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
I think the meta is in a good place right now. There are points driven decks, some flexible builds, and even a few disruptive ones. Even better, most playstyles are fairly competitive at the moment, even if the typical energy cheating strategies look like they’re ahead overall.
Even though the most important resource in the game continues to be the focus of competitive play, there are so many ways to find extra energy that it makes for a fairly diverse field. Bounce is the most flexible deck, able to reposition and boost its points in a meta where Sera Control seems to have left (probably because Alioth is once again uber popular). Arishem is the basic extra energy deck that is able to do everything… and sometimes nothing. Behind these two is the rebuilding Good Cards archetype, which is starting to find its stride with Malekith and Wiccan as two possible foundations.
These four are currently posting very solid numbers, approaching or surpassing the 60% Win Rate mark. This is the biggest difference in a meta where there isn’t a deck dominating in Cube Average: a big Win Rate equals a great deck. Indeed, once you look at Tier 2, even if the decks posted very good Cube Averages, their Win Rates were closer to 55% than 60%.
Even with this gap in Win Rate, it looks like we’re in a very balanced meta in terms of results. I think it’s been a while since I could say that, or at least since before Agent Venom released.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Scream Move |
| Silent Performer | Thanos Zoo |
| Tier 1 | Bounce |
| Tier 1 | Arishem Loki |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Malekith |
| Tier 1 | Good Cards Wiccan |
| Tier 2 | Discard Dracula |
| Tier 2 | Double Up |
| Tier 2 | 10 Power |
| Tier 2 | War Machine Ramp |
| Tier 3 | Pure Move |
| Tier 3 | Thanos Destroy |
| 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.
Cube Average > 0.5 or 60% Win Rate
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 & > 55% Win Rate
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.
Silent Performers
den
den
Both Scream Move and Thanos Zoo had enough games as archetypes to be featured in the main part of the report. However, both lists shared a similarity: they would have been ranked pretty low if it wasn’t for Alioth in their lists.
You could see this as Alioth being a great card in proactive decks that are able to seize priority. And it is; that’s hardly a debate. However, the fact that these two archetypes need Alioth to thrive tells me that, although they might be good for seizing priority during the course of the match, they need something different on Turn 6 in order to put the game away.
Tier 1
Bounce
den
Even though Agent Venom and Silver Sable were recently nerfed, Bounce managed to work past those hurdles and make it work. The main reason for this is the rest of the meta lost just as many points as Bounce did, which made the current environment more about flexibility than sheer number of points.
When it comes to flexibility, Bounce doesn’t fear much (apart from a possible Killmonger), as testified by the 0.6 Cube Average and 60% Win Rate.
Potential Additions
Werewolf By Night could replace Bishop or Sage. Shadow King can bring some reactive ability, too.
Arishem Loki
den
It is always hard to rank a deck with over a dozen different lists (a routine occurrence for Arishem). I could take an average, but that would diminish the performance of the best list, as well as how certain cards impact the archetype. If I just take the results of the best list, they could just be from one player spamming the deck and making it look better than it is in reality.
This week, I decided to mix the two best list’s results, which added up to over 500 games. They also shared one important similarity: both included Red Guardian. The difference was either Shadow King or Copycat, with the 3-Cost taking the nod. It seems that developing points is more important than answering your opponent with Arishem at the moment. Plus, there are a lot of Good Cards builds around, so Copycat will often get a pretty good ability.
When mixed, both lists posted a 60% Win Rate and 0.4 Cube Average.
Potential Additions
Shadow King, Nick Fury, Enchantress, and other generically strong standalone cards make sense in Arishem.
Good Cards Malekith
den
Malekith took its time to become a thing in the meta, but it is now installed as a great card to build around. It isn’t clear what the best list is—there were a ton to look at, and some decks only used Malekith as a support tool while others focused on leveraging its ability.
I split Good Cards by Wiccan and Malekith, as the best list for each didn’t use the other (although they did often end up in the same deck). No matter what, the restructuring of Good Cards since the nerf of Agent Venom appears to be going very well.
Potential Additions
Legion and Fenris Wolf can replace Invisible Woman and Sage.
Good Cards Wiccan
den
After the nerfs to the last two Season Pass cards, Wiccan became widely regarded as one of the best foundations to build a deck around. Not only is Wiccan living up to that moniker, it is also keeping Surtur in business while doing so, allowing this month’s Season Pass card to remain in Tier 1.
