Table of Contents
For this report, I decided to dig a little deeper in the below average performers, as well as decks without many games but a stellar track record. Doing so, I think I figured why it probably will be impossible to beat Mister Fantastic First Steps until it gets eventually nerfed : The card is so simple to use.
Let’s be real for a minute, Marvel Snap is not a competitive game. Most of us play to complete their missions, hit their monthly goal, and otherwise simply farm resources to collect cards and cosmetics. Well, Mister Fantastic First Steps is the best card in order to achieve those goals without having to invest a ton of time into the game.
Then, I was curious to see all those decks able to post great results, but with a steep learning curve many of us don’t want to go through. There aren’t that many, but a few nonetheless. The big two are Bounce Move and Cerebro 2, both decks relying on cheap cards able to produce a ton of points. If you aren’t going to cheat energy, cheat points with cheap cards, I guess.
I also wanted to dig into the decks barely good enough to be discussed, and figure out their problem. No big surprise here, they don’t excel at the two things Marvel Snap rewards : Surprise and Energy manipulation. The first allows you to keep your opponent in the game when you snap, while the second will often be the reason you Snap.
The best decks do these two things very well while being simple to learn and pilot. The trending decks also do it well, but require a bit more dedication to the craft.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Bounce Move 0.8 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate / 100 Games |
| Trending | Cerebro 2 0.6 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate / 120 Games |
| Trending | Double-Up 0.55 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate / 150 Games |
| Tier 1 | Sera Control 0.7 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Buff Surfer 0.5 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Control 0.5 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Destroy On Reveal 0.45 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Supergiant Control 0.45 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Iron Hand 0.4 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Nimrod Destroy 0.25 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Merlin Clog 0.25 Cube Average / 52% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Wiccan Control 0.2 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Discard Dracula 0.15 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Galactus Ramp 0.15 Cube Average / 51.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Pure Move 0.1 Cube Average / 52.5% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| High Evo Fantastic | 0.55 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate |
| Sera Control | 0.75 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate |
| Small Good Cards | 0.35 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate |
| Silver Surfer | 0.75 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate |
| Merlin Clog | 0.45 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
Here is my usual annoying advice because I’m a coach and I like to think this helps people: Focus on controlling the stakes of each game and building trust in both your deck and your decision making abilities. Once you feel confident, feel free to take more risks. Reaching Infinite is all about understanding the process of grinding cubes. Also, constantly changing your deck limits your ability to learn the game fundamentals, as you are always focused on learning how to pilot the new deck.
Trending
The three decks in the trending section are all well-known archetypes, with nothing to prove when it comes to their ability to perform. However, because they rely on specific synergies, Bounce Move, Cerebro 2 and Double-Up are at their best when flying under the radar, dodging counter cards designed to stop their synergies.
Mister Fantastic First Steps powered decks don’t have to prove they are the best over large sample sizes anymore. Their reliability and flexibility allows them to have a shot in most games. However, the synergistic build, although not as reliable, have a much higher ceiling, allowing them to post incredible results over shorter streaks of matches.
Bounce Move
den
Performance: 0.8 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate / 100 Games
Cerebro 2
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate / 120 Games
Double-Up
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate / 150 Games
Tier 1
Sera Control
den
Performance: 0.7 Cube Average / 59.5% Win Rate
Mister Fantastic First Steps has made a lot of decks very strong over the course of the season, up to the point the card now drags retreats from most decks without a perfect draw.
In that context, finding an archetype able to surprise its opponent while relying on the current season pass mighty power is the best mix one can find. The win rate is on par with the other decks, but the cube average shows Sera Control wins more high stakes matches.
Potential Additions
Merlin and Gwenpool synergize very well with Mysterio, while Enchantress is always an option to consider.
Buff Surfer
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate
It is quite infuriating when you can figure out exactly what the opponent will do, up to the point you know how many points they will have on each location, but can’t do anything to stop it. This is what Buff Surfer is trying to accomplish, with Merlin and Shang-Chi throwing the occasional wrinkle in your opponent’s plans.
Potential Additions
The disruptive surfer builds also exists, but plays very similarly to Sera Control or Good Cards Control, so fails to really separate itself from the pack.
In this buff oriented build, Captain Carter, H.E.R.B.I.E. make sense, while you can run Okoye or Nakia as budget replacements.
Good Cards Control
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate
Sera Control looks like the better control deck if we look a tthe numbers. However, this deck has been around longer, meaning opponents might have adapted against this one already.
In the end, both are incredible, and the gap with Supergiant or Wiccan control shows the superiority of the Good Cards shell and Mister Fantastic First Steps at the moment.
Potential Additions
Juggernaut and Copycat are the flexible cards here. Mobius M. Mobius, Enchantress, Red Guardian will fit perfectly.
Destroy On Reveal
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate
The new deck of the week, Destroy On Reveal merged the Firehair shell with some tools from Nimrod Destroy to create this points focused hybrid deck. The core idea is to destroy an On Reveal card to spread its power across other cards. Kid Omega and Venom will gain its power, Phoenix Force and Elixir bring it back to life, while Firehair triggers that same ability we just destroyed.
The hardest part with this deck is to find the right timing. Too early and you will be met with a Shang-Chi or Shadow King. Too late and you risk losing your opportunity to Alioth or Red Guardian.
Potential Additions
Luna Snow is the flexible card in the deck if you wanted to include some disruption or a match-up specific tool.
Tier 2
Supergiant Control
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate
One of the most exotic control decks around unfortunately has to live in the shadow of the dominant Fenris Wolf synergy being played in Good Cards. It is important to note this deck sports a similar win rate to the tier above although it posted about 2% less in the win rate category. This shows a good ability to keep opponents in the game, a great trait in the current metagame.
Potential Additions
Iron Patriot plus Rocket Raccoon and Groot are the flexible slots if you were looking what to remove to include other cards. I really like Mobius M. Mobius in this deck, as it prevents from a possible slow play to explode on turn six, kind of defeating the point of Supergiant.
You could also cut Maximus and Ronan the Accuser for Devil Dinosaur and Hawkeye Kate Bishop if you liked that pair better.
Iron Hand
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate
A great build, probably one of the best not required to use Mister Fantastic First Steps right now. Unfortunately, Good Cards is very popular and typically packs Enchantress, limiting our ability to rely on Victoria Hand.
Potential Additions
Maybe Cosmo instead of Copycat or Gladiator could help with that Enchantress problem.
Tier 3
In order to perform in the current metagame, a deck needs to be in the 58% to 60% win rate range, or be surprising enough to make the 56% to 58% range work. Unfortunately for Nimrod Destroy, the deck compares with Iron Hand or Supergiant Control in the win rate category, but fails to turn it into cubes.
This is probably the one key factor of success in this metagame. As soon as your strategy becomes predictable, you need to have enough energy cheating support to blur your otherwise too obvious play patterns.
The decks in Tier 3 are good enough to be mentioned. Yet, they either lack the raw power to reach what is considered a good win rate at the moment, or have become too easy to play against, greatly limiting their cube income, no matter their win rate.
Nimrod Destroy
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate
Merlin Clog
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 52% Win Rate
Wiccan Control
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate
Discard Dracula
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate
Galactus Ramp
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Average / 51.5% Win Rate
Pure Move
den
Performance: 0.1 Cube Average / 52.5% Win Rate
That’s it for this week! To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or shoot me a direct message (@den_ccg) for specific stuff or coaching.
Good Game Everyone.
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 & Win Rate > 58%
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 > 0.4
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 > 0.1
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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