Patch Aftermath: Daken, Spider-Man, and the State of the Metagame

As anticipated, the start of the Big in Japan season, which included a new card (Daken) added to the game with the Season Pass and a monthly patch on the same day, produced some fireworks. Especially when that monthly patch basically released a second card: the now [3/5] Spider-Man with a brand new ability.

Variants

Daken

On Reveal: Add the Muramasa Shard to your hand.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Daken

Variants

Spider-Man

On Reveal: Move to another location and pull an enemy card from here to there.

Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

view card details Start a deck Decks with Spider-Man

Already, the start of a season is the place for many players to try to farm their way back to the Infinite rank. Some try to get it done quickly by using an established good deck in Marvel Snap, while others are looking to innovate and use the opportunity to climb with their own brews around the new cards. In that context, we have the perfect set up to see a lot of decks built around the new cards, which gives us a first assessment of how they could impact the game in the future.

With both cards being 3-Costs, Silver Surfer is obviously an early candidate to receive a massive buff – at least in popularity. Then, as Daken was already covered in a previous piece, we will focus mostly on how Spider-Man managed to sneak its way into several archetypes. If you are a fan of the new season pass card, though, I would recommend trying the card in Discard Dracula, or in Sera Control if you don’t like Bishop too much. We’ll also have a deck to discuss a little further in this article. However, the new season pass got its big release a little robbed by the patch, as it seems like the star was Spider-Man. It has so far pushed a very discreet archetype to post incredible numbers.

To give some context to the decks we will review in this article, I’d like to remind you that Good Cards was largely considered the best deck before Tuesday. The win rate of the deck was progressing, taking the top spot in the rankings of both our Ladder and Conquest Tier Lists, which naturally boosted its popularity as the clock was ticking for the Rise of the Phoenix Season. For this start of Big in Japan, the same Good Cards archetype did pretty well. Several players have reported climbing back to Infinite with a simple inclusion of Armor as a way to prey on all those testing Daken during day one. Already, this is one major difference between Spider-Man and Daken: we knew how to counter one of them.

Because of Spider-Man being unexpected and much more difficult to counter compared to Daken, it feels like the card had a much bigger impact on the metagame. In addition to Silver Surfer rising, we also saw the Move synergy make a comeback in the form of hybrid, Control kind of decks. Obviously, the data we have on those builds is extremely limited for now, but if these decks can continue their hot start to the season, we might have some serious changes in the rankings of the next Tier List.

Friendly reminder that these decks are early concepts. They might end up impacting the metagame substantially and represent the foundation of a future archetype. However, the precise twelve cards in these lists are widely subject to change in the near future.

Move Becomes a Flexible, Point-Driven Package

Move Legion

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

7

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.4

Power

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1
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5+

In a similar way to what Darkhawk is for Good Cards, the first days of Big in Japan have seen the Move synergy make quite the comeback. Built around the idea of making a big Kraven, some of the all-stars like Silk, Spider-Man, and Miles Morales have been joined by Captain Marvel and Jeff the Baby Land Shark. But, with so much space taken up by this new alliance of cards, Darkhawk, Korg, and Rockslide had to be removed. They were replaced by another pair of Good Cards, Kitty Pryde and Angela, that is a popular duo in archetypes without enough space for more than two cards.

Obviously, growing Kraven is important for this package to work properly; it needs to take the role of Darkhawk in the Good Cards archetype. If the 2-Cost can anchor a lane by growing to six or more power early on, then we can use Shang-Chi, Angela, and Legion to secure a second one.

It might still be too early to compare this package to the other points driven packages. However, Move should already be in the lead when it comes to unplayable locations, which can be a big upside. Then, in a metagame driven by how flexible and reactive a deck can be, Move easily takes the crown for most unpredictable synergy in the game. It’s often unknown where a large chunk of its points will end up.

Silver Surfer Emerges as an Obvious Contender

Daken Surfer

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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)

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

There are a ton of lists going around for the Silver Surfer archetype, so expect the deck to evolve and (probably) produce different lists in the future. This one has had some solid results in the first days of the season, featuring new synergies on the back of Daken‘s inclusion:

• Absorbing Man can produce a second Muramasa Shard.
• Colleen Wing serves to discard the shard, in addition to Killmonger being able to destroy it.

The deck has to cut Storm alongside some tech cards to fit all these new synergies, which might be too big of a blow down the line. Indeed, Silver Surfer has been stealing lots of cubes on the backs of Rogue, Shadow King, and Cosmo since they can often take out a key part of the opponent’s game plan. Going only for points, even if we have some disruption through the moving cards, means the deck needs to reliably find Daken, which then needs to contest a lane almost on its own.

I think Daken will go down as a solid, flexible card. With Shang-Chi as one of the most popular cards in the game, I’m inclined to want Cosmo to be, at the very least, included in this kind of deck.

Move With a Touch of Control

Move Control

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The Move synergy is making more of a comeback now than it did during its featured season, and hopefully for a longer run this time. We already covered the proactive take around Kraven and a package of cards designed to grow its power. In this different build, the Move package serves as support for Storm and Wave, maintaining flexibility through the restrictions both cards apply. Indeed, with Silk, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Captain Marvel, this deck keeps a very strong ability to change its points spread, even if it’s limited to one card by Wave, or limited by a locked location from Storm.

I really like seeing Magneto make a comeback in the meta; it’s a great card against Good Cards archetypes, considering they rely almost exclusively on the power of their 4-Cost cards. Magneto alone could represent a buff of four power to Kraven, while potentially not losing the lane since both Magneto and Kraven would represent some solid points.

Then, with Storm and the flexibility of our move cards, the opponent should have a really hard time figuring out where to play their cards to match the way we develop ours.

High Evolutionary Benefits From a Chaotic Metagame

Spider Man 4

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Starter Card

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

High Evolutionary – and particularly the Lockdown build – was very annoyed by Good Cards towards the end of the season, even more so if they ran Luke Cage. However, with the metagame being a little all over the place, and Daken plus the Move synergy taking most of the spotlight, High Evolutionary has more space to exist. As an added bonus, Professor X is a great card against Move because it limits the opponent’s ability to be flexible with their cards. This particular interaction is also keeping Thanos Control quite relevant in the metagame.

Once again, we can see Magneto being included over the typical Doctor Doom, as it probably helps against Lockdown’s biggest problem: Good Cards Darkhawk.

Closing Words

Overall, Spider-Man seems to have impacted Marvel Snap much more than Daken did. Indeed, although Daken is seeing a lot of play and looks like a good inclusion in Dracula Discard, Spider-Man managed to put Move back on the map.

It is still a bit early to see if Move can become the next dominant synergy, but it does look quite promising (at least, if you look at the early Infinite ranks shared on social media). Also, it seems to fit the requirement of the metagame quite well. A decent amount of points which can be used flexibly to confuse the opponent as to which lane we are competing for.

Sure, the synergy has less available spots to run cards like Shang-Chi, Enchantress, and the common 2-Cost disruptive cards like Spider-Ham. Still, the flexibility isn’t necessarily gone; it only took a different form. Plus, considering moving cards works against any sort of opponent, one could argue this new flexible package of cards is even more flexible than the tech cards previously in place!

There is no doubt that the next few days will see more people testing their ideas in Conquest, which will give us valuable information about the real strength of these emerging archetypes. Our next Tier List should release very soon with a more detailed look at the metagame. Until then, I hope you are having fun with the new season.

To reach out, 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.