Burning Questions 03/08

Hello, and welcome back to Burning Questions, where we try to answer the questions that have the community buzzing. This week, we discuss whether Hope is the savior of Marvel Snap, how to fix Conquest and the nerfs that should be reverted.

1) Did Hope Summers save Marvel Snap?

Hope Summers is a messianic figure destined to save mutantkind in the comic books. Before the last OTA balance changes, Marvel Snap settled into a rut with only a few archetypes able to compete at the highest levels. The OTA breathed life into the Meta, but did Hope restore Snap to its former glory? Several content creators think so.

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But not everyone agrees. I've seen her called “underwhelming” or “mid.” However, five days in, I think her true power and impact on the game are slowly being uncovered.

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Hope works in slightly different archetypes than some people anticipated. She's not particularly suited to fueling massive combos. I think players often have an impulse to try to use new cards to construct some massive, new, unbeatable combo. Cards like Wave and Electro already fuel those strategies. Instead, because of her requirement that you play additional cards on top of her, Hope works best to allow some decks to squeeze in 1-2 additional cards per game and play with a generally greedier curve. Hope is one of the best flavor hits Second Dinner has pulled off. In the comics, she takes mutant powers and amplifies them. In Snap, she takes existing, playable archetypes and supercharges them.

KMBest said it best on Twitter when he called Hope “She's the card midrange decks have been waiting for!” For those unfamiliar with the term, midrange is a term lifted from traditional card games like Magic: The Gathering. Terms like aggro (aggressive decks that try to attack and win quickly), control (decks that try to limit their opponent and win late), and combo (decks that rely on getting a powerful multi-card combination, are in contrast to Midrange decks that try to win with medium-sized creatures on around turns 4-6. The way this has been translated into Snap is to refer to decks that win with cards that cost 2-5 rather than relying on giant 6-cost cards, huge combos, or a flood of cards on turn 6. The term often overlaps with decks termed “good cards,” decks that play individually good cards rather than relying on highly synergistic connections. Examples of midrange decks in Marvel Snap include most Darkhawk decks of the past year and the small movers decks with cards like Elsa Bloodstone and Kraven. Midrange decks are satisfying because they are highly consistent, play on-curve, and have flexible deck spots.

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I've seen Hope succeed in high evolutionary shells as well. She can also help combo decks that can play many cards and are thirsty for energy. She undoubtedly upgrades traditional move decks, for example. However, I believe her best long-term role will be to enable midrange decks. Midrange decks were struggling in the Planet Hulk season and most of the Black Order season, and I think the metagame suffered because of it. Now, Hope has come to save the day. She, along with Pixie, has refreshed the metagame, and neither is anywhere near fully explored yet. I think Pixie is also underrated and was misunderstood before the release. It turns out she isn't a Mr. Negative competitor. Instead, she gives certain decks (Bounce, Hit-Monkey) massive high-roll potential. Oh, and she works in greedy midrange Hope decks, too.

Welcome to the pink-haired/red-headed future.

2) How would you fix conquest mode?

8 months ago, Conquest mode debuted and was relatively well-received by the community. Some players said they'd give up on a ladder and play conquest mode full-time. After introducing the infinite leaderboard, the most competitive players switched back to the ladder as their primary mode. Queue times in Conquest have ballooned, and the rewards have shrunk. There are fewer mystery variants and less currency than initially. The variant currently in the conquest shop doesn't feel premium enough to draw people to the mode. They need to make an effort to nail the Conquest variant each month. Surprisingly, the reward I look forward to the most is the 155 booster packs in the hopes of being able to split cards that I either don't play enough or have upgraded so much that I'm low on boosters.

Phoenix Force

The decks that thrive in Conquest tend to lean heavily on either huge combos like Living Tribunal or decks with tech cards that can answer any combo deck. One suggestion is to allow a sideboard. A sideboard is a small group of cards (maybe 1 to 3) that aren't included in your main deck 12 but can be swapped between rounds. I'm not a huge fan of this idea since it would further drive away casual players and make cards like Shang Chi and Alioth even more prominent. I'd rather the metagame be improved by reducing the utility of tech cards in the game generally (or adding competition for them).

Additionally, the game mode feels too long. It's not the quick, “snappy” game we fell in love with. I think Silver Conquest should be eliminated at a minimum. Who enjoys this level? Going from proving grounds straight to Gold would be a lot better.

Also, proving grounds could probably use some work. Some people snap immediately, intending to shorten the battle to a single game, but not everyone knows about this or wants to do it. Maybe the proving grounds could be just 8 cubes. The problem is that the proving ground is important in teaching people how battle mode functions. Honestly, I'd almost rather it be 12 cubes than 10 in all modes. Proving grounds could still be a single battle when two experienced players queue into each other and both snap. In the other levels (hopefully sans silver), it wouldn't feel so game-ending to lose 8 cubes immediately, which could loosen up how people play while leading to some great battles.

One of the main ways to “fix” conquest mode would be to introduce a new game mode. This could take some of the pressure off of conquest mode and let people enjoy it for what it is more. Maybe conquest mode isn't broken and doesn't need fixing; we need some new, exciting way to play and experiment with our cards.

Let me know in the comments what you would change (if anything) about Conquest!

3) Which nerf do you most want reverted?

Second Dinner has generally done a good job of balancing the game. But if I could revert one nerf, it would be Captain Marvel. She was one of my most played cards and 5-cost and one of the best cards in the game at 4-5.

Captain Marvel

Also, I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I would love to see what would happen if both Aero and Leader were reverted. Those cards would have more counters now and offered some complex gameplay.

Aero

Leader

Hopefully, Elsa Bloodstone will get her long-deserved buff in the patch next week, but what about justice for Viper?

Elsa Bloodstone

Viper

That's it for this week! Be sure to join the conversation in the comments and send me a question on Twitter if you have a burning question that you need answered!