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
The Conquest report had me a little down, as that mode featured little diversity. Ranked has the same decks that performed well in Conquest, but there is a lot more diversity around them. Indeed, not only are there a flurry of Silent Performers, there are also a few unexpected guests in Tier 2. Plus, Discard Dracula performed much, much better here than in Conquest.
I would assume this must be due to a lower incentive to take the mode seriously as the end of the season gets closer. Apart from those who are aiming for a high Ladder placement for extra social media points, as well as those who are still looking to get to the Infinite rank before the reset, there is little reason to play a certain deck apart from missions.
This might give the Ranked report less weight compared to Conquest, as there is more incentive to play to win there. But that also means we get to see more decks, which might help us figure out which cards or synergies are able to match up against Agent Venom. The card is bound to get nerfed, so we might as well prepare for the future.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Galactus |
| Silent Performer | Cerebro 3 |
| Silent Performer | Spend Energy |
| Silent Performer | Black Knight 10 Power |
| Tier 1 | Discard Dracula |
| Tier 1 | Sera Control |
| Tier 1 | Bounce |
| Tier 2 | Double-Up |
| Tier 2 | Pure Move |
| Tier 2 | Small Good Cards |
| Tier 2 | Anti-Venom Pixie |
| Tier 2 | Scream Move |
| Tier 2 | War Machine Ramp |
| Tier 3 | Patriot |
| Tier 3 | Arishem Loki |
| Tier 3 | KaZoo |
| 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 > 0.4 & 56% 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 & 54% 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 > 0.25 & 54% Win Rate
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
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Obviously, this group of Silent Performers heavily relies on opponents not knowing what they are up against, or at least having to guess a large part of the deck. This is the biggest upside that any deck has when going against an Agent Venom archetype. You know almost exactly what you are up against and the threats you should be careful about, but your opponent knows little to nothing about your deck. On the other hand, the Agent Venom deck will often default to its best curve unless they see a possibility to counter their opponent with a Cosmo.
In Conquest, that Cosmo would probably shut down Galactus and annoy the other three decks. In Ranked, however, the Agent Venom deck won’t know what they are up against, so they might keep the Cosmo as a defensive tool and hold it in hand until the last turn.
Within that context, you are allowed to develop much more, and even totally ignore Cosmo as long as you have priority. This makes the game much easier to navigate, and it might even allow the occasional Snap when your opponent misses Agent Venom early and you get your synergies rolling.
I don’t expect any of these lists to take over the meta, but I’m happy to have so many Silent Performers to feature.
Tier 1
Discard
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Discard Dracula does one thing very well: develop points. Every thing else it does pretty badly. When the meta is mostly about points, this basic formula works fine since a hot start often means you have too many points for your opponent to match. However, since Sera Control returned and both Rogue and Red Guardian gained lots of popularity, the deck can’t just rely on Morbius and Dracula.
This list posted a strong 59.5% Win Rate and 0.5 Cube Average over 400 games, which shows how well the archetype adapted in order to stay strong. It might not seem like much, but Daken brings a third anchor to a lane, and Grand Master gives your Gambit another shot.
Compared to other lists of Discard Dracula, this one was miles ahead in terms of results.
Potential Additions
Lady Sif could replace Corvus Glaive. Gwenpool is another synergistic card with Grand Master, but it doesn’t have ties to the Discard synergy like Daken has.
Sera Control
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Arguably the best deck in the game since the Shadow King buff, Sera Control not only has great results, it is also extremely popular.
Most of the time, an archetype’s best performing list is one with a smaller amount of games recorded due to the surprise of an unusual card bringing home some cubes here and there. Sera Control is a bit of an anomaly in that sense, as the best performing list has 4,500 games recorded.
There is a debate on whether you should play Red Guardian or Quake; some lists even include Mobius. Otherwise, this is the strongest 11 card core in Marvel Snap at the moment.
Potential Additions
Red Guardian is the typical 12th card in the deck, but Quake had slightly better results. It is mostly based on the amount of Red Guardian targets you come across.
Bounce
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If it wasn’t for Sera Control running Shadow King and Killmonger, Bounce would have a Cube Average that matched its otherwise stellar 59% Win Rate. Unfortunately, this very bad match up limited Bounce to “only” a 0.4 Cube Average this week.
Potential Additions
Iceman beat Shadow King and Sage for the last spot in the deck, mostly because it helps a lot towards taking Sera out of the equation.
Tier 2
Double-Up
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A lot of decks managed to post a good enough performances to deserve a spot on the report, hence why we had the most (4) Silent Performers of the season. In that context, Double-Up had the most games and the best performance among all the unpopular decks. It posted an impressive 58% Win Rate.
To be fair, I don’t know how bright the future is for this deck. Mobius M. Mobius is slowly gaining momentum, which would completely shut down the She-Hulk synergy. Apart from that threat, Cosmo and Alioth can be a problem for Shadow King and
As long as Agent Venom is the focus of the meta, combo decks like this one have a shot at being successful. Not only will you know the popular counter cards and then build or play around them, you also know your opponent is likely to stay in the match if they draw well, thus completely dismissing what your combo might be as they are certain of their deck’s strength.
Potential Additions
It is always difficult to make recommendations for decks that come up out of nowhere. Shadow King and Kitty Pryde look like the flexible options in the deck if you want to swap them out for something.
