Table of Contents
To be fair, I don’t think there is much to analyze about this post OTA metagame, and I love it ! Indeed, just like before Fenris Wolf got nerfed, there are plenty of decks with solid results. The difference is there isn’t a gatekeeper anymore, so it is a bit of a free for all at the moment.
As always, certain archetypes will put some order in this chaos, forcing the others to adapt or realize they can’t compete. Mister Negative once again leads the proactive category, with Move and Discard not so far behind. That same trend is also visible in the Trending category, with an Ongoing, energy cheating deck leading the pack, while Move and Discard decks follow closely.
Reactive decks are also part of the metagame, with the iconic Sera Control posting great numbers. Yet, these will require a bit more time to be fine-tuned to their environment. For now, we can see multiple archetypes able to run counter cards, such as Silver Surfer or Iron Hand, are focused on points plus a bit of generic disruption with the likes of Mobius M. Mobius or Red Guardian. I have no doubt these will improve once they start leveraging the information they gather about the most popular decks.
Overall, it feels like we are still in the early stages of this new metagame, and might not exit before the new season comes around. Move is about to get a new card in Sparky, while Quicksilver, Domino, and Wiccan should pair very well with Viv Vision.
We’ll see if those cards tilt the balance in favor of those synergies, or whether another archetype manages to become dominant by then.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Small Ongoing Good Cards 0.9 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate / 90 Games |
| Trending | Big Move 0.45 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate / 50 Games |
| Trending | HelAgatha Discard 0.45 Cube Average / 62.5% Win Rate / 60 Games |
| Trending | Evolved Agatha Discard 0.4 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate / 130 Games |
| Trending | Surfer Buff 0.4 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate / 80 Games |
| Tier 1 | Negative Destroy 0.9 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Pure Move 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Sera Control 0.65 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Discard Dracula 0.5 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Pixie Merlin Clog 0.4 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Scream Move 0.2 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Pixie ClogTriot 0.3 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Iron Hand 0.25 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Mill Control 0.25 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Toxic Wiccan 0.1 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Arishem 0.1 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| End of Turn | 0.6 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate |
| Bullseye | 0.85 Cube Average / 62.5% Win Rate |
| Disruptive Surfer | 0.85 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate |
| Mister Negative | 0.6 Cube Average / 54% Win Rate |
| Destroy | 0.6 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate |
Here is my usual annoying advice because I’m a coach and I like to think this helps people: Focus on controlling the stakes of each game and building trust in both your deck and your decision making abilities. Once you feel confident, feel free to take more risks. Reaching Infinite is all about understanding the process of grinding cubes. Also, constantly changing your deck limits your ability to learn the game fundamentals, as you are always focused on learning how to pilot the new deck.
Trending
This trending section is a good representation of the early stages of the metagame. Small Ongoing Good Cards found a good balance in between proactive synergies and disruptive pieces, with Mobius M. Mobius and Cosmo also serving as protective pieces to our Ongoing cards.
Behind it are synergies able to develop of ton points, typically at their best early on since their snap is mostly based on their own development. Big Move, both Discard decks and Buff Surfer all fit in that category.
From those, Silver Surfer has room to grow, and adapt its list to the metagame. The other three will likely stay in a similar theme in the future, so it will be interesting to see if they pick up some momentum going forward.
Small Ongoing Good Cards
den
Performance: 0.9 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate / 90 Games
Big Move
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate / 50 Games
HelAgatha Discard
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 62.5% Win Rate / 60 Games
Evolved Agatha Discard
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate / 130 Games
Surfer Buff
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate / 80 Games
Tier 1
Negative Destroy
den
Performance: 0.9 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate
Like clockwork, Mister Negative is around after every major balance update to remind every one they have absolutely no shot to be the best deck in the game if they rely on points alone.
However, the reign of this deck could be shorter that it usually lasts, as there is quite a bit of Pixie on this Tier List, and Mobius M. Mobius typically tags along.
Potential Additions
Cassandra Nova, Ironheart or Wong typically make it into the non-Destroy build. Shang-Chi or Killmonger could be added to this one.
Rogue would step in if Mobius M. Mobius was to be a problem.
Pure Move
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate
The move synergy is a very intriguing one to look at, as it recently got nerfed, then buffed, and will also get a new card to kick off the season.
Typically, when the Pure Move deck is posting better results than Big Move or Bounce Move, it means disruption is required for that synergy to shine. With Mister Negative around following the OTA, it sounds pretty logic.
Potential Additions
I saw Blink, Araña and Iron Fist in other builds.
Sera Control
den
Performance: 0.65 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate
With Ghost Rider”] now in the mix, Sera Control is able to disrupt proactively rather than be forced to wait for its opponent to commit. Non only is the 5-cost another way to annoy most decks, forcing them to play their cards rather than develop energy cheats and patiently wait for turn six. It also allows Sera Control to snap more aggressively, without having to perfectly guess what the opponent is up to.
Potential Additions
Invisible Woman can replace Merlin or Scarlet Witch, while Cobra was in a list, probably as a specific counter card for Iron Hand.
Discard Dracula
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate
Sort of the same as Mister Negative, Discard Dracula is a simple yet very effective deck when everyone builds for points. With Ghost Rider”] still fresh, and Cosmo acting as a protective piece for certain decks, this deck might need to be careful. Yet, Mister Negative should steal the spotlight and direct the disruptive cards to Mobius M. Mobius for a bit.
