Table of Contents
Welcome to our Marvel Snap Meta Tier List for the Ranked Ladder mode! Each week, we review the best decks in the ever-changing Marvel Snap metagame. Then we bring you the decklists, and we provide an in-depth report about them. This report contains information like how their ranks are justified, how to play the decks, and how to build the deck with alternate cards to accommodate different collections.
Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Overview
Just like the previous Season Pass cards, Ms. Marvel has impacted the meta by quite a lot. Its biggest feat to date is immediately bringing Lockdown back in the conversation for an elite deck in Marvel Snap, alongside raising the stock of the Ongoing synergy as a whole. Indeed, for the first time in weeks, Loki isn’t the center of attention, and disruptive cards are aimed at punishing the onslaught of Ongoing cards that are populating the current environment.
Rogue, Enchantress, and even Echo have gained a lot of popularity. They’ve replaced Shang-Chi after its change, as well as the expected Mobius M. Mobius (which still hasn’t shown up after returning to its old ability).
However, this huge popularity doesn’t necessarily mean the Ongoing decks are the best ones in the game. Sure, Lockdown is posting excellent results – enough to be considered a top tier deck in Marvel Snap. But this is more due to its ability to disrupt rather than to develop a ton of points, which is what other Ongoing decks are trying to do. Then, when you’re trying to play the same game as Loki or Shuri, you better bring your A-game. That’s not always possible when the entire environment is gunning for you.
This interval between the strongest and most popular decks is leading to quite an interesting metagame where the best way to rank up might not be playing the best deck, but actually countering the most popular ones. Yes, even if it means Retreating against Loki or Shuri more often than not, these two haven’t been too popular since Ms. Marvel joined the game so it might not cost you that much in the end.
Lots of different strategies are mixed in the metagame right now, and it is difficult to see which ones rack up the most cubes. Let’s try to find out as we explore the best decks of this first week in the new Higher, Further, Faster season.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Phoenix Shuri | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Loki Collector | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Shuri Sauron 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Lockdown 🆕 | Guide 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Cerebro 5 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Discard Dracula | Guide |
| Tier 2 | • Good Cards Ongoing 🆕 • Devil Ongoing 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Deadpool Destroy | Guide |
| Tier 2 | InSheNaut 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Galactus Ramp 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Move | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Electro Ramp | Guide |
| Budget | Ongoing Kazoo | Guide |
| Budget | Devil Dinosaur Destroy | |
| Budget | Swarm Discard Aggro | |
| Budget | Ongoing Two Locations | |
| Budget | On Reveal Control | Guide |
| Budget | Big Cards |
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 using data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If a deck showed great performances with a very limited presence in the metagame, you can find it in the Silent Performers section. There, I will highlight decks with an excellent Cube Ratio 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 or 4 in our chart, and 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 metagame 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 metagame that still showcase a Cube Average and Win Rate worthy of a Tier 2 deck (or better). Often times, 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 metagame, 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
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 > 0.15
Tier 4: Off-meta decks that have fallen off in recent times, or counter picks that rely on specific match ups to stay afloat competitively.
Cube Average > 0.00
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
Loki Collector
den
Rank Justification:
Lockdown has pushed Loki Collector to step away from the Werewolf By Night build that was terrorizing the Ladder at the end of the last season. Now, with Storm and Professor X both part of one of the most popular decks in the game, Jeff the Baby Land Shark has reclaimed its spot as the most played card in the Move synergy. Then, with The Collector and Angela coming down early, it is difficult for Lockdown to land a solid Professor X down the line.
Outside this hurdle, Loki is very happy to see a chaotic and proactive meta with a lot of decks playing cards that are able to score a lot of points. Plus, considering most Ongoing decks are playing Rogue or Super-Skrull themselves to gain an edge in the mirror match, Loki can often steal a game-winning card to seal the game.
How to Play:
Centered around its two signature cards (with support from Quinjet), Loki Collector aims to build a lot of points on two lanes while keeping as many options as possible open for later on. Indeed, if you commit too hard, you might lack the space required for the cards Loki generates, or you might let your opponent know too much about your potential. Speaking of potential, the deck creates many cards during the match, so its biggest strength is keeping the opponent in the dark as to what they should expect. It can also rely on Elsa Bloodstone and Kitty Pryde to build points and mitigate the space used to play low-power cards.
Early on in the match, the deck will set up its anchors, Elsa Bloodstone and The Collector. As direct support to these two, you have all the cards at three energy or less that will generate cards or simply grow thanks to Elsa Bloodstone. Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Nico Minoru represent your flexible tools, while the rest of the cards are a little bit more committal.
