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
Now that Doctor Doom 2099 has been met with a soft counter in U.S. Agent, the Marvel Snap meta has returned to a fairly balanced state according to the numbers. Indeed, no archetype was able to reach a 0.5 Cube Average this week, and all Tier 1 and Tier 2 decks were within 0.1 of each other. This near-perfect balance is only missing the touch of an impactful new card, and it could be a real banger to play.
Here is all I’ll say about Bruce Banner in this report: the card failed to revive High Evolutionary or find its way into any other archetype.
This lack of novelty lead to a battle of quick Snaps and Retreats after some easy-to-recognize Turn 1s. Sure, Hydra Bob and Zabu are in enough lists to blur the lines a bit, but once you see your opponent’s Turn 2 play you typically know whether they’re playing for points or for disruption. Based on that, you can make a pretty educated decision as to what is best to do next.
As a result of this stalemate between known archetypes, a few old ones have resurfaced. I would imagine this is probably an attempt from some players to find a loophole to leverage, and some might be wondering if that archetype they enjoyed in the past still has some gas. Silver Surfer quickly gained popularity, but it fell to the middle of the pack equally as fast. Bounce didn’t gain as much popularity as Surfer, but it had more interesting metrics to look at; the deck would have easily topped this report if it wasn’t a Silent Performer.
This is a meta of small advantages and disciplined decisions. U.S. Agent has installed itself as one of those advantages, but more low-cost decks are sure to arise to limit the impact of the card. I guess the race to find the next little edge is on!
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Bounce |
| Silent Performer | Scream of Doom |
| Tier 1 | Toxic |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards |
| Tier 2 | Lockdown |
| Tier 2 | Small Good Cards |
| Tier 2 | Bounce Move |
| Tier 2 | Mill |
| Tier 2 | Silver Surfer |
| Tier 3 | Discard Dracula |
| Tier 3 | KaZoo |
| 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 > 0.4
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
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 > 0.2
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
den
den
Tier 1
Toxic
After a breakthrough performance in Conquest last week, Toxic confirm its excellent position with a top spot in Ranked as well with a 57% Win Rate and 0.4 Cube Average. Neither of those numbers would typically rank first, but the current meta doesn’t have a “meta juggernaut” that is dominating. Good Cards would probably be that deck if the rest of the archetypes didn’t start adapting against Doctor Doom 2099. Speaking of Doom, Toxic is one of the better decks to punish the card, which would explain the recent popularity boost.
Potential Additions
Hydra Bob is the flexible card in the build, and it can be any 1-Cost you deem more useful. Keep the Malekith synergy in mind, though.
Good Cards
Thanks to its unmatched flexibility, Good Cards managed to keep a high spot on this report—even through a meta that is targeting Doctor Doom 2099 with the likes of U.S. Agent and Lady Deathstrike.
Decks built around Doom 2099 are still doing relatively well, but only over smaller sample sizes. Once you start looking at lists with more than 200 games, it seems like Doctor Doom 2099 struggles more than some of the other strong 4-Costs around.
With a Win Rate of 54% and a Cube Average of 0.4, this Good Cards list was the best performing one among those with enough games to back up their numbers.
Potential Additions
Lists with Doctor Doom 2099 still did well enough to consider trying them out for yourself. They also tended to feature more situational cards such as Luke Cage (for Toxic) and Super-Skrull (for other Doctor Doom 2099 decks).
Lockdown
den
Although the meta has adapted against Doctor Doom 2099, Lockdown still managed to make the card work. Sure, the 55.5% Win Rate is lower than last week’s 58%, same for the 0.4 Cube Average compared to last week’s 0.5.
Still, even though Lockdown has to navigate a tougher environment, no other deck has really emerged and put up a performance worth changing the current popular counter cards. With this in mind, if last week’s performance was a sign of how good Lockdown was, this week showed that the deck can still exist when most decks are running U.S. Agent and opponents understand how it operates.
Potential Additions
Super-Skrull is a tech for the mirror match, but it can be replaced by any other card you deem more valuable.
Tier 2
Small Good Cards
den
Now that U.S. Agent is the counter card of the moment, Small Good Cards has become almost as good as the regular Good Cards build. Actually, if you value the Win Rate metric more than the Cube Average, this deck’s 60% easily takes the cake. Unfortunately, it’s difficulty to keep opponents in the game when you play Agent Venom on Turn 2. This has lowered the deck’s Cube Average, just like it did in the past.
Toxic is a bit of a match up problem, too, and it’s one of the few decks still playing Shadow King at the moment. Otherwise, I would say the current meta is a big reason why Agent Venom is making a comeback.
Potential Additions
Low power cards with a strong ability always make sense in an Agent Venom deck. Iron Man wasn’t played due to the current popularity of Super-Skrull.
Bounce Move
den
I don’t really know how a deck that was already playing U.S. Agent posted its best results without the tech card in this meta, but Cosmo as the 12th card seemed to do the trick. The explanation is likely that the deck doesn’t need more help in the points department, and it would rather make sure its points are protected.
This would make sense, as it seems like Mister Negative has quietly disappeared and allowed Bounce Move to have one of the highest points potentials in the game. Also, Cosmo might open more opportunities for high cube gains than U.S. Agent. With a 0.35 Cube Average and 57% Win Rate, I would say the former is more important to improve than the latter.
Potential Additions
U.S. Agent is a great card at the moment. Toxin and Falcon trade places depending on which ability you like most.
The Living Tribunal can also be included to spread the points of a gigantic Human Torch or Dagger.
Mill
den
Mill was kind of a sneaky performer in this meta. Power wise, it is worse than most of the decks on the Tier List, but Marvel Snap doesn’t really reward power at the moment. Instead, it rewards decks that are able to Snap and keep opponents in the game; lots of power tends to push opponents away. Mill, on the other hand, can Snap because it stole/destroyed (or is about to steal/destroy) a key card for the opponent, which is a much harder thing to identify from the other side of the field.
This explains why Mill managed to post a 0.3 Cube Average despite being on the lower end of the Win Rate spectrum at just 54%.
Potential Additions
Magik could replace Grand Master.
Silver Surfer
den
It’s been a while since Silver Surfer has had an impact on the meta, but, without a clear dominant deck, this is as good as any other pick. Neither metric is great (54% Win Rate and 0.3 Cube Average), but Silver Surfer is a deck that anyone can pick up and play well almost immediately.
Potential Additions
Copycat and Red Guardian are the flexible cards. You can replace them with any other 3-Cost that appeals to you more.
Tier 3
Discard Dracula
den
With a 0.2 Cube Average and 55% Win Rate, Discard Dracula wins as much as many of the other decks, but it seems to be losing the high stakes matches and only winning matches with few cubes involved.
KaZoo
den
A 53.5% Win Rate and 0.2 Cube Average is enough to earn a spot on the report, but barely enough to be considered competitive right now. KaZoo is the textbook example of a deck that needs to mix things up in order to surprise opponents and get those four cube wins.
Closing Words
The most important quality for a pilot at the moment is the ability to project yourself into the future of a match. Fortunately, most decks are quite easy to recognize and predictable enough that you can figure out their key synergy as early as Turn 2 or 3. From there, it’s all about finding your edge against the deck and how they might position their cards.
I know this is easier said than done, but recognizing your opponent’s deck early can give you more time to figure out the intricacies of their deck and even the twists they brought to it.
Or you can focus on finding the next card that breaks the mold, like U.S. Agent did against Doctor Doom 2099 this week.
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.
More Content