Table of Contents
In this last week of the season, the best performances have been posted by the decks with the lowest amount of games, which tells me two things:
- The meta is well-balanced, as no deck has managed to be both extremely popular and dominant. The closest to reach that feat is Good Cards Clog with its 63.5% Win Rate. However, this is only the performance of the best list for an archetype with thousands of games spread across various builds. Plus, even with such an impressive Win Rate, the deck only posted a 0.5 Cube Average, which is something Mister Negative and Cerebro 2 achieved with 6% fewer wins.
- Since decks with a low number of games have posted incredible numbers, it seems the element of surprise is the best way to rack up cubes at the moment. Well-known strategies are struggling to keep opponents in the game. Plus, a lot of decks tend to rely on early powerhouses—Surge, Merlin, Werewolf By Night—which quickly tells the opponent about your potential for that match.
Overall, there are two ways to tackle this late season meta for anyone who is looking to climb. Either pick a deck with a proven track record (at the moment, that would be Good Cards Clog, Thanos 10 power, or Iron Hand; they have different results but tons of games to back up their performances) or pick something to surprise your opponent. If you aren’t afraid to Snap your good hands, Mister Negative, High Evolutionary, and Nimrod all look like appealing prospects at the moment.
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Nimrod Phoenix Force 0.9 Cube Rate / 61.5% Win Rate / 120 Games |
| Trending | High Evolutionary 0.5 Cube Rate / 60% Win Rate / 130 Games |
| Trending | Scream Move 0.4 Cube Rate / 59% Win Rate / 160 Games |
| Tier 1 | Cerebro 2 0.6 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Clog 0.5 Cube Rate / 63.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Mister Negative 0.5 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Dormammu Destroy 0.4 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Nimrod Destroy 0.4 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Thanos 10 Power 0.25 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Iron Hand 0.3 Cube Rate / 55.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Bounce Move 0.3 Cube Rate / 55.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Pure Move 0.25 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Big Move 0.25 Cube Rate / 54% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Energized War Machine | 0.9 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate |
| Negative Destroy | 0.9 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate |
| Cerebro 2 | 0.9 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Power Up | 0.8 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate |
| Deadpool Destroy | 0.8 Cube Average / 59.5% 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
Nimrod Phoenix Force
den
Performance: 0.9 Cube Rate / 61.5% Win Rate / 120 Games
It’s easy to dismiss this deck as well, I guess it just got a lucky streak. That probably did happen, which helped it reach those impressive numbers. Yet no other Phoenix Force deck is using Shang-Chi or Enchantress to help with some reactive power.
With that in mind, this build might not need to win two lanes through its sheer development of points. Instead, it can switch to a reactive stance once Phoenix Force or Nimrod showed up and secure one.
High Evolutionary
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 60% Win Rate / 130 Games
Clea failed to become a staple in Good Cards, although the buff build isn’t doing so bad (as long as you don’t compare it to the Clog variant). The new 1-Cost looks to be at its best in the High Evolutionary build, helping to discount Abomination while also lowering your opponent’s power across the board.
Plus, Clea easily brings her bestie Marvel Boy to the deck, a huge boon considering how many 1-Costs were already included.
Scream Move
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Rate / 59% Win Rate / 160 Games
There has been more Move decks lately, with the Bounce, Pure, and Big variations all part of the current meta. Plus, Scream isn’t that bad against Destroy if you can grab priority and move their targets before they get to go off.
Scream has become a sort of niche counter deck over time, but it’s still able to shine in the right environment.
Tier 1
Cerebro 2
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate
The nerf to Red Guardian was a blessing in disguise, turning the card into a new staple for Cerebro 2. It might not seem like much, but since the buff to Cerebro the archetype has been able to routinely put up 20+ points on two lanes, more than enough to win, with a solid disruptive potential to boot. The addition of Red Guardian pushed that disruption over the edge, and Cerebro now has plenty of tools to control a lane.
