Preparation Guide for the May 2023 Marvel Snap Patch Update

Introduction

Marvel Snap’s next major patch in May 2023 has a few important information for us to unpack and dissect! From the Series Drop, potential card acquisition changes, and hopefully with more impactful card balance updates, the next patch will hopefully shake up the current meta.

In this guide, we will breakdown step by step what’s happening and when, collecting the scatter of information that is out there and help you decide what to do before the patch drops. We have already seen a glimpse of what’s to come in the latest Development Roadmap so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already!

• Patch release date and time
• Series Drop
• New card: Howard the Duck
• Free card: Kitty Pryde
• Other hopeful updates: Matchmaking, card acquisition improvements, personalized shop

Patch Release Date and Time

Firstly, we have not yet received a confirmed patch date and time for Marvel Snap. Here’s some light detective work based on previous communication. Firstly, Second Dinner has stated that they schedule the patch day to be every four weeks. Based on last month’s date (April 18, 2023), this date should be May 16, 2023.

Secondly, another clue was in last week’s OTA Balance Updates:

That’s all for now, thanks for stopping by! This is the second to last week of our OTA trial period, with a full-sized patch coming next week and the final May OTA coming on 5/25. While we’re not yet set on a plan going forward, we know that we want to continue doing regular OTA balance updates, just at longer intervals between changes. We’ll let you know when we have more to share!

This means the patch was scheduled for “this week” but did not specify a day – which means it could deviate from the usual Tuesday time.

Thirdly, the Series Drop has not yet been announced for May 2023. While the pattern of cards dropping down in Series has been predictable so far, these have usually been officially announced at least a few days before the patch day. In April, it was posted on the 14th, four days before the patch.

And the final uncertainty for the patch time not yet being 100%: Last week’s OTA balance updates were delayed by a few hours. If we’re hopeful, who knows, we could get some news or even changes to the long awaited card acquisition system and that is why the patch could be delayed (more information further below):

If everything goes to plan though, the timing of the patch should be around 8 AM Pacific Time based on the previous ones, so the best case scenario is the patch goes live at that time. Of course, nothing is definite – we’ve had delays before!

Be on the lookout for the patch notes here as they are generally released at the same time as the update, and come back after the countdown has dropped to 0 to see if there has been any updates regarding the patch time.

Series Drop

As stated above, the Series Drop for May 2023 has not yet been announced. Here are the predictions based on previous patterns:

Here are some important things to consider regarding Series Drops:

• Players will eventually get the First Edition Badge (not yet implemented in game) to the Series 5 cards if you obtain them before they drop.
• You can also pin cards in the Token Shop now, and after the patch drops the the price will go down as well. Be careful not to unpin it (do not press Esc, back button, etc)!
• For pinned cards going down from Series 4 to 3, their price will go down to 1,000 Collector’s Tokens so you do not have to use up your free Series 3 card.
• Series 4 cards dropping to Series 3 this month will be offered as your free Series 3 card for the season after the patch if you have not claimed it yet.
• You may want to consider not opening your Collector’s Reserves and/or saving up your Credits as well until the patch to have a better chance of opening these cards.
• For the full expected schedule of Series Drops and new card releases, check out our dedicated guide.

New Card: Howard the Duck

Variants

Howard the Duck

Ongoing: Tap this to see the top card of your deck.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Howard the Duck

Even if there is no patch, the weekly card releases continue for now. Howard the Duck will be released as a new Series 5 card on May 16. With the Token Shop change already in place, the card should be available for purchase right away as a Weekly Spotlight card with the daily reset time! For our verdict and some potential decklists, check out Den’s theorycraft article on the card:

For the full expected schedule of upcoming new card releases and their Series Drop schedules, check out our dedicated guide.

Kitty Pryde

Variants

Kitty Pryde

When this returns to your hand, +1 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.

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

view card details Start a deck Decks with Kitty Pryde

At last, Kitty Pryde should be returning to the game with the May 2023 patch since being disabled on March 30 due to game breaking bugs:

• It will have a reworked ability – [1/0] When this returns to your hand, +2 Power. Returns at the start of each turn.
• In the May patch, all players will receive the reworked Kitty Pryde for free.
• Previous owners have already received 8,000 Collector’s Tokens and the Kitty Pryde Base Card Avatar as compensation.

For more information, check out the news article:

Other Potential Updates

Looking at the “In Development” section of the Development Roadmap from March 2023, the May patch could bring some other updates.

Matchmaking

The matchmaking has been changed with the April 2023 patch. Such as Infinite players only matching with each other, and other changes to the algorithm – see here:

With the narrowing of the matchmaking formula, Bot frequency may have been reduced but players are now finding themselves playing with a smaller group of same players. This is mainly dictated by the regional matchmaking, so this may lead to an update to the global matchmaking very soon.

Card Acquisition Improvements

When High Evolutionary (the big card release next week on May 23) was confirmed as a Big Bad, Stephen had a small bit of information regarding a potential card acquisition plan:

We know there is a lot of excitement around High Evolutionary, and many of you have been wondering whether or not he’ll be a Big Bad! We have been waiting to announce that because we are working on revising and improving our card acquisition system. Our hope had been to finalize the improved card acquisition plans and announce High Evolutionary’s fate at the same time, but that hasn’t worked out. We can share that High Evolutionary will be a “current Big Bad” and cost 6000 Collector’s Tokens for an indefinite amount of time. We’re looking forward to sharing more about card acquisition in the future!

Is high evolutionairy planned to be a big bad card?

While nothing has been announced yet, we could be hopeful (as stated above) that some changes are made with the patch and is the reason for the potential delay in the Series Drop announcement.

Personalized Shop

The variant Daily Offers in the shop still remains much to be desired for many players, and we could see some sort of improvements, as Stephen from Second Dinner has eluded to being rolled out in phases:

We will be taking steps over the next few patches to roll out the personalized shop in phases. The first step will largely be tech based. The next one will call out and flag new variants added to the game and ensure everyone sees them if they own the card. Later phases will ensure variants are surfaced to you based off playing with the card, using similar variant styles, etc. We have a lot of exciting plans to build out and improve the daily offer shop throughout 2023

Personalized Shop

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this breakdown! This patch could potentially be an interesting one especially if it ends up being delayed. We expect the June 2023 patch to be more of an impactful one with the new Conquest mode, that will drive the more competitive players. As usual, we could also be in for some surprises with the datamining! Be on the lookout for new cards, bundles, variants, potentially the July 2023 Season, and more, as soon as the patch drops.

We’ll see you again very soon! In the meantime, check back later for news regarding the patch!