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
In the Conquest report, we saw many familiar faces return after the OTA (although the best performers remained pretty close to what we got used to over the last two months). On the Ladder, the situation is a little different. Still, many decks have managed to look really good in both game modes.
First, it’s important to note that there are many more decks played on the Ladder, which leads to this week’s full Silent Performer section. Out of that bunch, both Cerebro decks and Guardians Lockdown would have ended up in Tier 2, while Patriot only deserved to be in Tier 3 if the popularity allowed it. One worth mentioning in particular, Good Cards Stature, is basically the proactive equivalent of the new Darkhawk Affliction deck that was the best deck in Marvel Snap for this first period after the OTA. Then, with the same shell represented in the best deck over both a small and large sample size, it is hard to deny that Zabu and Darkhawk have returned in style with this OTA.
Sure, it might be a little early to say if this is clearly the best core to build around, or if the early metagame helped boost the stock of the 4-Costs synergy (Darkhawk benefited a lot from Thanos Control becoming extremely popular). With a very good match up against the most played deck since the patch, it is only natural to see Zabu and the Rocks (which would be a killer rock band name) do extremely well.
Beyond this return to dominance, we have a lot of familiar names in the report. Move, Thanos Control, Loki Collector, and Sera Control all should have suffered from Elsa Bloodstone and Angela being nerfed. Instead, they all seemed completely fine with it; all of these decks still play Elsa, and two of them even kept Angela in their list. While we might need a bit more time to see for sure if this is the correct way to build those archetypes, it at least proves how strong the Elsa Bloodstone package was, and how much we needed to see the impactful nerfs happen.
One deck did benefit a lot from this OTA, though: Discard Dracula has confirmed its return! Indeed, after a solid showing in Conquest, the deck managed to sneak into the top five in the ranked mode and established itself as one of the premier proactive, points-focused synergies in the game – even beating Shuri Sauron and Destroy in that category.
One card feels important to mention before we take a closer look at each deck: Mobius M. Mobius. As expected upon reading the OTA, the card gained a lot of momentum to stop any energy cheating synergies going around (and there are quite a few of them). Discard, Sera, Zabu, Loki, basically any card that is looking to build some explosive patterns remains very powerful in the game, and Mobius M. Mobius is just too simple to run in a variety of decks to not include it almost everywhere.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Performer | Good Cards Stature | Guide 🆕 |
| Silent Performer | Cerebro 3 | Guide |
| Silent Performer | Guardians Lockdown | Guide 🆕 |
| Silent Performer | Cerebro 2 | Guide |
| Silent Performer | Iron Patriot | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Darkhawk Affliction 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Move DoomWave 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Thanos Control 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Discard Dracula 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Loki Collector 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Sera Control 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Destroy 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Shuri Sauron 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Hela Tribunal 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | High Evolutionary 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Thanos Zoo 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Phoenix Force | 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 > 0.4
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
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
Darkhawk Affliction
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Rank Justification:
With Good Cards Stature in the Silent Performers section, it is safe to say Darkhawk has been impressive since the OTA. The synergy probably has Thanos‘s high popularity to thank for these impressive results, as it makes Darkhawk a lane winner on its own.
However, considering how popular Mobius M. Mobius is as well, I would have expected Zabu to struggle a little more. Rogue seems to provide the perfect solution for this, though. Plus, the card also helps cancel opposing Luke Cages to allow Man-Thing and Hazmat to work as intended.
We discussed the balance of threats and opportunities for the deck in the Conquest Tier List, and it seems like the upsides are winning so far. They have lead to a great 0.5 Cube Average and the top rank on our Tier List for this first period after the OTA.
How to Play:
Built around the Darkhawk synergy, this revamped Zabu Darkhawk deck looks to disrupt the opponent as much as it tries to build points. Indeed, Darkhawk represents about ten points on average, and Man-Thing is also able to represent a solid amount of points for a 4-Cost. The deck needs to land a devastating Rogue, Shang-Chi, or Shadow King to really secure some wins, though, since Darkhawk can only win one lane. Doctor Doom is more of a security blanket once you’re ahead rather than a win-from-behind kind of card.
