After discussing the concurrent dominance of 1-cost and 2-cost cards in the low-cost phase, we begin the mid-cost part of our “State of the Costs” series. This phase will be fun because, unlike the low-cost category, which is doing great all-around, the mid-range 3-cost and 4-costs are much more divisive, and there’s a clear winner as to which of these categories are more meta-relevant. Today, let’s discuss the health of 3-cost cards and how they affect your games.
3-cost Highlights: SO. MANY. OPTIONS.
Moving onto the mid-range pack, we enter perhaps the most versatile Cost category in the meta at the moment. Straying away from the “big, dumb Power” mindset, 3-cost cards in the current landscape are primarily for good tech, disruption, or any powerful late-game setups. That’s why you see it in almost every popular archetype–Zoo, Clog, Move, Bounce, Patriot, Surfer, and more.
Let’s start with arguably the best slot-in mid-range cards in Marvel Snap right now. Cassandra Nova is about as popular as a 3-cost card can get, stomping out the competition with a 17.24% Play Rate. Furthermore, looking at the stats of the most popular cards, Cassandra’s astonishing 59.69% Win Rate and 0.56 Cube Rate place her as the most successful mid-range card in the game, given the sample size. This is because she’s finding homes in some of the strongest decks right now with a solid Win Rate.
3 of the 5 decks with the highest Win Rates right now, including High Evo, Silver Surfer, and Toxic Ajax, all include Cassandra Nova just because of how easily you can play her and how much Power she saps from the enemy. Of course, when talking about Cassandra, we can’t ignore Arishem, who’s still reasonably popular with an 8.31% Play Rate despite the nerfs to almost every card people included in his decks. Most players credit Cass for single-handedly diminishing Arishem's prominence at his peak, and in a post-Arishem work, she’s still viewed as a must-have card.
There’s also Copycat, which has the versatility of a low-cost card with the late-game benefits of a high-cost card, shooting her up to the top 18 cards in the game in terms of popularity. Of course, with the ballistic entry of Hela, Copycat’s Play Rate has decreased a bit since she wasn’t bringing in any meaningful information. At best, you can Snap if she copies the opponent’s Hela, but this is rarely the case. Still, a card at the premium 3-cost stat line with this type of usefulness is still impressive, so Copycat is still relevant and heavily played, bringing in an attractive 55.95% Win Rate.
Moving on, we have another bundle of clear winners of the 3-cost category. With all types of Clog decks being at the top of the scene as both a strong deck and a counter of Hela, the Clog-focused 3-cost cards, including Debrii, Green Goblin, and Viper, are in a key position. Among these, Viper stands above all with a strong 7.6% Play Rate and a healthy 55.48% Win Rate since she’s the ideal card in mirror matches as a Clog deck. Green Goblin follows her with a 6.18% Play Rate and Debrii with a 6.01% Play Rate. You’ll often find these cards together; when you do see them, it’s usually an “ugh” moment.
The reason why Viper is more successful in particular is because of her inclusion in Bounce. Believe it or not, sending The Hood to the opponent’s side is such a lethal move that players keep Viper in their decks for that single interaction (and the fact that her solid 3/5 stats aren’t too taxing.) Speaking strictly in the mid-range category, these 3 cards make up a crucial part of Clog, and if Second Dinner does decide to nerf the deck, I suspect these cards will be prioritized for nerfs.
Finally, we have Killmonger and Cosmo, which are perhaps the best 3-cost tech cards right now, considering the environment we’re living in. As of writing this article, Zoo has overtaken High Evo and Clog decks to become the #1 deck in terms of Play Rate, Cube Rate, and Win Rate—A+ across the board. Thus, Killmonger has started to rise up to counter Zoo, and if we talk about decks where you reliably reach huge Power levels, Destroy is one of the first decks to come to mind, where Killmonger is a must-have card.
With Hela and Clog leading in High-Infinite ranks and Zoo dominating the lower levels, there’s barely any tech going around, making it the ideal condition for Destroy to emerge. It’s shot up the ranks into becoming the 4th most popular deck right now. Consequently, Killmonger has become the 8th most popular card in the game. Of course, he’s not an instant Snap condition like Copycat or Cassandra Nova, but in most matchups in the current meta, he is THE card you want to include.
Alongside Killmonger, Cosmo is becoming more relevant with each passing update as we shift further into an On-Reveal meta. Before the recent OTA, Cosmo was already a menacing force by shutting down things like Hela, Clog, and even Bounce decks. After the OTA, we saw that Second Dinner buffed 3 On-Reveal cards that go hand-in-hand: Black Panther, Symbiote Spider-Man, and Galactus, which are all part of a single deck.
As such, Cosmo is effectively targeting 2 meta decks AND an upcoming On-Reveal Galactus deck, which got a considerable buff. He’s already climbing the popularity charts with an outstanding 9.29% Play Rate, so it’s no surprise he’s one of the top-performing 3-cost cards and a noteworthy mention in this category.