The space you anticipate will need after playing Loki, and the timing at which you plan on playing your signature card, will largely impact how much you want to invest in terms of space early on.
Depending on your opponent, the timing of your Loki will vary. If their deck is expensive or runs a lot of counters to your primary plan, you might want to switch early on and create a new game plan with their cards. Otherwise, Loki can be played on Turn 5 to grow The Collector and open a very flexible Turn 6, especially with Quinjet in play.
One of the biggest upsides of this deck is its ability to always find new options and play patterns. As such, it is really important to set your mind early on whether you are looking to play with the cards in your deck or trying to generate a new way to achieve victory. Since the nerf to Elsa Bloodstone, Loki Collector is much more reliant on the signature duo to dominate at least one lane on points. Then, the second one can be challenged with buffed cheap cards, or whatever you get from your opponent’s deck.
Potential Additions:
Luke Cage is an interesting prospect right now if you are afraid of Shadow King coming back in the game. The card would likely replace Mirage if you’re going one for one. Otherwise, you could try to sub out the full Kitty Pryde, Elsa Bloodstone, Angela, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark package and try a Werewolf By Night plus Shadow King, Luke Cage, and Forge package. Mirage would probably become Falcon in that scenario as well.
Shuri Sauron
den
Rank Justification:
When other decks are trying to score points, no matter how they do it, Shuri is typically quickly back in the conversation to remind everyone they need to score at least 30 to compete. Plus, an Ongoing meta is one of Shuri Sauron‘s favorite since the deck can include Enchantress at any time if needed.
Then, even if Lockdown can be quite annoying (and cost Shuri a lot of momentum in our Conquest Tier List), the ability to just Retreat for a cube and move on in Ranked appears to be much more favorable for this deck. You can also see America Chavez is back in the mix after Alioth was the go-to 6-cCost card for a while, which is probably an indication that Shuri Sauron isn’t trying to do anything complicated, just develop its basic game plan and beat people with points.
How to Play:
Shuri Sauron is based around the idea of cancelling negative Ongoing abilities with Sauron and abusing Shuri to create a huge amount of points. In that regard, the deck is very rigid in the mid-game since Turns 3, 4, and 5 are almost always the same: Sauron → Shuri → any card worth doubling the power.
Often times, Turn 2 will also be dedicated to Armor as a way to prevent an opposing Shang-Chi from ruining your plans. Speaking of Shang-Chi, Vision is another way to play around it, as hitting a moving target isn’t so simple.
This leaves only Turn 1 and Turn 6 to be truly flexible, with Nebula or Zero taking up the 1-Cost slot and Taskmaster usually being the default Turn 6 play alongside Ebony Maw.
If this very straightforward approach can lead to a ton of points on two lanes, it also often doesn’t equate to a lot of cubes. Indeed, unless you are Snapping aggressively, the opponent can see the points coming and will rarely stay in the game once you show Shuri (and they can’t handle it). This creates two important factors to take into consideration when playing Shuri Sauron:
- You have to accept Snaps early in the game, especially when Sauron and Shuri show up.
- You need to find lines of play even when you don’t have the best play pattern with the deck, especially when the opponent does not Snap. Even without Shuri, the deck can develop a solid amount of points, and Alioth is able to steal a few wins.
Potential Additions:
Alioth and Nebula are two cards you will often see in Shuri Sauron. Still, Enchantress appears to be clutch right now, and being reliable is important with Lockdown being very popular (although Nebula could help in that particular match up).
Lockdown
den
Rank Justification:
The big comeback of the early season, Lockdown just feels like a different deck with Ms. Marvel in the mix. The best list is still kind of up in the air – especially regarding which 6-Cost to include between Alioth and America Chavez.
In addition to this surge of points with the new 4-Cost card, Lockdown appears to make sense as a deck in the current environment. It already pushed Loki to reconsider how to build its decks, and it acts as the new Thanos Control in a way.
There is still an uphill battle in regards to Loki, but this start is very promising.
How to Play:
Most of the time, the goal with this deck is either to develop points flexibly or hide from your opponent where you plan to act. You can also aggressively block your opponent’s play patterns, which is easier in Conquest where you should gather information from one round to another. With Ms. Marvel in the equation, Lockdown is trying to lock one of the side lanes with Storm or Professor X in order to land Ms. Marvel in the middle for support.
If you expect your opponent to run an Ongoing counter, you could play Storm on Turn 3 in the lane where you wish to play Ms. Marvel so the opponent can’t land their card later on.