With that in mind, the goal with this deck will be to scout what the opponent is doing all game long so you can figure out which lane you have to win on points and which lane can be won with a tech card. For example, if you see a bunch of cheap cards on the same location, you will already know where Man-Thing should go, even if the card will only be played a couple of turns later. This same logic will apply to most of your disruptive cards since you can play with Korg, Zabu, Rockslide, Black Widow, and even Iron Lad early in the match (these don’t tip your opponent off about your strategy).
It is important to figure out how much energy you will need for your disruptive cards later in the match, though, as that will impact the timing for when you play your Darkhawk or Man-Thing. Indeed, if you anticipate using Hazmat, Luke Cage plus Shadow King on Turn 6, you’ll need to have Darkhawk out by Turn 5 at the latest – even if that opens it up to an opposing counter card.
Potential Additions:
Shang-Chi, Mobius M. Mobius, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark are three cards you can very easily slot into this deck. Otherwise, if you like a more proactive approach, check out the Good Cards Stature in the Silent Performers section.
Move DoomWave
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Rank Justification:
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Wave and Doctor Doom round out a deck – basically since Mobius M. Mobius joined the game and shut that synergy down. I was really intrigued as to why this was the best Move support package for this first week, especially when looking at how many decks are running M3 and Rogue currently.
To me, this indicates the Move archetype still needs a bit of refinement. It has gone back to a proven recipe of the past for now until it can find that perfect mix. It must be doing something right, though, as the deck managed a 0.4 Cube Average with this list, showing Move remains one of the best synergies to build around in Marvel Snap. However, I doubt this is sustainable in the long run, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few cards change when we revisit the archetype next week.
How to Play:
Built around the Move synergy and with the intent to leverage Angela, Kraven, and Elsa Bloodstone to grow your power, Move DoomWave looks to develop as much as possible in the first four turns. Then, if you are in the lead, you can use the “DoomWave” pattern (play Wave on Turn 5 alongside a 2-Cost card, typically Mobius M. Mobius, and Doctor Doom on Turn 6) unless something better is available to play.
With so much of Mobius M. Mobius in the game right now, Wave can be difficult to leverage against many opponents. Still, the idea of playing for maximum tempo and leveraging your cards’ ability to move afterwards remain the bread and butter of this deck.
Indeed, Kraven (and also Angela if you run the card) will serve as a lane anchor by growing anywhere from six to ten power over the course of the match. Then, the deck can count on Silk, Spider-Man, and Miles Morales to add solid points for cheap in order to take the lead going into Turn 6.
Apart from Silk dictating where you want to play, the deck aims to be as flexible as possible. In an ideal scenario, you want to start focusing on priority around Turn 3 or Turn 4. This will largely impact where you place your cards during the mid-game. But, because you are a Move deck, you will change that setup on Turn 6 to contest the lanes you really covet.
Then, cards like Vision, Nightcrawler, and Jeff the Baby Land Shark can be placed solely depending on whether you have Kraven, Elsa Bloodstone, or simply to take or leave priority heading into the next turn. It might look weird during the match, but once Kraven comes down and you move everything to him (or reposition your cards to take the lead on a lane), it all starts to make sense.
Potential Additions:
Alioth can replace Angela or America Chavez in the deck with Wave. Otherwise, if you get away from the Wave build, you can try many strong cards such as Iron Lad, Polaris, Jean Grey, or Legion.
Thanos Control
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Rank Justification:
The most popular archetype in the game right now, Thanos Control got off to a hot start after the OTA and was touted as the best archetype to run very quickly. Indeed, its flexibility and ready-for-action list after the OTA pushed a lot of players to gravitate towards Thanos.
