Marvel Snap OTA Balance Update Analysis and Decks to Play: Is It Finally Time for Discard to Shine?

Hela Tribunal has done pretty well in the new season. It’s currently posting a Cube Average worthy of a Top 5 deck. However, the Discard synergy in and of itself, outside of MODOK + Hela, has not picked up that much momentum, even with the Blade buff.

Sure, Discard Dracula is a little better, and C3r3bro has a discard variant that looks promising. Still, Discard is very far from being a scary archetype that is worthy of taking into account when choosing your tech cards. Cosmo plays a big role in reducing Discard’s momentum, but it’s very rare to see a deck include it specifically for the sake of dealing with Discard, like what many are doing with Armor for Destroy.

It feels like the team at Second Dinner agreed with this sentiment since they gave two cards from Discard’s arsenal a buff in addition to the help they already gave in the previous patch with the Blade and Spider-Ham changes. However, even if I believe we have some exploring to do around the new Black Cat, there are two other buffs that could steal the show, as they might have a huge impact on the current metagame.

Spider-Ham going back to a [1/1] stat line might have some impact, although without Bounce being a popular deck, it is hard to consider Spider-Ham a premium 1-Cost with this new ability. It might be excellent and help decks with room for a cheap card, but without the ability to target and represent a counter to specific archetypes, it is difficult to put the card in the same conversation as Nebula, Snowguard, and Kitty Pryde right now.

Two cards that have seen plenty of play time, though, are Shadow King and The Collector. The latter is the backbone of one of the strongest decks in the game right now. When paired with Loki, it routinely becomes a double-digit power card for two energy. On the other side, Shadow King has been one of The Collector‘s best counters, and it also helps against Shuri and Angela. Now a 2-Cost, one could imagine a Turn 6 with both Shadow King and Shang-Chi to punish strategies based around buffing their cards.

It might just be an OTA, but we have many decks to explore as a result of it. It’s crazy how just a few number changes can have such a big impact on our perception of what is or isn’t good in Marvel Snap.

Also, because I don’t think it deserves an entire section dedicated to it: Yes, you can still play Loki Collector after today’s patch. You might even want to test this variant, if you want to include the buffs to Lady Sif and Black Cat.

Loki Collector Discard

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

3x 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)

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

1x Starter Card

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Black Cat and the Good Dis Card Archetype

Good Dis Card

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Good Dis Card

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Ghost Rider was already a good addition to Zabu and Silver Samurai. Blade also felt like a great addition to that deck now that you could control which card is discarded. That plan didn’t go too well, unfortunately, since keeping Blade in hand when you want to spend your energy proactively tends to limit the usefulness of the card. Instead, Black Cat seems perfect for the role as a [4/9]. The card can either be played after Zabu, or revived with Ghost Rider later on.

I included two different variations for this deck. One is built around the Darkhawk synergy, and the other is focused on standalone good cards. The core of the deck remains the same in both, with Zabu and a few 4-Cost cards from the Discard synergy. In either deck, Ghost Rider has great targets to summon, and Black Cat alone makes it a [4/12]. If you want to keep the Zabu core, it feels important to have at least three 4-Cost cards worth investing into, which seems to be the case when Silver Samurai is added to the mix.

The Darkhawk package will push the deck to focus more on itself and try to win through a flexible spread of points. It also feels like a nice deck to test the new Shadow King since it can be paired with a 4-Cost on the last turn of play (and you can even add Stature to the mix if you have Zabu in play). Compared to Shang-Chi, a card that is currently played around or denied with Armor, a cheaper and more reliable option looks like a good deal – even if fewer targets apply.

The other build tries to play a reliable curve and use annoying cards before switching to focus on the Discard synergy in the second part of the game. In this deck, America Chavez helps find Zabu more often, and the Armor plus Cosmo duo annoys a wide variety of decks. If The Collector‘s nerf is enough to reduce the prevalence of Loki in the metagame, we can probably expect the return of Destroy (or the rise of Discard), so having these two should help in that regard.

A quick word about Hela: You could include Black Cat in the deck based around Lockjaw, but I don’t see any reason to deviate from the Hela Tribunal archetype just yet. Unless, of course, the metagame changes enough to make that deck a liability.