Pure Move
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Sometimes it is Heimdall and Alioth, other times it is Agent Venom, Juggernaut, and Sage. There isn’t really a rule for Pure Move to follow this season. The core of the deck is very good; it’s able to compete with most other lists in terms of points. Even better, an early Human Torch or Vulture is more than likely going to give you priority for Cosmo and other disruptive cards.
The problem isn’t the deck’s strength, it’s the fact that your opponent likely knows everything there is to know about the move synergy after it was the focus of last season. With this in mind, you are unlikely to face an opponent who will make mistakes due to a lack of knowledge, unless you are capable of building unusual play patterns or you can bluff very well.
Potential Additions
Heimdall, Alioth, and a third card can replace Agent Venom, Sage, and Juggernaut for a different package of cards.
Small Good Cards
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Good Cards is starting to have more decks than I can count. The Conquest report highlighted the Darkhawk and Klaw builds, and this “small cards” build performed best in Ranked.
All of these variations are Tier 2 at best, but they’re often better than that if piloted correctly. The archetype as a whole did lose some momentum with the last balance patch, alongside some popularity that went to Sera Control and Bounce. Still, the deckbuilding flexibility is so high that there will always be a solid Good Cards build to play (at least until Agent Venom gets nerfed).
Potential Additions
Two other builds of Good Cards were featured in the Conquest report if you want to start a collection.
Anti-Venom Pixie
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For most of the first week it was available, Anti-Venom was a Hela card, even if the archetype never made it past being somewhat playable (but still far worse than Discard Dracula). This Pixie + Mobius deck took more time to emerge, but it features more of the intangibles that are needed to perform well in this meta.
In particular, the Man-Thing plus Lady Deathstrike duo can wipe an entire lane of Agent Venomed cards, which is extremely satisfying.
This is more of a counter deck to the current proactive builds, so it is hard to say how it will perform if the meta takes a turn when the next season comes around. Still, the 55% Win Rate and 0.35 Cube Average over 1500 games is promising.
Potential Additions
Hydra Bob and Copycat are the flexible cards in the deck. I would recommend you look for something with a good power-to-cost ratio if you want to swap either of them, as the deck can lack a bit in the points department.
Scream Move
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There were a lot of solid decks this week, which made Scream Move fall down the ranks a bit. If you look at the archetype’s numbers, they have gotten worse as the season progressed, which is a logical consequence of not having much room to adapt the list. Indeed, for the entire season, Scream Move has been playing the same 11 cards with a moving last piece. Sometimes it’s Silk, sometimes Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and I’ve even seen Cable or White Widow.
Honestly, the choice for that last card should mostly be based on your vision of the archetype and the way you want to play the deck. This week, the best 12th card was Shang-Chi.
Potential Additions
White Widow, Silk, and other cheap or counter cards can fill the last spot in the deck.
War Machine Ramp
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I like that this type of deck still exists, even in a meta that is all about flexibility and explosive play patterns coupled with disruptive cards.
If you want to nitpick, this deck is also about disrupting the opponent with Alioth, Shadow King, and Lady Deathstrike. But this one is also much less reliant on assembling certain packages of cards. Instead, it tries to turn things around in the midgame with Misery and Lady Deathstrike.
With those two cards, an average looking start with The Hood and Electro—a start that your opponent could Snap against—turns into quite a favorable situation for you. Indeed, whether you get a second Demon and some more energy to work with or you wipe out an entire lane, you suddenly find yourself in a position to win the game.
It is a risky bet, though, which is reflected by the rather low Win Rate of 54%. However, the 0.35 Cube Average shows that the deck is able to control the stakes of the matches it decides to stay in.
Potential Additions
Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Madame Web could be good 2-Costs if you don’t have
Tier 3
Patriot
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Patriot isn’t as good as the other synergies around Agent Venom, but it was good enough to be worth mentioning this week. Also, this is the best Silver Surfer deck right now, mostly due to its ability to play even though Cosmo is in a lot of decks.
Arishem Loki
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Arishem has many ways to be built at the moment because it remains one of the most flexible archetypes in the game. Yet, it seems that Arishem also hit a wall this season. It was rarely able to compete with the best, and it’s been slowly losing momentum as the season progressed.
To close out the We Are Venom season, the deck couldn’t pass the 0.25 Cube Average barrier, even with some lists posting a good Win Rate (around the 56% mark).
KaZoo
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If I’m being honest, KaZoo is just a fair Agent Venom deck. It has a similar proactive game plan with Cosmo as protect once it’s in the lead, but it just can’t compete against the points that the other Agent Venom decks are able to develop.
Closing Words
At the end of the season, there are enough people in the Infinite Rank to see more than just the best decks from this season. Still, even in a much more diversified field, there are four Agent Venom archetypes (five if you count Pure Move), and two of them are among the current top three.
The fact that you can just give a cube to Agent Venom decks when they Snap on Turn 2 helps limit its dominance in Ranked. Still, after a month trying to beat it, nobody managed to come up with an idea that could do more than post a nice performance for a week and then vanish the next.
There were plenty of interesting decks to look at to close out this season, though, so maybe one of them will bring the change we need heading into the new season. Surtur will come in as direct support to the “10 Power” archetype in the Silent Performers, for example.
Otherwise, I would expect Agent Venom to be adjusted soon to make room for other decks to exist.
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.
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