However, even though it managed to stabilize among the top decks by posting a 0.4 Cube Average across the first few days, Thanos also had to overcome a few hurdles. Darkhawk, in particular, took the first spot largely thanks to this archetype being so popular, and that’s likely also the reason Thanos might not remain a Tier 1 staple for so long.
Apart from Darkhawk, the other reason Thanos might not be as dominant as it could be is due to being a well known archetype when most of the other decks are trying to figure out their best list. Early on, knowing exactly what to expect from the deck was a great upside because it gave a lot of players a comfort pick immediately after the changes. Still, since it was one of the few decks we rapidly knew about, a lot of the metagame adapted against it or stopped staying in games they knew they wouldn’t win. On the other hand, the archetypes that are just emerging still have that surprise effect, which can be so powerful for racking up cubes.
This is clearly a great deck, but it might have already hit its peak.
How to Play:
Thanos Control aims to quickly get set on a lane through Professor X locking it in your favor, or building points as flexibility as possible and only committing late in the game.
In that first scenario, you will leverage the Infinity Stones and your cheap cards in order to build points, seize priority, and, ideally, get an extra energy going into Turn 4. Then, Professor X can come in to lock the lane and ensure you win it on game’s end. Even if there is always a risk to an early Professor X, the deck is also running Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Blue Marvel in order to help that lane later on, if needed.
Once in control of the first lane, the deck will turn to Devil Dinosaur, Alioth, and other high potential cards to secure the second one.
The other route Thanos Control can take is playing a very flexible game. Focus on Vision and Blue Marvel to spread your power across the various lanes with the Infinity Stones. This approach will usually be more careful since you’re focused on gathering information about your opponent. Here, the goal will be to seize priority so Alioth can win the game on Turn 6, or leverage your move cards to hide when the biggest chunk of your points will end up.
Potential Additions:
If you like your decks a little less greedy, you can include a 1-Cost with Nightcrawler or Nico Minoru. Then, disruptive cards such as Armor, Cosmo, and Rogue tend to perform well in the deck, too.
Tier 2
Discard Dracula
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Rank Justification:
Confirming its impressive performance in the Conquest Tier List, Discard Dracula couldn’t quite earn a spot in Tier 1, but it still managed to be part of the high Tier 2 group alongside our next three entries, all of which posted around a 0.3 Cube Average.
It is hard to explain why Discard Dracula is doing so well compared to before the patch, especially since Hellcow isn’t even part of the best performing list. My best guess is the loss of power for a flurry of archetypes has allowed Discard to simply dominate a lot of opponents when it comes to sheer amount of points. Plus, with Thanos, Destroy, and the Ongoing synergies in the spotlight, Discard Dracula looks like it has all the space it desires in order to develop its game plan.
Mobius M. Mobius might be the only obstacle in the way, as it forces the deck to play Swarm rather than keeping it in hand and looking to multiply it until game’s end.
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:
Wolverine and Hellcow often replace Nico Minoru and Silver Samurai, although this particular build did better in the data I had available.
Loki Collector
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Rank Justification:
This list was awfully close to what it was before the OTA, but Loki Collector still lost a lot of momentum compared to when it was considered the best deck in the game. First, the popularity is much, much lower, but, more importantly, the Cube Average took quite a dive.
At 0.3, it remains a very good score in Marvel Snap. The simple fact that Loki remains a Top 10 archetype shows how good pairing the Trickster God with The Collector is, and it’s certainly still one to be feared.
Nevertheless, even though it retained enough power to remain a playable archetype, Loki Collector also joined the category of decks that now can’t simply slam points and ignore what their opponent is doing. For example, Rogue is almost mandatory in the deck to make sure Mobius M. Mobius isn’t too big of a problem. Similarly, Kitty Pryde only feels good when Elsa Bloodstone is available to buff it, or with both Angela and The Collector in play (just one of these two only makes Kitty a [1/2] play every turn).