As for Discard Dracula, the deck doesn’t seem interested in running a card like Black Cat. It’s probably just happy with the extra power on Lady Sif. One thing to consider, though, is the rise of Wave. Evolved DoomWave is performing really well right now, and it’s not impacted much by these changes. While Discard Dracula can play around Wave by dropping Swarms on Turn 5, Wave remains an annoying card that heavily influences Discard Dracula‘s play patterns.

Was C3r3bro Buffed or Nerfed?

Cerebro 3

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

C3r3bro has been red-hot lately. It has been building its case as the best counter deck to Loki Collector. But, even with a 2-Cost Shadow King (which is obviously a big buff for the deck), one can’t help but wonder if C3r3bro’s true power relies on Loki Collector being extremely popular. Now that The Collector starts at zero power, that deck might end up losing a big chunk of popularity. C3r3bro will have to find other match ups to build a solid Win Rate against in order to stay relevant. It’s not out of the question; a lot of the best counter cards in the game have three power, such as Armor, Cosmo, Valkyrie, Killmonger, Shadow King, and Shang-Chi. Nevertheless, maybe we need to explore a more proactive build of C3r3bro after the patch. One that doesn’t depend on hitting the right opponent most of the time.

C3R3BRO

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

In that regard, the Discard variant of C3r3bro might make more sense. It opens more flexibility depending on which match ups get popular after the patch. Indeed, since this deck is looking to play cards in order to target Swarm reliably, you tend to play with priority more often. When it comes to landing cards like Killmonger, Armor, and Cosmo, being in the lead can make a huge difference on to the impact of those cards. Having priority prevents your opponent from revealing important cards before your counters come into play.

Old Staples Welcome the Spider-Ham and Shadow King Changes With Open Arms!

Lockjaw On Reveal

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Sera Miracle

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

3x 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)

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

2.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Several archetypes feel like they cannot disappear completely in Marvel Snap. Their core is so solid that they always find a way to bounce back from nerfs, and new cards that push their synergy are released all the time. They aren’t necessarily always strong, but they could come back to the competitive scene any time an element of the game tilts in their favor.

For Lockjaw, this change could be Spider-Ham going back to a 1-Cost card, which makes it much easier to use alongside its signature card. It won’t be as good as it was before the change; Spider-Ham will never hit another card unless the opponent plays or discards their Pig. Still, it’s an improvement.

Looking at Sera now, any disruptive cards getting cheaper is interesting because it feeds the deck’s ability to explode on Turn 6. Now a 2-Cost, Shadow King becomes a great card to turn a lane around while still heavily investing into another one with Hit Monkey. It might be a problem since the deck runs Angela and Bishop, so the opportunities to play Shadow King might not be so frequent. But it does open the possibility to have both Angela and Bishop on the same lane, and then pair Shadow King and Hit Monkey together on another lane on Turn 6.

Looking at the changes, many people, myself included, expect Discard Dracula or another Discard-oriented deck to pick up the most momentum. Especially if Loki Collector loses enough power to be dropped by a significant portion of the player base. A lot of players will be looking to find their next comfort pick. During that time, archetypes that are already established in the minds of the community tend to be favored, as picking up one of them is much easier than trying to build something brand new.

Closing Words

Apart from The Collector now being a [2/0], which could end up not meaning much for that deck at all, all the other strong decks were not directly nerfed in this OTA. Shuri could be considered weaker with a cheaper Shadow King, and it might get high rolled by Spider-Ham a bit if the card gains some momentum. Still, it is hard to see any of the current top four or five decks (Evolved DoomWave, Loki Collector, Shuri Sauron, InSheNaut, and Move Legion) suffer much in the rankings due to this patch.

Instead, we should look at which decks gained something. Which decks could join those atop the metagame? Last month was one of Marvel Snap’s best seasons in recent memory because there were a lot of strong decks, so if this OTA is a step in the right direction, then it will be a great OTA. Also, let’s not forget about the impact of Alioth‘s release, as well as Snowguard becoming widely available after being buffed last week. All of these events could add up to create new opportunities and help a few archetypes rise in the process.

Of course, we will make sure to keep you informed on how the metagame evolves. We’ll inform you of which decks are important to know in all our future pieces. Until then, have lots of fun on Marvel Snap! To reach out, 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.