Marvel Snap's metagame is ever-changing thanks to its regular OTAs and balance patches, which make bad cards good and overpowered cards balanced. Of course, some cards still need changes. So, a few cards should be on the list with the next major balance patches.
Cards To Buff
Typhoid Mary
Proposed Buff: 4/10 -> 4/12
With the general Power Creep in Marvel Snap, Typhoid Mary has become the worst 4/10 choice in the game. There’s no reason to play her if you have Cull Obsidian or Crossbones— even in a Sauron Deck, where she was commonly used.
Increasing her Power by +2 reestablishes her role as the highest-Power 4-Cost card with a significant downside. Unlike Crossbones and Cull, I’d like Typhoid Mary to be a deck-specific card, and this change will likely improve her play rate in her main deck.
Hercules
Proposed Buff: The first time another card moves here each turn, move it to another location -> The first time another card moves here each turn, move it to the lowest-Power location.
Despite the Power buff to Hercules, he still feels underpowered and unreliable because of his random effect, as seen by his laughable 49.07% Win Rate. With a popularity of 0.31%, this card is among the top 20 least-seen cards in Marvel Snap. Controlling Hercules is a challenge on its own, but his ability to move a card to a random lane can often botch your entire game plan.
With this buff, Hercules becomes much more reliable in Move decks. You’ll know exactly where your Human Torch, Multiple Man, or Vulture will go, helping you decide where to put your other cards. Conversely, this can also help Kraven by moving enemy cards to his lane, adding another synergy for the Greek God.
Morph
Proposed Buff: 3/0. Become a copy of a card in your opponent’s hand -> 4/0. Become a copy of the highest-Cost card in your opponent’s hand.
Morph has been a meme card for way too long, and with this change, he can potentially be one of the most fun and powerful 4-cost cards in the game. As it stands now, Morph’s complete randomness makes him utterly unplayable in Conquest and Ladder. Of course, you can’t usually expect anything game-changing from a 3-cost card, but you can with a 4-cost.
Morph’s new ability will make him significantly more serious as a card, shaking up the metagame by forcing the community to rethink their endgame strategy. Make no mistake: you’re still getting a random card, which means he’s not always beneficial.
He could turn into M.O.D.O.K. or Sentry and put you in a worse situation. If your opponent is playing a low-cost deck, Morph might still turn into something 4-cost or lower. On the other hand, you could get a free Vision or Infinaut. That’s where the balanced part comes into play, and I feel the risk-reward with this new Morph is worth trying out.
Cards To Nerf
Venom
Proposed Nerf: 3/3 -> 3/1
Destroy Decks have been one of the strongest decks for several months, and Venom is one of the most prominent cards in that deck. He currently has a 9.7% meta share, which is fantastic, and his deck, Big Venom, is consistently in the top 10 best decks in terms of Win Rate, Cube Rate, and popularity.
This card has incredibly powerful synergies with several Destroy cards, such as Nico Minoru, Arnim Zola, Knull, and more. In most cases, Venom gets 8+ net Power by chomping down a Wolverine or Deadpool, raising his own Power by +7 or higher while building up Knull and boosting the aforementioned destroyed cards.
By reducing his base power to 1, his Net Power can be decreased massively, encouraging Destroy to use Deathlok and Carnage much more. This will also reduce the Venom+Arnim combo’s effectiveness, which is another route Destroy usually takes. As it is, 7 or 8 Power is already extremely powerful for a 3-Cost card, but Venom’s additional synergies and help in the last few turns are what make him so good.
Black Cat
Proposed Nerf: 4/9 -> 3/6
Black Cat is primarily restricted to Discard decks. Still, a lot of people seem to undermine her synergy with Hela and Black Knight. 9 Power for a 4-Cost is already way above the premium stat line. Since she’s discarded for free, Hela basically resurrects her effortlessly as a free 4/9. Additionally, when you play Black Knight, Black Cat’s automatic discard gives you a 4/9 Ebony Blade, which you can still play risk-free.
You can clearly see her effects in the meta decks she’s played in. When paired with Hela, Black Cat’s main deck boasts the game's third-highest Win Rate and second-highest Cube Rate. Destroy has a 0.53 Cube Rate compared to Black Cat’s 0.6, which is a massive difference.
She still retains her premium stats by lowering her Cost and Power, but her aforementioned synergies become way less game-changing. You can still play her as a good 3/6 card if you want to put raw Power on the board, but now Hela won’t get as much value since she’ll bring back 6 instead of 9 Power. Besides that, playing Black Knight with Black Cat’s discard will give you a 4/6 Ebony Blade, which isn’t as tempting to play.
Hela
Proposed Nerf: 6/6 -> 6/4
Alternative Change: Resurrect all cards you discarded at random locations -> Resurrect all cards you discarded at random locations. Can’t be played after the game ends.
With Second Dinner taking care of Thanos, who ruled the meta for months, it’s time to focus on the next tyrant — Hela. One of the most powerful features of Hela and her Discard package is how opponents can’t interact with it. Additionally, only the Discard player knows their current predicament, so if they snap, the opponent can’t tell if it’s a bluff or if they should retreat. You’ve already seen the numbers with her alongside Black Cat; the only difference is that Hela has a much higher popularity and win percentage.
Hela is the protagonist of this deck and easily the game-defining card of a match. So, reducing her Power to 4 makes her generally a worse card and more balanced. The alternative nerf, however, is much more extreme and botches her synergy with two main and lethal combos — Invisible Woman and Supergiant.
Hela usually gets played after M.O.D.O.K. since she resurrects the cards M.O.D.O.K. discards, which are usually A LOT. The main caveat is M.O.D.O.K. discarding your complete hand, including Hela. To counter this, Discard decks play Supergiant or Invisible Woman so that both M.O.D.O.K. and Hela play after the game ends, respectively.
By making Hela unplayable after the game ends, this game-changing move gets obliterated and could finally make Discard a fair player in the metagame.
Conclusion
These were some of the cards I thought would help balance any uncertainties and outliers in Marvel Snap. With Thanos out of the picture, Hela’s Discard Package and Destroy seem like the obvious choices for players. These changes might make those choices not so obvious and could encourage the community to come up with new decks and strategies.
Do you have any cards in mind that need a quick revamp as soon as possible? Let us know in the comments below!