The future will tell us if Loki Collector can bounce back and return to being one of the very best decks in Marvel Snap. For now, it seems like the community gave the same list a try, and it had mixed results that were good enough for a deck that just got heavily nerfed, but not up to the standards many had for Loki in the past.
The near future should tell us whether Loki can return with a new list to excel with, or if it is now just another deck in Marvel Snap.
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, which are usually Angela 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 Angela. Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Mobius M. Mobius are simply very good cards right now, and Luke Cage makes sure Shadow King cannot punish you by reducing the power of one of your anchors.
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.
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. With Elsa Bloodstone in the deck, Loki Collector is much more reliant on the signature duo. As such, you could stay in the game if you have a big Angela and Kitty Pryde; just go for The Collector and Loki together on Turn 5 to generate points.
Potential Additions:
Nico Minoru and Mirage can replace Kitty Pryde and Angela if you don’t fancy that pair after the OTA. Otherwise, Mobius M. Mobius can be any counter card you wish in order to adapt to your own environment.
Sera Control
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Rank Justification:
After surviving the nerfs in our Conquest report, Sera Control also seems to do pretty well on the Ladder; it has kept its status of a solid deck and put up a similar performance to Destroy, Loki Collector, and Discard Dracula with a 0.3 Cube Average. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what made the success of Sera after the OTA, as Thanos Control typically isn’t such a good match up due to Professor X locking down a lane. I would have to guess the deck’s natural ability to control the Snap and Retreat game must have played a big role, as the 53% Win Rate surely wasn’t enough to land the deck a spot this high on the Tier List.
I wonder how much Sera and Loki got away with when it comes to opponents staying in games they clearly would not have if they knew what was coming next. It is a bias a lot of players have; they tend to think a deck isn’t good enough anymore simply because it was nerfed recently. With this incorrect perception of the deck’s ability in mind, we can often think we are in a decent spot against it when the reality is we are about to donate cubes to our opponent.
Considering Sera Control still relies on a very similar list with the same trio of Kitty Pryde, Elsa Bloodstone, and Angela, I wonder how much of this trio is still strong enough to build a deck around. Maybe the counter cards have been carrying the deck to four cube wins a lot.
My personal opinion would go to the second option, but there might be more to Sera Control’s early success after the OTA.
How to Play:
Sera Control is a Miracle deck that is either looking to develop a lot of points suddenly (mostly through the interaction between Hit Monkey and Mysterio), or counter what the opponent built during the match (with Shadow King and Shang-Chi). You could also consider other counter cards like Rogue, Enchantress, and Killmonger in that role.
During the major part of the match, the deck will build up Angela and Bishop to establish itself across two lanes, or, if that’s not possible, just dominate one purely on points.
Then, once the end game comes around, you will either play your signature card to reduce the cost of your hand going into Turn 6, or try to have a proactive Turn 5 and a reactive Turn 6. For example, Mysterio plus Hit Monkey followed by Shadow King plus Shang-Chi.
Potential Additions:
Jeff the Baby Land Shark can replace Mobius M. Mobius, and the pair of Nova and Killmonger can also be considered in the build.
Deadpool Destroy
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Rank Justification:
The last archetype in the 0.3 Cube Average group, Destroy once again has suffered from being too predictable and an easy target for anyone with an open card slot for Armor. Then, with Thanos Control using Professor X, Zabu Darkhawk packing Shadow King, and Move DoomWave including Wave and/or Alioth, Destroy is actually once again showing how great of an archetype it is (as long as there are not too many hurdles on its way).
I understand how someone in love with the archetype can be frustrated to see it stall in the second part of Marvel Snap’s top ten week after week. Its potential should land it in the top three most of the time. Destroy actually feels like a perfectly balanced archetype with a crazy potential when everything goes according to plan, but it’s also very fragile because it only focuses on itself. Nothing new under the sun for Deadpool with the OTA in the end.
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:
Hulkbuster can help grow your Deadpool even more, while Shang-Chi can provide some counter ability.
