The Chinese version of Marvel Snap has a different publisher and several key differences from the international version of the game from different variants and art (sometimes censored) to different in-game events and tournaments. They also got something pretty special recently that I was able to try out: a draft mode!
What is Draft Mode in China?
The mode is called Infinite Brawl, and it seems to be available only four days a week for six hours each day. Presumably, this is to help with queue times, but it's hard to imagine something like this working in the international version of the game with players in different time zones across the globe. The mode consists of several steps and there are tons of opportunities to Snap, even during the draft. Snapping doubles the amount of chips you'll win at the end of the entire matchup. You enter the queue and are matched against one opponent—it was hard for me to tell if there were bots or not. Then you start drafting!
First, you each separately choose six cards you want to add to your deck by choosing one from among a choice of three cards six times. You can already Snap here if you feel like your deck is coming together well!
https://youtube.com/shorts/lrsMbmTQ3VA?feature=share
Then, while your initial six cards remain hidden from your opponent, you take turns choosing a card each from among three choices. Now you're competing against your opponent and using some draft-specific strategy. You can see what they're choosing and can try to figure out what they might have among their six hidden cards and can also draft cards to counter their apparent archetype.
You also get to see if they might be choosing cards that will prove problematic for your hidden strategy as well and can try to react or Snap. I found Snapping to be very interesting here. Maybe you'll Snap when you see a key card. Or maybe you'll Snap when you watch your opponent pass on a key card that could have hurt you!
https://youtube.com/shorts/M-sisVXnxv8?feature=share
Now it's time to battle!
You immediately jump into a battle against your opponent. It's a best two out of three match, with a kind of janky health bar indicating who has won a game and who is down to their last life. Of course, you can both Snap during the battles which doubles the chips at stake. According to the game you can reach up to 2048 chips in the pot if both players Snap at every opportunity. In most of my matches I was only ever playing for 8-32 chips since my opponents seemed to be exceptionally shy Snappers. I imagine it's quite different at higher levels.
https://youtube.com/shorts/tqoYwF87J30?feature=share
In the draft video below, I felt like a genius getting a pretty solid War Machine deck. I snapped after getting Infinaut and Ebony Maw in my initial 6 and again after my opponent passed Rockslide to me in the second phase of the draft. However, I didn't check the text carefully enough and didn't realize they have the old On Reveal War Machine and was stuck wondering why my turn 4 War Machine wasn't letting me slam a turn 6 Infinaut for the win! The animations in the Chinese version are often really subtle, but the 4/7 stat line should have probably prompted me to check the text.
https://youtube.com/shorts/jscr-rTa9rc?feature=share
In a round that really underscored the unique dynamics but also the different frustrations possible in a draft mode, my opponent grabbed a Luke Cage as his 12th card to render much of my Affliction deck inert. He'd seen me grab Hazmat as my 7th card, but didn't know about my Ajax and Scorpion. The fact that much of the rest of my deck was made up of powerful 6-Cost cards and my opponent had also drafted a Leech made me feel defeated before any actual battles had been fought.
https://youtube.com/shorts/DTGKFa7Urgw?feature=share
Somehow I was able to pull out a win in the second and third games to grab a whopping 8 chips. I suspect at higher MMR the players realize they need to Snap much more aggressively to drive up the potential winnings.
Here are two more drafts I did. In the first one I managed to get into a Galactus Ramp deck. My opponent spammed me with Beast and then immediately conceded once the match started, so I'm not sure what that was about. In the second video I felt lucky to grab a lot of good pieces for a Lockjaw deck. Unfortunately, my opponent drafted into a nearly perfect Ronan deck and smashed me with it. That was actually my second draft and I accidentally conceded after the first game since I hadn't fully figured out that retreating isn't a thing in this mode and it's just best of three for all of the chips that have been staked.
https://youtube.com/shorts/LKcrjb5fNr0?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/UoOCFd548q4?feature=share
Final Thoughts
The mode was very fun, but I can see some challenges in adapting to the international version. Matches are long and disconnects would feel devastating—western Snap would have to tighten a lot of technical aspects of the game up before attempting something like this. Also, it's easier for a game in a single (albeit large) geographic area to impose time restrictions in order to alleviate queue concerns, but I don't think that would work well in the international version. The way snapping was incorporated was really clever and satisfying.
I was actually pretty skeptical before I tried it that snapping during the draft would be a good thing. I mean, if you're pulling awful cards and your opponent snaps on you, that would feel terrible, right? In practice, the slow increasing of the stakes made Snapping in the draft phase probably my favorite part of the mode. Despite the mode being pretty rough around the edges in some places I really enjoyed it and I hope Second Dinner adds something similar to the international version soon. Oh, and I also got to do a little fishing!
https://youtube.com/shorts/yuA38d5N9Vs?feature=share
Come find me on Bluesky (@scosco) and if you can't get enough Infinite Brawl Draft footage, I've put a few regular speed full runs up on YouTube. Head to the comments and let me know what you think about Infinite Brawl and critique my draft choices!