbing Man, or the tried and true Storm and Juggernaut. Otherwise, play cards you anticipate you won’t have the energy for later on.

If you are running tech cards like Rogue, Killmonger, or Shadow King, you will be looking to keep them for Turn 6 in order to get the most effective use. 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, and let’s you play with your space more efficiently.

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, Forge and Brood have a second opportunity to be played on Turn 5, which sets you up nicely for Silver Surfer plus a counter card on Turn 6.

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:
Kraven and Rogue could replace Nova and Killmonger to make the deck better against Move and Ongoing decks. Otherwise, Goose, Maximus, and Cosmo are next in line for a Silver Surfer deck.

The Patriot Surfer deck in the Silent Performers section could be considered a variation of this archetype.

Patriot Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Although the switch from Shang-Chi to Shadow King in a few decks could hurt the deck’s ability to leverage Armor to protect its big cards, Shuri Sauron remains the best proactive deck on the Ladder for another week. While disruptive cards remain very popular and Shang-Chi is still widely used across the board, the last OTA buff to Forge has led to several decks focusing on points more than countering the opponent. In that context, Shuri Sauron naturally feels right at home since it’s able to create 30 points across two lanes when it gets its Shuri, Red Skull, Taskmaster combo.

There are some aspects of the metagame that might be worrisome for Shuri, but other aspects seem to make up for it because they play to the archetype’s strength. Plus, the Snaps and Retreats on the Ladder tend to favor this kind of high potential deck since it can base most of its strategy on its own information.

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 Nebula 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 abilities 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:
Shuri Sauron seems locked on those twelve cards, so I don’t know how much one would want to adapt it. Sunspot and She-Hulk could be a duo to consider.

Tier 2

InSheNaut

InSheNaut

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

1x 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)

4x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
I was expecting to see InSheNaut post another solid performance this week since the deck was already running the cards to beat Destroy before X-23‘s release. However, even though the deck remains one of the best in the game with 0.45 Average Cubes, it seems like the decks in Tier 1 have a leg up on this archetype.

A few factors could come into play to explain the slight dip in InSheNaut’s performance this week. First, Shadow King is a solid card against High Evolutionary, as it gives back the lost power from Cyclops and resets the power of both Sunspot and Nebula. Then, the emerging decks are relying on synergies that happen before Turn 6, which limits how impactful Leech can be as a disruptive card. Last, Wave has made some form of a comeback in Thanos Death with X-23 included. The card is far from a popular inclusion, but it is very difficult for InSheNaut to overcome it.

Nevertheless, even if InSheNaut dropped below the threshold for Tier 1, a Top 5 placement in this metagame is a sign of a very solid deck.

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:
Cosmo and Legion are two other cards the deck often includes. Nebula, Shocker, or Cyclops would be the cuts to include one of those.

Hela Tribunal

Hela Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

2

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:
Although the Win Rate remains right under the 50% mark, Hela Tribunal was able to leverage its Snaps and Retreats enough to get a solid Cube Average on the Ladder. It is starting to become very obvious how much better proactive decks are here compared to Conquest. The ability to get out of matches where you suspect a counter card is in your opponent’s deck (and aggressively Snap in matches where that isn’t the case) is massive.

For someone who still struggles with flexible decks or who might not be the most efficient with placing cards and abusing locations, Hela Tribunal looks like a great deck to explore. It focuses almost exclusively on being able to read the situation and raise the stakes accordingly.

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 the Iron Man 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 played behind Invisible Woman. The card can also serve as protection from Enchantress for your Ongoing combo.
• Magik allows you to play MODOK on Turn 5 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 5, 6, and 7.
• 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:
Crystal and Echo are occasionally seeing play in the deck. They help protect your Invisible Woman lane from Cosmo, or simply help you draw your important cards.

Deadpool Destroy

Deadpool Destroy

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x 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+

3.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
*Destroyer Nimrod would have been a Tier 1 deck if it wasn’t below the 1% popularity threshold, which makes that the best Destroy archetype this week.

It took the release of X-23 for Destroy to finally roll into Tier 2 and become a scary opponent for many. It is even more impressive considering the deck was widely expected and saw an incredible number of Armors slotted into many archetypes. In this environment, Deadpool Destroy’s 0.35 Average Cubes could have been much higher if it wasn’t for the deck being one of the most countered in the game. Still, this is the expected fate when you are the most popular deck – especially after receiving a card many knew would be extremely impactful.