Shuri Sauron
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Rank Justification:
It might be because the Conquest Tier List only had a couple of days worth of data, or maybe the Ladder really is a much tougher environment for Shuri Sauron to compete in. Either way, posting about half the Cube Average in Ranked compared to the other mode has to be a little disturbing for this archetype. Plus, with both Armor and Enchantress available to play in the deck, Shuri Sauron should have an answer to several decks in the metagame, such as Darkhawk or Destroy.
I guess Shuri Sauron suffered the same fate as Thanos, which is to be easily recognizable by the opponent. Then, the Snaps naturally have less of a chance to keep them in the match, which would explain the very solid Win Rate that is better than most other decks in Tier 2, but the 0.25 Cube Average is a little worse than the other decks in this part of the report.
I wouldn’t read too much into Shuri Sauron‘s placement overall, and I can totally see both sides of the coin. Players looking for a simple and reliable deck to climb can definitely trust it, and they should be able to grind some cubes quite regularly. On the other hand, if you feel like there are better ways of developing a lot of points, or if you’re simply too tired to see Shang-Chi ruin your day, there are plenty of other available picks.
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:
America Chavez and Nebula see play instead of Enchantress and Alioth, but they tend to perform a little worse overall.
Tier 3
Tier 3 this week is a collection of decent decks that all lose to a particular counter card that is fairly popular after the OTA:
- Hela Tribunal loses to Cosmo, or Rogue removing Invisible Woman‘s ability. Plus, Thanos can use the Reality Stone to change Limbo on Turn 6.
- High Evolutionary has been met with Darkhawk Affliction, which uses Luke Cage, in addition to the card being playable in Thanos decks.
- Thanos Zoo suffers from the Ongoing synergy being popular, which makes Rogue and Enchantress common inclusion in decks.
- The Phoenix Force has a problem with Armor for setting up its Phoenix, and Shadow King is a big issue once it has revived a card.
None of these decks are bad per se, but these limitations show how they need the right environment to perform at the highest level. Right now, the obstacles they have to overcome seem to be a little too much, and those synergies might not be flexible enough to adapt and perform in the current context.
Hela Tribunal
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High Evolutionary
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Thanos Zoo
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Phoenix Force
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Closing Words
Overall, I would say there is definitely the feel of a different environment after the OTA. It isn’t the heavenly metagame many would have wished for, as there are still many familiar faces going around. Four decks in the report are still using Elsa Bloodstone. Nevertheless, we also have several things to be happy about, such as Discard finally feeling like a playable archetype outside of Hela, as well as some innovative builds around Darkhawk (which had all but disappeared for the past two months).
The biggest change I would note is the return of counter cards; they have a big impact on the game again, and they can’t be dodged as easily compared to before the OTA. Indeed, although we could grow Angela to be a worthy Shang-Chi target, the deck’s average card was cheap enough to be able to play Armor, Cosmo, Luke Cage, and other protective cards to make sure the opponent couldn’t stop your development. Now that we are back to more expensive cards to get the major part of our points, it is harder to protect them.
Some important interactions to keep in mind in the current environment are Rogue stealing Mobius M. Mobius‘s ability, Shang-Chi generally looking for anything big to destroy, and Shadow King being cheap enough to be a worthy addition in any deck (just cancelling Elsa Bloodstone‘s ability is already great).
Apparently, there is a patch due on Tuesday, which means we have even more changes coming our way in the coming days. I doubt the metagame will have fully developed by then, and we might already have to go back to the drawing board if the developers deem there are more cards worthy of changing. I would expect mostly buffs if the patch has to bring something new to the metagame as a way to help even more archetypes compete during the end of the season.
As usual, I hope this report helped you make sense of what is going on currently in Marvel Snap. Keep in mind the metagame is still fresh, so decks might come and go depending on their most popular opponents. Plus, there are many archetypes we aren’t sure of the real strength since the best list hasn’t been found yet.
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.
