Now that many more emotes enter the game faster, let's discuss everyone's favorite subject: Emoting.
Love it or Hate it
Dealing with emotes in Marvel Snap is a very controversial concept. Most people either hate that they exist and mute everyone out of fear that the person will spam them or emote them in some way. On the other hand, some don’t care that these are happening and choose to ignore them. At a glance, it is hard to see the group of people using emotes responsibly in the way the game intended. The community has countless cries about making auto-mute functions available across the board. While the game has made some progress in this area, they have set a firm line that they do not want to make a universal mute button because Marvel Snap is not a single-player game, and they don’t want it to feel like one with zero interaction with the other people that are playing. This means that emotes are here to stay regardless of whether you like them or not.
Before we discuss what we should do with emotes to be good stewards of the system in place, let's consider all the different emotes currently present within the game.
Stock Emote Meaning
Besides the personal meaning each emote might have for you, there are some general universal ways each emote is perceived.
This is probably the emote used most often because it means good game or the equivalent of a handshake at the end of a game. This is also a good emote when someone makes a good play or likes a variant of yours because it is one of the least offensive emotes. At the start of a game, this can be perceived as good luck, have fun, or just a general good sportsmanship, may the best player win. This is commonly used among people who recognize each other or during tournament matches as just good general player interaction. If used at the end of a match, the meaning is likely, not bad-mannered, but it can be perceived that way if the game was won on a coin flip, so use caution when employing this emote. Typically, if you are the person who won the match, reserve sending this emote until your opponent who lost emotes first. In that instance, it is proper manners to emote the fist bump back.
Alternative usage
The fist bump emote, specifically in proving grounds of conquest, is typically employed at the start of the match, followed by a quick snap to indicate that the opponent or you want this to be a one-game conquest match. This helps speed up acquiring silver tickets and the conquest track.
This is another emote typically used at the end of the match but should be used rarely, if ever, because it is guaranteed to be seen as bad-mannered. Although this emote seems positive with the wink and the thumbs up, it has warped into having a negative connotation within the community. When Galactus was at its highest point, this was typically employed as a “screw you” type emote. If you want to be perceived as a good-mannered player, it is best to avoid this emote.
This is another emote that, while seemingly positive, is used in many ways as a bad-mannered emote. This is pretty much a “gotcha” type emote that is most commonly seen as a spammed emote along with the text emote of “snap?” after a game. Sometimes, this is used after a particular play is thwarted by your opponent or if, after a snap, the opponent dismantles your game plan and wants to rub it in your face. Again, use this emote sparingly if you want to be considered good-mannered.
This is probably the friendliest emote in Snap. The Spiderman point is constantly used when you make the same play as your opponent or if you recognize your opponent. This can be used at almost any moment in the game and only becomes annoying if used in a spam-like fashion. If you ever see me in the game, please feel free to start the match with this emote, and I will be happy to emote you back.
This simple emote means “oops” or “Was that a mistake?” Sometimes, this can be used if the play is confusing or some RNG from the game is messed up. This is always a decent emote to use if you misplay yourself, but be careful to employ this if you think your opponent misplayed because that is more toxic.
Text Emotes
The text emotes are straightforward because they mean what they say. These are far easier to use and typically do not convey any negatives. However, if used incorrectly or spammed, they will quickly turn toxic. These emotes are the most typically used for mind games within the game. In a winning position and want to tilt your opponent into making a mistake, you might see an “I'm Losing,” or you snap, and your opponent wants to play some mind games, they might respond with an “I don't believe you.” Sometimes, the “I am confident” emote comes out if you know your opponent suspects a play that will win you the game, but you don’t have the card in hand, so you want to bluff and fake them out. These are not exactly toxic, but they are something to remember. My favorite is when one of my cards dies for whatever reason, or a location shows up, and a good “Aaaaargh!!” just covers all possible emotions.
Album Emotes
Several months ago, Marvel Snap introduced variant albums into the game. As a reward for completing these albums, players unlocked the use of different emotes.
