Table of Contents
We are seeing many more decks appear as the community has tinkered after the OTA. However, all those feel like they’re based around the same concept: start hot, Snap, and punish any opponent bold enough to stay in the match.
At the helm of that game plan (for pretty much every deck) is Iron Patriot. It is only logical, too; the card has basically no downside as a [2/3] with the ability to win the game if you are ahead on its location on the following turn.
Marvel Snap was already dominated by 2-, 3-, and 4-Cost cards, but the nerf to Hela and Surtur have intensified that even further. It’s now up to the point where almost all the top contenders are using the same formula.
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Miracle Control 57% Win Rate / 0.5 Cube Rate / 250 Games |
| Trending | Pure Control 58.5% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 250 Games |
| Tier 1 | Scream Move 65% Win Rate / 0.55 Cube Rate / 1650 Games |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Control 60.5% Win Rate / 0.5 Cube Rate / 1350 Games |
| Tier 1 | Thanos Good Cards 60.5% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 300 Games |
| Tier 2 | Ongoing Doom 58.5% Win Rate / 0.35 Cube Rate / 200 Games |
| Tier 2 | Mister Negative 57% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 300 Games |
| Tier 2 | Bullseye 59.5% Win Rate / 0.25 Cube Rate / 250 Games |
| Tier 2 | Mill 54.5% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 300 Games |
| Tier 2 | Silver Surfer 57% Win Rate / 0.3 Cube Rate / 900 Games |
| Tier 3 | Move 53% Win Rate / 0.2 Cube Rate / 300 Games |
| Tier 3 | Small Good Cards 54% Win Rate / 0.15 Cube Rate / 250 Games |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Miracle Control | 1.05 Cube Rate / 67% Win Rate |
| Discard Dracula | 0.95 Cube Rate / 63.5% Win Rate |
| Bullseye | 0.9 Cube Rate / 58% Win Rate |
| Scream Move | 0.7 Cube Rate / 65% Win Rate |
| Good Cards Control | 0.75 Cube Rate / 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. 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
From the outside, it looks like the current Marvel Snap meta is diverse and much improved now that more decks had time to emerge since the last balance update. If you look only at the amount of archetypes able to compete, it is true. However, once you look into the details of those decks, you can quickly spot certain dominant cards in almost all of them, as well as a similar way to play the game.
Card wise, Iron Patriot tops all the opposition, with only Sam Wilson as a possible contender. Unless you are running a specific synergy, such as Mister Negative or Bullseye, there really is no reason not to include one or both of those cards.
Because of their power, these two are pushing the game to be fast-paced and focused on the early game: the Snaps fly and the Retreats follow quickly. Plus, the two former Season Pass cards are so good at what they do that they naturally favor decks that can leverage their abilities the most. As such, the deck with the best chance to win Iron Patriot‘s lane will also happen to be on top of our list.
Scream Move, a deck with more great 2-Cost cards than any other archetype, is posting a crazy high Win Rate (mostly thanks to being able to Snap on Turn 2 in the majority of games). Typically, a deck with such a high Win Rate will boast a 0.7 Cube Rate, but a lot of opponents Retreat quickly the average here is only on par with the other dominant builds.
The other important archetype to discuss is Control, which will soon be able to form a family of decks considering how many are gravitating around the same concept. I believe this is the best way to understand how strong Iron Patriot is: reactive decks will Snap you, not because they can counter you, but because they believe they will beat you on points. And you’ll Retreat because you agree with them. Shang-Chi and Enchantress are still in there, but they have been relegated to back-ups now that Iron Patriot, Sam Wilson, and Galacta allow Sera Control to play proactively.
Most other decks on this report follow that same logic with only two possible exceptions. Decks with a worse chance at winning the Iron Patriot lane will run Gorgon or, sometimes, Mobius M. Mobius to mitigate the impact of the card (as well as annoy Arishem, always a plus). Speaking of which, Arishem is missing from our competitive report for the first time in very long time.
