Marvel Snap’s Latest OTA Update Buffs Up Three of the Game’s Weakest Cards

There are plenty of powerful cards in Marvel Snap. Zabu, Silver Surfer, Darkhawk, the list goes on. There are also a whole ton of truly awful and borderline unplayable cards in the game. Lady Deathstrike may very well be the newest addition to this list, which already includes the likes of Shanna and Crystal, both of which have gotten slight buffs in this week’s OTA update alongside Forge.

Here are the balance changes:

Forge

• [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Give the next card you play +2 Power.
• [Change] …next card you play +2 Power. ->…next card you play +3 Power.

Many cards make great use of Forge’s effect, but he’s not quite powerful enough to be competitive at the moment. Given how many potential combos he has, we’re hopeful that a buff to Forge will have a really positive effect on meta diversity by enabling many new deck variations to be viable. Even though we’ve only increased his effect by 1 Power, cards like Deadpool, Multiple Man, and Brood can quickly multiply this increase to much greater effect.

Shanna

• [Old] 4/4 – On Reveal: Add a random 1-Cost card to each location.
• [Change] 4/4 -> 3/2

When we originally designed Shanna, we made her a 4-Cost to synergize with her companions Ka-Zar and Zabu. Even after a Power buff a few months ago, she hasn’t really found success so we’re going to try a different approach and push her down to 3-Cost. A Cost reduction should afford her more deckbuilding flexibility, and make her a more viable turn 6 play to add Power to each location.

Crystal

• [Old] 4/4 – On Reveal: Each player draws a card.
• [Change] 4/4 -> 3/3

Crystal has consistently been one of our weakest cards since day 1. We’re very cautious about pushing Crystal’s Power as SNAP’s small deck sizes make each card draw matter a lot more. However, we want to give every card a chance to at least see some play, so we’re giving Crystal a push with a Cost reduction to 3. This should allow her to at least be a consideration in Surfer, and maybe even help a Ronan deck out.

To be honest, with the exception of Forge, I’m not entirely sure the changes to Crystal and Shanna will help them see more play in the current Marvel Snap meta. With both of them getting adjust to 3-Costs, it’s possible that we may see them show up more in Silver Surfer decks, but with Shanna’s high variance and unpredictability, it’s hard to see her becoming a competitive card.

Crystal’s sort of found a home in discard decks, where she can help make your draws more consistent, so this change may increase her play rate a little more.

On the other hand, Forge has been seeing a bit of a resurgence in destroy decks, and this bump to his ability makes him a lot more versatile and usable in other archetypes as well.

Marvel Snap is now available on PC and mobile devices.