Unlike the stock emotes above these are not available to all players because completing an album is both a considerable time and monetary investment. That means several things for these emotes. Most of the time, they denote that a player is a whale and has spent a lot of their resources on this game or has been playing for a considerable amount of time. They essentially are bragging rights, and while they are fun if used in the wrong context, they can become negative. They are also controversial because of how they were introduced into Marvel Snap. Considering that getting an emote means filling up an album of twelve different variants that a player may or may not want, it is hard to justify going to the lengths to get a new emote. Unlike other games that monetize small cosmetics like this at a much lower price point, the initial reaction was poor. Since the release of the album features, Marvel Snap has made strides to make more albums accessible to the general player base, but some still think they have a long way to go to make things accessible.
Completing the Venomized Villains album rewards you with an emote nicknamed Tasty or Venom Snacking. Its usage is limited to a Destroy deck or to showcase your emote collection. Nonetheless, it is a fun emote if you are a fan of Venom, as it can be used at any time and doesn't carry any negative connotations.
This is the reward for completing the Jim Lee X-Men Album, nicknamed Bring it On, because it is a pretty classic visual and even has markings around the hand to give the idea that the hand is moving or saying, “Bring it on.” This one is also a way to show off but also a good one to use in conquest mode at the start of the match because saying bring it on is not necessarily a toxic thing to do and can be a fun way to show some confidence. This also can be used after an opponent snaps to show that you are confident in the face of them, raising the game's stakes.
This is the reward for the Staying Hipp Album, nicknamed It's Cool. As one of the first new emotes to be released at the lowest cost to obtain, this might be one of the most common nonstock emotes in the game. Again, mainly for showing off, this can be used whenever. It's also hard to get mad at a dog with sunglasses on, so as long as you are not spamming this or using it every time you beat someone before they emote, you are probably good to use this whenever you want.
This is the reward for PANdora’s Box Album, nicknamed “Flex” for obvious reasons. Furthermore, this emote is a flex and should be used in such moments. Does a player like your card split or variant? Hit them with the flex emote. You 8 cube a streamer without sniping? Hit a flex emote. I am kidding since that could and probably would be considered toxic. Use this one with caution because flexing on someone can be considered bad-mannered. Used in the right moments, this can be a fun one to show off.
This is the reward for the Destroy All Pixels album, nicknamed “Get Em.” This, like the other destroy emote, doesn’t have a lot of uses other than to show off. The scarcity of the newer emotes due to the number of resources needed to obtain them means most don’t have a positive or negative connotation yet. However, this one can probably be used whenever you maintain good manners when using it.
This is the Pixel Discarder album reward nicknamed “Bring it On.” Unlike the Magneto variant, this one is a little easier to obtain because the album is all pixel variants, and you only need nine instead of twelve for the Magneto emote. Again, like Magneto, this is good to use at the start of a conquest match, or if you run into someone on the ladder, you've played multiple times.
This is the reward for the Low Cost, High Impact album, one of the cooler ones to come out recently. Get it? Cooler… This is supposed to mimic the idea that you are sweating out of nerves or maybe terror, so it is fun to employ. If an opponent snaps but you still will stay even if you retreat, it might be ok to send this one off.
This reward for the Artgerm Heroines album is nicknamed “Just No.” I also like to think of it as saying “whatever.” This is a great emote when someone else is emoting you or just being bad-mannered because it is a flex on your collection and saying I do not care about your emoting. It can also be used if you are hit with one of the bring-it emotes as fun banter between players.
This is the Terrific Tarot Album reward, nicknamed “Thinking.” This is an interesting emote because it can be used pretty much all the time and has the potential to be the most triggering since Professor X is one of the cards in the game that can cause a lot of anguish. So, if your opponent ever employs this emote, especially after you have been in the tank for a while, it might cause you to misplay or tilt on a moment's notice.
This is the reward for the Midnight Suns Album, which has no nickname or meaning. This is more of a flex emote that might be used at the start of a game or maybe at the end to see your opponent off. There is nothing initially nefarious about this emote, so it is probably safe to use, but honestly, I don’t think I have seen this emote once in a game since its release.
This is the Max Grecke Heroes Album reward nicknamed “Victory.” It could be a really good one to use right at the end of the match to signify victory or if you make a good play. This album only includes one super rare variant, so it is likely. More players will eventually end up with this emote.