The other route is to be a synergistic deck that is able to develop more points than the former Season Pass cards can generate. Then the game becomes a guessing match where the flexible deck hopes the synergistic one won’t draw the nuts, while the synergistic deck wonders if the opponent might run the perfect counter card.
I would still take this meta over one with Hela, but I could easily get tired of this just as quickly if I’m honest. I know Season Pass cards have some sort of protected status in the game, but Marvel encompasses an entire universe and a small crew of cards in this game are taking it hostage at the moment.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Trending
Miracle Control
den
Performance: 57% Win Rate / 0.5 Cube Rate / 250 Games
While the Win Rate is average compared to other decks on this report, the Cube Rate is among the top. It is not much of a surprise once you realize nine out of twelve cards have nothing to prove anymore, as the Control archetype is the most popular (and almost the best) in the game right now. In this version, the Mysterio, Mockingbird, and Sasquatch package are showing their worth.
They aren’t winning as much as builds with Iron Patriot, but that might actually be their strength. Indeed, opponents aren’t often scared away, so they stay in the game and accept higher stakes while you drop two huge cards for cheap on them.
Pure Control
den
Performance: 58.5% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 250 Games
This is a different, more disruptive take on the Control archetype, but it’s still based on a strong opener and an early Snap. Indeed, while it is labelled “Control”, this build very much wants priority so Negasonic Teenage Warhead is at her best and cards like Juggernaut and Quake can be as annoying as possible.
If you don’t like playing from behind but still enjoy disrupting your opponent, this should be a great pick for you.
Tier 1
Scream Move
den
Performance: 65% Win Rate / 0.55 Cube Rate / 1650 Games
While a 0.55 Cube Rate isn’t that high compared to other historically great decks, a 65% Win Rate isn’t something we see very often over so many games. In my opinion, this is the result of Scream Move being the best early Snapper in the game, thus scaring a lot of opponents away. Whether it is with Iron Patriot, Sam Wilson Captain America, or Scream, most opponents simply don’t want to stay.
Fortunately, Scream Move isn’t great at holding its cards in hand and will typically close the match before Turn 6, which means even if you stayed in the face of Snap you will rarely lose more than two cubes.
Potential Additions
Kingpin and Nebula could replace Hydra Bob, while Juggernaut, Copycat, or Red Guardian can swap with Rocket and Groot.
Good Cards Control
den
Performance: 60.5% Win Rate / 0.5 Cube Rate / 1350 Games
Starbrand and Lizard aren’t super scary if you can’t find Enchantress. Unfortunately, when they serve to win Iron Patriot‘s lane, you rarely want to stick around to find out whether Enchantress will come out or not.
As I stated in the meta overview, when a Control deck can routinely overpower its opponents it might indicate that the deck isn’t really about controlling its opponent.
Potential Additions
Agamotto, Copycat, King Eitri, and Hawkeye Kate Bishop form another package you can use in this archetype. They would replace the Ongoing package of Lizard, Starbrand, Enchantress, and Sera.
Good Cards can also be played more proactively with Sandman, Gorgon, Makkari, and Doctor Doom replacing the same 4 Ongoing cards I just mentioned. In that build, Ms. Marvel can also replace Gwenpool for a different way to create points.
Thanos
den
Performance: 60.5% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 300 Games
Thanos feels a little more exotic than the other decks because it includes Okoye, Phastos, and Hope Summers in the mix to showcase a little variety. However, after a few games, you quickly realize these are never the reason you Snap, even though they might keep you in games where your opponent didn’t Snap either.
I would consider Thanos to be the “potential” deck in this meta. It has higher highs and will typically do better when no one gets off to a hot start. However, it also won’t see the current best cards as often, which means you might not Snap as much as the 12 card builds using Iron Patriot and other timing based cards.
Potential Additions
Mobius M. Mobius can double with Gorgon for more reliability, replacing Juggernaut or Cassandra Nova. In the high cost cards, Alioth could replace Gorr if you value disruption more than points.
Tier 2
Ongoing Doom
den
Performance: 58.5% Win Rate / 0.35 Cube Rate / 200 Games
After a second nerf, I anticipated the combo build (with Ravonna Renslayer, Iron Man, and Mystique) of Ongoing would take over the archetype, but Doctor Doom is still on top—especially in the Win Rate metric, where it’s about 4% ahead.
