Marvel Snap Patch Notes (December 2024): All Updates, Buffs, Nerfs Listed

Arishem:

• [Old] 7/7 - At the start of the game, +1 Max Energy. Shuffle 15 random cards into your deck.
• [New] 7/7 - Game Start: Shuffle 12 new cards into your deck. On turn 3, get +1 Max Energy.

Since its release, Arishem has been among the most played and discussed cards in the game. After some early balance, the archetype's win rate and cube rate both settled into a competitive but acceptable range.

However, its play rate has continued to crest above our preferred threshold for metagame diversity. That band is a little more lax in Arishem's case – the deck adds a lot of variety to the gameplay experience–but we've reached its limit.

So, we're adjusting Arishem to give additional Energy on turn 3. In addition to removing two Energy overall, this changes how aggressively the deck can deploy pressure. Since this is a solid nerf, we're also reverting to 12 random cards.

However, in reading through frustrations around Arishem, one element that came up often was playing against cards created randomly that were also in Arishem's starting deck. Predicting Arishem is already hard, but accounting for "doubles" makes it even harder. That aspect isn't crucial to Arishem, so we've adjusted the effect to only add cards that didn't start in your deck.

Lastly, you'll see above that we updated the text's structure. We'd planned to make this change in 2025, shortening "start of the game" triggers into a keyword, but we're previewing it a bit early since Arishem's change was ready to go.

Alioth:

• [Old] 6/10 - On Reveal: Remove the text from all unrevealed enemy cards here.
• [Change] 6/10 -> 6/9

Similarly, Alioth unnecessarily provides some extra tools for a strong Surtur strategy. We use Alioth as a fairly specific kind of tool, and churning its strength is one of the ways we can create fluctuation within the metagame. It doesn't need any special help to earn the right slots.

Black Widow:

• [Old] 3/4 - Activate: Add a Widow's Bite to your opponent's hand.
• [Change] 3/4 -> 3/3

Shifting Black Widow to Activate didn't weaken her as much as we expected–it's possible the Grand Master shenanigans were a distraction, and these decks are better when they're more focused. Since we still wanted to wind up with a Black Widow nerf, we're reverting the stats to 3/3.

Cerebro:

• [Old] 3/0 - Ongoing: Your highest-Power cards have +2 Power.
• [Change] 3/0 -> 2/0

We love Cerebro – it's a novel deck that challenges deckbuilding prowess. But with the recent uptick in strategies using strong Ongoing cards, it's suffered a bit of splash damage along the way. OTA changes also often impact Cerebro, forcing the deck to adapt constantly. This is a pretty big change, but it might be just what Cerebro needs.

Elsa Bloodstone:

• [Old] 3/3 - Each card you play to fill your side of a location gains +2 Power.
• [Change] 3/3 -> 3/4

We're giving Elsa Bloodstone an additional point of Power. There's a lot of competition among 3-Cost build-around right now, and we want Elsa fighting on even ground.

Enchantress:

• [Old] 4/5 - On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards here.
• [Change] 4/5 - 4/6

Since the last time we experimented with this improvement to Enchantress, a fair bit has changed–including how often people play Enchantress. That's noteworthy because several strong Ongoing cards are current pillars of the metagame: U.S. Agent, Darkhawk, Quinjet, Gorr, and Morbius, at least. Rogue has been doing a lot of heavy lifting lately, and we do want Enchantress to also serve as an effective dial, so more Power is warranted.

Frigga:

• [Old] 3/3 - On Reveal: Add a copy of the last card you played to your hand. (if able)
• [Change] 3/3 -> 3/4

We were conservative with Frigga because cards that copy other cards can multiply other buffs unpredictably. Given Frigga has turned out to need some more strength, some extra Power may help Frigga find a more consistent home.

Lockjaw:

• [Old] 4/4 - After you play a card here, swap it with a card in your deck.
• [Change] 4/4 -> 4/5

Uncapping Lockjaw's swaps brought Lockjaw back to life, but there's room for a little more. One major element holding Lockjaw back has been the continued success of Darkhawk decks, which threaten to shut Lockjaw down incidentally, but that's not the only bad matchup. A point of Power will help Lockjaw more often hold its own.

Stormbreaker (Beta Ray Bill Token Card):

• [Old] 0/1 - On Reveal: Double Beta Ray Bill's Power.
• [Change] 0/1 -> 0/3

The "Asgard deck" that leans on Jane Foster to consistently buff Thor and Beta Ray Bill to new heights is one of our more novel and creatively satisfying decks. As such, we want it to be a solid contender in the competitive metagame.

However, the deck has fallen hard, and Beta Ray Bill was one of the weaker pieces. A 7th Power for Bill would buff the base rate while also being doubled alongside Stormbreaker, which is a bit more strength than we want to add right now. Distributing some Power to the axe is a nice middle ground.

Shuri:

• [Old] 4/1 - On Reveal: If you play your next card at this location, double its Power.
• [Change] 4/1 -> 4/3

How the times have changed! Once a metagame tyrant, Shuri fell to the bottom range of our win rates for individual cards last week. Given the card supports unique gameplay flows, we wanted to restore a bit of glory to it now that a range of archetypes is capable of competing with its Power output.

Typhoid Mary:

• [Old] 4/10 - Ongoing: Your other cards here have -1 Power.
• [New] 4/10 - Ongoing: Your other cards here have -2 Power.

Since we shifted Typhoid Mary to focus the drawback on one location, Mary's seen a big surge in play and win rate, fueling variations of the Surtur shell. Surtur is still the clear best deck, so we want to weaken some of its core slightly – but many of the cards don't have "wiggle room" given the significance of 10 Power and the specifics of their effects. We could revert to Typhoid Mary but chose to pursue this middle ground instead, given the new design was more fun to play with.

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