Marvel Snap OTA Balance Update Analysis and Decks – May 25, 2023: Black Bolt Too Strong? An Update on the Future of OTA Patches

In the last balance patch in May (the fourth in total), I couldn’t open this piece with anything else than a big thank you to Second Dinner. Although there are plenty of things to say about the cards they changed, the timing of changing said cards, or even the changes themselves, there is no denying that what the developers accomplished in May is nothing short of extraordinary.

Obviously, the OTA changes after the first one (which saw Enchantress buffed and Sandman nerfed) might have felt a little lackluster. When we look back on it, Orka, The Collector, Crystal, Venom, and Shanna are still on the losing end of the popularity spectrum, but such is the harsh reality of a digital card game.

Indeed, in the Internet era where information travels faster than Quicksilver, if you aren’t hyped by one of the top content creators or appear at the top of the Tier List of a renowned tracker, you are bound to be forgotten at some point. Nevertheless, you can’t judge these weekly mini-updates on whether the cards included became metagame superstars or not. Instead, look at the community buzzing every Thursday evening, everyone teasing their brain trying to figure out what the metagame is going to look like alongside the new best deck to play. This is invaluable to me; keeping things fresh and puzzling is the most important factor of an enjoyable card game, at least in my book. So, truly, thank you Second Dinner.

For the last time this month (and, I’m extremely happy to say, two more times per month from now on), let’s take a deep dive into today’s OTA Balance Updates.

So, Black Bolt and Stature were THAT good, eh? I won’t lie, this is a bit of a shocker.

Variants

Black Bolt

On Reveal: Discard the lowest-cost card from your opponent’s hand.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Black Bolt

Variants

Stature

Costs 1 if your opponent discarded a card from their hand this game.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Stature

I knew the duo was very strong, and they created one of the best decks of the month in Good Cards Stature. It was probably the most talked about deck during the first week of the season. Still, when Darkhawk barely received a tap on the wrist with Rockslide losing a power two weeks ago, I didn’t expect both Black Bolt and Stature would be impacted at the same time. It might sound like nothing, but the duo is now 13 power instead of 15, which puts it almost on the same level as the common 12 power cards like Death, Magneto, and below the king of 6-costs card: Doctor Doom.

The big difference here is that you need to draw both cards to get this 13-power spike. If you only draw Black Bolt, you have one of the worst rated 5-Cost cards in the game. On the other hand, if you only draw Stature you have an expensive The Thing, High Evolutionary not included.

I understand the whole point of Marvel Snap is to raise the stakes when your hand is good and cut your losses when it isn’t. Still, I can’t help but think Wave and Doctor Doom are just going to replace these two even more, and Good Cards Stature will be gone by next season as a result.

Variants

Invisible Woman

Ongoing: Cards you play here are not revealed until the game ends.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Invisible Woman

Looking at the buffs, these are a little more difficult to figure out. Invisible Woman should be better as the card goes from two power (aka “your ability better be great” territory) to three power, which is the bare minimum for a 2-cost in Marvel Snap. It might not be enough to make Invisible Woman a staple in the metagame, but I believe it should lead to the card being tested. It might just be for curiosity purposes, but it could lead to the card finding an extra deck to be slotted into.

Variants

Negasonic Teenage Warhead

After ANY card is played here, destroy this card AND that card.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Last, we have Negasonic Teenage Warhead, a card that a few saw as a potential counter to Shuri back when it released that, unfortunately, has yet to find its place in Marvel Snap. I don’t really know what an extra power does for a card that aims to destroy itself, though…

As is typically the case with these balance changes, picturing the impact of the nerfs is much easier than finding how the buffs will change the fate of unused cards. However, considering Good Cards Stature is sitting at the adult table of the Marvel Snap competitive decks, a hit to an archetype representing close to 5% of the entire metagame might have huge repercussions down the line.

Let’s take a look!

What Is The Point Of Playing Stature Now?

Stature now

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x 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+

3.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This is the current best performing list for the Good Cards Stature archetype; the deck mixes Move, Darkhawk, and Stature together to create a cohesive, high-tempo build. Most of the time, the deck was looking to be flexible on Turn 4 and Turn 6, with Black Bolt as the go-to play on Turn 5 followed by Stature, Miles Morales, and a 4-Cost. This created a super explosive Turn 6 that could adapt to the opponent and surprise them with a flexible spread of points.

While I do believe this play pattern can still hold its own in the current metagame (and Good Cards Stature will easily remain a top 10 archetype), what is stopping me from simply changing Black Bolt and Stature for Wave and Doctor Doom? I could even include Iron Lad instead of Shang-Chi for high roll purposes now that I removed a bad pull in Stature.

Stature then

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Considering I have two energy open on Turn 5 as I will now play Wave instead of Black Bolt, I can change when I move my cards in order to have Miles Morales played on Turn 5. Then, I’m sure Doctor Doom and the knowledge my opponent can only play one single card this turn is worth the sacrifice of Stature and any 4-Cost from the deck.

Let’s do the math here and see how many points both decks would develop with this nerf:

• Black Bolt on Turn 5 and Miles Morales plus Stature plus Darkhawk on Turn 6 would be: 7 + 5 + 6 + 10 (Darkhawk gets to be a ten, otherwise it’s going to be depressing to look at) = 28 points over two turns.
• Wave plus Miles Morales on Turn 5 with Doctor Doom on Turn 6 would be: 3 + 5 + 15 = 23 points total. In the end, Good Cards Stature gets the nod thanks to Darkhawk contributing ten points to the total.

Now, if it was this simple, it would not be fun. There is one more question we have to ask ourselves: How much is Wave‘s ability worth?

