Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List: September 11, 2023 – Loki is Good, but Not That Good

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

Loki is now six days old in Marvel Snap, and the card has impacted the game like very few have done in the past. Let’s get right down the important question: Is Loki Collector the best deck in the game? Well, if you look at our rankings, the answer is no. That distinction goes to Shuri Sauron. However, if you look at which deck created the most waves in the metagame and pushed others to adapt, then Loki has to take the crown.

Indeed, the card has pushed the archetype formerly known as “Big Hands” or “The Collector” to new heights, transforming the deck from a Tier 4 afterthought to a bona fide powerhouse. Also, because that deck is so popular with more than 20% of the metagame (which is reminiscent of super dominant decks in the past), it has pushed other archetypes to gain a lot of momentum. C3r3bro, in particular, has gone from a cool deck to the best secret weapon to rank up on Ladder. Galactus has posted much better numbers than what we’ve seen since the card was changed, even if it only stayed in the Silent Performers section. Hela Tribunal also benefited a ton from other proactive deck eating up all the counter cards, almost claiming the top spot on the back of the best cube average in the game.

So, yes, depending on what criteria you judge a deck on, you can say Loki Collector is the best, or at least the most impactful, deck in Marvel Snap right now. However, the data I had access to did not lead me to believe the deck was completely out of bounds and needed an emergency nerf like many asked for. Instead, I enjoyed this completely chaotic week. There was a lot of discussion about how to counter it and which decks were decent enough to run against it without abandoning all other games. I understand how it can quickly become annoying if you play Marvel Snap all day long, or if this lasts for several weeks. But, for one week only, I didn’t mind Loki warping a large part of the metagame around him.

I know others did, though, so I hope it won’t last for too long. Hopefully Alioth and the upcoming OTA balance patch on Thursday will help alleviate the pressure. If neither do, we probably need to learn at least one of Loki‘s counters. Fortunately, there are plenty in today’s report, as most of the decks who managed to post a solid performance had to do so while facing a lot of Loki and The Collector.

Happy Tier List, everyone!

Marvel Snap Ranked Meta Tier List

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 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.

Tier 1

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Shuri has been doing great for quite some time now, and it’s seen many decks come and go at the top of these rankings. But, just like a lot of other proactive strategies, it is often best to be considered the second or third best deck. This way, you can be very strong and capable of challenging a lot of decks in the current metagame, but you don’t have to go against counters too frequently.

As it stands, Loki Collector is probably a stronger deck overall. It’s at least a much more flexible one, and it has a potential similar to Shuri Sauron or Shuri Kitty. However, Loki Collector also has to deal with a lot of mirror matches and opponents built to derail its most expected play patterns. In that context, Shuri has a huge edge because it benefits from some peace and quiet, which naturally boosts its performance compared to a deck against a metagame on a mission to beat it.

It’s important to note that both deck’s Win Rates were pretty close, so Shuri took the lead based on Cube Average. This further reinforces the idea that Loki‘s opponents probably were a little more prepared, or careful, compared to Shuri‘s foes.

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 Enchantress is able to steal a few wins.

The last important point to cover is positioning, especially when you don’t draw into Sauron or Shuri. Indeed, while both cards will dictate a lot of your strategies, there are other pairings to know about:

• Nebula and Armor is nice against Killmonger, and you could even follow it up with Ebony Maw if you don’t expect Sauron to show up.
• Enchantress can cancel the abilities of Lizard, Typhoid Mary, and Red Skull.
• Taskmaster into an unprotected card is better to play with priority. On the contrary, if the target can’t be destroyed, playing without priority protects Taskmaster. Position your cards in order to gain or lose priority depending on the situation.
• Invisible Woman allows you to hide Taskmaster so it copies your last played card on Turn 6 (or the card that reveals before it behind Invisible Woman). This is a great way to lose priority and make an opposing Shang-Chi worthless.

Potential Additions:
Shuri Kitty is also a great deck, but the best performer across all Shuri decks this week was the Sauron version with America Chavez. Shuri Kitty would still be Ranked tier 1, but it might not deserve the top spot:

Shuri Kitty

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Hela Tribunal

Hela Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
When a proactive synergy that is able to develop a lot of points can run free, it puts up a great performance. That is exactly what happened with Hela Tribunal; it established itself as a nice deck to run against Loki Collector, as well as a solid deck overall when it comes to developing a lot of points.

