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The latest Marvel SNAP over-the-air (OTA) balance patch is here bringing some highly anticipated changes to impactful cards, including Hela, War Machine and Marvel Boy. There's even a few wildcards thrown in along with other balance adjustments that will shake up the meta for sure. Read on for the full September 26 patch notes for Marvel SNAP!
September 26th - Balance Updates
While today's update is "all numbers," we expect it to give the metagame a little shake-up as we wind down the latest Spidey season. I'm sure the symbiote suit will work out just fine for Pete this time around! Things really seem to have settled down as we head into a nice, mellow October–just another easy Halloween for the webhead.
- [Old] 6/6 - On Reveal: Resurrect all cards you discarded to random locations with -2 Power.
- [New] 6/7 - On Reveal: Resurrect all cards you discarded to random locations with -3 Power.
The Hela Archetype has seen a resurgence in popularity with Hellcow’s change to Activate and Black Cat’s buff to 10 Power. While her win and cube rates haven’t been out of line, this change has strengthened the deck by making it easier to resurrect more Power with less risk than before, which can feel frustratingly difficult to contest for many decks. We’re taking some additional Power away from the resurrected cards as a bit of compensation for this added strength, but balancing it a touch with more Power for Hela.
Hela Decks to try Post-OTA
- [Old] 3/2 - After each turn, give 3 of your 1-Cost cards +1 Power.
- [Change] 3/2 -> 3/1
Ever since Marvel Boy’s release, Zoo Archetype decks with tons of 1-Cost cost cards have been riding high. We’re glad to see this deck back in contention at the top of the metagame, but the games with an early Marvel Boy tend to put up some particularly strong numbers. We’re making a slight ding here to make it a little bit easier to challenge the Zoo deck for multiple locations, given how often Gilgamesh can win them one.
Marvel Boy Decks to try Post-OTA
- [Old] 4/7 - Ongoing: Nothing can stop you from playing cards anywhere.
- [Change] 4/7 -> 4/6
With the recent change from an On Reveal ability to an Ongoing one, the War Machine Archetype has really taken off. We’re excited to see the decks with Ebony Maw and Infinaut that players have been perfecting for a long time finally get their day in the sun. However, War Machine’s win rate has been among the highest in the game, and a lot of that has been in decks focusing on using Storm and Legion to deny the opponent any turn 6 plays. Those decks have a place, but because they can be frustrating to play against repeatedly, we don't want them headlining the metagame. We're taking War Machine down a peg by removing Power, since that recent buff turned out a bit stronger than expected.
- [Old] 4/6 - Activate: Merge your lowest-Cost card here with this. Copy its text like it just revealed.
- [Change] 4/6 -> 4/7
You’ve all found a ton of awesome things to do with Symbiote Spider-Man, from retriggering Doctor Doom to safeguarding the Power of Human Torch. But a lot of those strategies have been a bit inconsistent, and when they don’t pan out, Symbiote Spider-Man has been underdelivering on board presence. To ensure those cool things are less risky, we want to raise the floor so that Symbiote Spider-Man contributes a meaningful amount of Power the rest of the time.
Symbiote Spider-Man Decks to try Post-OTA
- [Old] 6/5 - On Reveal: If you’re winning this location and this is your only card here, destroy all other locations.
- [Change] 6/5 -> 6/6
Galactus’s stats have been lagging as we’ve added more 3/5s to the game, and we’ve been looking at buffing him for a while. One reason we waited was that we were wary of his interaction with Symbiote Spider-Man–our internal testing didn't reveal this to be problematic, but we can't ever know we've "solved" a deck for sure. Now that we’ve seen the potential to create a higher-Powered Galactus hasn’t proven too frequent and frustrating in the real world, we’re comfortable boosting Galactus up as we’d hoped to.
Galactus Decks to try Post-OTA
- [Old] 3/2 - After an enemy card is played here, destroy it. (once per game)
- [Change] 3/2 -> 3/3
Negasonic Teenage Warhead has been in a similar boat, to a smaller degree. Resetting her ability with Symbiote Spider-Man has the potential to blow up a lot of Power, but it's proved easy enough to adapt to Symbiote Spider-Man’s looming combos. So we're giving Negasonic the Power she needs to perform better on her own.
- [Old] 5/4 - On Reveal: Double this card’s Power.
- [Change] 5/4 -> 5/5
Black Panther has long been one of the most exciting "combo cards" in Marvel SNAP. The combo is awesome and has the potential to take over games with the likes of Wong and Arnim Zola. We think that’s a cool deck as long as there’s enough counterplay to it, so buffing Black Panther should help the deck compete when it doesn’t draw enough of the full combo, albeit making the combo easier to stop preemptively with Shang-Chi. That's good, on the off chance this buff makes such a deck too prevalent.
- [Old] 2/2 - When a card moves here, this gains +2 Power.
- [Change] 2/2 -> 2/3
We’ve been glad to see all the experimentation around new Move Archetype decklists with Madame Web and Araña, but the rising tide hasn’t lifted all boats. Kraven has struggled to compete with Madame Web asking to be played on the same turn, so we wanted to give him a little extra Power to keep the decision interesting and hopefully prompt even more diversity among move builds.
- [Old] 3/4 - The first time another card moves here each turn, move it to another location.
- [Change] 3/4 -> 3/5
Hercules has similarly been struggling to make a major contribution to move decks. When the setup is just right he does amazing things, knocking cards like Human Torch and Vulture back and forth between his location and Madame Web’s. But when that doesn’t pan out, he’s not contributing enough. Given we've just introduced some fun new movement cards to the mix that have room for more strength, we’re happy to give Herc some extra Power.
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That's all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!
OTA Analysis
This week’s OTA takes aim at the rock, paper, scissors meta we're in of Hela, Zoo, War Machine, while also reinforcing popular decks that haven't been able to thrive in the current environment. Clog, however, has made it out unscathed and looks to be positioning itself as the next meta tyrant. The archetype has been feasting on Hela and holds its own against the other decks in the meta as well, so Marvel SNAP may soon have a junk problem.
The upcoming Spotlight Caches next week launch the new Symbiote Season with Agent Venom being added to the game alongside Scream, Man-Thing and Mobius M. Mobius. Will two new cards and an insurgence of accessible affliction and anti-Cost reduction cards affect the meta? Let us know your thoughts over at @UntappedSNAP on Twitter/X. Alternatively, come and chat with the wider Marvel SNAP Community on our Discord Server!
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