Table of Contents
With the OTA nerfing the dominant Hela deck and planting yet another dagger into Surtur‘s heart, flexible decks had a boulevard in front of them to come back. The Good Cards Control deck did exactly that, posting a dominant performance and snagging the top Cube Rate and Win Rate this week.
Behind it are Silver Surfer, Arishem, and Thanos, each solidifying the dominance of flexible builds. Bullseye Discard is the odd deck out among top performers, but it needs other synergistic decks to back it up if there is to be some diversity atop the rankings.
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Control 0.6 Cube Rate / 62.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Bullseye Discard 0.55 Cube Rate / 60% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Silver Surfer 0.5 Cube Rate / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Arishem 0.5 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Thanos Good Cards 0.5 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Iron Hand 0.4 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Scream Move 0.2 Cube Rate / 58.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | High Evolutionary 0.2 Cube Rate / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Clog 0.2 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Ongoing Combo 0.2 Cube Rate / 53.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Hela 0.2 Cube Rate / 53.5% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Clog 1.2 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| KaZoo 1.0 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate |
| Mister Negative 1.05 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate |
| Arishem 0.9 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate |
| Bullseye Discard 0.85 Cube Average / 60.5% 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.
Marvel Snap Meta Overview
With the top synergies nerfed over the past few balance updates, it seems like Marvel Snap has gone back to the other way the game is typically played: stack the best available cards alongside a flexible core.
The best representative of this new trend is the Good Cards Control archetype, and it’s sitting atop the rankings this week. There are so many versions of that archetype that I could have made an entire Tier List solely including them. I could also have made an entire report about decks with Iron Patriot and Sam Wilson Captain America, as these two are the core of those flexible decks. They both grant lots of points for cheap, which opens more slots for reactive cards like Shang-Chi and Enchantress.
Although there are still a few synergistic decks around, such as Bullseye Discard, Scream Move, and the returning High Evolutionary, it seems like Marvel Snap is back to what it was in January. Games are most often decided by an early Snap from the player with the best opener, which is often followed by a Retreat due to how scary winning Iron Patriot‘s location can be.
We are just days after an impactful OTA, so this situation could be temporary. It might simply be the result of players looking to build comfort again and relying on cards they know are strong. Still, I feel like future cards and updates will have to keep shaking things up again. Particularly because to the former Season Pass cards are completely eclipsing Agamotto in most archetypes, which largely reduces the feeling of novelty brought by the Prehistoric Avengers season so far.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Tier 1
Good Cards Control
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Rate / 62.5% Win Rate
This is the “Season Pass Cards, Assemble!” deck, as I like to call it. It’s nothing more than twelve of the best cards in the game working toward a similar goal: find a strong play pattern and capitalize on it once you’re in the lead.
Zabu on Turn 1 makes this deck click and reach its highest ceiling. But, even if you skip Turn 1, the fact that you almost never have a bad play due to how good all your cards are makes this deck scary in almost every game.
There are a lot of builds—not all of which deserve to be in Tier 1—that could have easily made it into this report. This is definitely the archetype to look out for after the OTA.
Potential Additions
There really are a lot of cards you could include in this build. Here is the second best deck with strong cards backed up by disruptive or flexible elements. This one is focused on spreading points across all three locations while limiting the opponent’s ability to play.
den
Bullseye Discard
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Rate / 60% Win Rate
It can boring to not evolve over an entire season (or even multiple seasons), which is basically what Bullseye Discard has done since the release of its signature card. Yet due to the deck never breaking into the “I’m too strong” territory, Bullseye has alternated between a good deck and a great one depending on how refined the other archetypes are. Soon after the OTA, with most other decks still looking for their ideal build, Bullseye is that no-brainer, easy-to-build archetype that has had proven results over the past two seasons.
Potential Additions
Gambit can be included, but it’s suffering a lot from Sam Wilson Captain America summoning an indestructible shield at the beginning of the game.
Silver Surfer
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 58% Win Rate
Silver Surfer is a Marvel Snap staple that you can whip out whenever you’re unsure about what to play. It has proven once again that you don’t have to be the most popular to be a great pick. Indeed, while this deck was almost nonexistent before the OTA, the 3-Cost based archetype has been quite popular over the last few days, and it posted great results as well.
There’s nothing fancy strategy wise; just assemble the best 3-Cost cards in the game, a couple of strong 2-Costs, and pick your favorite between Galacta, Absorbing Man, Gwenpool, and Sera to round out the deck.
Potential Additions
Most of the best performers featured the same 11 cards, with Gorgon and Iron Patriot trading places as the second 2-Cost in the deck.
