Marvel Snap ‘s meta has gone via fairly a number of slumps. We’ve been affected by Galactus, Alioth, and now Blob, and there’s at all times one specific card that’s on the heart of all of it: Professor X.
With this week’s OTA update, Professor X is lastly getting a small slap on the wrist, although it’s price noting that his core means stays the identical. Other than X, a number of different playing cards have additionally gotten small nerfs, together with Viper, Werewolf by Night time, Black Widow, and extra.
Listed below are the entire adjustments on this week’s OTA replace:
- Professor X
- [Old] 5/3 – Ongoing: Lock down this location. (Playing cards can’t be added, eliminated, and so forth.)
- [Change] 5/3 -> 5/1
It’s all enjoyable and video games once you’re curving Warpath into Destroyer… however that’s probably not what’s been occurring with Professor X recently. As we’ve pushed on the power to entry further Vitality or assault places with out enjoying on to them, Xavier has develop into a centerpiece risk in decks aiming to aggressively limit the play house inside the sport. As we mentioned when adjusting Galactus many moons in the past, that’s a dynamic we wish to management fastidiously.
Professor X decks are particularly efficient at preying on metagames in flux or sure featured places. These are each instances once we’d choose gamers deal with the joy of what’s doable vs. insulating themselves from the specter of a locked-down location. For now, we’re addressing that downside with a Energy discount that we hope is stern sufficient to make gamers attempt tougher to threaten these sorts of wins.
- Werewolf By Night time
- [Old] 3/3 – After you play an On Reveal card at one other location, transfer there to realize +2 Energy.
- [Change] 3/3 -> 4/4
Like Darkhawk, Werewolf By Night time provides a number of totally different decks an early supply of strain that’s laborious to compete with. Werewolf’s additionally a card that’s laborious to grasp, requiring gamers to navigate find out how to finest depart open areas at their places as a way to maximize Energy and the variety of places Werewolf can threaten. That’s robust sufficient that some Silver Surfer decks have even minimize Brood!
When a card’s power is sufficient to unseat foundational playing cards in different archetypes, that’s normally a bit a lot. We thought-about many adjustments however needed to try to preserve the joy of leaping ferociously across the board with a significant risk. To perform that, we’re going to attempt transferring Werewolf up the curve to 4-Price. This could take away a significant quantity of Vitality and time from the cardboard, and likewise deliver Brood again in from the chilly.
- Black Widow
- [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Add a Widow’s Chunk to your opponent’s hand.
- [Change] 2/1 -> 3/3
Shifting Widow’s Chunk to 0/-1 was an efficient increase to Black Widow’s power, and there are decks enjoying Widow right now that we’re glad to see. We’re much less pleased with how simple and rewarding it’s to make use of Beast or some places to play Widow a number of instances. Getting caught with a bunch of Widow’s Bites could be pretty irritating for lots of decks, so we’re transferring to a better Price to make that tougher. That is pretty related in precept to the change we made a very long time in the past to Rockslide, shifting a card’s Price to boost the power ground however decrease the ceiling, and that change labored effectively!
- Martyr
- [Old] 1/4 – On the finish of the sport, transfer to a location that LOSES you the sport. (if doable)
- [Change] 1/4 -> 1/5
It’s clear that we missed low on Martyr, so we’re coming in with a fast buff right here. Considered one of our learnings from Martyr has been higher gauging the worth of “easy” Energy, which has been devalued in lots of latest metagames. Decrease-Price playing cards are beneath a whole lot of strain to supply Energy in higher-level play. That’s a dynamic we’re going to proceed exploring as we develop future content material.
- Viper
- [Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: Considered one of your different playing cards right here switches sides.
- [Change] 2/3 -> 3/4
Between Annihilus, Selene, and our adjustments to Luke Cage, decks targeted on gumming up the enemy’s aspect of places with unhealthy playing cards have obtained a whole lot of new instruments. Because the deck beneficial properties choices, generally it’s fascinating to have a look at shifting across the present items to see the place the play patterns might change. Viper’s not a problematic card–our objective isn’t a nerf, however a change, and three/4 is fascinating in that regard.
Nevertheless, our motivations for this modification are largely an abundance of warning round Havok. We tried some flip 3/flip 4 Viper + Havok ourselves, and it didn’t impress. However lots has modified since then: Loki and Elsa are weaker, Luke Cage supplies much less sure safety for Havok, some then-dominant decks have even disappeared. As a result of the potential for that mixture of performs could be so unfun, we’re making this modification to make sure it doesn’t exceed our expectations and warp the metagame. It’s additionally only a good alternative to experiment with shifting Viper to a special value.
- Ronan the Accuser
- [Old] 5/3 – Ongoing: +2 Energy for every card in your opponent’s hand.
- [Change] 5/3 -> 5/5
The Accuser has been on our buff record for months, however we waited to tug the set off for a number of causes. There was some concern about find out how to finest push previous archetypes, we had been additionally contemplating a extra important rework, and ultimately buffing Ronan headlong into Loki simply didn’t appear proper. We determined to stay with one thing easy for now, including some Energy to create a extra significant 5-Price risk.
- Maximus
- [Old] 3/7 – On Reveal: Your opponent attracts 2 playing cards.
- [Change] 3/7 -> 2/6
As a further assist piece for Ronan, we’re delivering a buff to Maximus right here. Maximus was one of many early additions to Silver Surfer, offering a whole lot of Energy effectively. As we’ve continued to launch 3-Price playing cards, particularly Daken and Sebastian Shaw, Maximus has struggled to earn that slot. We had been glad to see the discharge of Blob present a surge to Maximus, and we’ve determined to capitalize on that momentum and see if Maximus might even play a job in different decks.
- Gladiator
- [Old] 3/7 – On Reveal: Add a card out of your opponent’s deck to their aspect of this location. If it has much less Energy, destroy it.
- [Change] 3/7 -> 3/8
This can be a very related change to the one we’re making larger as much as Martyr. Gladiator has been extra profitable than Martyr, nevertheless it looks like there’s nonetheless room to enhance right here. Along with usually bettering the cardboard, transferring Maximus out of the 3-Price slot will create a void for some Silver Surfer decks that did need entry to a considerable amount of Energy on-demand. That’s a possibility for Gladiator to flex some muscle groups.
- Punisher
- [Old] 3/2 – Ongoing: +1 Energy for every enemy card right here.
- [Change] 3/2 -> 3/3
Punisher has been unnecessarily weak for some time. Nevertheless, as a part of the brand new participant expertise, we must be cautious about how we alter the cardboard. For instance, a 2-Price model would necessitate shifting another piece of early sport content material to 3-Price. Even with that restriction, including a single Energy is mainly free and will simply make the cardboard a extra enjoyable sport piece.
Whereas there’s little question that Professor X will probably nonetheless be fairly dominant within the sport’s prison-style meta, this small nerf ought to at the least make it a little bit simpler for gamers to beat the lockdown. Along with that, seeing little buffs to underplayed playing cards like Ronan and Punisher (particularly with that latest Peach Momoko Twitch drop) is good as effectively.
OTA updates are normally nice for stopping the meta from feeling stale, and we’ve acquired an excellent feeling about this one too.
Marvel Snap is now obtainable on PC and cellular gadgets.