Marvel SNAP Deck Meta - May 2023
Can you believe that the most hyped month of Marvel Snap is finally coming to an end?
Since March, we have all been talking about the big/major/game-changing/cool-looking/wow-I-want-to-use-Abomination series five cards coming to the game. Now, the month must end. And with that comes a look back at all the changes that have completely changed the meta four times over the last several weeks.
But it ended up being so much more. When you factor in all of the OTA changes that happened, bringing rise to what were previously dead archetypes, like Destroy, plus the progressive fall of overly dominant archetypes, like Stature and Blackbolt, we can analyze the meta completely differently as it has hit a brand new balance in light of the new big bad, High Evolutionary.
While deck-defining Big Bads seem to completely engulf the Percentage Seen in the current state of the game, it does not accurately showcase the most successful decks as we come to the end of the month. Major changes to cards like Shuri and Wave, in coordination with the rise of new deck-defining cards like Iron Lad, have shaken the meta into a much different balance. Collectively, that makes this season seem more daunting than others. This has also been our first glance at a full month of statistics, knowing that infinite players are only being matched against other infinite players. This makes the ladder climb all that more daunting as ‘try hard’ goes up against ‘try hard’ and ‘already-tried’ is only going up against those who have ‘already-tried’.
Yet, through all the new cards that have dropped in May, we still see success from the former season passes. Silver Surfer, MODOK, and even Nimrod have made relevant climbs in the ranks over the last five weeks. Some could be attributed to consistency; some could be attributed to the free Kitty Pryde; and some could be attributed to the necessity of capitalizing on the full value of 6,000 Collector Tokens. Whatever the reason may be, it all keeps relevance as the season passes and continues to be a big hit in value and success. When looking at this past season's pass with Nebula, we now see her as a plug-and-play card that fits mostly into Control archetypes that have recently gained more popularity since the release of High Evolutionary.
I think it's also fair to say that many of us are in that final push, trying to climb to the top and get that ultimate prize…the magical golden cassette tape. So, knowing that some of us are in that final push also means that we should probably have a good idea of who else is trying and what they are all running as well. This has led me to start off my very first tier list with Snap.fan by presenting two tier lists. The first one is a full overview of the meta, looking at all different ranks (1–99). The second one is focused on those who are in ranks 80 to 99 and trying to make it to the very top.
(And please...be gentle in the comments. This is my first article and tier list for Snap.fan so I am welcome to all constructive feedback! Images)
Let’s first breakdown how the tier list is justified and ranked:
Tier List Qualifications:
- Must have a minimum of 1% meta share of the seen percentage in CL 3000+.
- Must have a positive cube rate from our Snap.fan Tracker results.
- If a deck has promise in cube rate but is under the 1% meta share requirement, it may be featured in ‘Sleeper Picks’ as a deck to watch.
Tier Breakdown:
- S-Tier: These decks are the top performers in the scope of the meta. They had the best overall matchups, cube rate, and climb percentage at the time of the tier list release. (over +0.2 cube rate)
- A-Tier: These decks are consistent and solid performers in the scope of the meta. They have consistently good matchups and will overall permit a steady climb up the ladder. They may not be the top decks for consistency in wins, but they will still overall net a positive cube gain. (+0.1 - +0.199 cube rate)
- B-Tier: These decks lean more toward a representation of challenge. They end up averaging close to zero overall cube gain due to a mix of higher skill and higher opportunity chance while playing them. This results in a mix of decks that are ‘fun’ and surprising. However, they may not be ideal for climbing the ladder within the scope of the meta. (-0.1 - +0.09 cube rate)
- C-Tier: These decks are off-meta underperformers compared to those decks in the S, A, and B tiers. They have poorer matchups and, as a result, lead to a negative average cube gain. While their presence in the meta is relevant, their consistency is not. (under a -0.1 cube rate)
- Sleeper Picks: These decks have less than 1% of the current meta share but have shown tremendous promise in their limited exposure to the current meta. With more data and exposure in the meta, these decks could appear in future tier lists as relevant and trackable. (over +0.15 cube rate)
ALL RANKS (0-99)
S-Tier:
HitMonkey Sera - Bounce - High Evo - Invis Hela - Death Galactus
A-Tier:
Dracula - Shuri Clone - Death Wave - Patriot Lad - Sera Surfer - Doom Wave - Control - Zabu Darkhawk
B-Tier:
KageMat - Advanced Patriot - Big Venom - Generic Self Destroy - DDScam - Generic Zabu - Negative
C-Tier:
Sleeper Picks:
Surfer Girls - Woding - Disruptron - Shuri Stature
INFINITE PUSH RANKS (80-99)
S-Tier:
A-Tier:
Invis Hela - Shuri Clone - Bounce - Death Wave - Death Galactus - High Evo - Zabu Darkhawk - Patriot Lad
B-Tier:
Doom Wave - Sera Surfer - KageMat - DDScam
C-Tier:
Sleeper Picks:
Lockjaw On Reveal - Thanos Bounce - Janejaw - Cerebro-2 - DDDino - Zero
Who is ItsGuestGaming?
ItsGuestGaming is a FT Content Creator for Marvel Snap and is a part of the #MarvelSNAPCreator Program. From new card analysis to deck breakdowns, live-streamed gameplay, competitive tournament casting, and more, he has been an active part of the Marvel SNAP community that evaluates all levels of gameplay, from the newcomer to the beta whale.