May 9th – Balance Updates Leaked

Marvel Snap is due for the usual card balance updates on Thursday May 9, 2024 to shake up the new meta for A Blink in Time Season. However, it looks like the community dug up a link of what looks like the web version of the patch notes that shows up in-game, here.

The date of the post is shown as May 7, 2024 so it looks like it was posted early, and the leaked source is consistent to what we’ve seen in the past. While we cannot confirm that it is true or the final version that will go live on Thursday, here are the summary of the changes:

• Lady Deathstrike, Darkhawk have been nerfed.
• Leech, Psylocke, Sauron, Klaw, and Ultron have been buffed.

Below is the transcript of the patch notes!

May 9th – Balance Updates

This week’s OTA update features a handful of small tweaks to Power, with more sizable buffs to a pair of baddies from the Age of Ultron.

Lady Deathstrike

Variants

Lady Deathstrike

On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power.

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

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• [Old] 5/7 – On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power.
• [Change] 5/7 -> 5/6

We’re happy that the latest update to Lady Deathstrike created space for this card in the metagame. However, its performance indicates we overshot that mark by just a hair. Deathstrike has become one of the best cards in the game for the last few weeks, and even the top performer in some Annihilus shells-that’s right, over Annihilus himself! Given we’re seeing those decks overperform a little bit, we’re addressing both issues by taking away a little Power here.

Darkhawk

Variants

Darkhawk

Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.

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

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• [Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.
• [Change] 5/4 -> 5/3

It may sound surprising, but Darkhawk has continued to soar after moving to 5-Cost. In fact, it’s spent the majority of the time since as one of the highest winrate cards in the game-often the highest! We’ve given it a few weeks to see if the metagame would demonstrate the kind of healthy churn we like to see, but after little to no change on this count we’re taking action. We want Darkhawk to continue playing an important part in the metagame, but there’s a delicate balance to preserve around having too many Rocks.

Leech

Variants

Leech

On Reveal: Remove the text from cards with On Reveal abilities in your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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• [Old] 5/3 – On Reveal: Remove the text from cards with On Reveal abilities in your opponent’s hand.
• [Change] 5/3 -> 4/2

It’s been a while since Leech terrorized the SNAP ladder. Shifting it to only affect On Reveals solved the frustration Leech created, but at 5/3 the stats have been too weak to compete with other 5-Cost cards, even with this effect. In particular, Hela’s new access to Energy gain has meant a 5-Cost Leech can’t always stop the big resurrection plan. At 4/2, Leech can more effectively address popular threats like Hela, Annihilus, Jane Foster, and Cannonball. Besides, we can’t help but root for our favorite Morlock after seeing that brave face on X-Men ’97.

Psylocke

Variants

Psylocke

On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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• [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
• [Change] 2/1 -> 2/2

We previously nerfed Psylocke to 2/1 when Thanos was overperforming, as Psylocke was contributing a lot to the Mad Titan’s win percentage. Now that Thanos has settled into a healthier position, and with some future adjustments to come, it’s appropriate to revert Psylocke back to 2 Power.

Sauron

Variants

Sauron

On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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• [Old] 3/2 – On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck.
• [Change] 3/2 -> 3/3

Similar to Psylocke, we weakened Sauron a touch during an era of specific overperformance. Given the era has passed, we’re returning that Power now.

Klaw

Variants

Klaw

Ongoing: The location to the right has +8 Power.

Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

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• [Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +6 Power.
• [New] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +8 Power.

It’s been exciting to see Ongoing-based decks claiming their due at the upper ranks over the last week. One card that has continued to suffer in an awkward “in-between” spot is Klaw, as a 5-Cost card that’s fairly restrictive. Because Klaw has a novel restriction and gameplay reward, we’re adding Power to the Ongoing effect to further emphasize those unique elements.

Ultron

Variants

Ultron

On Reveal: Deploy four 2-Power Drones to each other location.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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Variants

Drone

“zzzzzzZZZTT!”

Unreleased

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• [Old] 6/8 – On Reveal: Deploy four 1-Power Drones to each other location.
• [New] 1/1 -> 1/2

A metagame threat in the early days, Ultron’s gotten weaker as decks increased their focus on filling each location and more efficiently concentrating Power. The Drones already have predators in the metagame thanks to Killmonger and Lady Deathstrike, and Ultron himself is quite vulnerable to Cannonball. This is a lot of Power to add to Ultron, so we might need to come back and take some away from Ultron himself, but we decided not to do so preemptively in case it wasn’t necessary. We’d rather see Ultron make a splash once more than continue to flounder.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!