Table of Contents
Last week, the Zombie Horde synergy was so popular, there weren’t many other archetypes to discuss. Seven days later, many more archetypes have emerged, but the Zombie synergy still sits atop the rankings, sporting much better numbers compared to last week.
What happened is the metagame has adapted against the Zombie Horde for a bit with Shadow King, but ultimately simply deviated towards more Ongoing decks, able to just win on points. Those cards have attracted Enchantress to come back, which put Zombie Scarlet Witch and company back on top. Well, it allowed the more flexible build of that synergy to rise at least, showing the key at the moment is to pack the right disruptive cards.
This period of change also led to many other archetypes making a comeback, such as Move, Toxic or Discard. Again, none of these are oppressive, let alone problematic. At worst, Zombie Sentry we will collect from Grand Arena might give the Zombie Horde another little push and allow it to finish as a dominant archetype. Yet, even if that new card should raise the power of the Zombie Horde a bit, it won’t be enough to challenge the likes of Move or Destroy when their draws align.
Overall, disruptive cards are the key at the moment.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Trending | Ongoing Pixie 0.75 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate / 110 Games |
| Trending | Sauron Supergiant 0.3 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate / 170 Games |
| Tier 1 | Flexible Zombie 0.55 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Pure Move 0.6 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Deadpool Destroy 0.35 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Arishem Thanos 0.35 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Toxic 0.25 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Ongoing Combo 0.45 Cube Average / 53.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Discard Khonshu 0.25 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Iron Hand 0.35 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Supergiant Rocks 0.2 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Zombie Miracle 0.15 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Energy Cheats 0.3 Cube Average / 51.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | End of Turn 0.1 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate |
Are you still chasing that elusive Infinite Rank? Here are the Top 5 performers in the ranks 80 to 99!
| Supergiant Rocks | 0.55 Cube Average / 62.5% Win Rate |
| Iron Hand | 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| Hela Discard | 0.75 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| War Machine Ramp | 0.55 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate |
| Destroy | 0.7 Cube Average / 60.5% 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.
Trending
Pixie Ongoing
den
Performance: 0.75 Cube Average / 57% Win Rate / 110 Games
When the meta doesn’t feature a dominant synergy, the more surprising, or at least flexible ones, tend to post great numbers. With Mobius M. Mobius nerfed recently, energy cheating decks have been making the most of the opportunity, and Pixie is much harder to predict compared to Mister Negative.
We’ll see Enchantress in a few decks on this report, so the honeymoon period for this deck might be over soon. Except for that particular threat, this concept looks to be a great way to control the stakes of a match at the moment.
Sauron Supergiant
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate / 170 Games
The 10 power archetype is great to develop points, but not to rack up a lot of cubes, as the opponent knows very well when they stand a chance or should run. Then, this sneakier build of Sauron, featuring more disruption at the cost of fewer points, seems to be more suited to rank up at the moment.
The cube average isn’t stellar, but the win rate is excellent for 170 games.
Tier 1
Flexible Zombies
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 61% Win Rate
One of the most popular archetypes in the game, there is a bit of everything when you look at the Flexible Zombies concept from afar. However, it seems the deck reaches its peak with a 5-cost disruptive card, Enchantress or Ghost Rider”] most of the time.
Zombie Sentry could bolster this synergy even more soon. Until then, the Zombie Horde develops enough points to compete, but needs to feature disruption and flexibility to be a real contender.
Potential Additions
Ghost Rider”] replaces Enchantress in some lists, while the 2-cost are the flexible part of the build.
Pure Move
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate
Still a top tier synergy when it comes to developing points, Pure Move is at its best when not so popular. Indeed, the metagame is slowly shifting towards more Ongoing decks and counter cards, which is perfect to reduce the amount of Shadow King, Mercury and such cards in the field.
As long as the environment will focus on other decks, Pure Move should be a Tier 1 contender. However, there is always a time when the counter cards change and Move suffers as a result. The goal is to maximize the good environment, and limit the consequences of the bad one.
Potential Additions
Cosmo is flexible, could be Rogue, Red Guardian or Mobius M. Mobius depending on your target.
Tier 2
Deadpool Destroy
den
Performance: 0.35 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
Headpool, Agony and Moira X trade the last spot in the deck with similar results, one’s ability to draw Deadpool and grow its power ultimately being the tiebreaker.
Otherwise, it seems like Shadow King is losing a bit of momentum in favor of Mobius M. Mobius or Red Guardian at the moment. All three are annoying for Destroy, but Shadow King is the hardest one to dodge, so we’ll consider it a small win overall for this deck.
Potential Additions
This deck has two spots for three cards : Headpool, Agony and Moira X. Make your pick.
