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
Arishem still stands on top of the Marvel Snap mountain. However, it now possesses a shorter lead—no Arishem decks broke either the 60% Win Rate threshold or the 0.5 Cube Average threshold. Even though Arishem Loki still represented the five best lists in the game since the OTA (totaling over 2000 games above a 0.4 Cube Average), the update did have an impact.
It isn’t the impact many had wished, though. Indeed, social media is starting to be filled with comments about how obnoxious Leech and Doctor Octopus on Turn 4 can be, reminiscent of why Professor X was nerfed so it wouldn’t function with Ravonna Renslayer anymore. Still, it has been a very long time since we saw Bounce, Lockjaw, or even the Black Bolt+Stature pair post such performances.
The OTA could be interpreted very differently depending on whether you focus on the first or the second paragraph of this intro. If you look at Arishem still being at the top, you would say the balance update was too careful and we need a second, harsher update to return to a more balanced environment. You could also be a little more optimistic and focus on the buffs that helped several archetypes that have not performed well in a while, just hoping for the next OTA to push them to Arishem‘s power level.
If you think about it, a 0.45 Cube Average isn’t dominant by any means. We usually have multiple decks beating the 0.5 mark. With this in mind, Arishem might be the best archetype, but it doesn’t look particularly dominant—even if it holds both the highest Win Rate and Cube Average.
This is always the most difficult part of analyzing a meta just a few days after an update. Do we already have the full picture? Are the most popular decks the best ones? Or are they just the ones that the community naturally gravitated toward?
As far as I’m concerned, I believe Arishem is still the best archetype in the game, and I think it will need a second wave of adjustments to relinquish the throne. However, I also think we can now go against it without being forced to run Darkhawk in all our decks, which is a net positive.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Arishem Loki |
| Tier 1 | Darkhawk Stature |
| Tier 1 | Destroy |
| Tier 2 | Bounce |
| Tier 2 | Good Cards Mockingbird |
| Tier 2 | Loki |
| Tier 3 | Good Cards Ajax |
| Tier 3 | Lockjaw Thor |
| Tier 3 | On Reveal |
| 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 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
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 > 0.15
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
Arishem Loki
Blob and Mockingbird being slightly weaker has lowered the amount of points the deck is able to produce, but not its ability to do crazy things with the extra energy from Arishem. Cards like Doctor Octopus, Legion, and Alioth are able to completely shut down a match with the right setup.
This makes the deck harder to pilot, which explains in part the worse performance compared to before the OTA. Now, you can’t just count on slamming points with more energy than your opponent (at least, not every single game). But even if a 0.45 Cube Average and 59% Win Rate aren’t particularly dominant, they remain the best stats for both metrics. Which is on top of being achieved by a deck that just had two cards nerfed.
Potential Additions
Rogue is a popular inclusion in the deck, while strong standalone cards, such as Jeff the Baby Land Shark or Nocturne, are great as well.
Darkhawk Stature
den
Arishem remains a very influential part of the current meta, so it is only logical to see a Darkhawk build alongside it atop the rankings. At a 0.4 Cube Average and 57% Win Rate, this list positioned itself very well in this post OTA meta.
Just like in the past, this performance could be explained by Arishem still being a popular archetype in the game, thus making Darkhawk better than it really is. It is very likely that the fortune of this build will be tied to how Arishem does in the future. So far, so good.
Potential Additions
White Widow feels like the most flexible card in the mix, and Shang-Chi and Enchantress can be replaced with other counter cards as well. Ideally, the goal is to play Stature plus Darkhawk, or Stature plus Miles Morales plus a 4-Cost on Turn 6. Simply keep that in mind when looking for replacements.
Destroy
den
As usual, there were multiple Destroy lists to look at for this report, often differing by just one card. This one posted a 0.4 Cube Average alongside a 54% Win Rate, which was enough to earn a spot in a Tier 1 with lowered requirements.
Typically, a 54% Win Rate doesn’t make it into the top tier because it would require winning most of the high stakes games in order to reach that high Cube Average. Destroy, however, has proven many times that it is a reliable archetype after a balance patch, and Viper did push Junk to be quite popular. I think that might explain the possibly inflated Cube Average.
