Card games in the Internet era will always have a “best deck” that is eventually considered dominant. It’s that one archetype that posts a slightly better win rate, or finds more good match ups in the environment. As time passes, the deck doesn’t lose any momentum, so the Internet inevitably talks about it and creates a snowball effect that results in a dominant deck.

This is exactly what is happening right now with the Good Cards archetype; it has been progressing ever since it became the go-to Thanos Control counter deck. Although it is far from the power level of Bounce (or even its old iteration back when Zabu was a [3|2]), the deck is now regarded as the undisputed best in Marvel Snap. And to be fair, it is. Good Cards is posting a very solid win rate that is close to 60%, and it has a great cube rate to go along with it. It does not, however, shape the metagame like other dominant decks have done in the past.

First, the deck relies heavily on the power of its tech cards to win games. Then, rather than competing with everyone else in the points department like others did before, Good Cards focuses on being extremely flexible by impairing the opponent while developing enough points to beat what is left of their strategy. This has lead to a lot of other decks posting solid performances when you look at their cube average, and typically the end of the season features one deck above the rest that is almost worthy of being alone in Tier 1. This week, while there might only be two decks at the top (their cube averages above 0.5 deservedly put them there), the rest of the popular decks aren’t doing so bad – all decks in Tier 2 posted a 0.3 cube average or better.

In that sense, contrary to Bounce, Evolved Lockjaw, and Shuri Zero at their prime, there are plenty of decks that can beat Good Cards if the game was solely based on who can develop the most points in six turns. But, it isn’t. Instead, Marvel Snap is more about being able to develop your board while cancelling the opponent’s, or at least dodging their attempts at cancelling yours. With Shang-Chi, Enchantress, Killmonger, Cosmo, Armor, Echo, and Spider-Ham (which are just the most popular), playing a solely proactive deck wishing to dodge everything your opponent might throw at you seems hopeful. As it looks, nailing your Snaps and Retreats is absolutely key to climbing the ladder right now, as you never know if your opponent is Snapping because they got their points, or if they will come after yours.

Personally, I enjoy this kind of environment. Creativity can be heavily rewarded, and each game has a different feeling to it. Still, I can understand why it might feel difficult to develop some kind of comfort for your deck since it feels like everything is constantly moving around you. Let’s take a look at the best performing lists and maybe put some sense into the current metagame.

Happy Tier List, everyone!

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.

Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List

Tier Explanation

Tier 1

Good Cards

Good Cards

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
This metagame rewards the ability to play against the ever popular Lockdown synergy, but it also rewards decks that can handle a bit of everything else. Good Cards has seemingly the perfect structure to adapt and cover a wide variety of match ups. Its core takes care of the points, and the proactive part of the game is covered by Shang-Chi and Enchantress, two cards you won’t regret running with Zabu in your deck. Then, there are four open slots to drive your deck in different directions. It could be more proactivity, some disruption, match up specific counters, you name it.

Thanks to this flexible approach in a metagame without a clear “best deck” now that Thanos Control has been covered, Good Cards keeps rising in popularity as no deck has found a way to dodge all the traps it can lay in this metagame.

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 on a lot of deck building space, 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, we want to set up Turn 6 to be a 4-Cost plus Miles Morales and Stature. 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:
Spider-Ham, Killmonger, Stature, and Black Bolt are the flexible cards in the build. You can replace any of them to match your own experience. Cosmo, Polaris, Legion, America Chavez, and Luke Cage are the most popular cards included instead.

Sera Control

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Not a big fan of the Lockdown metagame, Sera Control is much more comfortable now that it can wait and see what the opponent does before trying to counter them on Turn 6. Particularly, this is the deck that seems to do well against Good Cards, as Wave is nowhere to be seen there and Cosmo isn’t a staple, either. It isn’t a particularly easy match up, but losing priority is big in a match where tech cards are often the deciding factor.

The biggest change this week for Sera Control is dropping Hit Monkey and Mysterio for Lizard and Jeff the Baby Land Shark. It might be a little early to tell if this will become the new go-to list for the archetype, but the extra flexibility from Jeff seems to fit the current theme of where the metagame is headed.

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 – we 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, we don’t need to have an incredible Turn 6 or perfectly guess our 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 our 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:
Zabu can give more of a combo vibe to the deck since you can include Enchantress and maybe another 4-Cost. Otherwise, Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Lizard are the flexible cards, and they can function like two synergistic cards (similar to Hit Monkey plus Mysterio), or two standalone options (similar to Polaris).