Arishem Thanos
den
Performance: 0.35 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
A very consistent performer over the course of the season, Arishem Thanos seems to have found its balance, at least when it comes to the 4+ cost cards. There is a rotation amongst 2-cost cards, with Cable joining the line-up this week to provide some disruption to synergistic decks.
5-cost cards are dominant when it comes to disruption at the moment, with Enchantress and Ghost Rider”] really strong, while Legion remains a great standalone. Not only Arishem can play all three, it can drop one on turn four, typically soon enough to snap and keep the opponent in the match.
Potential Additions
Iron Patriot or another strong standalone 2-cost can be played over Cable. Galacta could also replace one 2-cost.
Other ways to build the deck feature Quinjet, or Quicksilver and Domino to guarantee some early plays.
Toxic
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate
A deck we had seen much of this season, Toxic remains a fine archetype in a metagame without any real dominant strategy. The deck relies on a mix of points from Speed and Ajax plus afflicting opposite cards, while Red Guardian allows to turn off an important opposing card.
Nothing special, and the cube average tells us Toxic still is fairly simple to recognize. Yet, the win rate makes this deck a consideration.
Potential Additions
Quicksilver, Domino, Speed and Wiccan aren’t needed, but it is tough to fine a better 4-cards package to complement a synergy with little early options. Maybe Silver Surfer, The Hood and Grandmaster could work.
Ongoing Combo
den
Performance: 0.45 Cube Average / 53.5% Win Rate
Most decks on this report feature a strong win rate considering their cube average, but Ongoing Combo is the exception to that rule. Indeed, the deck is probably still flying under-the-radar at the moment, hence the great cube average for a win rate that should rank it a tier lower. Plus, with Enchantress gaining popularity, Ongoing Combo might already be on the decline at the moment you are reading these lines.
Potential Additions
Hydra Bob, Black Cat and Adam Warlock give the deck some draw potential on top of points early on. However, this deck really only cares about its 3+ cost cards.
Quicksilver, Domino and Wiccan could work, as 9 energy with Sera on the board on turn seven allows playing Onslaught, Mystique and Mister Fantastic all at once.
Ravonna Renslayer, Pixie and such ways to cheat energy also make sense.
Discard Khonshu
den
Performance: 0.25 Cube Average / 58% Win Rate
There is a lot of Red Guardian and Ghost Rider”] around so Dracula rarely gets to grow at the end of a game. As a result, the best build of Discard “Dracula” removed its signature card this week.
In that context, the two new additions Zombie Power Man and Colonel America have represented a good way to fill the gap.
Potential Additions
Gambit and Moon Knight represent good disruptive tools in the deck. Corvus Glaive allows to play Khonshu and Apocalypse back to back, but would be my cut for either card.
Iron Hand
den
Performance: 0.35 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate
Always a pick although it has not been posting great results in a while, and the surge of Enchantress isn’t going to help, Iron hand still represents one of the most flexible shells in the game.
Looking at the numbers, it is amongst the weaker decks on this report, not particularly good in the cube or win rate categories. Yet, in this metagame without a clear dominant deck, Iron Hand is able to adapt to most decks that would rise as it has a lot of flexible slots availabe.
In this build, Mercury, Shadow King and Copycat are featured, but one should look at Iron Hand as a toolbox with enough points in it to compete. Then, finding the right disruptive cards make it a real contender.
Potential Additions
Considering the amount of Enchantress in other decks, I would assume Rogue will find great targets, while Cosmo could be a strong protective piece.
Otherwise, Red Guardian is always a safe inclusion.
Supergiant Rocks
den
Performance: 0.2 Cube Average / 57.5% Win Rate
Far from its great performance early in the season, Supergiant Rocks seems to suffer from the same problem most decks with a powerful early game to snap quickly do : opponents don’t stay in games anymore.
Then, this deck needs to find a way to win more cubes, as 57.5% win rate is more than enough to be a competitive archetype.
Potential Additions
Qauke is the flexible card in the build. Grand Master or a disruptive card make sense in the slot. Armor is quite nice to edge against Destroy while keeping our 1-cost cards safe from Killmonger.
Tier 3
The list of decks with good enough numbers to be mentionned keeps going with both metrics slowly going down as we progress through the list. Amongst them, these three have the best chances of joining the more competitive picks in the higher tiers, if they can find a way to improve or be a bit more surprising.
Zombie Miracle
den
Performance: 0.15 Cube Average / 54.5% Win Rate
End of Turn
den
Performance: 0.3 Cube Average / 51.5% Win Rate
Energy Cheats
den
Performance: 0.1 Cube Average / 55% Win Rate
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
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
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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