Marvel Snap OTA Balance Update Analysis and Decks to Play: Bye Bye Galactus!

Every two weeks, Marvel Snap undergoes an “Over the Air” (OTA) update, which does not require a full patch. Cards are able to be rebalanced in their stats (Power and Energy) only via a hotfix, whereas major ability reworks are reserved for patches. This article is our in-depth analysis of the changes, how it might impact the current meta, as well as potential decks you can play from the get go!

OTA Balance Update Overview

Alioth has made a big impact on Marvel Snap since joining the game. While some would argue Loki remains the most impactful card of the season, or even put Mobius M. Mobius ahead of Alioth, it is undeniable how big of a deal Alioth has become, pushing several archetypes with its great ability.

Amongst those archetypes, none have progressed more than Galactus, going from a barely played deck to a top archetype once again thanks to a card basically saying you can’t lose after a successful Galactus play. Sure, Iron Patriot, Move or Evolved DoomWave could be considered stronger decks using Alioth than Galactus depending on your own experience.

However, these three archetypes were around already before Alioth came around, and they only got stronger with the card. As such, it is undeniable the biggest growth has to go to Galactus. And the card dearly paid for it, suffering its second nerf this year, and likely going back to where it was before Alioth came to help.

Another big nerf worth mentioning, is the one to Kitty Pryde. However, even if the card remained a popular 1-cost even after its first change, the arrival of Elsa Bloodstone as the next Season Pass card probably has a huge part in this change. With that in mind, I don’t see Kitty Pryde being in the same boat as Galactus, as the card will gain a new synergy, and could have been out of line as a result.

Last on the nerf list, we have the recently buffed Snowguard, which quickly became a solid inclusion in Loki Collector in particular, but also saw play in other decks, such as Ramp, as a way to get both a turn one and turn two play using just one card slot in your deck. Sera Control, which gained some momentum since Mobius M. Mobius joined Marvel Snap, was also using the card. I don’t think Loki will care much about the change the idea being to recycle those cards with Loki’s ability anyway, but it could spell the end of Snowguard in other archetypes, unfortunately.

Enough with the bad news, we also get two buffs in this OTA, with Psylocke and Squirrel Girl both getting an extra power. Already, both cards were receiving a bit of play time in Thanos Control for Psylocke, and Kazoo for Squirrel Girl, although their featured archetypes were discreet at best. In addition to helping these decks get an extra power, these two cards might be more appealing overall.

Let’s explore the implications of this round of OTA Balance Updates, and see what the future holds for each of those five cards, especially the decks forced to adapt, as one of their important cards got nuked.

Ramp gets rid of Galactus, Shuri Kitty is done

Black Panther Ramp

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

A five power Galactus simply seems too weak to run in a deck to be honest, meaning Ramp has to find another way to benefit from gaining Energy early on. Plus, not being able to play Galactus anymore likely means we have to cut Professor X as well. Indeed, it was the tension created by Galactus, forcing the opponent to play on our empty lanes, which led to Xavier to be so effective in the deck. Without that necessity to play in our empty lanes, Professor X should be much harder to play safely in the future.

Fortunately enough, the deck can still count on Black Panther and Arnim Zola to score a lot of points, which has always worked well with Doctor Doom and Odin, staples in the ramp archetype. Also, Mobius M. Mobius works really well with Wave as a turn two, turn three play pattern, where we can play a 6-cost while our opponent is limited to a 4-cost at best. Last, Daredevil, Electro and Alioth are another strong synergy, basically cancelling the opposing fifth turn if they would play on one lane only, as Daredevil would simply tell us where to drop Alioth.

With all these weapons still at its disposal, I don’t expect Ramp to disappear completely. Especially in the lower ranks of Infinite, or during the climb to that rank, where Ramp performs much better compared to the more competitive spheres of Marvel Snap. However, I would be surprised to see the deck retain a top five status like it deserved these past few weeks.

Similarly, Shuri should follow the same path as Ramp, and simply default back to the weapon it has left after this OTA: Shuri Sauron.