Goose and Storm will limit the opponent’s ability to play on a lane. Lasher and Shadow King will lower the opponent’s points. Mercury stops Werewolf by Night in Good Cards. And now, Red Guardian can take care of an important set-up piece in the early game to block future snowball effects.
Potential Additions
White Widow is flexible in the deck. Ravonna Renslayer, Rogue, Brood, and many other two power cards make sense. 1-Costs aren’t ideal due to the amount of Destroy decks around.
Good Cards Clog
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 63.5% Win Rate
Arguably the best deck in the game over a large sample size, Good Cards Clog’s performance really takes flight when a little twist is added to the deck, like, for example, Legion in this list. Already, many figured out that Sersi was better than Annihilus since it’s a safer bet against Destroy and easier to play in the mirror match. Typically, both cards coexisted as the high-cost options, but one of those 5-Costs has to go to include that little twist (unless you remove either Shang-Chi or Enchantress, which is not recommended).
Potential Additions
Annihilus can replace Sersi or Legion. Enchantress and Shang-Chi are flexible counter cards, but you really want three to four 4-Costs.
Mister Negative
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate
With the complete absence of Mobius M. Mobius, Mister Negative can only thrive, as it’s certain to win any points shootout. The deck has so much room to exist that Psylocke has returned instead of Rogue, proof that there really is nothing that worries Mister Negative at the moment.
Potential Additions
Psylocke is the flexible card if you want to include some sort of disruption, such as Rogue or Shang-Chi. If you see a lot of Destroy decks in your way, you could also switch to the Arnim Zola, Knull, Shang-Chi package in the deck.
Tier 2
Dormammu Destroy
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate
Even though the card failed to live up to the hype, Dormammu managed to replace Deadpool as the foundation of the classic Destroy archetype. That doesn’t make the deck any less predictable, as Dormammu also tells the opponent its power throughout the course of a match. Still, it is harder to disrupt, and the card interacts with the opponent a little.
Potential Additions
Deadpool and Arnim Zola can bring some extra synergies to develop points. However, Shang-Chi tends to net better results.
Nimrod Destroy
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate
Kid Omega‘s release will join Nexus Events as one of the worst times in Marvel Snap’s storied history. It is a pity, as the card has been great support to the destroy synergy—especially Nimrod, a card that made a triumphant comeback since the 2-Cost joined the game.
Compared to the Phoenix Force build in the Trending section, this deck feels more predictable because it packs one less win condition. It also likely needs to seize priority more aggressively. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more reliable when it comes to Nimrod. The 5-Cost is a natural counter to Shang-Chi, the most popular disruptive card in the game. If you can get it to 10 power, you can probably Snap with the anticipation of even more points coming your way.
Potential Additions
Galacta and Gwenpool could be replaced with cards like Shuri if you’re missing either.
Thanos 10 Power
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate
As one of the most popular decks around, Thanos 10 Power plays with a disadvantage compared to most other decks on this report. The 10 Power synergy isn’t exactly the most subtle for keeping your opponent in the game. However, considering the popularity of Destroy at the moment, it is no surprise to see the deck post a solid Win Rate. Now we just gotta find the twist.
Potential Additions
The list has been the same for a while now, so replacements should mostly be for missing cards. In that case, look for something that is able to fill that same role. Sasquatch could be a fine 10 power card, for example.
Tier 3
Apart from Big Move, none of the decks in Tier 3 have anything to prove, as each of their pedigrees speaks for itself. However, even iconic, well-rounded synergies can’t thrive in a meta with their counter card around. For that reason, Iron Hand went from top tier to average due to Enchantress being super popular after Good Cards quickly shook off Galacta‘s nerf. Likewise, there has been a bit too much of Shadow King around lately, and on top of all this is Clog being annoying. Move can’t just develop without care, which makes it weaker.
Iron Hand
Performance: 0.3 Cube Rate / 55.5% Win Rate
Bounce Move
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Rate / 55.5% Win Rate
Pure Move
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate
Big Move
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Rate / 54% 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
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 > 0.25 & Win Rate > 57%
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 > 0.25 & Win Rate < 57%
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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