Table of Contents
The Marvel Snap meta has been mostly about points lately. Mister Negative was first, then a new Discard deck with Bullseye released, and the usual strong standalone cards such as Arishem and Wiccan have created a very proactive meta. In that mix, I didn’t expect Ares to bring a dominating 10 Power archetype back to the top in an otherwise un-impacted meta following the OTA Balance Update.
All the decks below are very well positioned in this final Ranked Tier List of the season—but if I’m being honest, the 10 Power archetype sitting atop the list reminds me that a lot of power paired with precise disruption is a lethal formula. For now, this is the biggest change to note, but there are a few other interesting developments in the meta.
Indeed, while Ares is a new card, the 10 Power archetype is far from exotic, which means we have already learned how to counter it in the past. This explains why Toxic is in the Trending decks, while a few of the pre-Infinite best performers are based around afflicting the opponent with negative Power.
It isn’t much for now, but the meta is on the move and we can now turn to the new Season cards like Sam Wilson Captain America and Joaquin Torres falcon II to shake things up and bring even more changes!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Toxic 0.5 Cube Rate 52.5% Win Rate 130 Games |
| Tier 1 | Surtur 10 Power 0.5 Cube Rate 59% Win Rate 400 Games |
| Tier 1 | Arishem 0.5 Cube Rate 57.5% Win Rate 350 Games |
| Tier 2 | Bullseye Discard 0.4 Cube Rate 57.5% Win Rate 1400 Games |
| Tier 2 | Wiccan Control 0.35 Cube Rate 58% Win Rate 200 Games |
| Tier 2 | Small Good Cards 0.3 Cube Rate 55.5% Win Rate 350 Games |
| Tier 3 | Mill 0.2 Cube Rate 53.5% Win Rate 580 Games |
| Tier 3 | Mister Negative 0.2 Cube Rate 48% Win Rate 560 Games |
| Tier 3 | Clog 0.15 Cube Rate 52% Win Rate 200 Games |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are this week Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Surtur 10 Power | 0.1 Cube Rate / 68% Win Rate |
| Arishem | 0.75 Cube Rate / 62% Win Rate |
| High Evolutionary Control | 0.65 Cube Rate / 65% Win Rate |
| Scream Move | 0.65 Cube Rate / 63% Win Rate |
| Clog | 0.65 Cube Rate / 60% Win Rate |
Trending
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 52.5% Win Rate / 130 Games
Toxic was losing momentum after the nerf to U.S. Agent and the switch back to synergistic decks. However, the arrival of Ares brought back the 10 Power deck, which was exactly what Hazmat and company needed to get back on the horse.
The Win Rate is far from great, but the Cube Rate shows Toxic has a very strong Snap at the moment. Unless Luke Cage comes back or the new season pushes 10 Power away, Toxic should keep gaining momentum.
Tier 1
Surtur 10 Power
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 59% Win Rate / 400 Games
I sometimes totally underestimate how good developing points is in Marvel Snap. Not only is it the most accessible type of strategy (both to play and to Snap), it also opens the scariest type of disruption. Shang-Chi and Enchantress can turn a game around, but they are typically played from behind so Snapping carries some risk. On the other hand, Cosmo, Juggernaut, and Alioth are played from a position of strength, making Snaps much safer.
This is exactly what Surtur 10 Power is doing at the moment: developing points early only to disrupt the opponent’s synergies once in the lead. I didn’t think Ares would make such a difference since the archetype was only performing mildly at best until now; it didn’t even appear in a report for more than two months. Yet, either the new 4-Cost card is really good, or the archetype always has been and we just needed a reminder.
Potential Additions
Nico Minoru can replace Hydra Bob, while Juggernaut can replace Aero for an extra protective piece in addition to Cosmo.
Arishem
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate / 350 Games
If you are good at Snapping, Arishem is a great archetype. It’s simple as that. Not only is the archetype still able to post strong Win Rates when built the right way, it also often means being able to assemble the best standalone cards of the environment. Arishem‘s base concept is perfect in the current meta since it rewards a strong start and the ability to break your opponent’s synergies afterward.
The tension Alioth causes due to being playable on either Turn 5 or 6 will paralyze a lot of opponents and make your Snaps even scarier than they already are.
Potential Additions
Red Guardian can replace either Juggernaut or Mobius M. Mobius. You can swap out both Dooms for Legion, Lady Deathstrike, Magneto, or other strong standalone cards.