As it stands, the best performing list is as simple as it gets. Without Forge or Hulkbuster, the goal isn’t to build the biggest possible Deadpool. Instead, the goal is just to develop a ton of points across the board on the back of Knull and Death being able to challenge a location on their own.

Obviously, there are plenty of Destroy lists going around right now, as well as a lot of counters for them. This means it can be very difficult to have a clear assessment of how good Destroy is doing in the metagame overall. Plus, if you take a look in Conquest, you’ll see that Armor is much more punishing compared to Ladder. As such, I think it makes sense that a simple and effective list is the best for the archetype on Ladder this week, even if I don’t expect it to be able to go much further without adapting a little more.

How to Play:
Based around the idea of abusing its namesake card, Deadpool, this Destroy variant aims to build a humongous amount of points with the Destroy synergy. In addition to Deadpool, you can use Knull, Venom, and/or Death to challenge a lane. If possible, you want to destroy Deadpool every turn. You can add other cards to this mix, such as X-23 for extra energy or Wolverine and Sabretooth to build up Knull and reduce Death.

At its core, the deck is pretty simple to understand because every card in the deck aims in the same direction. However, success with this deck comes from avoiding your opponent’s traps and getting your points one way or another. If everything works according to plan, you could have enough points to win two games at once. A 32 Power Deadpool, a 50 Power Knull, and a free Death are nothing to sneeze at. Plus, cards like Carnage, Deathlok, and Wolverine can quickly add up to another 20 points spread across the lanes. But, even though this will beat pretty much any other deck, no opponent will stay in such a game without a backup plan.

With this in mind, your goal should be to advance your synergies safely while making sure to protect your most important cards. Don’t try to beat the opponent with a 30 point lead – a win by one is still a win. Cards like Cosmo, Armor, and Professor X, as well as decks that can move your cards, will be looking to disrupt your plan make your deck unable to function properly.

One of the keys to overcoming this deck’s challenges is priority. It makes reading the situation much simpler than trying to guess the opponent’s cards. In order to keep priority, you need to establish early points through Bucky Barnes and your other cheap cards.

Potential Additions:
Nova and Shang-Chi are two other popular inclusions in the deck. Forge and Hulkbuster can serve to buff Deadpool or Sabretooth.

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:
The time for some change might finally have arrived for Sera Control as it continues its downward trajectory from last week. It really feels like this open environment that features a lot of flexible decks isn’t suited for Sera Control. Proactive cores that are able to slot in counter cards, such as Good Cards Stature and Silver Surfer, are simply doing the same job with fewer restrictions. The performance isn’t considered bad yet; a 0.35 Cube Average is on par with the deck’s performance over the months it’s been on this list. However, Marvel Snap has changed, and this is far from enough to be considered one of the top contenders of the current metagame.

As we head towards the end of the season, Sera Control will need to reinvent itself, or it risks becoming obsolete before the end of September.

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 can replace Rogue if you want to cancel multiple Ongoing abilities. Otherwise, the points package of the deck doesn’t seem to be strong enough to fight against other popular builds. There might be a need to work on that front.

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

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+

Rank Justification:
With Destroy being a much bigger part of the environment, Thanos Control has logically gained some momentum – even without Armor in the decklist. If it wasn’t for Destroy, this archetype might not have done as well since the top decks don’t seem to be particularly good opponents for Thanos Control. Brood and Absorbing Man are excellent at developing points early on, well before Professor X can come in and lock a location. If it wasn’t for Cosmo mitigating that play pattern, Thanos Control would be in serious trouble.

In other news, the list based around Angela and Vision (i.e. more proactive cards compared to the previous Spider-Ham), seems to do slightly better than the one with Armor and Luke Cage. Considering the environment is quite diverse, focusing on developing more points seems like a better idea for a deck that is struggling against the top tier picks.

How to Play:
The goal with Thanos Control is to quickly figure out where you want to compete and which location you can use to dump your utility cards. These utility cards do not mean you are abandoning that lane, though, as you can use Professor X, Blue Marvel, or Klaw to steal it later on. The goal is to make it look like the lane isn’t a threat and just use it to manage space. This way, if the opponent does not challenge it, you can easily lock it down later on.