Tier 2

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

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+

5.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
If you can’t anticipate what your opponent is doing, you might as well have a strong game plan to rely on! That seems to be the motto for Shuri Sauron. Also, even though Shang-Chi remains a problem, the relatively low points ceiling needed to win (since flexibility is the focus) makes sure that Shuri Sauron isn’t very weak to a lot of counter cards, especially since Armor and Vision are in the deck.

It is important to note, however, that this list posted much better results than the other ways Shuri Sauron can be built. As expected, it is also the most flexible of the bunch, thanks to Vision being able to move and Enchantress occasionally countering some Ongoing synergies.

If the super flexible archetypes posted in Tier 1 aren’t your jam, this deck can probably help you reach your goals before the Ladder closes for the Rise of the Phoenix season.

How to Play:
Shuri Sauron is based around the idea of cancelling negative Ongoing abilities with Sauron and abusing Shuri to create a big 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 our 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 ideally 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.

Potential Additions:
Sunspot and She-Hulk remain a popular duo in the archetype, although they would rank much lower in Tier 2 if that was the featured list.

Pure Evolutionary

Pure Evolutionary

Created by den

, updated 2 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+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
This week, it seems like Spider-Ham took over Luke Cage as the most popular 2-Cost card alongside Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Zabu. Naturally, High Evolutionary saw this as an opportunity to come back, and it really packed everything it could when it comes to inflicting negative power to the opponent. With Hazmat, Scorpion, and the usual Evolved cards, Abomination should routinely be free, and the deck is very rarely punished by an opposing Wave.

Although it is more of a proactive approach, we can once again see how finding new ways to build some flexibility with our points can change the dynamic of a deck. Abomination is a lot of points for the deck, but it is also a target for Shang-Chi when played early. Keeping it in hand and playing the card on Turn 6 helps a lot in dodging the power shift when it gets destroyed.

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 our points total early on. Then, the deck can become more disruptive, looking to counter what the opponent is doing, or anticipate a future a counter play from their part.

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 seems to be needed to steal an opposing Luke Cage so our deck can keep functioning. Otherwise, Scorpion can probably be flexed out for Shang-Chi or maybe Armor.

Sera Surfer

Sera Surfer

Created by den

, updated 2 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+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The buff to Absorbing Man started another wave of testing around Silver Surfer after Nakia and Jean Grey didn’t fit the bill. For now, the basic list remains both the most popular and the most effective over a large sample size. It might just be a case of the community being experienced with one build and not another, or maybe the new list is still in need of some time to find its groove. Similar to the previous OTA, Silver Surfer will probably be one of those decks with an established build in the top five or ten decks that is unable to break into Tier 1 – unless the new builds around it provide the little boost it needs to catch up to the top decks.

Nonetheless, with cards like Rogue, Killmonger, and Shadow King, Silver Surfer remains a great, flexible deck that can compete against most archetypes, as long as you can leverage your tech cards properly.

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 is typically running a card dedicated to this turn – either Sera or Spider-Man. 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 Spider-Man.

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 our lanes, it is usually correct to focus on two lanes for the end of the game, especially if we kept a Shadow King or other such card that is able to flip one in our favor on its own.

Potential Additions:
Absorbing Man is seeing play over Maximus in a few builds, as copying Brood to summon five power Broodlings is pretty sweet. At worst, it can always copy a Silver Surfer or Shadow King. There are also decks with a complete package of Zabu and other 4-Cost cards running round:

Absorbing Surfer

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Losing momentum as Good Cards picks up popularity, Thanos Control is still one of the most popular decks at the end of this season and remains a deck to have in mind. Just like a lot of other decks on the Tier List, the deck doesn’t really have a default build of 12 cards; instead, it looks to leverage its flexible slots to adapt to the other builds in the metagame. As such, depending on how you decide to invest those last three or four slots, the deck could post very different performances. It seems like the Good Cards match up has not been solved for now, considering Thanos Control remains on a downward spiral – even when the list changes to include different cards.

This week, a popular inclusion was Daredevil over the usual Spider-Ham or Luke Cage. In a very wide metagame, the card seems to make sense since it can help against any kind of opponent. Even more surprising, Jeff the Baby Land Shark was not part of the best performing list this week, which is something I have a hard time explaining to be honest. However, considering the archetype has included over 20 cards in the last three weeks, it might just be a case of trying new things to stop the current fall in the rankings.

