Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same, and now it’s here. Or should I say, Shuri’s nerf is. Developer Second Dinner has been promising a big balance update was coming this month, and the latest update for Marvel Snap (Free) has brought it. Now, it’s not just about spiking Shuri. There are actually quite a few changes here, and I’m here to go over them with you.
Let’s go over the less consequential but still important stuff first. There are some UI improvements, players at Infinite Rank will only be matched against fellow Infinites, Season Pass XP gains cap at 10 hours of play per day, some new sound effects and VO languages have been added, and the Collection Level track has been extended. The Token Shop has also seen some tweaks. Okay, on to the balance stuff.
Shuri. Shuri, Shuri, Shuri. The Shuri & Zero Deck has basically dominated this game for months now. Second Dinner tried small changes, and still Shuri’s ability was overwhelming. Shuri is moving down to Pool 3 as of this update, so she really can’t be left to run as wild as she has been. From now on, her ability only doubles the Power of the next card if you play it in her location. She’s still strong, but that definitely changes some strategies. This may finally be the move that kicks Shuri & Zero down a notch or two, but we’ll see.
Leech’s ability is no longer On Reveal. Rather, it kicks in at the start of the sixth turn no matter when you play him. This prevents Leech’s ability from being deployed early via various means while still allowing him to pack a final turn punch. Lockjaw also got the knock on the door, and his abilities now only lets you swap one card per turn. He’s still an effective good boy, but there’s less opportunity for abuse now.
America Chavez has a small change that is really just set-up for some future ability options. She now starts on the bottom of your deck and will be drawn on turn six. She effectively works the same as before in practice, but before she was sometimes on the top of your deck waiting to be drawn, which could interact with other abilities in unexpected ways. Pairing with that, Jubilee’s ability now pulls in the top card from your deck instead of a random one. This was how she was when she was introduced before people figured out how to abuse it in combination with America.
Finally, a buff. Leader got nerfed really hard a little while ago, and he went from being in tons of decks to being in very few. Second Dinner has adjusted him yet again, hopefully making him more viable. He was a 6-Cost, 7-Power card with the On Reveal ability to copy all the cards played by the opponent on the location to the right. He’s now a 6-Cost, 2-Power card with the On Reveal ability to copy the opponent’s card or cards with the highest power played this turn. We’ll have to see how that shakes out.
The update also includes a number of bug fixes and such, but I’m not going to list all of that here. The balance changes are the spicy sausage, and we’re going to have to see how it affects the game going forward. A lot of people are going to have to rethink their decks today, but it will hopefully result in a more varied and fun assortment of builds. You’ll see how it goes when our next monthly Marvel Snap deck guide goes up, I suppose.
