Marvel Snap June 8 Update Patch Notes, Balance Updates
by Rubaditsha
Updated Jun 09, 2023
Marvel Snap Overview
Marvel Snap is a digital collectible card game developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse, available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows platforms. The game immerses players in the vast Marvel Universe, featuring a diverse collection of iconic characters. It was officially released on October 18, 2022, following a period of beta testing.
In Marvel Snap, each player constructs a deck consisting of 12 cards. These cards represent Marvel characters and possess attributes such as cost, power level, and special abilities. Before each round, players simultaneously choose and place one or more cards face down onto one of three randomly assigned locations. Each location has its own unique effect. Once the round concludes, the cards are revealed, triggering any special abilities. The player with the highest power at a particular location claims that location. The objective is to win two out of the three locations, and typically, a game consists of six rounds. As the game progresses, players gain increasing "energy" to play more potent cards.
Advancement within the game's ranked ladder is achieved by earning "cubes." Initially, each game begins with a single cube at stake, but players can choose to double the stakes through a mechanic called "snapping." When a snap occurs, the opponent has the option to either retreat or accept the snap, leading to higher stakes. Designer Kent-Erik Hagman drew a comparison between this mechanic and the doubling cube used in the traditional board game Backgammon.
Marvel Snap offers straightforward gameplay mechanics, making it relatively simple to learn and play compared to other collectible card games. Individual games typically last only a few minutes, allowing for quick and engaging matches.
At the time of its global release, Marvel Snap boasted a roster of over 170 characters, and this number continues to expand on a weekly basis. Players can expect a wealth of options when building their decks, with an ever-growing selection of beloved Marvel characters to choose from.
Marvel Snap June 8 Update Patch Notes
Marvel Snap players have been engaged in heated debates about the game's balance ever since its release. Often, there is a particular card or deck archetype that dominates the metagame to such an extent that the only solution is to make adjustments through nerfs.
Unfortunately, in the past, Marvel Snap's patches were only released every four weeks. This meant that players had to endure a lengthy wait, especially for those striving to climb the ranked ladder and achieve infinite status.
However, there is good news on the horizon. Second Dinner, the developer of Marvel Snap, has announced that weekly balance patches will be introduced to the game. These frequent updates will be delivered over the air (OTA), allowing for immediate adjustments to cards. These changes will be implemented as hotfixes, distinct from the more comprehensive patch notes that will still be released every four weeks.
This shift to weekly balance patches signifies a commitment to continuously improving the game's balance and addressing any issues that arise. Players can now look forward to more regular updates that strive to maintain a fair and enjoyable gameplay experience.
https://twitter.com/MARVELSNAP/status/1666915216360366081
2023 OTA Card Balance Updates
Happy Spider-Versus season! We’ve got 5 updates for you this week, including an update to a starter card. Let’s hop right in!
CARD CHANGES
Spider-Man
Spider-Man performs very well in multiple decks like High Evolutionary lockdown and Galactus. We want to avoid these kinds of playstyles being too powerful as they are frustrating to play against, so we’ve decided to adjust Spider-Man to limit his play in combos like Spider-Man into Professor X. While this does put him at the same Cost as his lockdown peer Professor X, we think that their effects are distinct enough that they can both sit at 5-Cost.
Beast
Bounce decks with cards like Kitty Pryde, Bast, and Hit-Monkey have been performing very well lately. Beast in particular stood out to us as a very powerful enabler in the deck. We want Beast’s effect to take more investment to get returns, so we’re adjusting him to be a 3-Cost card. This also helps give Falcon more room to spread his wings, as he often felt like a worse Beast without the cost reduction effect.
The Hood
Many decks are able to take great advantage of the cheap 6-Power Demon while neutralizing The Hood’s negative Power. We’re making a small nerf to The Hood’s Power to make him more punishing to play if you’re unable to counteract his base Power. Notably, this is actually a buff to Viper decks that hand The Hood over to the opponent to deal with.
Rogue
In a similar vein to our Enchantress buffs, Rogue is a card we’d expect to see more of to counteract powerful Ongoing effects. While it’s not surprising that Enchantress is more popular with her higher base Power, more universal coverage, and synergy with cards like Zabu and Lizard, we were surprised to see that Rogue performs poorly even in Silver Surfer decks. We’re giving her a small bump in Power to help her be a more viable tool to counter Ongoing cards.
Medusa
Players move past many of the starter cards pretty quickly, but most of them make a comeback in a variety of later archetypes. For example, Quicksilver was in a Lockjaw deck for a while, Iron Man sees play in Thanos Ongoing and Mr. Negative, and just recently High Evolutionary brought back all the vanilla cards. Medusa however stands out as a card that sees virtually no play anywhere beyond the early stages of SNAP. Even though she’s consistently a 2/4 currently, her restriction makes her weaker than she may seem. We’re giving her a buff to allow her to better compete with other options at the 2-Cost slot.
Thanks for reading! We’re continuing to keep a close eye on the game balance, and High Evolutionary in particular. See you all next week for a new patch and the release of Conquest!
Marvel Snap June 8 Update Patch Notes: FAQs
Marvel Snap is a digital collectible card game developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse. It features a collection of Marvel characters and allows players to engage in strategic card battles.
Marvel Snap was officially released on October 18, 2022, after a period of beta testing.
Each player constructs a deck of 12 cards representing Marvel characters. Players take turns placing their cards face down on one of three randomly assigned locations. At the end of each round, the cards are revealed, triggering special abilities, and the player with the highest power at a location wins that location. The objective is to win two out of the three locations.
In Marvel Snap, players earn "cubes" as they climb the game's ranked ladder. A game begins with a single cube at stake, but players can double the stakes through a mechanic called "snapping," which their opponent can choose to accept or retreat from.