Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List: July 31, 2023 – Is This a Perfectly Balanced Metagame?

The momentum acquired by the Lockdown synergy after the Last OTA had a few players worried since it isn’t exactly the most fun archetype to play against. The numbers from Conquest strengthened this domination, as both decks appeared to do great in both modes. Then Legion released and contributed once more to the archetype, particularly through its synergy with Storm. It all felt like it was a lost cause. Lockdown was the king of the current metagame, especially the Thanos archetype.

This was until some of the best Marvel Snap decks of 2023 decided to come back, and they focused their deck building logic on developing points early or mitigating the impact of Storm into Legion. Also, since Ladder is much more permissive than Conquest, the explosive strategies do way better compared to Conquest. With this new wave of tempo decks spearheaded by the Good Cards archetype (which took the top spot this week), Darkhawk appears to be the most important card. In addition to being one of the biggest 4-Cost cards in Marvel Snap, shuffling Rocks into the opponent’s deck is always a great way to disrupt play patterns based on specific timings.

In the midst of this metagame shift, Evolved Lockdown seems to have lost quite a bit of momentum — especially as Luke Cage is simple to slot in a Good Cards deck. Thanos Control, on the other hand, remains a staple of the current metagame, saved by much more flexibility and the ability to adapts its build to the environment. The release of Legion gave both decks new avenues to explore, and there are still various builds being shared. We might see their cube rates rise again once the experiments are done.

Aside from this battle for the control of the current environment, the rest of the Marvel Snap metagame seems to be heavily tilted towards old timers. Shuri Sauron, Sera Control, Silver Surfer, Lockjaw, and Patriot, all dominant archetypes from the last few months, are still going strong, and each of them is still in contention to be part of the game’s top ten archetypes. One deck to note, though, is Devil Darkhawk, which finally managed to escape the Tier 3 limbo it was in for the last months. That really shows how much momentum Darkhawk has picked up lately.

Unfortunately, that was not the case for Destroy; it continues to have several decks listed in Tier 3, but it cannot quite get past the fact that Armor and Cosmo are too efficient against it. The synergy is joined by Dracula Discard and Cerebro 2, other archetypes that are unable to compete over large sample sizes currently. Speaking of sample sizes, our two Silent Performers this week are Bounce and Thanos Zoo. Neither deck posted an impressive enough performance to be considered a sleeper pick in the current metagame, but both decks would be placed somewhere in Tier 2 if it wasn’t for their very low popularity this week.

Overall, it feels like Marvel Snap is in a great place balance wise. The Lockdown domination solved itself with some adaptation by the community. One might complain about tech cards ruling the game and being too important for each archetype’s cube rate. Some argue that they reduce how original each deck feels in terms of game play. Nevertheless, after two months of Bounce and Lockjaw demolishing every one else, this metagame feels like an improvement, especially with more OTA changes and a new season around the corner.

Happy Tier List, everyone!

In order to be featured here, a deck needs to represent at least 1% of the current environment and have a positive cube average using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the metagame, you can find it in the new “Silent Performers” section. There, I will highlight decks with an excellent cube per game ratio 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 or 4 in our chart and won’t have their own dedicated write up here but may be transferred to the main Tier List section. See those builds as decks that are good to know about, as you should face those when playing Marvel Snap. However, unless the metagame changes or a new variation of the build emerges, these decks are a notch below the dominant ones in Tier 1 and 2.

Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List

Tier Explanation

Tier 1

Good Cards Stature

Good Cards Stature

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Able to face both Lockdown decks with its core strategy, the Good Cards archetype can leverage its tech cards to adapt to the rest of the metagame. Overall, having this deck on top feels pretty good. It indicates that there really isn’t anything busted in Marvel Snap right now. Darkhawk might go back to the glory days where it was included in pretty much every deck alongside Zabu. However, it feels more like a solid package of cards that can be punished by a timely Rogue or Enchantress, and it also loses on points to explosive, Turn 6 based archetypes (more than anything else, at least).

One also has to consider the deck’s relatively low popularity compared to Thanos Control as a factor here. Indeed, although Good Cards has claimed the top spot, most of the community is still focused on playing or trying Thanos Control or trying to gain an edge against it, which is the perfect scenario for Darkhawk and Stature to shine. As such, I wouldn’t get carried away with this archetype’s numbers this week (above 0.4 cube rate and 58% win rate) because a significant part of them might be due to the deck’s stability in an environment still looking for its true king.