Indeed, with Kitty Pryde‘s nerf, the card will probably not see play until next season starts. Then, we could use Elsa Bloodstone to buff Kitty Pryde several times, and maybe reproduce a similar deck to Shuri Kitty. For the rest of this season, though, Shuri only has one deck left:

Shuri

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Are buffs to Psylocke and Squirrel Girl any relevant?

I have a hard time figuring out how Squirrel Girl can feel much different as a [1/2] compared to one less power. Nevertheless, this buff could be relevant to a lot of players starting their Marvel snap journey, or simply enjoying the Kazoo archetype later down the line.

For example, the deck gained some momentum in the Alioth metagame as most of the points would come early in the match, and Loki would not steal high cost cards, as the deck is mostly made of cheap ones.

Kazoo

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Recruit Season

2.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

As for Psylocke, the card is mostly known for its contribution to the Thanos Control archetype, helping to get Professor X or another 5-cost on the board early on. As a [2/2], Psylocke represent a better setup for an early Professor X, which alone, is enough to be considered a buff.

Otherwise, the card was never played for its power, rather the ability to gain Energy on a certain turn. With that in mind, the extra power is welcomed for sure, but shouldn’t change the perspective around Psylocke that much.

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x 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 Recruit Season

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Alioth and Loki remain the best foundational cards in the game

Arguably, both of the most impactful cards in Marvel Snap right now took some sort of a hit. Alioth probably lost Galactus for good, while Loki sees both forms of Snowguard being weaker to play. However, can we really say either card is weaker overall because of these two changes?

Variants

Alioth

On Reveal: Remove the text from all unrevealed enemy cards here.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Alioth

Variants

Loki

On Reveal: Transform your hand into cards from your opponent’s starting deck and give them -1 Cost.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Loki

Alioth can still see play in plenty of decks, such as Patriot, Move or even DoomWave. Already, if we look at the decks punching an Infinity avatar, or dominating at the top of the ladder, Galactus wasn’t really the best performing deck. The card was particularly strong in the lower ranks, where players can’t invest as much time as something fully committed to Marvel Snap, so would make more mistakes, which Galactus heavily punishes. However, I’m curious how the situation would have developed over time, as more and more players get accustomed to seeing Galactus. As for Alioth, though, I have no doubt the card will remain very popular.

Variants

Loki

On Reveal: Transform your hand into cards from your opponent’s starting deck and give them -1 Cost.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Loki

Speaking of Loki, it might be the only synergy where the change to Snowguard isn’t so impactful in the end. Indeed, once the card buffed The Collector, we are completely fine changing them with Loki‘s ability and getting some from our opponent’s deck.

In that regard, Ramp lost much more than Loki with the change to Snowguard, as it can’t use it to fill its early curve anymore. Same for Sera Control, which probably isn’t interested in 3-cost cards as much as it was in 2-cost ones. Then, it’s hard to consider Loki was hit at all in this patch, the same way Galactus gone shouldn’t have such a big impact on Alioth‘s overall popularity.

With that in mind, these three decks should remain very powerful to run until we get more changes to the metagame.

Iron Patriot

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Recruit Season

1x Starter Card

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Loki Collector

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

2.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Move Alioth

Created by den

, updated 7 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

I doubt the metagame will be deeply impacted, as none of the current top tier decks suffered much change. Galactus gone will surely be great news for many players who cannot stand the card. Yet, I doubt new archetypes will fill the gap, and we will probably see more of the other decks already in the spotlight as a result. However, we are getting another patch as soon as Tuesday, with the new season start, so this might be a buildup to a bigger balance early next week.

Until then, I would recommend sticking to what’s been working for you, unless it was Galactus or Shuri Kitty, obviously. Otherwise, I don’t think Psylocke or Squirrel Girl will be enough on their own to push something new to emerge and be competitive. As such, we might be looking at simply a reduction in deck diversity until the October season brings some new flavors to explore.

I hope this kind of sad analysis doesn’t ruin your mood, or how much fun you are having with Marvel Snap. I’m sure the developers have something planned for next patch, and this OTA was needed to execute that vision.

As usual, if you need anything, 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.