It seems like not much has changed for the Ongoing archetype, except it is a little bit worse than before. This basically shows in the gap that exists compared to the decks in the higher tier.
Potential Additions
Mobius M. Mobius can add another layer of disruption on top of Gorgon if you need it.
Mister Negative
den
Performance: 57% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 300 Games
Although there was just a slight change with some Destroy elements included in the deck, seeing Mister Negative sport a different list is an event by itself. Overall, the deck might be a tad less reliable due to removing Psylocke, which cuts half of the ways to play Mister Negative on Turn 3. However, both the Win Rate and Cube Rate are very good, so it seems that the surprise brought by this different list is more than worth removing Psylocke from the original build.
Potential Additions
Arnim Zola, Shang-Chi, and Knull can be Psylocke, Wong, and Taskmaster if you prefer the original build.
Bullseye
den
Performance: 59.5% Win Rate / 0.25 Cube Rate / 250 Games
The Win Rate is still great, but the Cube Rate has fallen very low in comparison. Either Bullseye players are not Snapping nearly enough, or the deck is just so predictable that it is in the business of winning one or two while losing two or four.
Potential Additions
Moon Girl or Gambit can be added to the mix for extra potential or disruption opportunities.
Mill
den
Performance: 54.5% Win Rate / 0.4 Cube Rate / 300 Games
Mill was the only deck with Firehair that was worth discussing this week; Iron Hand unfortunately fell short of a performance worth including. The Cube Rate is good, but the Win Rate is on the low side of things. I checked some decks with Iron Patriot, either replacing Firehair or Red Guardian, and they did worse, so at least we know that’s not the reason for the lower Win Rate. Plus, two extra Demons from The Hood is close to being worth what Iron Patriot gives you.
The question for Mill is probably its place in the current environment. Indeed, the Destroy synergy doesn’t have any great targets, and there aren’t many synergistic decks you can Snap against just because you stole their signature card.
Potential Additions
Red Guardian is the flexible card, replaceable with the usual great 3-Costs like Rocket and Groot or Copycat. Firehair feels important to the deck, but Iron Patriot or Gorgon should be decent placeholders.
Silver Surfer
Performance: 57% Win Rate / 0.3 Cube Rate / 900 Games
In this second group of top performers, Silver Surfer feels like a safe pick… without any specific reason to choose it, either. As for the build, this is basically the few cards you can’t take out of the archetype (Brood, Silver Surfer, Sebastian Shaw, and Hope Summers) alongside eight of the best cards in the game at the moment. Conveniently, five of them are 3-Costs, while the other three are #1, #2, and #3 overall in a lot of players’ rankings.
Potential Additions
Gwenpool, Forge, and other buffing abilities make sense with Brood and Sebastian Shaw in the deck. Absorbing Man can also be a good addition. Otherwise, look for strong 3-Cost cards that could function in a variety of situations. The Fenris Wolf, Gladiator, and Shang-Chi trio could also be a fine package to add if you’re missing multiple cards.
Tier 3
Move
den
Performance: 53% Win Rate / 0.2 Cube Rate / 300 Games
Once a top tier synergy, Move is still able to develop a ton of points but it needs a lot to go right. The flexible decks are also much more likely find enough points to compete. Plus, Red Guardian is kind of popular at the moment, which is terrible for Madame Web.
Small Good Cards
den
Performance: 54% Win Rate / 0.15 Cube Rate / 250 Games
I am a bit baffled as to why neither Iron Patriot nor Sam Wilson are part of this archetype, but it is good to see a deck without them doing well. Unfortunately, it is the worst ranked deck on the report. Arguably, the start of Small Good Cards is a little too slow for the current meta. Once this deck gets rolling in the second half of the game, the opponent is either far ahead and Snapped you, or has no business staying and your Snap isn’t worth much.
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 or Win Rate > 60%
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 > 0.3 or Win Rate > 58%
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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