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 Spider-Man 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 we are looking to leverage – especially if you are already in the lead. Here are some examples:

• Professor X or Spider-Man can lock a lane that you are ahead on.
• Blue Marvel and Klaw can impact multiple lanes at once.
• 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.

Potential Additions:
Valkyrie and a flurry of 2-Cost cards such as Mirage, Luke Cage, and Spider-Ham are also seeing play in the deck.

InSheNaut

InShenaut 1

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
After being considered a great tournament pick in the last two weeks (but non-existent on the Ladder), InSheNaut finally amassed enough popularity to make it into the rankings, and at a very nice rank, too!

While Legion could be a problem when played in the Good Cards deck and Lockdown easily taking a lane with Professor X, it seems like the metagame accepting more diversity is great for InSheNaut – especially as Shang-Chi isn’t too much of a problem thanks to passing priority going into the last turn. Plus, you can spot a Kang in the deck, a card that helps scout for information and is a precious tool in a metagame filled with counter cards. This is the first time in several month the Big Bad has made it to these rankings, although the card isn’t played in most lists of InSheNaut. I didn’t include it for personal preference, though; this featured list had the best cube average (around 0.4), and it was the only one with Kang. Who knows, someone might be up to something with the card.

How to Play:
As a true explosive deck, InSheNaut is looking to get set during the first four or five turns of the game before exploding on the final turn with a ton of points. Ideally, your set up would have Sunspot or Nebula protected by Armor, and then you can dump utility cards like Spider-Ham, Cosmo, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark on another lane. Most of these cards won’t translate to a lot of points later in the match, so they should be used proactively to allow Moon Girl to hit She-Hulk reliably.

Then, after passing Turn 6, you can drop two She-Hulks and The Infinaut for 38 points, which usually puts you ahead on every lane (or at least largely in the lead on two different ones). Plus, since you typically won’t have priority, the deck does not fear Shang-Chi too much. Just in case, though, you can always leverage Armor and Cosmo to protect your future big cards.

The key cards that get you to this point are Magik, Moon Girl, and Legion, as they set up both the field and your hand.

• Magik creates Limbo so you get the ability to pass on Turn 6.
• Legion serves to copy Limbo and guarantee a seventh turn of play. With Sunspot, Nebula, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark in the deck, you could also use Legion to lock the game if a location allows you to do so.
• Moon Girl copies She-Hulk and provides you with another nine points. You could also copy Sunspot if Magik was played already. Double Sunspot on Turn 5 into a pass on Turn 6 is a lot of points.

Even though this is a great plan on paper, navigating the game to create that perfect situation represents the real challenge of playing InSheNaut: the opponent usually has many more ways to annoy you than you might anticipate.

Potential Additions:
The High Evolutionary build also put up a great performance this week and could have been the featured build for the archetype:

InShenaut 2

Created by den

, updated 2 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+

5.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Iron Patriot

Iron Patriot

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
This deck is a little on the back foot with Enchantress and Rogue soaring in popularity as Darkhawk took the top spot in the game. Still, Iron Patriot has been saved by Super-Skrull being a great card in this environment, and one that many other decks can’t abuse as well. Indeed, with Mystique and Onslaught in the deck, there is a shot at doing the opponent’s plan better than they can.

Also, the other card to consider in the deck is Wave, which could be a sleeper card with most of the top decks relying on energy cheating abilities such as Zabu and Sera. Even with surprising tech cards (which will win some cubes simply by catching a few opponents off guard), Iron Patriot still struggles to keep up while playing scared of a timely Enchantress.

How to Play:
Without a 1-Cost card, this Patriot build is more passive than the traditional one. The idea is that the late game will be crazy enough to not need to invest early on, especially if you intend to use Ultron. With Invisible Woman joining the deck, you now have a way to protect Patriot as well as hide your deck a little, since one could simply play on one lane and let Ultron fill the other two on game’s end. In addition, you can also hide some important tech cards to keep your opponent in the game while they’ve already lost it.

The biggest choice you have to make with this deck is which route you are looking to take: the proactive one, or the disruptive one. If you think you can beat your opponent in a points contest and they can’t punish you for it, it is completely reasonable to plan based solely on how many points you can develop. Then, you will be looking to build around Patriot, Iron Lad, Mystique,