We’ve entered the final third of the Spider-Versus season! If you’re more like me than my Marvel Snap Zone teammates, you haven’t hit Infinite yet this season. Eep! 😱

Don’t you worry, though — you’re in good company! 82% of our Marvel Snap Tracker users haven’t hit Infinite yet either. There are a ton of reasons that might be! It could be you’re new to the game, or that you only play casually (that climb takes a lot of time!) Maybe the all-important skills of snapping and retreating continue to elude you. Or maybe you’ve just been spending most of your gaming time flying a hoverbike around Hyrule (🙋‍♀️).

Quite frankly, most of us who haven’t already reached Infinite this season won’t, and that’s okay! There are plenty of reasons to continue the climb even if your goal isn’t as high as 100. You might want that mystery variant, some gold, or just to set a new personal best.

Whatever your goal is, if you want to do more climbing before it’s Phoenix season, I’ve got your back. I’ve identified the sets of cards that bring in cubes the fastest. Today, we’re looking at cubes per minute.

The Dataset

If speed’s your game, here’s all you need to know in this section: today’s dataset covers the last 10 days of ranked matches for players at CL 994+ (roughly one-third of the way through completing Series 3).

If you’re new to Snapalytics, I always like to include some nitty-gritty details about the setup. They’re here if you’re interested. I figure most people should (and do!) skim past this section.

As always, the data I’ve analyzed comes courtesy of our Marvel Snap Tracker.

I’ve collected results in two categories: rank 40–69 (nice) and rank 70–99.

I threw out any match with an average turn length outside the range of 10–90 seconds. That eliminated about 3.5% of otherwise-qualifying matches. Those represent things like failed connections, rapid retreats, stalls due to in-game bugs or connectivity issues, and recording errors (e.g., we miss the start time for about 1% of games). The nature of duration makes it very sensitive to outliers on the high end. There are ways to work with skewed data, but it’s so much easier to just cut the outliers. Snip!

Finally, I have to address the ever-present sample size problem. We need enough data to minimize the impact of luck — but we don’t want to require such a high sample size that only the top meta decks qualify.

For this article, I put quite a bit more time than usual into finding a minimum number of matches that strikes a balance between providing realistic results and surfacing some cool deck ideas.

In order to boost the sample size, I studied the performance of 10-card packages (decuplets) instead of entire 12-card decks. It means that swapping one or two unusual cards into a deck isn’t enough to let it sneak by as a completely separate category. 🥸 Of course, swapping out 2 cards can really change a deck’s performance and identity, so if you see a speedy core you like, you should freely experiment with it!

Fun fact: A 12-card deck can make 66 different decuplets! Which is the same number of unique pairs a full deck can make (because any set of 10 could be defined by which pair is missing).

Alright, on with the show!

Not Your Mother’s Cube Rate

It’s time to look at the decuplets that earn cubes the fastest. To keep cubes per minute distinct from our typical cube rate, I’ll be labeling them as follows:

• Cube rate: cubes per match
• CPM: cubes per minute

I won’t just be listing the literal top decuplets in order. There’s so much overlap that I’ll be lumping some together or skipping some where it makes sense. For example, the top of rank 70–99 has a lot of decuplets starring High Evolutionary. Most of us know what the top meta decks look like (and if you don’t, you can explore them on our meta decks page).

I’ll be featuring the top decuplets in callouts with full 12-card decks. The motivation is to provide some context and make it as quick and easy as possible for you to get playing with these.

Rank 40–69

Minimum matches: 100
Qualifying decuplets: 3,314

There’s significantly less data in this rank range, so I used a smaller minimum match requirement here. 100 is quite low, but it led to the kind of results we’re looking for — stuff that’s strong, somewhat proven, and not just the decks you’re running into all the time.

1. Spectrum Destroyer

Spectrum Destroyer (40–69)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Recruit Season

3.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Ant Man or Klaw.

I love that we get to start here, because this deck has the stats that demonstrate the value of CPM.

This decuplet ranks 108th at win rate, 17th at cube rate, and yet 1st at CPM! Like… that’s so cool! 🤓

Given the small sample size, it could just be that whoever’s rocking this is playing fast. But let’s assume there’s something about the deck that helps it be played well at a high speed.

I admit I’m surprised to see Spectrum Destroyer in the #1 spot, but it is a deck that has the makings for speedy play. Retreating is clear — you need one of your 6-costs. The game plan is simple. Most of the time, you’ll only be playing one card per turn.

Bounce is the sort of deck with opposite traits and opposite stats.

The Bounce decuplet with the best CPM holds 11th place in cube rate but 80th place in CPM. It’s not as clear when to retreat with Bounce. It’s complex, and one of the hardest decks to play well. You’ll have turns where you’re playing 5+ cards and the target destinations aren’t obvious and the play order is really important.

