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
Ravonna Lockdown and Junk have been at the top of the meta for quite some time now, and their grasp on Marvel Snap is only getting firmer. Thena joined in on the fun this week, and the card only strengthened the power of Ravonna Renslayer (which is looking like a 2024 Zabu at this point). It is difficult to see these two be contested by anything other than deserved nerfs.
The situation isn’t terrible, and we can see other decks that are able to post very good results. On Reveal, Loki, Good Cards Blink, and Hela Corvus are all great decks able to take you to the top rank in the game. But, as more time passes, it seems more impossible to catch up the two in the lead.
First, let’s start by saying Ranked is actually their worst game mode. Both Ravonna Lockdown and Junk have been posting even better results in Conquest thanks to leveraging the information they gain over their opponent.
Then, both decks use a very similar shell that is built around Ravonna Renslayer, Professor X, and Cannonball, which indicates there is clearly a dominant synergy right now. Loki has been spotted using the Professor X+Cannonball duo at times as well. The pair is starting to gain popularity as just a strong inclusion, not a build around core to a deck.
The question now is: Can we beat it? Possibly.
You could use Red Guardian, Mobius M. Mobius, Rogue, or even Gambit to try to get rid of Ravonna Renslayer. Plenty of cards can function to limit Professor X as well, such as U.S. Agent, War Machine, and Goose. We have solutions, they just aren’t as good as just playing the strong deck yourself, which is a particularly enticing proposition early in the season when most people are eager to climb back to the Infinite rank. Plus, Thena just joined the party and made them even stronger.
If I had to give a short review of the current Marvel Snap meta, it would be this: We don’t have a problem, but we’re getting there.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Ravonna Lockdown |
| Tier 1 | Junk |
| Tier 1 | On Reveal |
| Tier 1 | Loki |
| Tier 2 | Good Cards Blink |
| Tier 2 | Hela Corvus |
| Tier 2 | Patriot |
| Tier 2 | Kazoolgamesh |
| Tier 2 | Negative Tribunal |
| Tier 3 | Hela Tribunal |
| 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.
Win Rate > 62%
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.
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.
Win Rate > 52%
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
Ravonna Lockdown
Numbers are always inflated early in the season due to bots and a wider field of players. But, even then, a 66.5% Win Rate is no joke. Decks very rarely beat the 65% threshold outside of Conquest. Ravonna Lockdown was already competing with Junk for the title of best deck in the game. With Thena helping this one while Junk is the exact same deck, it is only natural to see Ravonna Lockdown take the early lead.
Let’s see if the meta adapts and starts targeting it now. That might actually be the only downside of being alone at the top.
Potential Additions
There are multiple ways to build around the core of the deck. Here is another very solid list:
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Junk
With a 65% Win Rate, Junk is the other deck to keep in mind in the current Marvel Snap meta. Just like its Lockdown counterpart, the deck leverages Ravonna Renslayer to quickly get in a position to lock a lane. That perfectly sets up Cannonball to clear the second lane of the opponent’s biggest card.
With both top decks featuring the exact same shell (Ravonna Renslayer, Professor X, Cannonball, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark), there is no doubt as to what the dominant way to play Marvel Snap is right now. The choice of which deck to play will be based on your play style and the other cards you feel are best to surround this core with.
Potential Additions
Daredevil is the card you could consider in the deck, sometimes replacing either Titania or Magik.
On Reveal
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Thanks to Ironheart and Namora, On Reveal is able to add points to a Professor X lane and give it a fighting chance against the top two decks. However, this one requires much more discipline than Junk or Lockdown due to its more rigid play patterns.
Indeed, even if the 64% Win Rate puts the deck in the elite category, losing priority and seeing your opponent Snap can be a scary sight. They might be holding Cosmo, Red Guardian for your Wong, a simple Cannonball removing the card you wanted to Odin, or something to mess up your positioning for Namora.
While this deck looks like the best alternative to the Ravonna Renslayer+Professor X domination, it requires a more careful approach—especially when it comes to raising the stakes or staying in a high stakes game.
Potential Additions
Nebula, Nightcrawler, and White Widow could be replaced with other cards. Ravonna Renslayer and Sage are a nice duo to complement Ironheart and White Tiger.
Echo can protect you from Cosmo, while Spider-Ham has a plenty of good targets currently. Otherwise, just a disruptive, preferably cheap card will do as well.
Loki
Loki is slowly building momentum in the shadows, far from its usual spotlight of being a great deck a lot of people use when they don’t necessarily know what else to play. With Thena releasing, Loki gained a powerful new card to add to a deck that was already using Angela, Kitty Pryde, and Elsa Bloodstone. Plus, Loki always lacked a bit of points since the Collector was nerfed, so Thena is just perfect in the deck.
Overall, you could just consider this deck another Good Cards shell. We have the Loki package (Quinjet, Snowguard, Agent Coulson, Loki), the Angela gang, and some of the best, most flexible cards in the game in Red Guardian and Nocturne to finish the deck.
It’s nothing crazy, just Loki and very strong cards building points and cheating energy.
Potential Additions
Shang-Chi feels like the most flexible card. You could think of Mobius M. Mobius, Enchantress, Mockingbird, Luke Cage… Pick a strong utility card or an ability worth Snapping basically.
