When Marvel Snap first launched in October 2022, it was widely praised for its deep strategic elements and non-intrusive monetization. While developer Second Dinner has faced some criticism for Marvel Snap's increasingly gacha-like mechanics in the time since, the studio still appeared committed to maintaining gameplay balance. However, with new cards introduced via the game's two most recent Premium Season Passes now dominating the meta, it's beginning to feel more and more like another pay-to-win mobile title.
Each month since its launch, Marvel Snap has introduced a new Season Pass with three tiers of payment options available. The free tier gives players access to credits and gold but lacks any of the special card variants, card backs, or player avatars. The Premium and Premium+ Season Pass tiers give players these special cosmetic items in addition to instant access to the exclusive Season Pass card a month before free-to-play players can access it. Due to the power and utility of the two most recent Season Pass cards, free-to-play players are having are harder time keeping up with those who've purchased the Premium Season Pass.
Zabu and Silver Surfer Decks are Some of the Most Common in the Current Meta
The most recent season of Marvel Snap, titled The Savage Land, features Zabu as a Season Pass card, which has become the cornerstone for many of the most popular decks in the meta right now. Zabu is a 3-Cost/2-Power card with the Ongoing ability to reduce the Cost of the player's 4-Cost cards by 2. This is quite a versatile ability and allows players to flood the field with powerful cards like Crossbones, Spider-Man, Jubilee, and Shang-Chi much more easily than they would be able to do otherwise.
This ability can make Zabu a headache to play against since opponents will constantly overwhelm the field with powerful 4-Cost cards. The best way for free-to-play players to deal with this strategy is to counter it with cards like Enchantress, Rogue, or Sandman. Enchantress and Rogue both have the ability to remove Zabu's Ongoing ability, while Sandman can shut down the flood of cards by limiting players to one card play per turn. A Kazoo Sandman Marvel Snap deck could be a great choice here to counter the Zabu 4-Cost flood with a flood of one's own before shutting the whole thing down with Sandman.
Prior to The Savage Land, December 2022's season of the game was The Power Cosmic which featured another powerful, meta game-dominating card in the form of Marvel Snap's Silver Surfer. What makes this 3-Cost/0-Power card so terrifying is its ability to give all other 3-Cost cards owned by the player +3 Power. The strategy with this deck is to play as many 3-Cost cards as possible, then play the Silver Surfer on the final turn to give them all a power boost and turn the tide of the battle. A card like Sera is great to pair with this strategy to lower the Cost of cards in the player's hand, making it easier to flood the field with cards that can be boosted by the Silver Surfer.
Countering this strategy can be difficult for free-to-play players because it relies on predicting where the opponent will play the Silver Surfer. A well-timed Cosmo can prevent the Silver Surfer's On Reveal ability, rendering its 0-Power useless. Since the Silver Surfer is likely to be played on turn 6, playing Leech on turn 5 and removing the abilities from all cards in the opponent's hand can throw a wrench in their strategy and prevent that turn 6 momentum swing. While these Season Pass cards are eventually added to Pool 5 after the end of the season, the nature of Marvel Snap's Collector's Reserves means free-to-play players will still have a hard time getting them.
Marvel Snap is available now for PC and mobile devices.