How to Play:
Good Cards Stature is a very tempo oriented build looking to use its energy while staying flexible on where it can invest in the future. Ideally, one would be looking to stay flexible for a large part of the game, before committing to lanes in the last two turns. Overall, this archetype relies on a lot of deck building space, which will impact your game plan a lot.

With so many options, it is difficult to outline a specific play pattern outside Black Bolt on Turn 5 with Stature in hand. Ideally, we want to set up Turn 6 to be a 4-Cost plus Miles Morales and Stature. The rest of your game plan should be based on which package of cards you draw and your opponent. Try to assess early on which cards are fundamental to play and which turns make the most sense to play them; you can then use your other cards to fill the holes in your established pattern.

Finally, keep in mind that the deck is able to play proactively with Darkhawk and Stature, but also reactively with Enchantress and Shang-Chi. This can lead to a desire to play every card since they all have their upsides. But remember, Darkhawk also requires Rockslide and Korg to be effective, and Stature needs Black Bolt. As such, don’t forget the commitment that goes with each card. It will help you plan how much energy you can work with, and thus how many other cards can fit into your plan.

Potential Additions:
Black Bolt and Stature are seeing other cards being tested in their spot. Legion plus America Chavez, Iron Man plus Sera… The top of the curve for this deck seems to always be points oriented, but it can go in many directions. Also, Iceman is routinely replaced by Nebula or Luke Cage.

Good cards

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Sera Surfer

Sera Surfer

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

3

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
As Lockdown kept rising in popularity, Silver Surfer kept getting better since the deck doesn’t mind seeing its space reduced as much as other archetypes. Also, Cosmo, Shadow King, and Killmonger have been some of the best tech cards lately, covering most of the popular archetypes with their abilities. Whether it’s Destroy, Nebula, High Evolutionary decks trying to reduce power, or big synergistic decks like Hela Tribunal or Mister Negative, Silver Surfer appears to have something to annoy every deck in the current environment.

One thing to note is the difference between the best 5-Cost card if you look at the Ladder or Conquest. Indeed, Sera seems to do much better in the ranked system; I guess it is much easier to leverage her ability because we can Snap and Retreat more carelessly. On the other hand, Conquest can pair you against opponents who will punish a Turn 5 Sera, immediately making the card difficult to use for several matches in a row.

Last on the Silver Surfer agenda, it seems like the archetype has definitely gone back to its basic list, dropping Jean Grey and Nakia since both cards appear to be fringe inclusions at best. This means Silver Surfer will probably continue to be a solid deck in the current metagame, but it doesn’t seem able to go much higher now that a consensus was reached on the best way to build the deck.

How to Play:
The deck follows a pretty simple play pattern that culminates into an explosive Turn 6 and hopefully catches the opponent off guard.

On Turns 2, 3, and 4, you will usually just play a card, focus on spending your energy efficiently, and advance your game plan. Apart from the Storm–Juggernaut duo on Turns 3 and 4, there aren’t many synergies going on. Look to play cards you won’t be able to fit in on Turns 5 and 6 but still need to have in play.

If you are running tech cards like Rogue, Killmonger, or Shadow King, you will be looking to keep those for Turn 6 in order to get the most out of them. As such, you need to play the more proactive cards during the early turns. Usually, Nova is better played on Turn 4 with more information available rather than on Turn 1. It also disguises our archetype from the opponent better.

On Turn 5, the deck is typically running a card dedicated to this turn – either Sera or Spider-Man. While these are the go-to plays most of the time, a 3-Cost plus Goose can annoy a lot of opponents as well, especially those relying on a big card on Turn 6. In that scenario, Goose is basically a cheaper Spider-Man.

Turn 6 will almost always have Silver Surfer included, plus another 3-Cost (or two with Sera on board). While Silver Surfer is a big buff to all of our lanes, it is usually correct to focus on two lanes for the end of the game, especially if we kept a Shadow King or other such card that is able to flip one in our favor on its own.