There’s not much to say about Beast, which has already been said—he’s why low-cost decks like Bounce, Move, and Clog thrive. With a 6.24% Play Rate, most of which comes from High-Infinite matches, many players agree he’s only gotten better after his “nerf” from a 2/2. The 3/5 stat line already makes him an appealing body, but the sheer ways he can be used are honestly baffling.
Looking at the decks, he’s the key card for Bounce decks, but he’s starting to make more appearances in Move variants, which include Madame Web and Araña. Additionally, he’s not only a strong card in Clog decks since he lets you re-use White Widow and Kate Bishop, but he’s also powerful against the archetype since picking up junk cards alleviates the frustration of a clogged lane (there’s also the fact that you can pick up and play the opponent’s Green Goblin.)
Rising Stars Among The Category
As mentioned previously, the existence of Zoo, Clog, and Hela is starting to lower the amount of tech cards in the space. The general goal here is to go as tall as possible, and like Zoo and Hela, which need a lot of board space for that to happen, Patriot's archetype is becoming more relevant. Although Patriot isn’t seeing too much play with a 4.26% meta share, his deck has climbed to the top with the second-best Cube Rate and the third-best Win Rate in Marvel Snap.
It is worth mentioning that these numbers are largely in the sub-infinite and low-infinite ranks since most Clog decks in High-Infinite usually shut down Patriot’s combo routes. However, his ease of play and habit of competing with Hela decks make him a strong contender. Also, although small, the recent nerf to War Machine makes Patriot even more attractive because his Turn 6 combo play with Ultron or Doctor Doom might not be so commonly disrupted any more.
Currently, Storm is limited primarily to a single combo in a single deck. Still, according to professional players and my experiences, that combo is so lethal that I must discuss it. The combo I’m referring to is the Storm -> War Machine -> Legion line, which completely shuts off your opponent from doing anything at Turn 6. In contrast, you can play anything from a 1/7 Ebony Maw to a 6/20 Infinaut.
Executing this combo successfully is almost always an automatic win since you can bluff Snap, and the opponent has no other option but to retreat since they don’t know if you have the cards to beat them or not. This overpowered strategy is keeping Storm in the loop. While her stats suggest she’s underplayed, her inclusion in War Machine single-handedly obliterates Hela, Patriot, and several other meta decks.
Mystique and Marvel Boy go side-by-side as the rising stars after the sudden dominance of Zoo decks. Marvel Boy has a bigger priority in that specific deck, so he has the bigger Win Rate of 55.98%. Alternatively, Mystique is more versatile, going into decks other than Zoo like Arishem, Tribunal, and Silver Surfer, so her 10.67% Play Rate significantly overshadows Marvel Boy’s Play Rate. Ultimately, I decided to include Marvel Boy and Mystique together since their success largely depends on Zoo, and since that deck is performing well, so are these two.
The last card in this section is primarily tied to his respective archetype, so he's worth mentioning while that archetype is still popular. Of course, Luke Cage and Lady Sif are an active part of Hela decks, but Luke has suddenly become significantly more important after the recent change to Hela. Since she's now resurrecting cards with -3 Power instead of -2, Luke's Power-scaling ability is more important than ever.
Besides Hela, Luke's a great counter against Ajax decks, too, but being a counter against a specific deck while having no other synergistic uses when pairing with other decks doesn't justify reserving a spot for him. Also, we can't forget his susceptibility to Shadow King, a dominant 2-cost card, and that specific interaction dealing a significant blow to Luke's overall reputation. Still, he's in a better position in the Hela package than any other 3-cost discard card, ironically, as seen by the 9.29% Play Rate keeping him in the Top 30 most popular cards.
Underplayed 3-cost Cards That Need Your Attention
It's rare to see Patriot and Silver Surfer, two archetype-defining cards, on opposite sides of the same meta-game, but here we are. Looking at the stats, Silver Surfer is struggling to maintain any good figures, staying below the Top 100 in terms of Win Rate, Cube Rate, and Play Rate. His archetype isn't doing well either, with a 54.7% Win Rate, a percentage not good enough for this well-known archetype.
So, why is this the case? Why is Patriot emerging while Surfer isn't? Well, there's 3 main reasons for that:
- Silver Surfer is extremely tough to play when Clog decks are popular. While Patriot decks only need 2-3 late-game cards to make a difference, Silver Surfer is predictable and needs active setup throughout the turns to be viable. This makes the latter much more vulnerable to disruptions, and a simple Cosmo can shred the entire game plan.
- Patriot tends to go much taller and spread Power more evenly, so it goes toe-to-toe with Hela. Surfer isn't nearly as reliable, and without Sebastian Shaw or Wong on the board, it's a massive risk players don't want to take.
- Patriot has several unique tech options—it already uses Sandman, which counters Clog, Zoo, and Ajax, while also sparing a slot for Cosmo to counter Hela and Silver Surfer. Silver Surfer decks, on the other hand, only really have Killmonger. They could theoretically include Cosmo, but it feels very unintuitive.
Sage is among the biggest 3-cost cards in terms of gaining Power. She often gets to double digits without doing much at all, and having that synergy with Beast and being replayed is a devastating combo. Unfortunately, her primary rival in this category, Cassandra Nova, gets overshadowed. Cassandra, on average, has a lower Power output against Sage, but there’s one card in particular that always incentivizes players to her more: Arishem.