Arishem
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate
Of course Arishem was going to be among the top decks following the OTA, but the performance isn’t as good as I envisioned. First, the most popular archetype was Control, and the 56% Win Rate is honestly pretty low for the archetype’s pedigree.
It is important to note that Gorgon is being widely used as a support 2-Cost, and it’s likely the go-to replacement for anyone who is missing either of the previous two Season Pass cards. This, of course, limits Arishem‘s ability to perform at its peak.
Potential Additions
Enchantress and Magneto are two cards that are routinely included in Arishem; however, this build rewards strong standalone cards, so feel free to test whichever cards you consider to be good.
Thanos Good Cards
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate
I almost considered placing this deck as an alternate Arishem build considering how close their game plans are. However, even though Thanos is once again taking a page from the more popular deck-stuffing character, the Mad Titan was much further down the rankings before the OTA.
It might be a little early to call it a comeback, but the bonus two power and the fact that Cull Obsidian cannot be played alongside Sam Wilson Captain America anymore has clearly benefited Thanos.
We’ll have to see where this is at next week to confirm how good it is.
Potential Additions
Just like Arishem, Thanos looks to play strong standalone cards (unless you want to build around Ongoing abilities).
Among these strong standalones cards are Nico Minoru, Wiccan, Iron Patriot, and Sam Wilson, which is often paired with the other Captain America.
Tier 2
Iron Hand
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Rate / 56% Win Rate
After taking a page from Ongoing Combo’s book, the Iron Hand archetype has become a sort of hybrid On Reveal / Ongoing deck. Unfortunately, the deck did not have a good enough performance to be in Tier 1, but it is important to note that it posted a much higher Cube Average than the other decks in Tier 2.
Because it needs to merge two synergies, the deck doesn’t have room for the likes of Shang-Chi or Enchantress. However, I can see how the opponent would be clueless against certain cards being in your deck when they face you.
Potential Additions
Sage is the flexible card in the deck. You can replace it with any On Reveal or Ongoing card that you consider strong in this deck, or even a disruptive card.
Scream Move
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 58.5% Win Rate
Although the Win Rate is great, Scream struggled to turn that into a lot of cubes, which is weird considering this deck should have a strong early Snap against Sam Wilson. Most of its own 2-Costs can be Snap worthy as well.
Either the pilots are not aggressive enough and only win a cube while losing more, or Scream Move has a bigger problem to solve. Still, such a good Win Rate should indicate a solid contender.
Potential Additions
Juggernaut could replace a missing Rocket and Groot, while Iron Patriot is just a strong flexible card. You can play something else instead if you don’t have it.
High Evolutionary
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 58% Win Rate
Another deck with a great Win Rate and too few cubes to show for it. Just like Thanos, High Evolutionary is showcasing the impact the OTA had on Bruce Banner. Not only is the archetype good enough to deserve a spot on this report, the best build is using the newly buffed 2-Cost. These are two big differences compared to earlier in the week.
Now it’s time to prove this performance isn’t just making the most of a chaotic meta.
Potential Additions
Red Hulk and Red Guardian make sense here because they synergize with Magik and Luna Snow (respectively). Otherwise, Shang-Chi is obviously the flexible card that you can swap based on the match up you want to target.
Clog
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 57.5% Win Rate
I have seen a few lists of Clog using Agamotto because Winds of Watoomb is a great addition to the deck. Still, the best performing list follows the same logic as most other archetypes: Iron Patriot is too good to pass on.
The other discussion point is the inclusion of Adam Warlock, which seems weird in a deck without much of an explosive start. I can imagine Adam Warlock would draw every turn when you play him on a lane that you managed to clog, which is definitely an interesting prospect.
Potential Additions
Daredevil and Hobgoblin are a nice duo to consider if you’re missing two cards. Aero, Red Guardian, and other disruptive cards also fit the bill in a Clog deck.
Tier 3
Ongoing Combo
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 53.5% Win Rate
I expected Ongoing Combo to do much better after the OTA by picking up the slack for the Ongoing archetype after Doctor Doom 2099‘s second nerf. It seems like that role was fulfilled by the Iron Hand archetype at the moment.
I guess there is quite a lot of Enchantress around, which makes a full Ongoing deck difficult to leverage. Plus, Ant Man on Turn 1 gives your opponent a lot of information, while The Hood or Nico Minoru are much more flexible early plays.
Hela
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Rate / 53.5% Win Rate
What a downfall for Hela after dominating the early part of this season. Unfortunately, there were just too many nerfs for the exact same 12 cards to not feel much worse after the OTA. In a way, it is somewhat impressive to see the deck survive and make it into the competitive discussion at all.
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 > 0.35
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 > 0.20
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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