The Win Rate remains average at best, as the deck rarely surpasses the 52% mark. However, the Cube Average was great for most of the builds around the archetype, which shows the deck’s reliability when it comes to Snapping with a good hand. Indeed, while the previous metagame had more counter cards running around, like Spider-Man in Move Legion or Enchantress in Good Cards or Shuri Shuri, the current environment seems perfect for Hela Tribunal – and the deck seems to be enjoying it a lot.

Let’s see if the deck can keep up the solid performance once the community is aware of its potential. Galactus returning with the release of Alioth could be devastating for a deck that typically isn’t playing on several lanes during a match.

How to Play:
This deck looks to merge two synergies in the hopes that one makes it through and scores a lot of points. Here is what you are looking to accomplish:

• Discard your hand with MODOK and bring everything back with Hela to summon a ton of points at random. With The Living Tribunal, you are guaranteed to impact every lane.
• Have Iron Man and Onslaught together on the same lane with The Living Tribunal in play. Make sure to maximize points on the Iron Man lane.

For one of these two play patterns to happen, you need to use your support cards to maximize your chances of pulling it off:

• Invisible Woman can hide MODOK, which will only reveal on Turn 6 and before the Hela that you also played behind Invisible Woman. The card can also serve as protection from Enchantress for your Ongoing combo.
• Magik allows you to play MODOK on Turn 5 if you haven’t drawn Hela yet, giving you two more turns to find your second combo piece. Otherwise, the card enables the Iron Man → Onslaught → The Living Tribunal pattern on Turns 5, 6, and 7.
• Crystal helps with finding your important cards. As all your combos are made of 5- and 6-Cost cards, you can play Crystal on Turn 3 without losing any tempo. Iron Lad serves the same purpose, albeit with a slightly different ability.

Potential Additions:
Jubilee and Magneto are the other two cards you might consider in this deck.

Loki Collector

Loki Collector

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

3

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

4x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
While most players would rate this deck as the undisputed best in Marvel Snap for the first week of the “Loki For All Time” season, Loki was actually behind Shuri in Win Rate and Hela Tribunal in Cube Average. The margins are minimal, and it might be a case of the other two being easier to pilot or not targeted as much. Nevertheless, the data I had access to says it is a much closer battle than a lot of opinions might indicate.

Also, as is always the case with a new card, Loki had many builds around it – although The Collector, Quinjet, Agent Coulson, and America Chavez are part of most of them. The one featured had great numbers: more than a 0.5 Cube Average, and almost a 60% Win Rate over 3,000 games. However, there was another archetype with a similar amount of games that was more focused around the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. synergy (i.e. Agent 13, Maria Hill, Agent Coulson, and Nick Fury), and it had only a 0.15 Cube Average with a 53.5% Win Rate. As such, Loki might be able to keep growing in the coming weeks – especially if Alioth does great and alleviates some pressure on the Big Hands archetype.

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 of its options open down the line as possible. 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 so many cards during the match, so its biggest strength is keeping the opponent in the dark as to what they should expect. It could be a disruptive card, a big bomb created randomly, or Legion to change the locations in play.

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 energy that will generate cards or simply grow Angela. While you can use a lane as a bit of a dump for Cable, Snowguard, Quinjet, and Mirage, these cards represent a not insignificant amount of points. Keep in mind that Angela and The Collector could very well challenge a lane on their own if you support them enough, which means you can use some of the space in their locations for cards with minimal contribution to your end game score.

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. Legion, in particular, is a card that will impact your decision to change your hand or not. It is expensive, but it can represent an alternate way of winning the match. If you still have not drawn it by Turn 4, you might want to make the switch and have the option to play Legion if you draw it. If you already have Legion in hand, you need to decide which path you will prioritize. You can’t play Legion and play Loki in time to use the cards copied from the opponent’s deck.

Potential Additions:
It seems like the core cards have been decided at this point, so I will focus on the flexible slots instead. Cosmo and Armor are leading the pack when it comes to counter cards, and either could replace Legion. Otherwise, Sentinel and Nick Fury are often included as extra support for the deck’s synergy.

Cable is included for the mirror match, so it is probably the easiest card to remove if you aren’t facing too much of the same deck.