I’ve already talked about how Arishem is still a looming presence. Since Cassandra Nova is often a location winner against that deck, she usually replaces Sage in several lists, including Arishem decks, ironically. After all, Cass is more accessible to play, guarantees a game-winning Power output against a popular deck, and has a disruption factor thanks to her “stealing” ability, making Sage feel like a one-dimensional alternative, hence the low 52.46% Win Rate.
Juggernaut has roughly the same benefits and drawbacks as Quake—he’s an underutilized disruption card that often catches opponents off-guard but is deemed “too general” to the point where he doesn’t have a prominent home in any deck. Sitting at a low 2.54% Play Rate while not being added to any meta decks is already a bad look for him. Still, his 3/3 stat line is unattractive, especially in a competitive category with several cards offering similar use cases but at the premium 3/5 figures. Previously, he was making plays in the Thena package, but ever since Ramp decks slowly faded, Juggernaut quickly followed suit.
When Clog became stronger and more popular, it pretty much spelled the doom for Ramp decks, and as such, we saw the end of Hope Summers’ reign as the most dominant 3-cost card in Marvel Snap. Recently, she’s dropped to the low 80s in popularity, and the numbers are continuously declining. At first, Ramp was still doing great against a few Clog variants since the deck had a 3/5 Nocturne, a 2/1 Thena, and a 2/3 Ravonna to back it up.
However, with a couple of balance patches nerfing the cards above, along with Clog receiving White Widow and Kate Bishop as cards that clog you quicker than expected, it was only a matter of time because Hope Summers’ lane got so filled that she could generate any more Energy. I also wanted to mention Elsa Bloodstone since she was a household name in that deck, albeit becoming slightly redundant after Nocturne was released. Regardless, both cards barely keep a fraction of their prime relevancy, and until their deck receives a massive overhaul, I fear they’ll continue to underperform.
The “Vanilla” Threshold: Is 3/4 Stat Line Still A Thing?
Second Dinner continuously reminds us that the vanilla stat line matters less than releasing a card that competes with whatever's already in-game. 3/4, despite being the original 3-cost stats set by Cyclops, has slowly faded into obscurity after the Eternals Season. At first, we saw Nocturne release at the premium 3/5 stat line with nothing but upside, like having the ability to move AND manipulate locations.
Then, Copycat made her entrance at the same stats while having the ability to give you information about your opponents, even if they don't know, like Cable. After that, many cards at 3/5 started having more benefits than drawbacks, such as Beast, Baron Zemo, and Viper, most of whom I discussed above. Amidst these changes, the "power-creep" trend set in, and 3/4 went from the norm to become unattractive. No other recent cards emphasize this better than Nocturne and Makkari.
Although these 2 cards had completely different stories, they've ended up in the same position—understated and underplayed. During her days as a 3/5, she was regularly in the topmost ranks and decks, going so far as to be included in decks outside her niche, like Ramp and Silver Surfer. Now, she’s barely managing to stay in the Top 100 cards both in Cube Rate and Play Rate. Many players attribute this to the decline of Ramp decks, but, in actuality, Nocturne was already being cut from her own decks after the nerf to a 3/4.
Makkari had a completely different story since the start. Her initial 3/3 release made her the most underwhelming card of the season, even though she was a free 3-Power card. Second Dinner then changed her stats to a 3/4, which was still insufficient. Why? To put it vaguely, her Power output was just not enough. Although she was a perfect fit for Silver Surfer on paper, she got completely overshadowed by other cards even when the competition wasn’t as fierce as today. In a game like Marvel Snap, where you only have 12 cards in a deck, each card should have the potential to make a meaningful difference, and Makkari, with such a low base ceiling, couldn’t keep up.
While the debate surrounding vanilla stats at lower Costs is still alive, the same cannot be said for 3-cost cards—3/5 is the new stat line, which every card in this category should compete for, and anything lower than these figures should have an extremely powerful ability to compensate. We saw Black Swan deviate from a 3/5 and perform significantly worse, and vice versa for Beast, so it's safe to say that 3/4 is simply a myth.
Conclusion
It's interesting to see how this Cost category made a name for itself after being the underwhelming mid-range alternative for so long. If anything, this article shows the effects of the infamous Zabu nerf and how that one card’s downfall trivialized the importance of 4-cost cards. For now, 3-cost cards play a major role in deck-building, where they have all the uses and synergies of low-cost cards while the extreme Power output of high-cost cards.
Unfortunately, this category is going to have a dry road ahead since the datamines suggest there’s not a single new 3-cost card coming to Marvel Snap for the next 2 months. However, with the amount of 3-cost cards already circulating in the discussion, it’s clear that we won’t see them become irrelevant for quite some time or until we see a comeback from 4-cost cards.
We hope you now better understand 3-cost in the current meta-game and which cards in this category are thriving right now. Let us know if we missed any notable cards and why you think they deserve a shout-out in the comment section below!