Table of Contents
Nerfing one of the dominant cards in the game can lead to a diverse metagame, with everyone testing new ideas to fill that void, or just fewer archetypes as one option was removed from the pot of strong competitors. A few days after the OTA, it looks like the second, more boring option is what the end of the season will look like.
Indeed, except for Galactus becoming the new Ramp king, the same foundations are still going strong:
- Supergiant and Aurora serve the main disruptive archetypes.
- Move and Shou-Lao sit atop the synergies able to develop the most points.
- Cosmo and Mercury remain great disruptive cards, thus leading to the Ongoing synergy as a whole to look solid.
We have a season kicking off in about 3 days, meaning there is little reason to work on something new at the moment. Yet, it is a bit depressing to note the main change is Enchantress gaining momentum, as an answer to the increased amount of Ongoing decks. That part at least led to the 10 Power archetype making it to the Trending section, while High Evo switched to a control build without the nerfed season pass card.
This doesn’t make the current Marvel Snap metagame bad by any means, but it largely diminishes the overall impact of the OTA. Indeed, we could sum it up to “Ramp is worse now, and Supergiant sometimes uses Rocket and Groot to help with priority”.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Supergiant Move 0.7 Cube Average / 66.5% Win Rate / 150 Games |
| Trending | Supergiant 10 Power 0.5 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate / 160 Games |
| Trending | Shou-Lao Moves 0.55 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate / 150 Games |
| Tier 1 | Shou-Lao Ongoing 0.7 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Galactus Ramp 0.5 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Disruptive Aurora 0.4 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Control High Evo 0.4 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Negative Destroy 0.45 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Aurora 2099 0.4 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Star Lord Ramp 0.3 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Small Ongoing 0.25 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Aurora 2099 | 0.5 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| Supergiant Moves | 0.45 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate |
| Disruptive Aurora | 0.5 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Galactus Ramp | 0.4 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Small Ongoing | 0.45 Cube Average / 58% 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. The first step to reaching infinite consistently is to lose 1 cube per loss, while winning t2 to 4 cubes consistently.
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
Supergiant Moves
den
Performance: 0.7 Cube Average / 66.5% Win Rate / 150 Games
There aren’t many games available, but this archetype with a great track record this season. The only change to Supergiant Move is Rocket and Groot replacing Hydra Stomper. Likely, this is due to its points ceiling not being high enough to compete, so might as well improve seizing priority with the now [3/3] card.
For anyone enjoying a disruptive, yet flexible play-style, this is probably your best pick to close out the season.
Supergiant 10 Power
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 65.5% Win Rate / 160 Games
Not a fan of the Move synergy, or afraid Mercury is going to be too popular ? Here is another Supergiant deck you can use, this time using the 10 Power synergy in order to generate points.
Typically, Starbrand or Red Skull won’t be enough to win a location, so this deck will be looking to stack points in one spot, and win the other through disrupting its opponent. There is quite a bit of Ongoing decks currently, so Enchantress can impair many opponents. Otherwise, Iron Patriot or Cable early on will have a huge impact on this deck’s success.
Shou-Lao Moves
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate / 150 Games
If Supergiant is the disruptive way to build Move, Shou-Lao the Undying is the proactive direction. With the Master of the Sun nerfed, Shou-Lao returns as one of the most flexible ways to build points in Marvel Snap. Thus, it is likely this is one of the better decks to play at the moment, as long as you find the right balance.
This build is only using Cosmo for disruption, but Mercury or Rogue could help against Move or Ongoing decks as well. It all depends if you believe you have enough points to win without impairing your opponent too much.
Tier 1
Shou-Lao Ongoing
den
Performance: 0.7 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate
Shou-Lao the Undying paired with many synergies through the course of the season, representing an alternate way to generate points in archetypes already using mostly cheap cards. After Move or Bounce, Small Ongoing is now trying its luck with the former season pass card, and it seems to work out wonderfully.
Enchantress is making a bit of a comeback, so be careful about that one. Cosmo is already in the deck, but Goose can added on top, although that could block certain synergies with Moonstone.
Potential Additions
Surge is the flexible card in the deck. Goliath or Jeff make the most sense among 2-cost cards, while Mercury or Rogue are good consideration when it comes to disruptive picks.