Evolved DoomWave

Evolved DoomWave

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3x Starter Card

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
After a week in the Silent Performers section and a pretty discreet showing among the community, Evolved DoomWave managed to put up great numbers over a much larger sample size. As it stands, the deck is looking great overall, with both Cube Average and Win Rate rivaling the other decks in this tier. Plus, this archetype relies on much more flexible concepts than Shuri and Hela, and it has the ability to slot in tech cards, just like Loki. As such, if the metagame was to change in the near future (like from the Loki nerf that many seem to demand), Evolved DoomWave appears to be the perfect deck to adapt and remain one of Marvel Snap’s elite.

Hearing the feedback of many across the community, such Good Cards decks were said to be too dangerous to run against Loki because they could simply take your deck around Turn 3 and play with your synergies. But, if we look at the deck’s overall performance, it seems like Evolved DoomWave gained more from Loki being the most popular deck than anything else.

How to Play:
Similar to other High Evolutionary decks, Evolved DoomWave tries to create power while not spending all of its energy every turn. If you have Evolved Hulk in hand, one energy is worth two power, plus the other bonuses you would get from the cards you have on the board. If you have at least two of your four cards (Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, Evolved Hulk), it is usually worth looking for a play that leaves an energy to spare. Otherwise, Sunspot or Evolved Misty Knight alone are rarely worth the deal of one energy for one power.

More often than not, the turns you are likely to leave some energy on the table are Turns 4 and 5, which are typically dedicated to Evolved Cyclops and Wave, respectively. Turns 2 and 3 will depend on your hand, but you play a 1-Cost, 1-Cost, 2-Cost pattern over the first three turns. Then, you will naturally float some energy on Turn 6 if you played Wave.

Outside of this signature High Evolutionary game play, the rest of the deck is centered around Wave limiting what can be done on Turn 6, which usually rewards the player in the lead. By that point, you have two options: go tall with Evolved Hulk, or go wide with Doctor Doom. Considering you run America Chavez, this choice is usually set in stone by Turn 4, or Turn 5 if you are still missing a key card. This makes it easier to craft a game plan where your big 6-Cost card can be at its best and seal the deal.

Another big strength of this deck is its ability to play into any kind of location and impact those that have been locked during the whole match. Indeed, with Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom, you can easily reach any location. Then, Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, and Evolved Cyclops are also able to impact a location after it’s impossible to play there, like after Professor X has locked it down. In that regard, knowing early on where your opponent might be playing some of their space limiting cards can have a big impact on the match.

Potential Additions:
Storm and Cosmo have been slotted in over Mister Fantastic with similar results. Also, Iron Lad and Klaw are seeing play, replacing America Chavez and Doctor Doom.

Tier 2

Cerebro 3

Cerebro 3

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Even though Hela Tribunal posted better numbers, Cerebro 3 has quickly been regarded as the best archetype to run against Loki – and it has picked up a ton of momentum in the process. This is the first time Cerebro 3 has had enough popularity to be ranked in the main report, rather than being a Silent Performer.

Right now, there are a lot of different lists roaming around the community, with various ideas being tossed around. If the metagame remains the same and the best performing lists become the most popular as well, Cerebro 3 might be gunning for a spot in Tier 1. However, if the hype around Loki reduces, Cerebro 3 might take a big fall next week since the list is tailored to dominate that match up. For example, Luke Cage is not included, which opens the deck to power afflictions. Also, the best performing list is not running Rhino or Scarlet Witch, which means locations can also have a big impact on the deck.

It might already be too late to pick up the deck, in reality; the time when one would face Loki more than half of their games is probably gone after the weekend missions. Still, if you want to specifically counter Loki, this appears to be the deck to do that. Plus, you can also count on Shadow King, Valkyrie, and Shang-Chi in a lot of other match ups, including Destroy and Shuri.

How to Play:
Largely relying on countering the opponent’s game plan, C3r3bro is a deck that can reliably stick 20 power on a lane, so it shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to fighting for points. However, the deck will rarely be able to do so on two locations, meaning the disruptive cards play a big role in the deck’s success.