That is all of the album emotes in the game, but they seem to be releasing new albums every week, so more will be available as time passes, meaning more people will be using different emotes for different reasons.
Season Pass Emotes
Currently, only one emote is part of the season pass, the Cyclops emote.
As of right now, this is the easiest and cheapest new emote to obtain and is probably one that will be seen the most often. This has started to replace the fist bump after games, or sometimes Ms. Marvel emotes, just because it is new and more and more players have access to it. An emote in the season pass is not exclusive to this season pass. The next few seasons, and probably every season moving forward will also feature an emote within the season pass track. This means more and more emotes will become available to more players, which is a great thing.
What do we do?
Emotes and Emoting are a part of the game, and they are not going anywhere, so how do we be good stewards of the game and emote properly? There are many options. The first one is to never emote out of fear of being considered rude or toxic. That is an option you as a player can consider, but one that vitally misses out on part of the Marvel Snap experience. So, if we are going to emote, what should we do, and what should we not do?
What not to do?
- Emote Spam
- This is just rude. It doesn’t matter what emote you use. Spamming emotes after a match is showing bad manners, plain and simple.
- Ms. Marvel and Thanos
- Try to stay away from using this after a match or if an opponent makes a bad play. This is considered rude and should be avoided.
- In General
- Try to avoid emoting after a game is over. Many people dislike this behavior, which is considered bad manners.
What to do?
- After a game is over
- Wait, you just said don’t emote after a game? Yes, but a good rule is to emote only when you lose and, if you win, only if your opponent emotes first. This is a pretty good rule because if the opponent emotes first after a game, especially if they lose, it is polite to emote a good game back.
- At the start of the game
- Emoting right at the start of a match is okay regardless of the emote because it essentially says good luck or is generally a good sportsmanship-type gesture.
- If you know the person
- In a game where you know the person you are playing against, it is generally okay to emote whenever you want because emoting acts like the typical banter you would have when playing a tabletop game with friends.
- In General
- This article is not meant to be the law on emotes but more general guidelines to help your experience in Marvel Snap. People will anger you, and sometimes you might anger someone accidentally. Still, knowing how the different emote interactions work makes you more likely to leave with a positive experience.
I don't like emotes at all
If you don’t like emotes and you don't want to worry about them, there is a mute feature that you can use to mute your opponents. You have to mute each different opponent, but luckily, the game remembers, so if you have muted them once, they will be muted if you ever face them again. This is a pretty simple process.
- During a match, click on your opponent's Avatar
- Hit the mute button
- Done
That is it. Very simple, and you can enjoy emoteless games all you want.
Other types of emotes
The game also includes simple emotes for cards and locations. During a game, if you click on one of your cards or an opponent's card, there is a small menu at the bottom of the right where you can react to the card. The same happens if you click on a location. These are very simple emotes and are typically used if you see a variant or split that you like or if a location you dislike pops up. These should usually not be a problem, but it would be bad manners if you emoted an opponent's card that won you the game for some reason. I would stick to using this if you see an awesome card.
Future of Emotes
Emotes are not going anywhere, and as the game gets older, more emotes will be introduced. For example, this bundle is the first to include an emote that is either being released soon or in the shop right now.
This means that, whether players like it or not, more emotes will be used to monetize the game in various ways.
Max Grecke New Album
Let’s focus on the present day for a moment, shall we? Max Grecke‘s album “Max Grecke Heroes” has just released check it out down below! To celebrate this release, there is a shop takeover that started yesterday March 20th, and will also take place March 21st! Thor Emote! To Me!
Conclusion
Emotes are a fun way to interact within the game with the players you see on the ladder or in conquest. They can be silly, fun, or even mean. You have many different options for emotes, so I suggest being mindful of how you use them and trying to be a good sport whenever possible. You can mute whoever is a bad sport, let it wash away, and move on to the next game.
I hope this article gave some insight into emotes and emoting. In the comments below, let me know your favorite emote and when you like to use it!
Check out all the datamined emotes and emotes currently in the game here!