Indeed, flanked by Aero, Alioth, and Magneto, this deck might have one of the safest Snaps in the game. If you play Surtur into Wiccan, the control and number of points you have over the last two turns of the match is almost completely unmatched.
Fourth overall might not do this deck justice, but I believe Good Cards Wiccan is the easiest plug and play deck on this list for anyone who is looking for a deck to pick up.
Potential Additions
The Toxic build is also doing very well at the moment.
den
Tier 2
Discard Dracula
den
Discard Dracula has never been as flexible as it has over the last few months. There was a deck with Gwenpool plus one with the full Discard package last season. This season, Discard Dracula is able to play a deck with Malekith plus Strong Guy, while having a Fenris Wolf deck as well.
The points have never been a problem for Discard. Actually, it was the fact that it could only produce points that limited its ability to gain cubes reliably. Now that the deck has managed to become a little more unpredictable, it is routinely posting high Tier 2 (or better) performances. This week it put up a 0.4 Cube Average alongside a 56% Win Rate.
Potential Additions
Moon Knight and Fenris Wolf can replace Malekith and Strong Guy.
Double Up
den
It is barely a surprise to see Double Up lose a bit of momentum after its performance last week as a Silent Performer. Once a combo deck gets more recognition, it is less able to keep opponents in the game after Snapping.
It isn’t too bad, though, as Double Up’s numbers still are close to the best performers, even without the surprise factor. I mean, a 55.5% Win Rate is a bit too low to make a claim for Tier 1, but a 0.4 Cube Average shows that the deck can still get some climbing done.
Potential Additions
Shadow King can bring some reactive ability to the deck.
10 Power
den
For a recently nerfed deck, 10 Power is doing pretty well overall. Sure, it isn’t competing for the top spots anymore, and the Wiccan build looks way better. Still, if you fancy a simple deck to knock out the Surtur missions, this should be more than enough with its 58% Win Rate.
The problem here is the fact that you don’t ever get to win big. People either counter you or give you a single cube for your trouble, hence the 0.35 Cube Average.
Potential Additions
Silver Sable, The Hood, Shadow King, or Luke Cage can find a spot in the deck
War Machine Ramp
den
This deck could have been the best Silent Performer this week (0.6 Cube Average, 63% Win Rate) if I only cared about the top performing list for Ramp. Unfortunately, every Ramp build with more than 200 games had a weak Win Rate (around 52%), which is often a sign that the deck relies on surprising its opponents to boost its Cube Average.
Or maybe this particular list is very good; Black Swan does give it some explosive power by reducing the cost of the 1-Cost cards heading into the last turn. This was my reasoning for placing the deck in Tier 2 rather than Tier 3, but we’ll know more when we revisit the rankings and this deck gains popularity.
It’s at least a deck to try to get a better idea of its true power level.
Potential Additions
Lady Deathstrike can be replaced with Shadow King, Shang-Chi, or any other counter card you deem necessary.
Tier 3
Move
den
Shadow King is in just about every deck, which might explain why Move did so poorly this week. Still, it doesn’t feel entirely right with Bounce at the top of the rankings. Maybe Move is trying to do too much with this mix between the Bounce Move and Pure Move lists, or maybe the deck actually isn’t reliable enough. The 51% Win Rate seems to point towards the latter reason, but the 0.3 Cube Average at least means Move is a promising archetype. We just need to find a way to get the Win Rate up.
Thanos Destroy
den
There were a lot of Thanos decks this week, but most of them were slightly worse iterations of another archetype (such as Thanos Wiccan or Thanos Arishem), hence why they aren’t include in this report. Thanos Destroy might not be doing well overall, even if a 0.25 Cube Average and 53% Win Rate isn’t so bad, but it is at least unique. It’s also the best deck for the Destroy synergy.
Closing Words
My advice for the current meta is pick up a playstyle you like and work on it. Indeed, while the energy cheating decks have the highest Win Rates, their Cube Averages aren’t big enough to justify playing them exclusively. Obviously, a hot start from an opponent with more energy at their disposal might require you to Retreat, but you have just as much agency to Snap them when things don’t go as intended early on.
The real tiebreaker is the knowledge you have on your opponent’s deck, as planning for their turns with so many lists for each archetype and weird energy counts in the late game can make things difficult.
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.
More Content