Shadow King, Shang-Chi, and Valkyrie are included to turn around a lane when played, and each is an excellent answer to several of the game’s current big power cards. Shadow King and Valkyrie, in particular, are great at cancelling many buffs, be it Angela, The Collector, or Shuri. These two do, however, have a bit of a problem with Ongoing cards, such as Devil Dinosaur or Darkhawk, which is where Shang-Chi steps in. This trio also receives some help from Invisible Woman, so you don’t have to hold onto them until Turn 6; you can just hide one and let it reveal once the game ends. Particularly against the 2-Cost cards that grow, you should have the information early enough to play your counter card in the mid-game.

The rest of the deck is mostly centered around getting enough targets down for Cerebro to be worth running. Killmonger, for example, can be considered a tempo play right now. It’s often played on Turn 3 to destroy a Quinjet, Sunspot, or Nebula before the opponent can hide them behind Armor. Magik and Mystique are your support tools. They make sure you get Cerebro and can occasionally boost your cards to seven power instead of five.

Since this deck is based on answering the metagame, the need to understand how your opponent’s deck works is crucial. Against decks like Loki Collector, Shuri Sauron, and even Move Legion, you stand almost no chance if you think you will win by just spreading your points around. Against those proactive decks, you need to make sure you can break some of their play patterns, or plan to have a devastating Turn 6 in order to turn at least one lane around. Protective cards like Armor and Cosmo should also be taken into the account, as they can turn a confident Snap into an eight cube disaster.

Potential Additions:
Crystal can replace Wasp to bring more reliability to the deck at the cost of explosiveness.

Patriot Surfer

Patriot Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
This deck has been on a significant decline after the Absorbing Man nerf, as well as other proactive decks resurfacing since Loki was released. Patriot Surfer is still solid, but it isn’t as scary as it was two weeks ago. Right now, the deck is great if you manage to nail the right tech cards and can leverage your flexible cards and Snaps.

Indeed, decks like Shuri Sauron and Hela Tribunal will now beat you in a point’s contest, so you can’t rely on the Forge, Brood, Absorbing Man trio to do all the work – even if you are able to further boost them with Patriot and Silver Surfer. This will likely win you a lot of matches, especially if the opponent isn’t drawing as ideally as you did, but these decks will have a higher ceiling than yours on average. This means that you need to find a way to annoy them a little bit during the match.

One more problem for Patriot Surfer is Cosmo, which has picked up quite a lot of momentum lately. It’s become one of the most common disruptive cards included in Loki Collector.

How to Play:
Patriot Surfer relies on two waves of points. The first comes in the mid-game with the now (in)famous Forge → Brood (Mister Sinister works too) → Absorbing Man curve for 15 and 12 Power on two separate lanes. The second wave comes on the last turn of play when Patriot and Silver Surfer strengthen those lanes even more. Surrounding this core are the usual suspects of the Iron Patriot deck with Wasp, Iron Lad, and Blue Marvel, all of which can help whenever you don’t draw into your ideal scenario.

As the deck gains momentum, more counters are bound to emerge, which is where the disruptive cards shine. Legion seems to be a staple right now, even if there isn’t a particular synergy for it in the deck. However, gaining priority going into Turn 5 allows you the ability to use Legion on a location that would lock the game and result in you emerging victorious on the spot. Otherwise, Cosmo serves the role of protecting your Ongoing cards from Enchantress and Rogue, or the buffed ones from a Shadow King. This is likely the flexible slot in the deck if you were looking to gain an edge against a certain opponent.

With this deck, you should often have priority going into the later turns, which gives your opponent a lot of information regarding what they have to beat. As such, Patriot Surfer can be met with a lot of early Retreats – especially when the deck starts hot and takes a gigantic lead by Turn 4. It is important to leverage your tech cards to cancel any potential comebacks, but they can also be used to commit to early Snaps. That way your better hands are not worth only a single cube.

Potential Additions:
Wave and Doctor Doom are another way to build the deck, if you want to lock the opponent out on Turn 5 after taking the lead with Brood and Absorbing Man. Otherwise, Armor seems to be the flexible card in the deck.

InSheNaut

InSheNaut

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3x Starter Card

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Another solid week for InSheNaut, even if the deck fell a bit down the rankings. It seems like the deck is very good, but it lacks a little something in order to make it to the level of the best archetypes. It might be because Destroy is less popular, or other decks aren’t afraid to enter a points competition against InSheNaut. The environment might not be great for its disruptive package, though, and the archetype usually ends up close to, but never at, the top of the rankings.

