Table of Contents
Marvel Snap’s “Over the Air” hotfixes to cards are now live for September 28, 2023 – no need for a game update! Five cards have been changed as part of a scheduled balancing cycle: Galactus, Kitty Pryde, Snowguard (both Snowguard Hawk and Snowguard Bear tokens), Psylocke and Squirrel Girl has had their power and cost adjusted. Check out the full details below!
Summary
- Galactus – 6/7 â–¶ 6/5
- Kitty Pryde – 1/2 â–¶ 1/0
- Snowguard
- Snowguard Hawk – 2/3 â–¶ 3/3
- Snowguard Bear – 2/3 â–¶ 3/4
- Psylocke – 2/1 â–¶ 2/2
- Squirrel Girl – 1/1 â–¶ 1/2
For our analysis and some decks you can try, check out our analysis article!
September 28th – Balance Updates
Welcome to another OTA. We’re locking in the changes below with both the release of Mobius M. Mobius and next week’s patch on the horizon, so we’re making fewer reactionary changes to what’s happening live. We do have one solid nerf aimed at the resurgent Devourer of Worlds, but the rest of these adjustments are maneuvering a few game pieces into the right places for other upcoming content.
Galactus
Decks with Galactus
- [Old] 6/7 – On Reveal: If you’re winning this location and this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.
- [Change] 6/7 -> 6/5
We expected Alioth to find a fast home in Galactus decks, which wasn’t a problem in and of itself. Exciting new cards shouldn’t hit the cutting room floor because existing cards might like them too much, especially if that card is Galactus–the whole reason we reworked him was to give us a knob that could rein him in. Given his metrics spiked well outside our acceptable range for over a week, we’re taking a harder line with this change than usual based on the impact we need. We liked Galactus right where he was before Alioth, so that’s our target range for his performance.
Kitty Pryde
Decks with Kitty Pryde
- [Old] 1/2 – When this returns to your hand, +1 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.
- [Change] 1/2 -> 1/0
Kitty has been places. She’s seen things. And it’s been a fun ride! Kitty was an integral player in the metagame’s best deck at least four different times, and each of those decks was meaningfully distinct from the rest. That’s a pretty rare feat, and speaks to her raw strength as a card that both eats excess Energy and has cool mini-combos, like Angela and Hulkbuster. However, as we continue to make similar synergies, we want other cards to get their opportunities to compete with Kitty. This change is a little preemptive, as we expect Kitty would be too strong in October without it, and we’ll likely continue to explore different executions of Kitty for a future patch.
Psylocke
- [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
- [Change] 2/1 -> 2/2
We’ve had this change internally for a while, but we wanted to wait and see how the dust settled on some of the live decks that play with Energy ramp and Cost reduction. We hope Psylocke can eventually join the Electro/Magik/Wave crowd as another common way to push for big plays. Ideally she maintains a distinct identity from those options as a 2-Cost card that offers different curves and deck design opportunities.
Squirrel Girl
Decks with Squirrel Girl
- [Old] 1/1 – On Reveal: Add a 1-Power Squirrel to each other location.
- [Change] 1/1 -> 1/2
Like Mysterio and Shanna, Squirrel Girl‘s total power has been on the low side for how much space she takes up among your locations. She’s largely been confined to supporting early Ka-Zar decks for new players and Death-based decks in competitive play. We’re glad to have her continue on in both of those roles, but she’s a fun and appealing enough card to give a little bit more Power to see if she can find more homes. She’s been acting pretty spooky since this change, though–you should be careful walking through Central Park next month.
Snowguard
Decks with Snowguard
Decks with Snowguard Hawk
Decks with Snowguard Bear
- [Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: Ignore all location abilities until the end of next turn (or the game).
- [Change] 2/3 -> 3/3
- [Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: Trigger the effect of this location.
- [Change] 2/3 -> 3/4
We’re happy that Snowguard‘s rework brought her in from the cold. However, the bulk of her strength has proven to be in concert with Loki and The Collector, where the extra cards she generates are the primary reward and the auroras are secondary. We don’t mind that much–the auroras are situational themselves–but they don’t need to be so efficient in that case, either. The Bear is gaining more Power because his effect has proven by far the weaker of the two.
This change is the first of a larger series of adjustments you’ll see go live in next week’s patch, as we shift the Cost and Power of several small cards that add cards to your hand to get a more diverse spread of enticing options for different goals and playstyles.
Conclusion
That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!
