Reviewing the November 2024 Patch
Marvel Snap just dropped a massive patch with tons of upcoming content including new cards and other goodies. Let's dive in and review the most interesting things found in the latest datamines.
New Features
This patch was light on new features and heavy on datamined future content. The one new feature we got is a nice one that many have asked for. With the album quick preview feature you can directly access your album progress from a variant in the shop.
This patch did not include any balance changes or reworks, but Second Dinner’s community manager did tease a potentially impactful OTA on Thursday. Still, it would have been nice to get a Kang, Adam Warlock, or Mantis rework with this patch.
The highlight of the patch was undoubtedly the newly datamined cards for December and January.
December
Shrouded in more secrecy than usual, December’s season is now confirmed as a cross-promotion with the upcoming NetEase game Marvel Rivals. Multiple Marvel games are teaming up in December.
Galacta, the daughter of Galactus and a playable character in Marvel Rivals, will be the season pass card. Part of her design is clearly meant to enable her father, (6/9 Galactus is easier to stick than a 6/6 one) but giving +3 Power is quite strong so I expect she'll shine in several other decks as well.
I think all of these designs are interesting and exciting. In particular, I love how complex and dynamic Peni Parker is with movement, merge synergy, card generation, and energy boost all in a single card. Luna Snow really gets my deck-building gears grinding and thinking of ways to take advantage of her without helping my opponent. Bruce Banner may prove frustrating for those who aren't big fans of wild variance, but really all of these cards feel both inventive and powerful.
January
January's theme is the Dark Avengers, a comic storyline where Norman Osborne ascends to a position of power and brings a bunch of villains along with him.
The season pass card will be Iron Patriot, a mantle that Osborne picked up during that storyline. He looks both unique and powerful. Assuming you can hold a lead in that location he provides a hefty discount.
Like December, these all feel quite powerful and interesting. It's nice to have two solid seasons of cards to look forward to (though the spotlights from both seasons feel a bit weak, so I hope those get tweaked). I'm excited to try Bullseye with Daken, Swarm, and Scorn. Gorgon should act as an additional way to keep Arishem in check alongside Cassandra Nova, which I think is important for Arishem to be able to remain in the game without feeling too oppressive. Toxie Doxie could be fun for people trying to get massive combos and Moonstone looks to have huge potential in a variety of decks like certain Ajax Affliction, Spectrum, Patriot, Zoo, and more. Ares’ ability is perfect from a lore-perspective as he's a bit of a big egomaniac who likes to compare his strength to others and his ability is just bizarre enough to feel novel.
The Future
February and March appear to be based on Avengers 1,000,000 BC and the Captain America: Brave New World film. Other than a new reference to a Dum Dum Duggan card that may slot into the Captain America season, we didn't get any hints about further in the future.
Season Pass Premium
We got our first peeks at what might be included in the revamped Super Premium Season Pass. It looks like it will be $20 and potentially give you access to additional track rewards, like variants, and an exclusive bundle. Paying $20 for the privilege to pay more doesn't feel particularly exciting, but being able to enhance the regular pass is a step up from the previous $15 option at least.
Character Mastery
We only got a few tiny crumbs of new character mastery info. You can progress along the character mastery track for each character via both infinite splits and acquisition of new variants (existing progress will count). The Character Caches you'll earn on the track will give finishes and flares for that character.
I'm not entirely sure what this means. If you've unlocked a collectible flare it's presumably applicable to that character immediately, so why would it be added to the infinity split pool? Is this so that you can combine it with existing flares and finishes. Like if you want Banana flare and Gold background do you need to unlock that with a split? If unlocking a new flare or finish merely adds it to your pool of potential Infinity Splits that would be concerning.
Highest value bundles
Final Thoughts
This was a massive patch as far as new content and it was nice to see the return of content we can datamine after the added secrecy of the Marvel Rivals crossover. Moreover, I think the new cards represent some of the more creative designs in a while and I'm happy with the direction they are taking the new cards. There are certainly a few that seem too powerful, but keep in mind they're not finalizing. There is a lot to look forward to in the next couple of months. Be sure to check out our new variant breakdown as well! Let me know which upcoming cards you think look the most exciting!