This first part of your game plan is crucial to the success of the deck, as it is quite rare for Thanos Control to win a points shootout on two different lanes. When only one remains to dominate, Devil Dinosaur, Thanos, and Shang-Chi can prove exceptional tools to win the points battle.

The other big strength of Thanos Control is its flexibility. It’s able to do a bit of everything during the last three turns of the match, and this flexibility is exactly what you are looking to leverage – especially if you are already in the lead. Here are some examples:

• Professor X can lock a lane that you are ahead on, and Cosmo can cancel a lot of abilities wherever it’s played.
• Blue Marvel and Klaw can impact multiple lanes at once. Vision allows repositioning your points, too.
• Angela, Devil Dinosaur, Shang-Chi, and Thanos help win over a single lane with points.

Depending on the situation and the opponent, you might want to take a different route in order to push your opponent towards a game plan they should struggle with. Finally, the timing of your Snaps is crucial, and most of the time necessary before you enter that second part of the game and commit to the card that will reveal your strategy. Indeed, considering you are looking to lock the game (which creates a situation that is easy to predict on Turn 6), not many opponents will stay to play it out if you established a strong lead.

Potential Additions:
Most counter cards could be imagined in the deck in order to adapt to your most popular opponents.

Discard Dracula

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Since the Gambit and Absorbing Man list emerged for Discard Dracula last week, it has become the best build for the archetype. Other than that, Discard has not been very active lately – which might change with Silver Samurai joining soon. Still, with a solid Cube Average of 0.4 and a 57% Win Rate, this particular list of Discard is worthy of being acknowledged. Indeed, compared to the other lists of Discard Dracula, this one seems to carry the archetype, and it could be ranked even higher if it was the default build across the community.

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:
Nebula feels like the most flexible card in the deck if you wish to include something else. The card feels like the best 1-Cost for the deck, so a tech card would probably make sense in its place.

Tier 3

Tier 3 is really diverse this week, especially since Destroy finally managed to escape from it. The big surprise is probably Evolved Lockjaw, which seemed to be doing quite well over the season so far. As they’re both decks that are focused on developing a lot of points, Destroy rising might explain why Evolved Lockjaw is struggling because it can consistently beat the High Evolutionary archetype.

Looking at the other decks, we see some of the usual suspects like Thanos Death, which hasn’t progressed too much with X-23 (even though the card is basically a second Time Stone and a great utility piece for the deck). Galactus is also around, another synergy one could expect to rise with a cheap ramp tool added to Marvel Snap. However, it appears the random resurrect of X-23 can be annoying for Galactus.

Last, we have Negative Surfer and Devil Darkhawk, two decent synergies that are unable to compete with the high potential decks.

Negative Surfer

Negative Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

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+

Evolved Lockjaw

Evolved Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Thanos Death

Thanos Death

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x 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)

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

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Devil Darkhawk

Devil Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Galactus Ramp

Galactus Ramp

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

Strong cards can be frustrating to face when there aren’t enough of them, as diversity is the key to a good metagame. However, when a variety of decks have access to strong tools, as well as ways to answer those tools through counter cards, the game puts everything in the players’ hands in order to find success (and have fun at the same time). While we aren’t exactly there yet, Marvel Snap does look very close to this great environment – especially on the Ladder where you can get away from a bad situation for a cheap cube sacrifice.

Sure, it can lead to a difficult time for those looking to cover all the possible scenarios, which is something that feels absolutely impossible in the current environment. Even though Destroy was already one of the most popular archetypes, it gained a lot of attention with the release of X-23, and players have reported different feedback depending on where they are on the Ladder and the strengths and weaknesses of their decks and play styles.

Some will find a deck infuriating when others think it’s pretty good to play against. Some will ask for a nerf to Shang-Chi while others believe the card is perfect as it is. The current metagame is a very give and take kind of deal; there are some parts you will love, and some parts you despise. But this is part of a balanced environment. Simply find what you think is best and what helps you win the most games. Or use Forge, Brood, and Absorbing Man. That has seemed pretty nice lately.

I hope this report was informative and you are having a good time playing Marvel Snap. As usual, 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.