Welcome to a special extra edition of Burning Questions! Here's the Snap Packs FAQ!
Marvel Snap's acquisition system is changing! There are a lot of questions and I've combed through Second Dinner's official communications to find the answers to all of the most burning questions! They've also said they'll be answering more questions in the coming weeks, so there will be plenty more to cover as the change draws near.
1) What are Snap Packs?
Snap Packs contain guaranteed unowned cards and are purchasable for Collector's Tokens in the new Card Shop. There are a variety of packs that will be added to the game. They will have different contents and cost different amounts.
2) What type of packs will there be?
At launch there will be:
New Series 5 Packs, New Series 4 Packs, Series 5 Collector's Packs, Series 4 Collector's packs, and Series 3 Collector's packs. They've left open the possibility of themed packs later like “Discard cards,” or “X-Men.”
3) What does a New Series 5 pack contain?
All Series 5 cards from the current and ONE previous Season. This will update each week, adding in the new card. Yes, that means sometimes there will be 5 cards in the pool, and sometimes 10+ cards in the pool. The size of the pool will vary. This means there might be some small amount of strategy for when it's most ideal to open, depending on which cards you're targeting or how late in a season it is. When to open will all depend on your individual situation and wants, but every time you open one you'll get a guaranteed series 5 card, no more duplicates or Spotlight variants. Each pack will contain additional goodies like cosmetics or currency. I'd be surprised if they were hugely impactful, though there is notably a chance at additional unowned cards, but probably at very low pull rates.
4) How many cards are in a pack?
One, but there are other things in the packs and a very small chance at another card. See here.
5) How much do packs cost?
It has not been revealed yet. We don't know, but we know they will be less than the cost of a new card directly from the Card Shop. For the New Series 5 pack, I'm guessing 5000? Anything less would be a pleasant surprise. I expect the other types of packs to get cheaper from there.
6) Are the prices of cards changing?
No. Confirmed here.
7) Will it take the same 120 collection level upgrades to get the 3000 tokens as it was for the spotlight keys
Yes. Confirmed here, and here.
8) Is this system cheaper?
In most situations, it appears the answer is yes. We don't know all of these details yet, but based on what we know it will be cheaper. Previously, the average cost for a new card was 2.5 keys with wild variation possible. After these changes, they'll cost 6000 Tokens in the shop, which you can earn by gaining the same amount on the collection track as 2 keys. Each key you own and all keys on the collection track will be converted to 3000 tokens. Additionally, you can get cards from Snap Packs for less than 6000 tokens.
9) What if I don't want all the new cards for this season?
Currently you can skip the cards you don't like in a season and just get the ones you want. That is still true because you can buy the cards from the shop for 6000 tokens. Buying the new card for 6000 will still be common practice in this new system. The Snap packs provide the same cards at a discount, but they're not the only method of acquisition.
10) But isn't 6000 too expensive? How can I afford that?
This looks expensive because tokens are currently hard to acquire. Keys are being replaced with 3000 tokens. 6000 is the equivalent of 2 keys. Previously, getting a new card cost approximately 2.5 keys. It is actually even cheaper than that because there are other in-game sources of tokens in addition to the batches of 3000 you will get, including new daily free tokens.
11) How does this system affect players who are collection complete or nearly collection complete?
This system is very friendly to these players. Essentially they can get each new series 5 card at a discount instead of paying the full price of 6000 tokens. This type of player was generally punished under the spotlight system, especially if they hit a string of bad spotlight key luck, they just tended to spend their way out of trouble.
12) Isn't this system worse for very low CL players?
It's true that getting the brand new Series 5 cards is a little more expensive, but only for extremely low CL players that would basically always get 3-4 new cards for each set of 4 keys they would open. For anyone with mid-sized collections, or high CL this is a marked improvement. Very low CL players aren't totally shafted though. If you haven't played at those levels recently, there have been dramatic improvements that easily offset this. Doubling the frequency of series 3 cards on the collection track was huge. It means those players get a new series 3 card pretty much every day. Also the Snap Packs containing older Series 3, 4, and 5 cards are likely to be an excellent deal for them as well, depending on the exact price point. The benefit to high CL players is warranted in my mind. The previous system seemed to punish the most committed players, whereas this rewards them. That feels like smarter business to me.
13) Isn't this just another RNG variance system?
Absolutely not. That's the best change with this new system. Under the old system, it was possible to low-roll several weeks in a row. I personally know people who quit playing after a string of extremely bad spotlight luck. This system chops the tail end off the low end of the bell curve. The biggest issue with the current system isn't the cost or even the lack of agency (though those are bad and thankfully improving). The biggest issue was the massive low-roll potential that caused people to quit and uninstall. This is a crucial change. The various packs each draw from different pools, allowing you to target what you want and eliminating the worry about passing on a card for a week or two. Every Snap Pack you open gives you an unowned card, guaranteed.