Tier 2
Good Cards Blink
After a very strong comeback last week, the Good Cards archetype is maintaining a solid performance (although it doesn’t feel on the same level as the elite decks). Particularly in Ranked, a mode where you can never be sure if Leech will truly be a shutdown card or not, the deck struggles to keep up with the pace of the Ravonna Renslayer decks.
Apart from this comparison, Good Cards as an archetype is as good as its ever been due to an incredible amount of excellent standalone cards in the meta. Red Guardian, Nocturne, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and White Widow can virtually fit any deck. Nebula is regaining some momentum as a nice annoyance to a Professor X deck, and Quake just makes sense in a game where locations are increasingly important.
I can’t imagine not having a form of Good Cards in the meta if the average quality of card stays the same in the future.
Potential Additions
The top half of the curve is already pretty crowded, so unless you wanted to replace Klaw, Leech, or a 6-Cost that part if pretty set. However, the bottom half of the deck is very flexible since it is really just good standalone cards.
Hela Corvus
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Hela isn’t a big fan of Professor X, this is no big news. Even if the Goddess of Death manages to remain a force in the meta, easily able to reach infinite, it seems to plateau as a fantastic Tier 2 deck. However, it shouldn’t be able to return to be a top tier contender unless it receives a new card or the elite decks are nerfed.
Potential Additions
Ghost Rider and Sandman are two cards you could consider to mix it up a bit. Otherwise, Giganto can replace a big card you don’t have in your collection.
Patriot
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A great deck when it comes to climbing to the Infinite rank, Patriot naturally gets a big boost during the first week of the season. Unfortunately, the Gilgamesh experiment didn’t last long, as the card appeared in the archetype and quickly disappeared from the best performing lists.
The same old Classic Patriot is what it will be then, which doesn’t look too bad on the way to the Infinite rank with a 60% Win Rate.
Potential Additions
You could try Gilgamesh over Mockingbird, although it’s not really recommended. Blink might also be a consideration.
Kazoolgamesh
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Gilgamesh didn’t make the cut in the Patriot deck, but it did manage to earn a spot in the best performing Kazoo list. If you were wondering, I only looked at the ranks 80 up to infinite for this report, meaning the list posed a 58% Win Rate without relying solely on bots or low ranked players.
Strategy wise, there are two important synergies to look at with this nontraditional Kazoo deck:
- You can see some Junk elements added with White Widow, Nebula, and Debrii in the mix. I’m not sure about White Widow from a synergistic standpoint, but Debrii does provide more cards to buff with Ka-Zar and Blue Marvel. Plus, paired with Squirrel Girl, it creates a 1-Cost Mockingbird that is perfect to complement Gilgamesh on Turn 6.
- Shadow King is a very important card in the current Angela and Thena meta because it can turn off a huge chunk of points if you manage to time it right. The card wasn’t featured in many decks in this report, but it is clearly a reason why Kazoo is doing well early in the season.
Obviously, we will have to see if the deck is still around in week 2 when there are enough games in the Infinite rank to have a look at it without bots inflating the numbers. Still, considering the very competitive environment we are in, just being in the report is something to be proud of.
Potential Additions
Onslaught, Iron Lad, or similar cards that are able to function with Blue Marvel or Ka-Zar typically do well in the deck. Otherwise, you could think of certain disruptive cards instead of White Widow. 1-Cost cards are also always a consideration in this archetype.
Negative Tribunal
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It’s been a while since we discussed Negative Tribunal in a Tier List, but The Living Tribunal is a pretty good card against Professor X right now. However, you can’t just play Iron Man, Onslaught, and The Living Tribunal carelessly since Cannonball and Red Guardian will crush your hopes and dreams.
This is where Mister Negative and Sera come in to help. They provide you with some energy cheats so you can play Iron Man plus one of your 6-Costs together together, making it much harder for your opponent to disrupt you play pattern.
Also, this deck is very good against bots, which is always something valuable if you just want to rush to Infinite.
Potential Additions
Crystal could be added for consistency, but this deck hasn’t changed a card in a very long time and it is difficult to recommend any precise swaps.
Tier 3
Hela Tribunal
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Just like Negative Tribunal, the Hela variant also received a nice boost early in the season and managed to post a 52% Win Rate. This is pretty low compared to the rest of the list; the bottom of Tier 2 stops at 57%. But keep in mind we are talking about a deck that typically isn’t above the 50% threshold.
Honestly, this just feels like the traditional early season reminder that Hela and The Living Tribunal are great for farming bots, and you can play for long periods of time without a lot of focus being required. I expect the deck to be out of the rankings next week once the ranks below Infinite are no longer featured in the data I use.
Closing Words
With bots mixed in your climb, the early season isn’t the time to be worried about an overpowered deck. In the end, it only concerns those who already reached Infinite and want to keep climbing. For the others, you’re bound to face more diversity and forget about the problematic archetypes once they aren’t in your pocket meta anymore.
Still, even if I don’t have a problem with a couple of decks staying at the top of both the Ranked and Conquest rankings for several weeks in a row, I do have to be a little worried when they use the same tools to dominate and their performance only gets better with time. As such, while I don’t advocate for immediate nerfs, I believe it might be time to open that discussion.
I hope this breakdown was helpful to understand the current meta. 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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