Right now, it seems like Shuri isn’t bothered by the match up, Loki can find some of the big cards for points while The Collector can grow to match Evolved Hulk, and Evolved DoomWave has Wave to annoy She-Hulk. As such, if you look at the decks in Tier 1, you quickly realize Leech (or landing a devastating Cosmo) is how you tilt the match in your favor. The problem is, however, that those cards are only effective if you managed to build a compelling lead before you can start to disrupt their strategy. Indeed, if you Leech on Turn 5, they know only Evolved Hulk is a threat on Turn 6 (unless you created Limbo with Magik and can afford to pass Turn 6). Magik and Leech only add five points to your total, but they cost you eight energy, so this is really only good if you manage to get points in Turns 1, 2, and 4.

The conditions for InSheNaut to perform simply seems to be more demanding than for the other decks right now.

How to Play:
In this new and improved build around She-Hulk and The Infinaut, the goal 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.

Through these various scenarios, you can see that this build of InSheNaut is actually trying to get away from the very rigid patterns Moon Girl was pushing for that made the deck too predictable. Right now, you should consider this deck a High Evolutionary tempo build, except it can play around with its energy to change which turns it develops points and which it adopts a more passive stance.

Potential Additions:
Shocker remains card #13 for the deck, but it doesn’t appear to help the deck as much as the other twelve.

Move Legion

Move Legion

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Still in a bit of a rebuilding mode after the nerfs from the last OTA, Move Legion is split between running Kitty Pryde and running the Wave + Doctor Doom duo. As it stands, it seems like the new Snowguard has tilted the balance towards Wave. Snowguard provided a needed 1-Cost card to the deck while fitting the overall theme of being flexible first and foremost. Still, with Shuri and Loki able to dominate the deck in the points department, being flexible doesn’t seem to be enough anymore, and the need to find some disruption pushed Wave to be the best performing list this week.

One thing that might be hurting the deck as well is the necessity of running Shang-Chi over Shadow King since the former would also punish Angela and Kraven. Often times, four energy is very difficult to fit during a game for this deck, and three energy feels much more manageable. Maybe the solution is to just remove Shang-Chi and include another proactive card to help in one of the popular match ups.

Last season, Hela Tribunal was very much annoyed by Move Legion, especially Spider-Man being able to move cards away from the Invisible Woman lane. If that deck starts picking up in popularity, it could help Move Legion‘s stock a ton going forward.

How to Play:
Mostly looking to build points proactively, Move Legion relies on Kraven and Angela to anchor your lanes. Either card is able to grow to eight, maybe even ten, power over the course of a match.

Then, with one lane contested via points, the second lane can be challenged through three different means:

• You can easily get points on a locked or unplayable location with Silk, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and other move cards.
• You can play a disruptive game with Legion, Spider-Man, and Shang-Chi.
• You can win a second lane on points with Silk, Spider-Man, or a 1-Cost Miles Morales all representing good points for their costs.

Overall, it feels like once this deck is in the lead, its flexibility allows the pilot to dictate how the rest of the game will go.

Potential Additions:
Vision, Nightcrawler, and Captain Marvel are still three popular cards in the archetype. Magneto is more scarce, but it looks like a solid replacement for America Chavez in case you would like to focus on potential rather than reliability. Finally, Kitty Pryde forces you to remove Wave and Doctor Doom, but it doesn’t seem to impact the rest of the build.

Sera Surfer

Sera Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
For yet another week, Sera Surfer’s performance on the Ladder is all over the place. The featured list is worthy of a Tier 1 placement, but all of the other builds more suited to Tier 3. From the look of it, Rogue seems to be needed for Surfer to perform, as well as Shadow King when it comes to disruptive cards.

Nova and Killmonger aren’t looking mandatory, though, as some of the worst lists include these two. Forge is mostly among the good lists, which shows its synergy with Brood and Absorbing Man remains one to be respected. As for the points, cards like Maximus and Daken are not needed, it seems. Polaris and Spider-Man are included in lists with the better Win Rates and Cube Averages.