Bounce is one of the strongest decks in the game, but it’s not what you should be playing if you’re feeling short on time.

2. Discard

Discard (40–69)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include The Collector or Shang-Chi.

Here is another example where the CPM hits a rank quite a bit higher than either win rate or cube rate do.

Plain ol’ reliable Discard (especially when you look at the core decuplet). No counting on Hela to high-roll here. This deck has a simple game plan. It does little to interact with your opponent — it’s about as close to a solitaire deck as they come!

Mystique is the only card in the decuplet that’s not totally standard in Discard. It seems she makes a big difference, at least at this rank level. Within the decuplet, Morbius is her only target, but he’s a really good target.

Without Hela, this deck can play MODOK on either Turn 5 or 6. You can get a lot of poewr on the board with something like Morbius + Mystique on Turn 5 followed by MODOK on Turn 6.

3. Patriot

Patriot (40–69)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Recruit Season

2x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This represents 7 merged decuplets, none of which included Mister Sinister.

Decuplets #3–9 represent 11 cards of this deck and all have the same stats.

Super-Skrull is probably the most unusual inclusion, setting this apart from other Patriot decks. It’s not a totally unheard of inclusion — it spent some time being quite popular in the tournament scene as a way to win the Patriot mirror. That said, I still see Patriots on the ladder, but almost never with Super-Skrull.

Mister Sinister is the flex spot here. Some run The Thing instead. Others run tech cards like Cosmo or Shang-Chi.

4. Stats

Stats (40–69)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

2x 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)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Nebula or Miles Morales.

This deck is a collection of several strong packages. It wasn’t that long ago that decks using this decuplet were so dominant that both Black Bolt and Stature got nerfed (Rockslide, too). This deck’s usage plummeted after being nerfed, but it’s managed to maintain solid stats all along.

It’s got:

• Black Bolt + Stature: 13 power for 6 total energy
• Korg + Zabu + Rockslide + Darkhawk: disruption and power at a discount
• Zabu + Enchantress + Shang-Chi: you can counter so many things, plus Zabu lets you play both on Turn 6

I think Miles Morales is an excellent inclusion. His ability can be triggered by either Jeff or Polaris.

The 12th slot is flexible. Nebula’s a very good card, but doesn’t have any special synergy with this deck. Nightcrawler or Silk are great for getting into hard-to-reach locations and enabling Miles on the way. Quake and Cloak are cool low-cost tech cards.

5. Knull Destroy

Knull Destroy (40–69)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Deathlok or Shang-Chi.

It’s a recent phenomenon that we’ve seen the rise of plain ol’ Destroy. Certainly this is partially attributable to fairly recent buffs to Venom and Death, and should continue with this week’s buff to Nimrod.

It’s somewhat rare to see Knull without Galactus, but lately that’s been on the rise, too.

The biggest surprise to me in the decuplet is Deadpool. Or, more specifically, Deadpool without Bast, Forge, or Taskmaster — all cards that pair really well with him. It means Deadpool isn’t the main focus. Even if you can trigger him a couple times, 1/4 is a solid statline. Instead, the main purpose of Deadpool is to join Squirrel Girl as a source of destroy targets to decrease Death’s cost and increase Knull’s power.

Rank 70–99

Minimum matches: 200
Qualifying decuplets: 3,483

It’s just a happy accident that the minimum number of matches for each rank category turned out to be such nice, round numbers. The dataset has many more matches at this rank level, so it was safe to bump up the minimum a bit without reducing the results to the most popular decks in the current metagame.

1. High Evo Janejaw

High Evo Janejaw (70–99)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

1x 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)

1x Starter Card

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Jubilee or America Chavez.

Well, let’s just get this beastie out of the way. High Evo dominates the results in the higher ranks. The Janejaw version holds 10 of the top 12 spots — and the other 2 are High Evo Lockdown.

This decuplet with Spider-Ham barely edges out its decuplets from the same archetype (like, 2nd–7th place also have 0.33 CPM). The others use Odin, so that’s the swap to make if you prefer Odin or haven’t collected Peter Porker yet.

Jubilee is included in most of the other to decuplets for the archetype, leaving America Chavez as the most flexible spot.

2. High Evo Lockdown

High Evo Lockdown (70–99)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Storm or Jeff the Baby Land Shark.

Storm is included in other decuplets of this archetype that performed almost as well. That leaves Jeff as the flex slot if you’re trying to optimize your CPM with this meta top-tier terror. Alternatives include Sunspot, Silk, Juggernaut, Shang-Chi, Doctor Doom, and America Chavez.