Potential Additions
Shang-Chi is the flexible card, with Arnim Zola being the typical replacement. Enchantress or Lady Deathstrike can also fit based on the opponent you wish to counter.
Tier 2
Bounce
With a buff to both Werewolf By Night and
Logically, the best performing build is one with very little disruption except for Titania. It focused on developing as much as possible while using Black Swan,
Potential Additions
Mysterio synergizes with Bishop, Sasquatch, and
Good Cards Mockingbird
den
Ravonna Renslayer and Sage aren’t in the mix anymore (at least for now), but the Good Cards shell continues to be a solid Marvel Snap archetype. This time around, Hope Summers is on energy cheating duty, and the deck focuses a little more on disruption with both Mobius M. Mobius and Shang-Chi.
At a 0.3 Cube Average, this is one of this archetype’s worst performances in recent memory, which could be explained by the recent nerf to Mockingbird. She is only supported by Mysterio here. However, the Win Rate is solid at 56.5%, which is among the highest in this report after the OTA. It seems like Good Cards might have some rebuilding to do, but it kept a pretty strong foundation to build from.
Potential Additions
Shang-Chi and Mobius M. Mobius can be replaced with other disruptive cards (Red Guardian, Rogue…), but the other cards would impact certain synergies in the deck. Keep in mind the balance of the Angela, Hope Summers, Thena, Kitty Pryde package, or the Mysterio, Mockingbird, Sasquatch trio if you were looking to change something.
Loki
Before the OTA, Loki had plenty of good targets to steal from with most archetypes focusing on their own development first and foremost. Now, the meta is more focused around disruption, which limits how proactive Loki can be once it steals the opponent’s cards. This has, of course, naturally impacted its performance in the process.
Although a 0.3 Cube Average and a 54% Win Rate isn’t bad, it seems like there is little upside to playing the original Loki deck when you can play the Trickster God alongside Arishem.
Potential Additions
Strong standalone cards work well in a Loki deck, such as Red Guardian. You also maximize the hand size synergy with cards like Valentina.
Tier 3
Good Cards Ajax
den
Ajax was the latest release, so I felt like it deserved to be highlighted in a better light than just an alternate build for Good Cards Mockingbird. Unfortunately, with a 51.5% Win Rate and 0.25 Cube Average, this build landed in the lowest tier and immediately positioned itself as the weaker build inside the Good Cards archetype.
Lockjaw Thor
den
Many expected Thanos Lockjaw to return, but it is the more basic build of Lockjaw that has prevailed so far. This list had a 51.5% Win Rate and 0.25 Cube Average.
Arguably, the deck isn’t doing anything special outside of developing points in various ways, and the Win Rate is already indicating that Lockjaw isn’t a meta-breaker. Still, the decent Cube Average might be a sign that the deck is able to surprise a few opponents. That’s an upside worth investigating for those who are looking to play with the recently buffed doggo.
On Reveal
den
The most popular deck in the game is playing Leech… need I say more about the struggles of the On Reveal archetype compared to before the OTA?
A 0.2 Cube Average and 54% Win Rate isn’t terrible, but we know the deck can do much better in a different environment.
Junk
Junk had started declining even before the OTA, and it doesn’t look like the change to Viper helped it right the ship. The new ability is nice, that’s for sure. Viper finally feels like it deserves a spot in the deck. Unfortunately, Leech in Arishem and Destroy’s popularity right after a balance update are a problem that even a strong Viper can’t solve.
The Win Rate is promising; 54.5% isn’t bad for this report without a truly dominant deck. However, the 0.15 Cube Average shows how the deck is struggling to win big.
Closing Words
Even though certain archetypes have made a splash following the OTA, we still live in Arishem‘s world for the time being. Some things have changed, such as the way that archetypes are built. We went from a proactive, points driven approach to a disruption-focused play style.
With this change, Arishem limited how much of a threat Darkhawk could be while also playing into a part of the deck that wasn’t as impacted by the nerfs to Blob and Mockingbird. This is called flexibility, and it has been the mark of the very best decks in the past. It took multiples changes over several seasons for decks like Thanos and Loki to go back in the ranks.
Will Arishem follow a similar path? I guess we’ll know soon.
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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