The Armor list is the only one with a significant amount of games as well as a solid performance, showing that Silver Surfer should probably look to be disruptive rather than compete on points. This is a logical conclusion – especially if we consider Patriot Surfer has a higher ceiling while both cards share the same way to score in the mid-game. As such, you probably should consider another deck if your goal is to dominate through proactive patterns and points, but you can use Sera Surfer as your archetype of choice if you enjoy being the annoying opponent that is looking to derail plans.

Wave is making a come back lately, which might be worth keeping in mind. Especially for a Sera deck.

How to Play:
The deck follows a pretty simple play pattern that culminates into an explosive Turn 6 and hopefully catches the opponent off guard.

On Turns 2, 3, and 4, you will usually just play a card, focus on spending your energy efficiently, and advance your game plan. Your two most common patterns are Forge, Brood, and Absorbing Man, or the tried and true Storm and Juggernaut. Otherwise, play cards you anticipate you won’t have the energy for later on.

If you are running tech cards like Rogue, Killmonger, or Shadow King, you will be looking to keep them for Turn 6 in order to get the most effective use. As such, you need to play the more proactive cards during the early turns. Usually, Nova is better played on Turn 4 with more information available rather than on Turn 1. It also disguises your archetype from the opponent better and let’s you play with your space more efficiently.

On Turn 5, the deck typically runs a card dedicated to this turn – which is most often Sera. While these are the go-to plays most of the time, Forge and Brood have a second opportunity to be played on Turn 5, which sets you up nicely for Silver Surfer plus a counter card on Turn 6. In this build, you could also consider playing Armor on Turn 6 if you have priority in order to negate an opponent’s important effects before focusing on points.

Turn 6 will almost always have Silver Surfer included, plus another 3-Cost (or two with Sera on board). While Silver Surfer is a big buff to all of your lanes, it is usually correct to focus on two lanes for the end of the game – especially if you kept a Shadow King or other such card that is able to flip one in your favor on its own.

Potential Additions:
Nova and Killmonger can replace Armor and Shadow King if you want to focus on yourself more than the opponent.

Tier 3

Although pretty close to the Tier 2 archetypes, these four are a little bit behind. Most of the time, this is because of annoying disruptive cards or an inability to compete with most of the popular decks.
In the case of Destroy, for example, Armor being joined by Shadow King and Valkyrie in some decks is just too much for Deadpool and company to hope to have a good week. The archetype still managed to post very reasonable numbers considering the circumstances, but it feels like it is just a little too much for Destroy right now.

Discard has received some needed help with the new Blade, which appears to be a nice addition to the deck. However, the deck remains mediocre at best.

Deadpool Destroy

Deadpool Destroy

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

2

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Discard Dracula

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Negative Surfer

Negative Surfer

Created by den

, updated 8 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

Even though The Triskelion helped it early on, Loki has proven to be an incredible card, and it has thoroughly shaken the game with its release. Without the card, Cerebro 3 probably wouldn’t even be talked about. Shadow King and Valkyrie would not have seen as much play, and Destroy would not have gone back to Tier 3 as a result. Also, Galactus and Hela Tribunal probably wouldn’t have put up such big numbers. And we wouldn’t have nearly forgotten about the Blade change for Discard, which has been a great one overall. Good Cards Stature has almost disappeared, and nobody seems to care. Finding Shuri once again at the top of the food chain doesn’t seem to be a problem for anyone, even though that same deck was dominating the game a few months ago.

I can only hope every new card has such a big impact, but not because they are just better than the rest. Rather, I hope they are genuinely fun to play with, and their abilities feel inspiring for all the deckbuilders in the game. As I said in the intro, I didn’t hate this week like many others seem to. I had some fun trying to counter Loki, working on various decks and getting my ass beaten on many occasion. But this kind of big shift cannot happen too often, as it can be daunting to keep up with if you can’t invest several hours per day into the game. Indeed, even if we had a good idea of which deck would use Loki the best, it still took a few days to find the most optimal twelve card decks, and then it took another few days to see the counters emerge. The metagame is still moving as I’m writing these words.

It was refreshing to have a little chaos after a very well balanced season in August, but we can’t have that every week or we would all go crazy by the end of September. I hope you found some fun in the game during these eventful times, and I can’t wait for what is in store for the other cards we get to play with this season. If I remember correctly, Loki wasn’t considered the best of them by many people!

If you need anything regarding this report or generally about the game, you can 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.