Typically, Storm is stronger if you have ways of supporting it (either with the Move cards or with Doctor Doom down the line). Professor X, on the other hand, will push for Alioth or America Chavez to be used to win the second lane.
A hot start with Nebula, Medusa, and Storm can quickly lead to you winning a lane, which allows you to focus entirely on another one with a card like Alioth at the end of the game. Furthermore, the deck is also decent at spreading its points through Ms. Marvel and Doctor Doom – especially if Iron Lad hits either of those. You can then accept a battle based on points where Legion can clutch the game with its ability.
Finally, the Move cards simply provide flexibility for Ms. Marvel so you can make sure it reliably adds points; you can reposition your cards if you need to play one with the same cost on that location.
Potential Additions:
America Chavez and Magneto compete for the 6-Cost slot. Legion and Vision also see play over Gamora at times.
Tier 2
Cerebro 5
den
Rank Justification:
Already kind of relevant in the last metagame, Cerebro 5 was bound to make a splash with Ms. Marvel in the equation – and it did. Similar to Shuri Sauron, the deck benefited a lot from naturally playing Enchantress, while putting up enough points to compete with most decks. Last upside: don’t sleep on Spider-Man moving an opposing Ms. Marvel.
Outside of this spectacular addition and a good environment, the core of Cerebro 5 has not changed, and the Move synergy remains a big part of it. Once again, you can see how little impact Mobius M. Mobius has, as Miles Morales is played in every list so far.
How to Play:
Apart from using Wave to play an early Doctor Doom (or playing it with another cheap card like Miles Morales on Turn 6), Cerebro 5 isn’t trying to do many complicated things. Develop your 5-Cost cards, take the occasional disruption with Polaris or Spider-Man, and be careful where you place your cards for Ms. Marvel down the line.
Otherwise, even Cerebro itself isn’t a must play every game; 20 power on a lane is already a solid number to challenge it. The deck will look to play almost the same game for the first four or five turns. Then, Turn 6 is the important one, as you need to decide if you’re going for Doctor Doom or a more flexible play. Most of the time, the only option better than Doctor Doom is be Ms. Marvel or Enchantress plus Miles Morales, if you haven’t had the chance to play them already.
Potential Additions:
Man-Thing goes pretty well with Luke Cage, and Stegron is another card that you can add to the Move synergy. Galactus can do some pretty surprising things at times, too, especially now that you have Ms. Marvel to support it.
Discard Dracula
den
Rank Justification:
A Tier 1 deck in Conquest, Discard is a little bit too predictable on the Ladder, and easily recognized as soon as it plays its first card of the match. In this context, the deck is forced to Snap early to leverage its best draws, and Morbius can often be met by an Ongoing hate card. Then, unless you have Dracula, Apocalypse, and the other high power cards, Discard seems to be difficult to leverage in the ranked mode.
Still, that didn’t stop it from posting a solid performance overall; Top 5 is nothing to be ashamed of. The lack of flexibility is still coming back to haunt the archetype as always. It is interesting to note that The Collector has replaced Daken in the deck, although the card should rarely reach eight power. I guess it is so important to be able to play something on Turn 2 (and the lower cost making it easier to manage your hand if necessary) that it made it prevail this week.
How to Play:
Discard Dracula aims at developing as many points as possible while dodging cards like Shang-Chi (destroys a big Morbius), Cosmo (no more discards on that location), Mobius M. Mobius (resets Swarm to base cost), and other disruptive tools. Ideally, the deck will discard as often as possible, except when Morbius, Daken, or Dracula are at risk, as these three typically represent your largest points contributors. Then, if you have all three, you might want to split them, either with one on each lane, with Dracula alone (if you have Apocalypse), or with Morbius alone (If you anticipate a ton of discards during that match).
Your other cards can also contribute to quite a lot of points, so you should never have to rely on one card alone to win a location. Still, a 20+ power Dracula can do that fairly easily. Daken, in particular, will typically be an eight power card, which is great for a 3-Cost but often not enough to secure a location on its own.
Apart from Hellcow and MODOK, which will typically be used over the last two turns, all the other discards are targeted, meaning you can control their outcome and plan accordingly during the course of the match. With Mobius M. Mobius roaming in various decks, I would advise you to just play Swarm whenever the card is a 0-Cost, at least until you get more information about your opponent. This leads the deck to be very tempo oriented because it is looking to maximize the use of its available energy on every turn if possible, especially if it can discard safely.