Potential Additions:
Spider-Man is gaining a bit of momentum over Sera. However, it feels like Sera is more suited for Ladder, while Spider-Man does better in Conquest. As for 3-Cost cards, Rogue is likely the next in line to be included.

Lockdown Surfer

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Still the most popular deck in this Tier, and by quite a margin as well. Thanos Control is slowly being caught up by the competition. This shouldn’t be too worrisome for now, as Thanos and the Lockdown synergy are still posting close to 0.4 cube average while providing the most flexible shell among the Tier 1 decks. And you can make an argument for running most cards, as the deck can easily adapt to its environment — especially if done with 2- or 3-Cost cards.

As such, I would consider Thanos‘s loss of momentum to be the logical result of its week one domination. Living in the spotlight comes with a risk, and it actually shows the metagame is in a good place. The various archetypes shift around depending on the other popular decks.

Last on the reasons why Thanos might look a little worse this week compared to the previous one is its popularity, which is now over 5% of the metagame. This means the archetype got new adopters as Thanos Control kept being presented as a dominant deck.

Logically, as more players pick up on a deck this flexible, the results are bound to be a little worse. At least until the global level of play on the archetype averages out. So, for now, let’s wait and see how Thanos does next week.

How to Play:
The goal with Thanos Control is to quickly figure out where we want to compete and which location we can use to dump our utility cards. These utility cards do not mean we are abandoning that lane, though, as we can use Professor X, Blue Marvel, or Spider-Man to steal it later on. The goal is to make it look like the lane isn’t a threat and just use it to manage space. This way, if the opponent does not challenge it, we can easily lock it down later on.

This first part of our game plan is crucial to the success of the deck, as it is quite rare for Thanos Control to win a points shootout on two different lanes. When only one remains to dominate, Devil Dinosaur, Thanos, and Shang-Chi can prove exceptional tools to win the points battle.

The other big strength of Thanos Control is its flexibility. It’s able to do a bit of everything during the last three turns of the match, and this flexibility is exactly what we are looking to leverage — especially if we are already in the lead. Here are some examples:

• Professor X or Spider-Man can lock a lane that we are ahead on.
• Blue Marvel and Klaw can impact multiple lanes at once.
• Devil Dinosaur, Shang-Chi, and Thanos help win over a single lane with points.

Depending on the situation and the opponent, you might want to take a different route in order to push your opponent towards a game plan they should struggle with. Finally, the timing of your Snaps is crucial.

Potential Additions:
Spider-Ham and Valkyrie are two cards to consider in the archetype, and they can replace Luke Cage and Shang-Chi depending on the match ups you are targeting. Armor is also a popular inclusion instead of Cosmo, depending on whether you want to protect your Stones from Killmonger or have another disruption card for On Reveal decks.

Super-Skrull can give you an edge against other Ongoing decks (like the mirror match).

Sera Control

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Although Wave is nowhere to be seen ever since Bounce was nerfed, Sera Control keeps struggling against Lockdown, which limits its ability to be compete for the top spot. Still, the arrival of other archetypes atop the rankings is great news for Sera Control, as those will probably be easier to leverage. The large variety in Tier 2 is also great to see for the deck because most of them are weak to either Shang-Chi or Enchantress.

Nevertheless, even if Conquest isn’t such a friendly place for the deck, Sera Control piloted by someone who can use their Snaps and Retreats to their advantage feels like it’s impossible to have a bad cube rate. If a bad environment leads to this archetype being at the bottom of Tier 1 with around 0.35 cubes per game, imagine where Sera Control could be once the metagame starts shifting to another form.

How to Play:
This archetype relies on giving up priority going into the last turn, so it can punish the opponent with reactive cards like Shang-Chi and Killmonger. Ever since Hit Monkey joined the deck, it also unlocked a proactive pattern on Turn 6 with the monkey assassin able to challenge a lane with points rather than looking to counter what the opponent did.

Sera is at the core of this strategy, as she allows reducing the cost of cards in your hand, strengthening your Turn 6 potential and making it worth to purposefully give the lead to your opponent. Note that losing priority doesn’t mean losing the game – we can be in the lead on a location and close on the other two. Since Sera only has four power, your opponent will typically have a stronger Turn 5 than you do and take back priority. This way, we don’t need to have an incredible Turn 6 or perfectly guess our opponent’s plays to win every game. Most of this deck’s strength relies on its ability to be able to stay as close as possible while not having priority, so our reactive cards are at their best.