While both versions of High Evo (Janejaw and Lockdown) enjoy similar cube rates, the Lockdown version tends to play slower. A 25-second difference may not seem like much, but it really adds up when matches are so short. Going from 2:51 to 3:16 represents a 15% longer game on average.

This is a perfect example to highlight where CPM outweighs cube rate. The fact that High Evo Lockdown plays 15% slower means it earns 15% less cubes over time. In an hour, that translates to 19.79 cubes for High Evo Janejaw and 17.27 for High Evo Lockdown.

3. Sera Miracle

Sera Miracle (70–99)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2x Starter Card

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Medusa or Bishop.

Sera Miracle (or Sera Control) represents one of the most evergreen decks in Marvel Snap. It’s always good and always relevant. This particular decuplet has the best cube rate within its rank category (but not the best CPM)!

Sera lets Hit Monkey reach ridiculous power levels, so it makes sense that a whole related package is included (Kitty Pryde, Angela, Bishop, Mysterio). And then once you’re laying down that many cards, destroying Nova is worth a ton of power (at least 9!). There’s so much synergy among these cards, a “Sera Hit Monkey” deck almost completely builds itself.

This particular decuplet is just barely ahead of 3 other Sera Miracle decuplets in both cube rate and CPM. Bishop is included in all three of those. In almost all cases, Medusa is really the only flex spot in the example deck I provided. Common alternatives include Goose, Zabu, Scarlet Witch, and Jeff.

4. Toxic Evolutionary

Toxic Evolutionary (70–99)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

5x Starter Card

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

The top decuplet did not include Wasp or Hazmat.

This was a really popular theorycraft leading up to High Evolutionary’s release date. Some anticipated it would be the best of the High Evo decks. Obviously, it’s still a great deck, but it was quickly overshadowed by both the Janejaw and Lockdown variants.

Of course, the usage rate of Luke Cage has skyrocketed with the prevalence of High Evo. I expect as we see High Evo lose dominance due to meta correction and anticipated nerfs, we’ll see Luke Cage’s usage drop quite a bit. As that happens, The Toxic Evolutionary archetype will benefit more than any other archetype based on High Evo.

Regardless of the future of this archetype, it’s very strong now, but doesn’t pull in cubes as fast as the two more common High Evo deck types.

5. Good Cards Doom Wave

Good Cards Doom Wave (70–99)

Created by LaurenWhatevs

, updated 10 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

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)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

This represents 7 merged decuplets, none of which included Jeff the Baby Land Shark.

This is another cool one. Look at how much better the CPM ranking is than the ranking for either win rate or cube rate! The win rate and cube rate are both good, but I would not typically be highlighting something with the 84th-best cube rate. This decuplet is played fast (the fastest we’re looking at today) and that’s what gives it such a good CPM.

This was actually the only deck I wasn’t familiar with, but it seems quite straightforward. It’s a good cards deck with the Darkhawk package. It then wants to play Wave on Turn 5 and finish up with Doctor Doom, Leader, or even Shang-Chi.

I’m assuming part of the speed comes from the straightforward nature. Besides holding Wave for Turn 5, you pretty much play the deck on curve. Cards like Jeff, Leader, and Doom are also hard cards to accidentally play in the wrong location.

Conclusion

As is usually the case, this article is meant to serve more as inspiration to get you thinking about the game and decks in different ways. What makes a deck fast? Is it having obvious play lines / a simple game plan? Is it having snap and retreat conditions that can be identified very early?

I’d love to hear what you thought about CPM. It’s certainly changing the way I’m thinking about the game. I’m currently at rank 88 and I’d really like to this season to be my second Infinite. And I wanna do it fast! There’s a little over nine days remaining. On top of that, I haven’t played much Conquest and I want some time to focus on that! It’s all Nintendo’s fault, really.

Anyway, if you’re trying to climb higher up the ladder before this season wraps up, I urge you to find a strong, simple deck to play. Oh! — and pay attention to your game! I’m so prone to multitasking (even if it’s just a podcast) and I’m sure it impacts my success rate. Being more focused will naturally improve your win rate and cube rate. If you can focus on playing speedier, too, you’ll give your CPM a bump.

Good luck to all of you during the home stretch of Spider-Versus. I hope you’re able to achieve your goals, be they related to your collection, ladder rank, conquest award, or something else entirely. If you discover a deck that’s good at playing fast, I’d love to hear about it! Please share it in the comments below or else send it to me on Twitter! 💜

This analysis was powered by the data from our Marvel Snap Tracker. If you play on PC or Android, consider giving it a download! It has many features including a live overlay, the ability to sync your collection to our site, letting you review your personal stats, and powering useful tools like the Meta Snapshot.