Overall, Discard Dracula kind of plays itself when it comes to which cards make sense to use on each turn. The emphasis as a pilot should be on where to place your cards and what information you want to hide from your opponent, rather than just slamming points on the table.
Potential Additions:
Daken and Silver Samurai are the two cards you could think about including in this deck.
Good Cards Ongoing
den
Rank Justification:
This is the other archetype heavily pushed by Ms. Marvel. Good Cards Ongoing seems to be searching for its best list for now; it hasn’t figured out how to surround Darkhawk and the new Season Pass card in the best way possible.
The results are already solid, and, most importantly, better than the Stature or the Affliction versions from last season. Now that we know this Ongoing direction is likely the best one for the archetype, the next step should be finding out how to properly build the deck. For example, I don’t expect Super-Skrull to stay in the long run; instead, it should be seen as a slot for a counter card for other Ongoing decks, not a staple in the deck.
The same goes for Nebula, which feels like it was included simply because it is a strong overall card. Either way, it doesn’t have many synergies with the rest of the deck. Nightcrawler typically got the nod alongside Ms. Marvel early on, so there are several cards to test in this archetype. Also, compared to the Conquest Tier List, you can note that Onslaught is gone as well as Mister Fantastic. The “better” 6-Costs have regained their place in the deck instead.
How to Play:
A Good Cards deck will typically look to use its energy very efficiently and rely on the standalone strength of its cards rather than complex synergies. The core is usually based around the Rock synergy since it allows you to disrupt the opponent’s deck while building a big anchor for a lane in Darkhawk. Alongside this base, the deck will usually try to mix strong 4-Cost cards to profit from Zabu and great abilities to copy with Iron Lad.
Typically, this deck will not develop many points early on. It tries to shuffle Rocks in the opponent’s deck and develop Zabu instead. Unless you are looking to land a disruptive card to block something, seizing priority isn’t a key component of the game plan. You would even like to not have priority – especially going into Turn 6 – so you could develop Darkhawk plus Ms. Marvel with Zabu in play.
However, if you catch your opponent having a bad turn, or you high roll a good Iron Lad, don’t refrain from focusing on points over guessing how you could disrupt the opponent even more.
Last, keep in mind the Ongoing synergy is often targeted in the current environment, so it might be good to keep your important cards in hand until the last turn (if you are able to).
Potential Additions:
There is another similar build going around that mixes the Devil Dinosaur synergy in the deck, and it is posting similar results.
den
Deadpool Destroy
den
Rank Justification:
Many believed it was Destroy’s time to shine now that the attention was on a completely different synergy, and I have seen several people share great success stories with various lists based around the Destroy synergy.
However, Knull is an Ongoing card, and it can sometimes be soul crushing when it gets stolen by Rogue or Super-Skrull, or Enchantress removes its ability. Then, there is also a bit of a Cosmo problem; a lot of decks have started running the card to protect themselves from those same Ongoing hate cards. Considering Ms. Marvel will often give priority to your opponent if played on Turn 4, you can sometimes feel like you are playing Russian Roulette with where to place your destroy abilities.
If you are really comfortable with Destroy, this is still a Top 10 deck, and it’s one that many believe should be ranked much higher.
How to Play:
If you find Deadpool in your opening hand, buffing it with Forge or Nico Minoru and destroying it over and over again until Turn 6 is the main concept with this deck. But there are other ways to score lots of points.
First, it is important to understand the role of X-23: to give you energy on specific turns so you can break the expected timing your opponent has for your cards. For example, going for Deadpool plus Taskmaster on Turn 5 can throw an opponent off, and it opens a Knull play on the following turn. Similarly, if you destroy X-23 on Turn 5, you can play both Deadpool plus Knull, or Arnim Zola on Turn 6.
Since you are playing a deck that is easily recognizable and well known in the community, finding those unusual ways of developing your play patterns will open avenues to catch your opponent off guard.
Once you understand the key concepts around your 1-Costs, the rest of the deck is really about dodging the opponent’s traps. Death needs to be played as soon as possible if you suspect your opponent is playing Mobius M. Mobius. Killmonger can be used to destroy opposing cards, not just your Deadpool. Last, Arnim Zola can also be used on Knull, Death or Venom, and create a lot of points this way as well.
Potential Additions:
Lady Deathstrike sees play instead of Hulkbuster if you favor disruption to points output. Also, Taskmaster can be a poor man’s replacement for Arnim Zola. Some also like to include the Shuri and Nimrod duo in the deck.