While the basic ideology of Sera Control remains the same from one build to another, this is one of the most flexible archetypes in Marvel Snap. As such, some builds will look to focus on reacting to the opponent, while others might have more of a proactive development in mind by answering one lane and developing points on another. Make sure to understand the goal of your build and how your deck aims to win over two lanes by game’s end.

Potential Additions:
One could remove Hit Monkey and Mysterio in favor of more standalone cards like Polaris and Jeff the Baby Land Shark.

Tier 2

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Similar to Darkhawk, Shuri always seems to come back swinging as one of the default comfort picks when the metagame isn’t easy to read. With its very basic game plan, it’s still able to pack annoying tech cards such as Armor and Enchantress, so Shuri seems to have found a nice balance in the current environment. It remains quite predictable, which leads to a pressing need to Snap early on in matches. But the metagame isn’t so bad in that regard, as several decks can be recognized based on the first card they play in the early turns. Plus, apart from Shadow King in Silver Surfer, having Armor or Vision in hand alongside Shuri seems to be enough to feel safe when playing the deck.

Points wise, the deck has a higher ceiling than most other decks higher on the list since those tend to be built around flexibility more than sheer points. As such, the 30 points you get from playing Red Skull behind Shuri will rarely be contested by anything other than Shang-Chi, except maybe by Hela Tribunal or Mister Negative. Against these two, you want to rely on Enchantress disrupting their Iron Man or Invisible Woman for the win.

We are not back to Shuri‘s glory days, but the deck still picked up some nice momentum this week.

How to Play:
Shuri Sauron is based around the idea of cancelling negative Ongoing abilities with Sauron and abusing Shuri to create a big amount of points. In that regard, the deck is very rigid in the mid game since Turns 3, 4, and 5 are almost always the same: Sauron → Shuri → any card worth doubling the power. Often times, Turn 2 will also be dedicated to Armor as a way to prevent an opposing Shang-Chi from ruining our plans. Speaking of Shang-Chi, Vision is another way to play around it, as hitting a moving target isn’t so simple.

This leaves only Turn 1 and Turn 6 to be truly flexible, with Nebula ideally taking up the 1-Cost slot and Taskmaster usually being the default Turn 6 play alongside Ebony Maw.

If this very straightforward approach can lead to a ton of points on two lanes, it also often doesn’t equate to a lot of cubes. Indeed, unless you are Snapping aggressively, the opponent can see the points coming and will rarely stay in the game once you show Shuri (and they can’t handle it). This creates two important factors to take into consideration when playing Shuri Sauron:

• You have to accept Snaps early in the game, especially when Sauron and Shuri show up.
• You need to find lines of play even when you don’t have the best play pattern with the deck, especially when the opponent does not Snap. Even without Shuri, the deck can develop a solid amount of points, and Enchantress is able to steal a few wins.

The last important point to cover is positioning, especially when you don’t draw into Sauron or Shuri. Indeed, while both cards will dictate a lot of your strategies, there are other pairings to know about:

• Nebula and Armor is nice against Killmonger, and you could even follow it up with Ebony Maw if you don’t expect Sauron to show up.
• Enchantress can cancel the ability of Lizard, Typhoid Mary, and Red Skull.
• Taskmaster into an unprotected card is better to play with priority. On the contrary, if the target can’t be destroyed, playing without priority protects Taskmaster. Position your cards in order to gain or lose priority depending on the situation.

Potential Additions:
Titania can replace Nebula. Sunspot and She-Hulk are another popular duo in the deck.

Devil Darkhawk

Devil Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Starter Card

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The meteoric rise of this week, Devil Darkhawk followed a similar path to Good Cards because it is able to develop enough point by Turn 4 to beat the Lockdown strategies. It also packs enough flexibility to have an impactful Turn 6 despite the Lockdown strategies. Still, it feels important to note that the list with Cosmo included did immensely better than the ones without it; cancelling Shang-Chi and Enchantress seem to be key to the deck’s success. The deck’s win rate, in particular, can be altered by several percents when another card is included instead of Cosmo, which would place the deck back to its usual ranking in Tier 3.