14) When is the new acquisition system going live?
A massive change like this obviously needs a patch. The next scheduled patches are April 29th and June 3rd. It's not yet finalized which patch will push these changes out.
15) Should I be hoarding keys or tokens before the change?
You should hoard keys and spend tokens, where possible. This is because keys are going to be converted to 3000 tokens, which is more than their average expected value of 2800 tokens. Also, there is the chance to low roll and spend 3 or 4 keys getting a single card. If there are weeks where you are missing two or three cards, you should still spend keys over tokens though.
16) Is Second Dinner really just making the acquisition system better? What's the catch?
I haven't been able to find a catch yet. One thing they are doing to offset the cost is to produce more cards. Per the blog, “Marvel SNAP is planning to release more cards every season.”
17) Doesn't that just mean they're making it harder to keep up?
It's possible that becoming collection complete will be a bit harder, but with the increased ability to target what you want, staying meta complete or complete on the cards you actually want will be significantly easier. You can target the cards you want in a variety of ways. You can go for the newest cards in the New Cards Snap packs. If you pass on a card, it doesn't become unavailable to you for months as often happens under the current system. You will still be able to pin and purchase cards in the Card Shop.
18) Why are extra cards each season a good thing?
Acquisition was one of Marvel Snap’s problems, but the slow drip of cards was equally problematic for the long-term health of the same. Each week a single new card would release and the subsequent mirror matches and hard counters would make each week less exciting than it should have been. By dropping more new cards, changing how they're acquired, and giving us new Series 4 cards, the game will feel more fresh.
19) Isn't 3000 per key low?
I've also seen:
Shouldn't a key be worth 6000 since a key can get a new card?
And:
I read on Reddit that keys are worth 4100 when the spotlight week has an extra unowned series 5 card and 3400 when it has an unowned series 4 card. Is this true?
The average cost of a new card is 2.5 keys, which is 2400 (6000/2.5), then factor in the 2000 tokens, which you'll hit before hitting the new card half the time (2000/2.5/2). You could min/max the value of a key by opening in weeks when you're missing 2+ cards, but this is the baseline value of a key. This is valuable as a comparison of the cost of the current system versus the future system. This is a comparison of the full price in the two systems. In the new system you can buy the new card from the shop for 6000.
The future system will also have ways to min/max to extract more value out of tokens like waiting until there are cards you want available via the "New Series 5 card pack." Let's say those cost 5000 (we know it's less than full price, 6000, we just don't know exactly). In this case you will be able to get 2 cards for 10,000 Tokens equal to about 3.5 keys. That's similar to the cost of a "2 cards in spotlight week." You can get 3 for 15,000. A slightly worse deal than the old system at 5.3 keys. Bear in mind that's only a pool of very recent cards. Because you can target different specific pools there is much more agency. There will be weird game theory min/max considerations like waiting until the beginning of a new season, waiting until your pool is all bangers you want, etc. The New Series 5 card packs will almost definitely be the most expensive so you'll get an even better deal from the old series 5 packs. Instead of opening for the new card, whatever random old cards they pair with it, and having to suffer duplicate low rolls, you now have the option to buy them at full price (6000), get new ones at a discount, or get older ones at steep discounts. Yes, keys are equivalent to 2800 tokens. 3000 is generous and will feel even more generous when applying those tokens to the new system.
20) I'm a high-roll king, I'm sad I'm losing the chance to high roll like 4 new cards in a single week. Where's the high-roll?
I'd argue eliminating the low roll is more important. Perhaps anticipating this type of world-view, Second Dinner built in high rolls to satisfy even the true high-roll degenerates. Each pack comes with extra goodies. According to Second Dinner, those will include boosters, tokens, credits, cosmetics, and additional unowned cards! You could hypothetically get two or even three new cards from one pack. Are the odds going to be ridiculously low? Of course! Honestly, they'll probably be higher than the odds of one-tapping Spotlights for several months in row or pulling a card instead of the duplicate Tokens multiple times with a mostly full collection. Don't worry, you can still win the lottery, but you can no longer lose your house.
21) I'm scared. Will you comfort me?
Change is scary. Look, I understand the anxiety around Snap's economy. Second Dinner made a system that put players in a constant state of anxiety over being able to acquire the game pieces they need to play a game they really like. The psychological conditioning from that will take time to recede. Distrust is high, and rightfully so. So far, everything we know about the new system is positive. Fundamentally, they've made acquisition a bit cheaper and offset it slightly by adding more content. More new content is a major positive, it just brings up those feelings of anxiety about getting the cards you want to play a sweet deck you've seen. We're going to cover it all here and if the other shoe drops and some fatal flaw reveals itself, we'll be the first ones to let you know about that as well.
Head to the comments to add any questions you may have! I'll try to answer any and all that I can!