Alright, it’s time for me to get caught up on all things Marvel Snap (Free). Regular readers will know I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and that has delayed my usual coverage of this game. The November deck building guide will be coming tomorrow, but for now let’s take a look at the latest OTA update to the game that hit late last Friday. It makes some balance changes to several cards, all while flexing the new capabilities of the updated OTA system. The developers can change text on the cards now! Wow. A whole new era. Time to dig in and see what these adjustments entail.
The balancing on Marvel Snap has been a bit of a roller coaster ride in recent months. Cards seem to get tweaked back and forth, new cards get nerfed or buffed very quickly, and it all just feels a bit unstable. Second Dinner talked about this a bit in the notes for the latest update, and it’s all very understandable even if it’s pretty frustrating on the player end of things. Long story short, there’s going to be a greater effort to avoid some of the see-sawing we’ve been seeing over the last few months. Hopefully that walk can be walked. For now, let’s see the latest changes.
Mobius M. Mobius got a heavy nerf the day I checked into the hospital, and I didn’t even notice it due to that. His ability was changed to last for one turn only, and that really did hurt his usefulness considerably. That change has been reverted here, but in exchange he goes from being a 2-Cost 3-Power card to 3-Cost 3-Power. Welcome to the Surfer gang, Mobius. Second Dinner is warning that there is a high chance this card will be further tweaked, so I wouldn’t blow any hard-earned tokens on it until the dust properly settles. This is exactly the kind of chaos I hope will be resolved by the developer’s new measures.
Next, Doctor Strange gets an unqualified buff. He moves from being a 3-Cost 3-Power card to being a 2-Cost 3-Power card, with his ability untouched. Apparently he’s fallen off even from move-based decks, and this tweak aims to get him back into the rotation. He takes a little more strategy than some of the other move options, but the lower Cost assuredly makes him more versatile. We’ll have to see what happens.
Shang-Chi is a really strong final-turn foil for big plays, and I guess he’s stepped a little too far because the nerf bat has come for him. It’s a very mild one, though. Before, his ability would destroy any enemy cards at the location with 9 or more Power. Now, it will destroy any enemy cards at the location with 10 or more Power. This will still take out some of the stronger cards and beefed-up Venoms and such, but gets a few key cards out of his strike zone. In keeping with this, the Monster spawned by Monster Island is getting buffed up from 6-Cost 9-Power to 6-Cost 10-Power so Shang-Chi can still wreck it.
She-Hulk is also getting a buff that, no matter how you want to carve the turkey, is really about keeping her in Shang-Chi’s attack range. She was 6-Cost 9-Power, and now she’s 6-Cost 10-Power. The good news is that if your opponent isn’t playing Shang-Chi or you have a way to protect her, Jen is now a bit tougher. That’s alright. Not everyone has a Shang-Chi in their pocket, after all. Warpath also gets a “buff" that keeps him in range of Shang-Chi. His ability now gives him +5 Power instead of +4 Power, resulting in a Shang-Chi smashable 10 points of Power.
Not everyone getting extra power is running into Shang-Chi’s fist, though. Jessica Jones is moving from 4-Cost 4-Power to 4-Cost 5-Power. With her ability, that will put her at 9-Power, keeping her just under the line. Will the extra power give her more play? Time will tell. Strong Guy also gets a buff, going from 4-Cost 4-Power to 3-Cost 3-Power. He goes well with discard decks thanks to his ability, but he doesn’t play nice with Apocalypse because he requires an empty hand to be at his best. Second Dinner is hoping this change might lead to a new kind of discard deck, and again, we’ll have to see how it shakes out.
Those are all the changes for this update. While it’s a bit exhausting to constantly have to adjust decks based on these changes, and it is really annoying to have a fresh new card get bonked after forking over hard-earned tokens or real money for it, preserving the game’s balance is also very important. My November deck guide tomorrow will show just how big of an effect all of these changes have had, so do look forward to that.
