Ask not for whom the Nerf Bat tolls, my friends. Sometimes, it tolls for thee. Or in this case, it tolls for me. The latest Over-The-Air update has arrived in Marvel Snap (Free) , and it had a very particular target in mind. That target? Poor ol’ Kitty Pryde, whose adventures in this game have been a real roller coaster so far. But she isn’t the only one to catch hands this time, as some of her animal accomplices are down on the mat with her. It’s not all bad, though. We have a few buffs to look at as well. Join me as we enter the weeds in another Marvel Snap update story!
Okay, let’s talk the nerfs first. They’re clearly the main dish here and they are all, to the last, aimed at one particular deck that has been absolutely dominating the meta of late: Bounce. In a Bounce deck, the idea is to play cards, bring them back to your hand, and use that to juice up other cards that benefit from those actions. Recently, the captain of the Bounce decks has been Kitty Pryde. She brings herself back on her own and beefs up each time, all at a low Cost. What’s not to like?
Kitty Pryde goes from being a 1-Cost 0-Power card who gains +2 Power each time she returns to your hand to being a 1-Cost 2-Power card who gains +1 Power when she comes back. This caps her significantly, and on its own it would severely weaken Bounce. But it isn’t on its own, because Hit-Monkey and Spider-Ham also got whacked with the bat. Spider-Ham went from 1-Cost 1-Power to 2-Cost 2-Power with no change to his ability… yet. This makes him less useful in a lot of decks, but I doubt we’ve seen the last of him. Hit-Monkey’s ability also goes untouched, but he goes from 2-Cost 0-Power to 3-Cost 2-Power. The overall message is clear: Bounce is outta here for now.
Now for those buffs. The first is for the Phoenix Force. Yes, the new card you can pay money for. Apparently it isn’t playing out well, so it goes from being a 5-Cost 6-Power card to a 4-Cost 5-Power card, enabling players to get it out sooner if they want. That’s a good move for a support card like that. Ghost-Spider goes from a 2-Cost 3-Power card to being 1-Cost 2-Power, similarly allowing her to go into play sooner either alone or in combos as needed.
Next, we’ve got Magik. She goes from 5-Cost 3-Power to 3-Cost 2-Power, which is a huge shift in when she can be played. It will be interesting to see how she fits in with these new stats. Also getting buffed is The Living Tribunal. He was a 6-Cost 6-Power card, and now he’s 6-Cost 9-Power. Given the way he works, that means one extra point of power for all three locations. He can now be Shang-Chi’d though, so be careful.
That’s the lot as far as nerfs and buffs go. The only other change this time is making The Great Web location appear less. Apparently it was a little too much chaos for some. RIP, Bounce. Guess I’ll dust off Thor/Lockjaw and see how that goes. Do these balance changes affect your decks? Are you cheering or booing? All I know is the next Deck Guide is going to be spicy.