Scarlet Spider synergizes very well with Shou-Lao, but makes the curve a bit higher.
Galactus Ramp
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 60.5% Win Rate
With the dominant Ramp deck suffering multiple nerfs, Galactus took the opportunity to gain a lot of momentum. Ironically, this one is also playing Alioth and Fin Fang Foom, but playing them on a single location improves their ability a ton.
Based on results, this look like the new way to play Ramp at the moment. However, Galactus loses a lot of power once everyone expects it and play to prevent its ability, so I expect the performance to worsen a bit.
Potential Additions
Aero is the flexible slot here, although she helps keep a location empty to help Galactus. Red Hulk helps against the other Ramp deck, while Legion or Ghost Rider”] are generic strong 5-cost cards.
Disruptive Aurora
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate
The Win Rate remains excellent but the cube average took a hit, likely because fewer opponents are staying against this deck at the moment.
With the metagame about the same as it was before the OTA, this should remain a great disruptive deck. Maybe a card to edge against Ongoing strategies could make sense, but Spider-Ham already hurts these a ton.
Potential Additions
Enchantress, Copycat or Cable make sense in this type of disruptive deck. Ask yourself which archetype you would like to beat to pick specific cards, or chose from those with a more generic ability.
Tier 2
Control High Evo
den
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate
With Magus buffed, High Evolutionary turned to another synergy in order to cheat energy. This time, the deck will use the now 2-cost to copy Cyclops or Sera while they are still in the deck. Depending on the setup, the goal will be to pass turn five to play from behind with She-Hulk plus other cards, or simply slam Hulk in a contested points battle.
It is still unclear whether this is better than to play for Abomination, or even using the Master of the Sun to cheat energy. Yet, this has been performing the best following the OTA, likely due to being more unexpected than the other 2.
Potential Additions
Another way to build would be to target the 5-cost slot exclusively, adding another card alongside Sera, while Enchantress would become Rogue.
Negative Destroy
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
The best deck with the now [4/3], Mister Negative started very strong after the OTA, and is now performing more reasonably. There is a lot of Cosmo around, while certain Ongoing decks can pack Armor as well, so this deck has a few annoying cards to dodge.
Still, Mobius M. Mobius is nowhere to be seen, so Mister Negative remains a very effective Snap currently.
Potential Additions
Killmonger would be the most flexible inclusion if you were not facing many 1-cost cards to destroy. Gambit or Carnage are fine in a Destroy Negative deck.
Aurora 2099
Performance: 0.4 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
There is one fewer deck able to beat you on points following the OTA, meaning Doctor Doom 2099 gained a bit from the update. However, the disruptive build around Aurora still performs better.
The upside to this one is the ability to almost ignore what your opponent is doing for the first four turns of the match. It is only once you have your signature card on the card that you should assess whether you can win on points, or switch to disruption.
Potential Additions
Jack Flag can be Invisible Woman First Steps or a disruptive card like Cosmo.
The same goes for Mercury and Cannonball, which can become Blue Marvel or The Thing First Steps plus a flexible inclusion.
Tier 3
Star-Lord Ramp
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate
There is a lot to say about this deck. First, the fact that all three nerfed cards are still part of the best performing build is wild, but also makes the nerfs warranted. Then, it seems like this Ramp build now can’t win on points alone, or Juggernaut and Enchantress wouldn’t be in the best list.
Gaining a ton of energy remains a great way to win matches, but it seems we have to use that energy a bit differently at the moment.
Potential Additions
Legion, Ghost Rider”] or Lady Deathstrike could replace Enchantress, depending which decks you want to beat.
Daredevil could be Cable, Bruce Banner or such solid 2-cost if you didn’t use the information on turn 5 much.
Small Ongoing
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 56.5% Win Rate
If you compared the top ranked deck with this one, you’ll notice they are awfully similar, but one is using Shou-Lao while the other is pure Ongoing. Not only the hybrid will fare much better with Enchantress coming back in the metagame, it also is more unpredictable as to where the points will be at the end of the match.
Potential Additions
Mercury or Rogue would add a bit of disruption to the deck.
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.
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.
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.
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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