Indeed, in the 28 points scenario, my opponent is free to do absolutely anything they wish on Turn 6. In the 23 points scenario, they are limited to only one card. For example, the first scenario would lose against the second one, as Wave would cancel most of that deck’s potential. It also demolishes Bounce, Sera Control, Sera Surfer, and She-Hulk combo decks while also limiting what Lockjaw Thor and Discard are able to do.

This trend was already starting to be visible in the tournament metagame, where most players posting wins shared a Wave based archetype (either Good Cards Wave or Iron Patriot in most cases). Unfortunately, this OTA balance patch might be the nail in the coffin when it comes to comparing both Good Cards archetypes.

Invisible Woman Makes Cerebro 3 Much Stronger!

Cerebro 3

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Considering the developers mentioned it in the text related to Invisible Woman’s buff, it’s only logic to cover this one first: Can Cerebro 3 really become a competitive deck?

As it stands, Cerebro 3 is barely able to maintain a neutral cube average. The archetype typically posts -0.1 to 0 in the cube average department when looking at its results on a large sample size. We can also probably exclude the Move version of Cerebro 3 that uses Multiple Man since it’s a deck that does not benefit from this buff as we want all our cards to reveal in order to move Multiple Man around. So we are left with a deck which was promising already with plenty of good cards such as Cosmo, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Sentinel, and Valkyrie as part of the deck. And now Invisible Woman could be a killer of an addition.

First, the card can serve to disguise our intention in addition to protecting Cerebro and Mystique from the popular Enchantress. Indeed, if you see Bast, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, Sentinel, or Cosmo being played in the first few turns, I don’t think you are putting your opponent on Cerebro 3 immediately. Invisible Woman might be a tell in itself, but the fact that the deck isn’t so easy to spot could play a role in its success.

Then, we have quite a few cards that are ecstatic about having their ability reveal at the end of the game. Shadow King and Valkyrie, in particular, are cards that immediately benefit from Invisible Woman as we can now play them before the last turn of play and still get a big impact when their ability reveals. Brood is another cute one; you can leave just one card behind Invisible Woman and surprise your opponent with a fully buffed lane at game’s end. I could have mentioned Shang-Chi as well, or Blade, or even Killmonger, as cards that could benefit from Invisible Woman.

The Discard synergy, notably, is an interesting direction for the deck considering you can use Invisible Woman to not discard if your hand isn’t suited for it. The newly buffed card allows you to play Blade or Moon Knight for their power without the ability.

Cerebro 3 Discard

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Unfortunately, I had to make some choices when it came to which cards to include in the deck because we only get 12 slots to work with. Still, it shows that the archetype has room to be adapted and fit various ideas or expected opponents.

If the idea of testing Cerebro 3 doesn’t appeal to you, here are a few decks that should also benefit from Invisible Woman being a stronger card.

Hela

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

7.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Attuma Tempo

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Ongoing Electro

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Negasonic Teenage Warhead Explodes… Harder Now?

Upon seeing this buff, my natural reaction has been to wonder why would they give more power to a card whose purpose is to be destroyed? To be completely honest, I am still looking for that answer as the “She can take the lead in locations, forcing your opponent to commit there” didn’t convince me much. We are in a metagame with Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom in a large variety of decks, as well as Wasp becoming super popular with High Evolutionary. I can see many more ways to punish Negasonic Teenage Warhead in scenarios where that extra power has no impact on a match.

In their write-ups, Second Dinner also alluded to the possibility of making the card a 2-cost, something I would have enjoyed way more. They also mentioned it would likely make the card strong, but isn’t that the whole point of a balance patch? Shake things up! I’m still a little curious as to why they aren’t willing to go for the bigger buffs sometimes. They run the the risk of reverting it in the next OTA, but that’s exactly what they did with Enchantress in the end.

Anyway, I did a little digging (and asked a lot of people for their insight), and the most convincing answer I got was the card synergy with Knull, which feeds on the power of the destroyed cards. As such, I think Negasonic Teenage Warhead could be of use in bringing the Destroy synergy back to being a dominant one:

Deadpool

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

One could also imagine using the card in its more traditional disruptive role, although this is the scenario where the power buff doesn’t make much of a difference in my opinion:

NegaControl

Created by den

, updated 4 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

If I had to make one complaint about the whole OTA experience, it would be that Second Dinner doesn’t go far enough – especially in the buffs department. It is hard for anyone to know what should be nerfed; in the end, we only have access to third party data, and it’s easy to be biased based on our personal experience or what we see on social media.

I think most of us have the same cards in mind when it comes to cards nobody plays or cards that post a terrible win rate or cube average. Baron Mordo (please make it a 1-cost), Dazzler, Gambit, Hawkeye… These are the cards that I don’t think anyone would be mad about if they were a little stronger. Furthermore, when it comes to buffs, it can only increase our possibilities when it comes to building a deck, while a nerf tends to limit those same possibilities.

The very good news, though, is that the OTA balance patches are not going anywhere, so we should continue to have these little shake-ups twice per month in addition to the big patch. Although I am excited about Invisible Woman potentially being a card worth building around, I think the fact that OTA patches are going to be a regular thing is the biggest information of today’s patch.

I realize I have not touched on the topic of the three locations removed (Plunder Castle, Milano, and The Sandbar). Honestly, this is for the simple reason that I don’t think these were removed for game balance reasons. Instead, I think they were removed to improve the experience of players whose games were ruined by those unplayable locations.

Have a hot take about this balance patch? A deck you want to share in the light of these changes? 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.

Upcoming events you might be interested in:

• May 27th: Qualifiers #3 and #4 of the TYB 616 Open. Anyone can join and try to qualify for their share of a $1,000 prize pool.

• May 28th: Coaching seminar alongside Freshlobster about the fundamentals of deck building, game planning, Snapping, and Retreating. Reach out on Discord.