Table of Contents
We had an impactful OTA not so long ago, nerfing the dominant synergy. To kick off this season, two Series 5, a season pass and two Series 4 cards released. Last, bots are still part of the equation since this is the first week of the season.
All those factors contribute to a rather impossible to predict environment, with a ton of strategies being absolutely valid directions to explore. Synergistic decks, able to snap based on their early draws, are doing great, as they typically do in a chaotic metagame.
Following the OTA, Negative, Move, and Discard were on top, and are still part of that bunch of excellent performers. With Sparky in the mix, Move took a little step ahead of the pack, especially in the Win Rate category, with a 3% lead.
In the Cube Average department however, Wiccan Curve got everyone on notice. Arguably, that deck only needs to draw Wiccan to consider Snapping, which naturally allows raising the stakes quite often.
Looking at the rest of the list, there are plenty of other archetypes to consider, as all decks listed would rank in Tier 1 if this was any other week of the season.
Then, this early race to the Infinite Rank is more about controlling the stakes of a match, and knowing what your deck is capable of than anything else. With that in mind, it might be wiser to pick a deck based on your player’s strength rather than look for a great overall pick. At least until the fog clears on which decks are really strong, and which are just good at climbing to Infinite early in the season.
With 18 decks on this report, I’m sure at least one will strike your interest.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
| Tier | Deck |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Pure Move 0.8 Cube Average / 67% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Big Move 0.65 Cube Average / 67% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Wiccan Curve 1.1 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Discard Dracula 0.85 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Negative Destroy 0.7 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate |
| Tier 1 | Bullseye 0.55 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Cerebro 2 0.65 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Small Good Cards 0.65 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | End of Turn 0.6 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Destructive Hand 0.55 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Buff Surfer 0.9 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 2 | Iron hand 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Clog Control 0.75 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Small Ongoing Good Cards 0.8 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Hela Discard 0.75 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Bounce On Reveal 0.65 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Ongoing 0.55 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
| Tier 3 | Darkhawk Stature 0.5 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate |
We are in the first week of the season, so this Tier List was based on the ranks 90 up to Infinite included. Decks specifically strong in the ranks 80 to 99 will come back next week !
Tier 1
Except for Wiccan Curve, which is the textbook deck for not holding back its cards, although Infinity Ultron will trick a few bots. Most of the decks in this category are great at keeping their real amount of points hidden until the last turn.
In this chaotic metagame, this is a great trait in order to prevent your opponent from Snapping, as they can’t pinpoint what to beat precisely. Then, the opponent will typically only raises the stakes when they hold a counter card, or figured you drew terribly. Those are 1 cube losses, and are part of playing Marvel Snap.
Pure Move
den
Performance: 0.8 Cube Average / 67% Win Rate
Big Move
den
Performance: 0.65 Cube Average / 67% Win Rate
Wiccan Curve
den
Performance: 1.1 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate
Discard Dracula
den
Performance: 0.85 Cube Average / 64% Win Rate
Negative Destroy
den
Performance: 0.7 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate
Bullseye
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 65% Win Rate
Tier 2
Compared to Tier 1, these decks are a bit easier to read from the other side of the table, limiting the impact of a Snap.
Indeed, when a deck with only 2 power cards on the board snaps you, one can simply count the points if each card gains +3 or +6 depending on if you expect Cerebro alone or with Mystique.
The same could be said about Agent Venom or Surfer decks, which we have learned to recognize over time. These don’t tell you their exact points spread, but you quickly know when they have a great, average, or subpar draw.
In this second Tier, the deck to keep an eye on is Destructive Hand, which posted the best win rate amongst Victoria Hand decks so far. For the record, the more traditional build of Iron Hand wasn’t far behind. Yet, with bots boosting our cube average, win rate weight much more during the first week of the season. Plus, the destroy based deck is likely harder to dissect for the opponent, as it uses new synergies.
Cerebro 2
den
Performance: 0.65 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate
Small Good Cards
den
Performance: 0.65 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate
End of Turn
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate
Destructive Hand
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 63% Win Rate
Buff Surfer
den
Performance: 0.9 Cube Average / 61.5% Win Rate
Iron Hand
den
Performance: 0.6 Cube Average / 62% Win Rate
Tier 3
These six have typically struggled to make every tier list, or post a strong performance over the course of a full season. Then, it is no surprise to see them rise early, on the back of this rather chaotic environment and bots giving away cubes.
If any strikes your interest, feel free to give any a try. However, you should quickly realize you need your draws to align in order to stand a chance, largely limiting your ability to impact a match as the pilot.
Clog Control
den
Performance: 0.75 Cube Average / 60% Win Rate
Small Ongoing Good Cards
den
Performance: 0.8 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate
Hela Discard
den
Performance: 0.75 Cube Average / 58.5% Win Rate
Bounce On Reveal
den
Performance: 0.65 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate
Ongoing
den
Performance: 0.55 Cube Average / 59% Win Rate
Darkhawk Stature
den
Performance: 0.5 Cube Average / 59% 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, alongside 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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