InSheNaut
den
Rank Justification:
While the deck seemed to have kept its great performance from last season in Conquest, it seems like Ranked hasn’t been so kind to InSheNaut. Obviously, the popularity of Lockdown must be a problem for the deck, as Professor X is quite punishing when you plan on passing your Turn 5. Shuri picking up some momentum is also annoying since it is one of the rare decks that is able to beat InSheNaut in a points shootout.
Overall, it could have been worse for the deck; many imagined it would be completely gone from Marvel Snap with Mobius M. Mobius regaining its Ongoing ability. Still, it seems like InSheNaut might have to go back to the drawing board for the time being.
How to Play:
The goal with this deck is to make the game about points – a battle you are more than suited to win. Ideally, the deck wants to play Magik on Turn 3, Leech on Turn 5, and profit from passing Turn 6 with Sunspot and Misty Knight before dropping two high power cards on Turn 7. However, there are many more play patterns in the deck to achieve victory:
- With Armor, Cosmo, and Leech, the deck has quite a formidable disruptive ability against many different decks, in addition to the ability to protect it’s own important cards.
- If Shocker hits The Infinaut, it unlocks a pattern where you pass on Turn 4, play The Infinaut on Turn 5, and then play Evolved Hulk on Turn 6. When reducing either of your 6-Cost cards, you can pass on Turn 5 and play the reduced one plus She-Hulk.
- Without Magik, you can try passing Turn 3 or 4 to play She-Hulk early and follow with a big Evolved Hulk on Turn 6. With Limbo and no Leech, you could also pass on Turn 5 to do the same “The Infinaut into Evolved Hulk” kind of pattern.
- With a hot start through the 1-Costs giving you a nice lead, you might not want to create Limbo and give your opponent more time to mount a potential comeback.
- Last, Cosmo and Leech provide a solid way to disrupt several archetypes in their game plan.
Playing InSheNaut the right way often comes down to identifying which patterns are available and then evaluating how many points you need to win the game.
Potential Additions:
Jeff the Baby Land Shark sometimes replaces Leech or Shocker. Nebula is also occasionally included.
Tier 3
Electro Ramp is the last archetype that started to include Ms. Marvel since it loves the ability to impact multiple lanes at once. At first, Sandman gained some momentum in the deck, as Ms. Marvel only added to the deck’s ability to dominate a “one card per turn” kind of game. However, Galactus ended up pushing a better deck, at least at the end of this first week. Thanks to Ms. Marvel helping the location you play Galactus into, the Eater of Worlds reveals much more often and sets up for an Alioth or a big Devil Dinosaur on the last turn.
The performance is a notch below the other Ms. Marvel decks; Lockdown is close to a 0.5 Cube Average and Good Cards is around 0.35, whereas Electro decks are at an average of 0.15. Nevertheless, considering how far Galactus was last season, it shows some versatility in how the new card can be used.
Joining these two builds of Ramp is the pure Move archetype that is struggling with Lockdown becoming extremely popular. The deck isn’t bad per se, and it could even leverage Ms. Marvel really well thanks to its ability to reposition cards. Still, Lockdown is more than 5% of the meta, and there are a lot of disruptive cards looking to beat Ms. Marvel right now.
Galactus Ramp
den
Move
den
Electro Ramp
den
Closing Words
I love the first week of the season. This feeling of uncertainty, that everything could potentially be the next best thing, is something I have a lot of fun with. For the past two months, that feeling hasn’t been so prevalent; it didn’t take long to figure out how strong Loki and Elsa Bloodstone were and watch them take over the meta, and they still rule to this day as part of the same deck.
Still, I have to salute Ms. Marvel. It has created an interesting dynamic around it with various decks, counter cards, and interactions to learn. For now, Ms. Marvel is the most impactful card in the game, you just have to look at how many decks are running Ongoing hate cards to understand how the new Season Pass card is commanding some respect. And, as far as I’m concerned, I think it’s well deserved – even Loki couldn’t make Galactus playable again, something that Ms. Marvel did in less than a week.
However, with all the agitation around it, the new card also helps the best decks, like those that need to be countered (unless you are okay with seeing them dominate the game). Sure, neither Loki nor Shuri posted a high popularity this week, which didn’t create that usual sense of frustration around them. We all know it might just be a matter of time until more players start gravitating towards the archetypes with the best results.
Here’s to hoping we still have many fun weeks to play Marvel Snap and discuss it in these reports. In my book, Ms. Marvel definitely helped with that, and I am super excited for the new cards to come.
I hope you are having a good time playing the game. 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.