Outside Cosmo feeling like a great card to protect your big cards, the archetype has not changed anything in its base list. As such, my best guess is the environment being in the right setup for the deck to shine, meaning it is important to keep monitoring the meta for those trying to abuse Devil Darkhawk in the near future.

Seeing this archetype on the rise should be a testimony to Zabu and Darkhawk being back at full force in a metagame lacking a true juggernaut. With Devil Darkhawk, the Rock package is included in three out of the six best decks this week, with Shang-Chi also being part of each of those. Considering Big Hands, the other half of this archetype, is in Tier 4, I don’t have to explain which half of the deck is carrying the load.

How to Play:
Representing a mix of the Devil Dinosaur and Darkhawk packages, this deck will give you different routes as to how you develop your points. Typically, both paths will cross with Mystique, which can copy either card, and Zabu, which reduces cards from both sides. Otherwise, the support cards for Darkhawk and Devil Dinosaur are not the same, meaning it can be difficult to try to leverage both cards to the best of their abilities. Instead, try to get your biggest one supported by Cosmo and Mystique (or paired with Shang-Chi on another lane). That tends to be a better, or at least more reliable, route to take.

During the match, Devil Darkhawk will focus around its support cards during the first four turns before exploding on Turns 5 and 6 with its game-winning cards. In the early part of the match, the archetype will be trying to shuffle Rocks in the opponent’s deck or generate cards to prepare for a big Devil Dinosaur. Thanks to Quinjet, we can also find some creative play patterns with the created cards.

Once in the later turns, we can start being more committal about our resources and actively try to push for a lane. If Devil Dinosaur is usually be played on Turn 5 because of its cost, Turn 6 is very flexible. Indeed, Cosmo and Mystique are great to generate points or cancel an opposing Shang-Chi or Enchantress, while Zabu opens a ton of combinations with our 4-Cost cards.

Potential Additions:
White Queen is a solid 4-Cost if you trust your ability to consistently draw Zabu. America Chavez can be included for consistency.

High Evolutionary

High Evolutionary

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

5x Starter Card

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The way to play High Evolutionary seems to change from one week to the next. The archetype is back to a more basic list this time that is focused around cheating Abomination and She-Hulk for points. The duo seems pretty strong in the current metagame because they are able to be used early on if you expect Lockdown, or they can be used to set up for an explosive Turn 6 play. The cube rate is pretty similar compared to last week, around 0.22, even though the list was widely different. My guess is that High Evolutionary is flexible enough to remain a relevant pick, but the archetype needs to nail the right build in order to not be punished by the surrounding popular decks.

If the points do not seem to be too much of a problem for High Evolutionary, Luke Cage being part of two of the dominant decks (Good Cards and Thanos Control) might become an issue in the future.

How to Play:
High Evolutionary seems to push a proactive play style and tries to play cards while keeping unspent energy in the process. Ideally, the deck will be able to build a very strong lane in the first few turns on the back of Sunspot and Evolved Misty Knight, building our points total early on. Then, Wave can shut down any potential comeback when played on Turn 5 while Evolved Hulk dominates any lane on Turn 6.

Due to of its off-curve play style that typically looks to keep one unspent energy to trigger Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, and Evolved Hulk, the deck can be a bit awkward at first. Keep in mind that each point of unspent energy can be worth up to six total points if all your cards trigger their abilities. Here is a normal play pattern with the deck:

• Pass on Turn 1.
• Sunspot on Turn 2.
• Evolved Misty Knight or a 2-Cost on Turn 3.
• Evolved Cyclops on Turn 4.

The last turns of the game are much more flexible, as Abomination and She-Hulk can push your play patterns in various directions. These two will impact your timing for Hazmat and the amount of energy you are looking to keep unused.

Although this looks suboptimal for many decks, the various synergies in the deck will make such out of sync play patterns worth it in the end. Note that this kind of pattern is only worth going for if you have several cards that gain something from unspent energy.

Potential Additions:
Rogue and Cosmo are the two most popular cards in the deck; it seems that 3-Cost cards are the sweet spot here. Also, Scorpion can come in to bolster the synergy around Abomination.

Evolved Lockjaw

Evolved Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 2 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+