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
The current meta is a sort of rock, paper, scissors battle where each deck is kept in check by the others.
There are the Good Cards, Lockdown, and Arishem archetypes that represent the flexible decks aimed at getting one of the powerful 4-Costs out early. These are weak to the synergistic builds, particularly Mister Negative, because those decks tend to safely overpower the flexible decks without the appropriate disruption. Discard is also doing well as a synergistic deck, but Red Guardian shutting down Dracula and Morbius is something that Mister Negative doesn’t have to worry about.
Finally, the disruptive archetypes (which were barely represented on this report apart from Clog at the bottom of the list) want to limit what the synergistic builds can do. Mill is pretty good against Mister Negative, but it struggles against the flexible archetypes and Discard since either one getting a hot start is difficult to catch up to.
Overall, every deck follows a very similar pattern: a strong opener means a solid Snap opportunity, which is often met by a quick Retreat unless the opponent has an equally strong opener or a counter card. Considering most decks are self-centered at the moment, that last option does not happen very frequently.
As a result of this situation, most matches don’t tend go the distance; they’re more often ending in quick Snaps and Retreats. Otherwise it’s a battle of two decks not drawing well enough to make a decision before Turn 6.
I’m personally not a fan of these kinds of environments. Discipline is the key to climbing, but the repetition of matches with very little surprise pushes you to look for a change of pace, and that ends up costing you more than anything else.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Double Up Hammer |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Galacta |
| Tier 1 | Mister Negative |
| Tier 1 | Lockdown |
| Tier 2 | Toxic |
| Tier 2 | Move Bounce |
| Tier 2 | Discard Dracula |
| Tier 2 | War Machine Ramp |
| Tier 3 | Arishem |
| Tier 3 | Small Good Cards |
| Tier 3 | KaZoo |
| Tier 3 | Junk |
| 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 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.
Silent Performers
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Tier 1
Good Cards Galacta
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With quite a peculiar list featuring Mockingbird and Sasquatch, Good Cards Galacta simply does everything you need extremely well. Galacta and Gwenpool bring a solid amount of points, Hope Summers provides some energy cheating, and there is a decent amount of disruption with Shadow King and Juggernaut. This is nothing crazy, but everything is done well enough that you have a shot against any type of deck.
At a 0.55 Cube Average and 57.5% Win Rate, the formula seems to be pretty refined (at least for a new way to build around this season’s signature card).
Potential Additions
Psylocke is a way to get Galacta out a turn early. Juggernaut could be another disruptive card like Red Guardian or Mobius M. Mobius.
This Wiccan build also did pretty well, but it wouldn’t be sitting at the top of the rankings if this was the featured list. This is more of a strong Tier 2 deck.
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Mister Negative
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With very little of Mobius M. Mobius around, Mister Negative has a safe Snap when it can play its signature card on Turn 3. Indeed, with barely any deck able to rival its points potential in the current meta, the only concern is whether the opponent can stop you from positioning or playing your cards as intended.
A 54% Win Rate is historically high for this archetype, which shows that this a great environment for Mister Negative. A 0.6 Cube Average is another impressive performance, too.
Potential Additions
Cassandra Nova is the flexible card in the build. Ironheart, Rogue, and Super-Skrull could make sense in that slot.
Lockdown
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Lockdown is still searching for its best list; I saw plenty of different ideas when researching for this report. At the moment, the biggest difference maker seems to be Super-Skrull because it gives you a big edge against the other Doctor Doom 2099 decks.
This deck might also have a better time against high scoring decks like Discard and Mister Negative compared to Good Cards because of its ability to manipulate locations. The only downside compared to the other flexible archetypes in this tier is, ironically, the reduced flexibility. A bad early draw often results in a Retreat due to not being able to get any momentum going.
Still, a 58% Win Rate and 0.5 Cube Average means Lockdown is more than back with the addition of Doctor Doom 2099.
Potential Additions
Jeff the Baby Land Shark looks to be the flexible card in the build. Quake, Daredevil, and other similar abilities that are able to help with location manipulation could make sense.
Tier 2
Toxic
It’s been a while since Toxic did this well, but Luke Cage had to go away for this deck to come back. With Malekith out of the picture (in other decks) at the moment, the timing was just right.
The list has been basically the same since Anti-Venom and Malekith came as reinforcements, so this is really a case of the environment rewarding this synergy. With a 58% Win Rate and 0.45 Cube Average, Toxic is a surprise big player in the current meta.
Potential Additions
Valentina is the flexible card in the deck. Scorpion, Mobius M. Mobius, or another way to deny an opposing Luke Cage could serve as replacements.
Bounce Move
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Bounce Move has the highest Win Rate of this report at 59%; unfortunately, the 0.35 Cube Average cost the deck’s ranking quite a bit.
In an environment that rewards early Snaps a lot, this deck makes a lot of sense because you quickly know whether you’ll be able to develop a lot of points or not. Unfortunately, Red Guardian and Shadow King remain popular counter cards, and they’re a huge threat to your Madame Web and your buffed cards, respectively. This explains the high Win Rate and relatively low Cube Average; it seems that this deck gets punished for Snapping more than the others on this report.
Potential Additions
Falcon replaced Toxin in some lists, and U.S. Agent is a flexible cheap card that could work.
Discard Dracula
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Discard Dracula is still a meta staple, even though it isn’t a top contender anymore. It was replaced by Mister Negative as the “put up lots of points” deck this week. With a 0.3 Cube Average and 56% Win Rate, the deck is definitely good enough to climb. Just don’t expect to end up with more points than every opponent. Also, wait until you know you’re safe from Red Guardian before you Snap.
Potential Additions
Malekith, Strong Guy, and Grand Master can replace Moon Knight, Fenris Wolf, and Swarm for more points but less disruption.
War Machine Ramp
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After a breakthrough performance last season, it seems like War Machine Ramp isn’t surprising many people anymore. Plus, with much more flexibility around this season, the deck has struggled to compete with the top contenders on this Tier List.
With a 0.3 Cube Average and 53.5% Win Rate, the deck was only good enough to place at the bottom of Tier 2. However, unless you fancy simple gameplay with minimal decisions, there are better decks to explore that have similar synergies.
Potential Additions
Shadow King could be another disruptive card, and Blink could be Sersi if you want to evolve your cards more than trade them.
Tier 3
To close out this report, here are a few archetype that were able to compete but often were not reliable enough to fit the current meta. When things go according to plan, these four decks can give the ones in Tier 1 a run for their money, but more often than not they’re forced to Retreat or take a loss against another great draw.
Arishem
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Small Good Cards
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KaZoo
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Junk
Closing Words
Discipline is key in this meta, unless you can break the mold and find a deck that can punish opponents who Snap you.
Mobius M. Mobius can do that against Mister Negative, just like Red Guardian can against Discard and Doctor Doom 2099. Lady Deathstrike has also been discussed to counter Doctor Doom 2099 before it can grow too much. Yet, at the end of the day, unless you get a good draw and the perfect counter card, you might as well Retreat against a Turn 2 Snap or be prepared to lose cubes.
This meta hasn’t been a super fun experience in my opinion, but competitive players might enjoy this rather simple to read meta. Plus, considering many of us don’t play Marvel Snap to win as much as possible, the more disciplined players might even get some extra cubes on the back of opponents who are just looking to see where the match goes.
It’ll be our Christmas present to them. Happy Holidays everyone!
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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