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Balance in Marvel Snap has been a contentious topic of conversation ever since the game first came out. There's usually a certain card or a certain deck archetype that has such an iron grip over the metagame that a round of nerfs is the only way to restore balance. Unfortunately, patches in Marvel Snap only occur every four weeks, meaning a long wait for those struggling to climb the ranked ladder in the quest to reach infinite.
Thankfully, Second Dinner has added semi-regular balance patches every other week to hotfix any issues. For everything you need to know about how these work, read on.
When Is The Next Marvel Snap Weekly Update
Marvel Snap updates used to take every week, but that was too much, so now the team releases two OTA updates a month to give the devs a bit of a break in between.
To illustrate the monthly schedule of updates players should expect, it looks a bit like this:
• Week 1 - New Patch week (usually on a Tuesday)
• Week 2 - OTA week (Always a Thursday)
• Week 3 - No OTA Update
• Week 4 - OTA week (Always a Thursday)
• Week 1 - The next New Patch (usually on a Tuesday)
Latest Marvel Snap Weekly Update Changes
The most recent OTA update and balance changes can be found below:
Captain Marvel
- [Old] 4/4 - At the end of the game, move to a location that wins you the game. (if possible)
- [Change] 4/4 -> 4/5
Captain Marvel at 4/5 proved to be one of our strongest cards last year, but times have changed. The deck Captain Marvel most strongly supported has been substantially weaker in the new metagame, and at 4/4 Captain Marvel hasn't seen the level of play we'd like. Given we think the metagame can tolerate the stronger card once again, we're excited to try this buff and hope it can stick long-term for one of our most exciting cards and characters.
Apocalypse
- [Old] 6/8 - When you discard this, put it back with +4 Power.
- [Change] 6/8 -> 6/6
Discard decks have moved from the middle to the top of the metagame over the last month, fueled by some strong and exciting new releases. We want Discard to be a great deck, but it's been just a hair too strong. Apocalypse is the single best-performing card in the dedicated Discard archetype, so we're taking away a little bit of its base Power. We considered reducing the triggered buff ability instead, but when possible we prefer to push strength into the "dreams" of our cards, and Apocalypse has an exciting one to grow.
Mind Stone
- [Old] 1/1 - On Reveal: Draw 2 1-Cost cards from your deck.
- [Change] 1/1 -> 2/1
Thanos has become a bit of a problem for the metagame. When we adjusted Time Stone, we briefly mentioned that the design of Thanos can be constraining. Specifically, the versatility of the Stones give the deck a lot of room to maneuver and adapt to whatever the metagame becomes. In all cases however, the strongest Stone in the deck has consistently been the Mind Stone. We considered removing its second draw, but ultimately that's a very appealing part of the card. So for now, we're taking the unusual approach of making it a 2-Cost card. We don't think this is likely to fully solve the "Thanos problem," but hopefully it meaningfully addresses the archetype while we investigate a wider range of solutions.
Psylocke
- [Old] 2/2 - On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
- [Change] 2/2 -> 2/1
We buffed Psylocke many months ago, and since then the card has enjoyed a range of interesting homes. In recent months, Psylocke's use has become restricted to almost exactly Thanos, where its performance is surprisingly among the strongest cards in the deck. Given we're looking for some ways to shave strength away from Thanos in the current metagame, that makes reverting Psylocke's buff a logical step, albeit a small one.
Adam Warlock
- [Old] 5/4 - After each turn, draw a card if you’re winning here.
- [Change] 5/4 -> 5/5
As previously discussed, we made the last change to Adam Warlock with an abundance of caution. Since then, we've seen it was a very minor improvement for a small number of decks, so we're going to push on a little bit more. We believe the design could go to 5/6 fairly easily, but one of the archetypes we're interested in here is Cerebro-5, which can be a difficult deck to serve. So we're trying the smaller buff to see how that goes. None of this is to say that we won't pursue other Costs or a more dramatic rework later, but for now we're going to try nudging things more softly.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Most of the Guardians of the Galaxy have struggled to keep pace with even the early Series metagames, as their risky abilities don’t offer quite enough compared to alternatives. In addition to boosting their total Power potential, we're taking the opportunity to try lining their buffs up on the same Power gained, rather than having different combinations of Power for each card.
Rocket Racoon
- [Old] 1/2 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +2 Power.
- [New] 1/1 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.
Star-Lord
- [Old] 2/2 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +3 Power.
- [New] 2/2 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.
Groot
- [Old] 3/4 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +2 Power.
- [New] 3/3 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.
Drax
- [Old] 4/6 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +2 Power.
- [New] 4/5 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.
Gamora
- [Old] 5/7 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +5 Power.
- [New] 5/8 - On Reveal: If your opponent played a card here this turn, +4 Power.
Marvel Snap Weekly Updates Explained
Second Dinner did an excellent job explaining exactly what will be happening during each round of weekly updates. We'll break down everything they had to say about the topic here.
What Kind Of Changes Will Be Made
Second Dinner states their OTA tool can make "changes to be numbers-only." This means full-scale ability changes will not happen until the larger monthly patch. Only stat increases or decreases will be occurring each week (until the OTA tool is updated).
Will Cards Be Buffed Or Nerfed
Both! Second Dinner has stated that they want to prioritize buffing cards and only nerf cards "when it’s deemed necessary." In fact, the team went on to confirm that they're "going to guarantee at least one buff in each of these updates." Hopefully, this means a lot of currently unplayable cards will be given the chance to shine.
How Many Cards Will Be Changed Each Week
Second Dinner has stated that 2-4 cards each will be changed on average. This is dissimilar to the monthly patches, where changes can be made at Second Dinner's discretion, depending on the state of the game.
What Cards Will Be Changed
Second Dinner has a list of buffs and nerfs that they are working through and are prioritizing those cards first. Additionally, the cards chosen may not have an impact now but will have become stronger alongside new cards and new locations.
Why Don't Second Dinner Make These Changes Now
Too many changes at once would send the meta into a flurry, and it would never have a chance to settle. The team also stated that it lets them "lightly freshen the metagame periodically, rather than shake it all up at once and then watch things settle into a new state of stasis."
How Long Will Weekly Updates Persist
Second Dinner has stated that they have a trial period scheduled for May. Depending on how that goes, they may continue with weekly updates moving forward.
For more Marvel Snap news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below:
- Does Marvel Snap Have Codes
- Featured & Hot Locations Explained
- Who Reveals First
- Progression and Levelling Guide
- What Is the Snap
- How To Get Titles
- Why You Can't Trade Cards
- How To Get, Use and Spend Gold
- How Do Ties Work
- How To Get Collector's Tokens
- How Collector's Reserves Work
- How To Change Card Backs
- When To Snap & Retreat
- How To Change Name
- How To Win A Location With Only 1 Card
- How To Get Credits Fast
- How to Battle Friends
- Marvel Snap Variants Explained
- Ultimate Variants Explained
- How to Get All Variant Cards
