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
I typically make these reports quite close to the start of the season and I have to talk about how the bots impact the rankings. This time, however, I had to wait almost a week before I could get to the report, which means there was enough data of only Infinite players to look at. Sure, it’s a much smaller pool of games than during the other weeks of the season, but it should draw a more accurate picture of the current best decks.
And that picture shows a lot of Good Cards decks, be they around Galacta, Wiccan, Arishem, or Thanos. The Discard synergy was also represented either through disruption (Stature Darkhawk) or points (Discard Dracula), as well as a few other specific synergies.
War Machine Ramp lead the group of more exotic decks, which included Pure Move and Mister Negative. Among those three, the Ramp deck is the closest to a Good Cards deck, as you can find Hydra Bob, Alioth, and Shadow King in it. The War Machine package is basically a points trio with a condition.
Overall, the meta is a lot about non-committal strategies capped off with cards that are able to solo win a lane (Gorr, a boosted Iron Man, Alioth with priority, etc.). There are plenty of different approaches, but none of them made it into Tier 1—although Stature Darkhawk and Pure Move were really close. It’s likely that quickly knowing whether you stand a chance or not, similar to Mister Negative and Discard Dracula, negatively impacts the Cube Averages of those decks.
It might not be the most exciting meta to kick off the Marvel Rivals season, but the recent batch of cards released all had “Good Cards” written on them, so there is no surprise.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | War Machine Ramp |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Galacta |
| Tier 2 | Stature Darkhawk |
| Tier 2 | Pure Move |
| Tier 2 | Good Cards Wiccan (Alt Thanos Wiccan) |
| Tier 2 | Arishem Loki |
| Tier 3 | Discard Dracula |
| Tier 3 | Mister Negative |
| 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 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 > 0.4
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 > 0.3 & Win Rate > 55%
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 > 0.25
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.
Tier 1
War Machine Ramp
den
After a promising start last season, War Machine Ramp is making the most of a meta where the highest points potentials are being countered by Mobius M. Mobius and Red Guardian. Unless your War Machine gets negated (play it behind Electro or another cheap card to avoid that), The Infinaut and Ebony Maw are the highest points available on Turn 6 at the moment. Plus, you aren’t running many On Reveal cards so Gorr isn’t that big.
Overall, this is a solid deck in a favorable environment. The 0.45 Cube Average and 56.5% Win Rate are far from what is required to claim the top spot, but no deck is really doing great at the moment.
Potential Additions
Hydra Bob is the flexible card in the deck, and Blink could be Sersi if you’re missing it and want another 5-Cost that can remove Electro. Sersi also works pretty well with Jubilee.
Good Cards Galacta
den
It didn’t take long for Galacta to be added to the list of strong standalone cards. The test to know if a card is one is fairly simple: can you help or be included in some sort of Good Cards build? So far, the answer is a resounding yes for Galacta, as Thena and Kitty Pryde had not posted such a good Cube Average since before Agent Venom was nerfed.
Just like War Machine Ramp, it is a little weird to see a 0.4 Cube Average and 55% Win Rate deck in Tier 1, but this meta doesn’t have an incredible performer to overtake them at the moment.
Potential Additions
You could try this version of the deck if you’re more excited by U.S. Agent and Anti-Venom than Thena and Scarlet Spider.
Tier 2
Pure Move
den
Pure Move is eleven cards and whatever 3-Cost is best at the moment. Without any specific archetype to beat, Pure Move turned to Copycat since it’s able to take Gorr‘s or Alioth‘s ability in order to give you the best card in the game.
If it wasn’t for being a very difficult deck to pilot, as well as the necessity to constantly stay on the lookout to dodge Shadow King, Move would probably be sitting at the top the meta. But, unfortunately, a 0.35 Cube Average and 54.5% Win Rate only gets you into Tier 2.
Potential Additions
Red Guardian, Mobius M. Mobius, Hercules, or whatever 3-Cost card you deem strong in the current meta or with the Move synergy can make sense to replace Copycat.
Stature Darkhawk
den
I strongly considered bumping this deck up to the highest tier, as the 60% Win Rate is by far the best of the week. However, the fact that this deck is pretty simple to Retreat against limits most of its win to a single cube (whenever you are playing against someone who cares about their cubes, of course).
As such, unless you are willing to Snap extremely early in most games, the deck’s 0.3 Cube Average looks to be its ceiling since a 60% Win Rate is very difficult to improve.
Potential Additions
Swarm can replace Proxima Midnight. The 2-Cost makes sense with Gambit and Moon Knight in the deck, and it’s also great against other decks looking to discard cards from your hand.
Good Cards Wiccan
den
A more disruptive approach to the Good Cards concept, Wiccan suffers from being very simple to Retreat against, and it’s also a very situational deck. You might have a surefire Snap if you destroy something big to resummon with Fenris Wolf or if you are able to activate your Wiccan, but, unless you Snap before you show your plays to your opponent, you only get a single cube.
It’s hard to argue that this deck doesn’t have crazy potential, but the 0.3 Cube Average and 53.5% Win Rate doesn’t reflect that potential at all.
Potential Additions
This version of the deck with Thanos also performed well this week.
den
Arishem Loki
den
Galacta is a strong standalone new card that is at its best when played as early as possible. As such, it is clearly a good addition to an Arishem deck, just like Gorr was last week.
Since it was nerfed heavily at the end of the summer, Arishem has made its mission including strong new cards to keep the archetype afloat and leverage the extra energy as best as possible. With two great new cards in back-to-back weeks, Arishem continues to be a solid archetype (even though it hasn’t climbed back to the top of the rankings). The 0.3 Cube Average and 55.5% Win Rate doesn’t indicate that it will in the future, but it keeps it in the competitive discussion nonetheless.
Potential Additions
Quinjet, Vision, and Copycat are cards you could consider in the deck. Magneto can replace Gorr if you don’t have it.
Tier 3
Discard Dracula
den
After a great season thanks to Malekith bringing some diversity to the way Discard Dracula plays, the archetype isn’t starting the new one so hot. It’s starting to look like its old mediocre self again. At a 0.25 Cube Average and 55% Win Rate, Discard isn’t too far from several decks in Tier 2, but it was ranked above them for most of last season.
Mister Negative
den
After a big push with Gorr‘s release, the meta called Mobius M. Mobius back to work and Mister Negative returned to being a gimmick with glaring issues. At a meager 52% Win Rate and 0.25 Cube Average, Mister Negative had just enough to climb to Infinite, but it can’t Snap confidently until it figures out the opponent’s counter cards.
Closing Words
Galacta hasn’t changed the meta at all, although she has been a strong enough card to find her way into several decks (basically all the ones that are based on strong standalone cards).
Looking at everyone’s performance, it feels like this meta still has a lot of room for discovery and exotic play patterns. Alioth remains the biggest threat to keep in mind, but Cosmo, Shadow King, and Shang-Chi are close behind. Still, with no deck above a 57% Win Rate other than Stature Darkhawk—a deck lacking in the Cube Average department—I’m sure a lot of decks could perform well if the pilot is mindful of priority.
Worst case, we just have to wait a few days for an OTA that should bring some changes. Hopefully it will gives us new synergies to explore in order to get out of this “strong standalone cards” fiesta.
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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