Potential Additions
Moon Knight, Grand Master, Swarm are three cards to consider for this deck, depending which area of your strategy you want to emphasize on.
Tier 2
Pixie Merlin Clog
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate
A weird mix to say the list, this deck uses Pixie as a back up plan to cheat Sentry and Annihilus together when the cheap cards wouldn’t be enough. I did not have much time to test it ahead of this report, but this deck can develop a surprising amount of points, while Mobius M. Mobius makes sure your opponent can’t cheat energy to beat your very flexible cheap cards.
Potential Additions
More expensive cards would tilt the deck towards needing Pixie more, but you could go that way if you didn’t like Hit-Monkey and Werewolf By Night as your points cards.
Scream Move
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate
An archetype to keep an eye on heading into a season with a move cards joining the game. Until then, Scream Move is popular due to being a deck everyone knows about, but fails to post very convincing results at the moment.
The nerf to Cannonball didn’t change much, as the card was still in most list of Scream Move.
Potential Additions
Shang-Chi is the flexible card, but typically is a disruptive tool. Juggernaut, Enchantress, Mobius M. Mobius… make your pick.
Pixie Clogtriot
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate
A deck which started to gain momentum before the OTA, Clogtriot has been amongst the most popular picks after the update, which led to its results plummeting a bit.
It is only fair, as this deck really capitalizes on Pixie, and other decks using Mobius M. Mobius prevents to discount our more expensive cards, largely limiting explosive turns down the line.
Potential Additions
Rogue could help turn off the opposing Mobius M. Mobius. Shadow King is the flexible card if we wanted to include something else.
Iron Hand
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate
An expected top tier contender following the OTA is struggling to live up to the hype at the moment. To be fair, Iron Hand is amongst those decks which won’t surprise anyone playing against it, naturally hurting its cube average. Then, this early metagame isn’t suited for flexible decks, unless they have the perfect tool to answer the decks with a much higher points ceiling.
I expect Iron Hand to progress as things get settled.
Potential Additions
Red Guardian, Shadow King and Mobius M. Mobius are disruptive pieces, easily replaceable with something else you would see more fit.
Mill Control
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 53% Win Rate
I check to see where Fenris Wolf was at after the OTA, but except for Wiccan Control losing a ton of momentum, the now 3-cost mostly disappeared for the time being. The only archetype still popular, and with decent numbers using the card is Mill, which switched to a more control approach.
As a 3-cost, Fenris Wolf can still be played alongside Mercury on turn five, to prepare for Cannonball plus the Demon. It will feel much weaker than it was before the OTA, but still looks like a competitive play-pattern.
Potential Additions
Invisible Woman is used for Shang-Chi and Enchantress, but I feel like there are plenty of better 2-cost to use in this deck. Simply Grand-Master or Surge would probably net better results.
Tier 3
I believe Toxic and Arishem are much better than their current ranking, but it feels like most iconic archetypes one could default to have failed to perform very well so far. I would attribute that fate to their inability to keep opponents in the game when they snap, as their strategy is well known from previous they were dominant.
The win rate is on par with many other decks on this report, so this is mostly a question of how to raise the cubes won per game, or cut on some costful losses.
Toxic Wiccan
den
Performance: 0.1 Cube Average / 55.5% Win Rate
Arishem
den
Performance: 0.1 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate
That’s it for this week! To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or shoot me a direct message (@den_ccg) for specific stuff or coaching.
Good Game Everyone.
Disclaimer and Tier Explanations
In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive Cube Average in the Ranked mode. Win Rate is also taken into consideration, and it can greatly impact the ranking of a deck, particularly when several archetypes (or different builds of the same deck) have a similar Cube Average but big Win Rate discrepancies. The Marvel Snap mechanics do, however, push players to maximize cubes gained rather than win every single game.
In order to create this chart, den is using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker, as well as other available data online and his own expertise and opinion of respected players. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the meta, you can find it in the Silent Performers section. That section highlights decks with an excellent Win Rate, but too little of a sample size to be representative of their real strength.
Decks not good enough to be considered contenders but with a good representation will be ranked in Tier 3 in our chart. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face them when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the meta changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Silent Performer: Decks with a very little presence in the meta that still showcase a Cube Average and Win Rate worthy of a Tier 2 deck (or better). Oftentimes, these can be archetypes with some nice game play that have been left unchecked in the current environment, or decks on the rise that found a few good match ups to abuse.
Tier 1: Tier 1 represents decks with all the upsides we would be looking for to rack up Cubes. They have good match ups in the current meta, offer different play patterns during a match, and often have the ability for explosive or surprising turns. These should be decks worth investing into in order to climb for the coming week.
Cube Average > 0.5
Tier 2: Tier 2 are very good decks but with a weakness holding them back – either not being as reliable in its draws as Tier 1 decks, countered by another popular deck, or still being a work in progress as you read this. A good pilot could probably take these and have the same results as with a Tier 1 deck, but their play patterns are more difficult to enact compared to the tier above.
Cube Average > 0.35
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 > 0.20
Budget: Decks that consist only of cards in Pool 1 and 2 that are still capable of competing with an experienced pilot in a similar Collection Level, Rank, and MMR range. See our matchmaking guide for more details.
Meta stats and analytics directly from our Marvel Snap Tracker can also be found here.
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