Tier 2
Bullseye Discard
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate / 1400 Games
Now that the best list has been figured out with only one or two cards changing among a group of four, Bullseye Discard has been putting up very consistent results. We already knew the deck was fairly good against the existing field, and Surtur 10 Power isn’t too much of a problem if you find Bullseye in time so you can use it to limit Skaar‘s discount.
This is a solid deck overall, it’s just a bit of a pain to keep opponents in the game after you Snap, which hurts its Cube Rate.
Potential Additions
Frigga and Moon Girl are in the rotation with Grand Master and Gambit as the last cards in the deck. This is the first week Frigga has been out; Grand Master plus Gambit were together in the best performing list.
Wiccan Control
den
Performance: 0.35 Cube Rate / 58% Win Rate / 200 Games
Rocket and Groot and Red Guardian are great for removing Power from a 10 Power card, thus canceling Skaar‘s discount. However, Gladiator must be quite a scary card to play at the moment, and I doubt Alioth has many opportunities to be played with priority.
Overall, Wiccan Control has tools for every opponent, but it also has cards that won’t be very useful in certain match ups. As such, this deck requires a good knowledge of which cards need to be prioritized depending on your opponent’s deck.
Potential Additions
Gorr or another big 6-Cost could replace Alioth if you aren’t finding enough opportunities for it. Cable and
Small Good Cards
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Rate / 55.5% Win Rate / 350 Games
This has lost momentum as the season progressed, particularly due to the nerf to U.S. Agent and Mill being a tough match up. Still, Small Good Cards has somewhat stabilized as a solid but not stellar archetype.
At the moment, the deck relies heavily on its disruptive cards to rack up some wins. Indeed, although you can develop a hefty amount of points with a Turn 2 Agent Venom or Bast hitting your 0 Power cards, Mister Negative, Discard, and 10 Power will typically win that battle. As such, it is important to factor U.S. Agent, Cosmo, and Red Guardian into your strategy. These can reduce your opponent’s potential as much as you develop yours.
Potential Additions
Toxin recently replaced Havok in the deck, but both can contribute in their own way. Silver Sable could be a good addition against 10 Power specifically.
Tier 3
Mill
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 53.5% Win Rate / 580 Games
Mill was doing great in the very synergistic meta since it was able to Snap whenever it grabbed or destroyed one of its opponent’s key cards. While the 10 Power archetype is also synergistic, that match up is much worse for Mill. First of all, Armor limits how much damage your destroy synergy can cause. Second, Lady Deathstrike doesn’t do much against a deck with mostly 10 Power cards. Both of these factors limit how often you will be able to play a cheap Death.
Both the Cube Rate and the Win Rate have dropped this week, which might be concerning for Mill Enjoyers.
Potential Additions
There used to a Mill build without the destroy synergy, and that might make more sense at the moment. Killmonger, Death, and Lady Deathstrike would give their spots to Grand Master, Gorr, and Wiccan or some other strong standalone card (like Red Guardian, Copycat, etc.).
Mister Negative
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 48% Win Rate / 560 Games
Back to a sub-50% Win Rate and a decent-but-not-special Cube Rate, Mister Negative clearly didn’t enjoy the return of a Cosmo deck to the meta. Combined with more of Mobius M. Mobius in Arishem and some other archetypes, Mister Negative can always come back when the meta is a little more favorable.
Potential Additions
Cassandra Nova replaces Ironheart if you’re seeing a lot of Arishem, while Super-Skrull replaces Wong for the mirror match. Otherwise, Black Panther and Arnim Zola are a duo to consider if you don’t possess Gorr.
Clog
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Rate / 52% Win Rate / 200 Games
With 10 Power spooking away Destroy decks thanks to Armor, Clog should be relatively safe. Still, this doesn’t seem to have been enough to make the deck a real contender. It might be due to the list not adapting to the current meta, or it could be that the synergy is not strong enough at the moment.
I would use the this deck is super predictable so it doesn’t win many cubes per match excuse, but the 52% Win Rate tells me that Clog isn’t winning that many games in the first place.
Potential Additions
Shang-Chi or a similar counter card could make sense instead of Quake (which is in here to counter Iron Patriot). Otherwise, you could explore building around Annihilus with Sentry and maybe Hazmat in this 10 Power dominated meta, but no list using that concept had good enough results to be featured.
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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