Yes, it appears to be about that time. You know, the time when Marvel Snap (Free) does a balance update a week before the end of the season to throw things into last-minute chaos and force us to re-build our decks in a hurry. I kid! But also, I do not. A loving jab, we shall call it. Anyway, a lot of cards got their stats changed this time, and I can almost guarantee these adjustments will hit at least one deck most of you are playing. Let’s go through it all and see if we can’t make some sense of it.
Alright, let’s get to one of the bigger ones first. Darkhawk has caught a solid sock to the jaw this time, and I suppose he had it coming. He goes from being a 4-Cost 0-Power card to being a 5-Cost 4-Power one. While this doesn’t seem too bad on its face, it means you won’t be able to get Darkhawk out there as quickly or easily. Friendship with Zabu is ended. He’ll also be parting ways with Mister Negative here. I think he’ll still find a place, but this is undoubtedly a nerf.
Another popular card has been clipped a bit. Lockjaw was a 3-Cost 2-Power card, and now he’s a 4-Cost 5-Power card. That extra Power is nice, but getting Lockjaw out one turn later gives him one less turn to do his thing. On the other hand, we might see cats and dogs living together as Zabu will pair nicely with him. Supposedly this was done to curtail Hela and Thanos decks, and I can’t help but feel maybe they should have been weakened instead of the pup.
Adam Warlock has had his stats changed in a baffling manner. He was a 2-Cost 0-Power card, and now he’s 5-Cost 4-Power. His ability allows you to draw a card each turn, but pushing him to 5-Cost makes that considerably less useful. I don’t think his Power gain even remotely begins to make up for that. It’s strange because this was supposedly done to help Adam, but I can’t help but feel this is going to lead to him being played even less.
Forge and America Chavez are ships passing in the night in this update. America goes from being a 2-Cost 3-Power card to a 1-Cost 2-Power card, while Forge moves from 1-Cost 1-Power to 2-Cost 2-Power. I can definitely understand Forge’s change, as he has pretty much become the default 1-Cost card thanks to his helpful ability. I’m not sure I get what is going on with America, but she’s been struggling since her rework so I guess the idea is to see what a change will do for her.
Nerfs, nerfs, nerfs. Any buffs in this bag? Yes, a few. Ant-Man! Before he would get +3 Power if the location you played him at was full, and now he will get +4 Power. Sure, that’s nice. Similarly, Vulture used to get +5 Power when he moved, and now he’ll get +6 Power. Rounding things out, Sword Master gets a little stat boost, going from 3-Cost 6-Power to 3-Cost 7-Power. That’s all that’s in here.
Well, there it is. I imagine when the new season kicks off next week, we’ll get more changes. Naturally, we’ll look over all that when the time comes. These balance tweaks often seem to bring bad news for my decks, and this one was no different in that regard. But what do you all think of it? Do you have to rebuild your decks and strategies? Let me know in the comments below.
