The latest OTA balance changes in Marvel Snap are going to shake things up in a huge way! The people were clamoring for nerfs. Second Dinner has delivered nerfs! The latest OTA involves multiple nerfs to the game’s dominant deck. But will they be enough? That, plus some interesting and major buffs to some of the game’s more quirky cards. I’ll walk you through the changes, what they mean, and how to cope with this new environment!
Similar to how Kate Bishop has the arrows in her quiver, Second Dinner has OTA changes as their balance arsenal. I'll give each change a rating from 0 to 4 arrows and a final overall rating as well. Did Second Dinner hit the target with this OTA or did they miss the mark?
- [Old] 5/8 - On Reveal: Give the last character you played +3 Power for each turn you played 2 or more cards. (+0)
- [Change] 5/8 > 5/6
Shou-Lao gets a nerf, but I expect the vocal opposition to this to claim this nerf isn’t enough for such a dominant card. I disagree. Two points of power is not an especially small nerf for any card and changing his buff from +3 to +2 would not only make the card significantly worse, it would take away any charm or joy this card brings those who play it. I also want to push back on the notion that the following three cards , Maverick, Merlin, and Deafening Chord “died for the sins of Shou-Lao.” A major part of Shou-Lao’s dominance came from easily slotting in with those three cards. They are each overturned and deserving of nerfs on their own. Nerfing Shou-Lao into oblivion and leaving those cards unchanged would not only have left players with an irrelevant Season Pass card, those cards would have necessitated a nerf down the road anyway as people played them with whatever worked next best with them.
- [Old] 3/3 - Activate: Give the next card you play Power equal to this card’s Power.
- [Change] 3/3 > 3/2
I want to be crystal clear. Maverick was absolutely deserving of a nerf totally aside from his role with Shou-Lao. He played as an easy 3/6 with massive synergy upside. He was underrated before the release of Shou and is overtuned. Taking a point of Power from a card like this does have a stronger impact than it does on a card that doesn’t multiply that power, but Maverick will still be insanely powerful in a shell dedicated to buffing him.
- [Old] On Reveal: Replace this location with a new one and give Merlin +2 Power.
- [Change] +2 Power > +1 Power
Before this nerf Merlin was the best Season Pass card of 2025 and still will be after this adjustment to Omniversal Presence. A major part of Shou-Lao’s dominance comes from the way he plays perfectly with Merlin and his cheap Skills. Even aside from Merlin and Shou-Lao’s general Power level, I’m happy to see an adjustment to Omniversal Presence. Too much powerful and reliable location control is bad for the diversity of play experience and bad for the game generally. Omniversal Presence could have been nerfed to provide no extra power and it would still be good enough for Merlin to be the de facto 2 drop.
- [Old] On Reveal: Afflict an enemy character here that costs 3 or less with -1 Power and remove its text
- [New] On Reveal: Remove the text of an enemy 3-Cost or lower character here
Another card that was too strong on its own but was especially good with the deck that wants to play more than one card per turn, Deafening Chord will still see play without its affliction.
- [Old] 1/2 - Activate: Replace the text of a random character in your opponent’s hand with “oink!”
- [Change] 1/2 > 1/1
Spider-Ham had been on the rise as a way to try to take the knees out of any deck that relied on one or two especially critical synergy pieces. As a 1-Cost card he could slot right into Shou-Lao decks. This is the one nerf to the usual accomplices to Shou-Lao that will push it out of the deck. Most players are going to move on to other 1-Cost cards like Iceman or whichever of Agony, Nico Minoru, and Majestic Wingbeat they weren’t already playing
- [Old] 3/3 - Ongoing: Your other cards here have +1 Power for each turn you’ve discarded a card.
- [Change] 3/3 > 3/4
Doesn’t it feel like Discard has faded this month? That could be because of how strong Shou-Lao and ramp strategies have been, but giving people a reason to try Colonel out again in Khonshu/Apocalypse Discard shells is a good thing.
- [Old] 4/5 - End of Turn: Add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card.
- [Change] 4/5 > 4/6
Will this be enough to convince people to dust off their old Doom 2099 decks? It certainly will be for at least a few days following the release of Moondragon, a card the devs specifically call out in the OTA patch notes. Is Doom 2099 finally strong enough to hold his own in this high-powered meta? Is there finally something there with an Invisible Woman Doom 2099? I’m certainly skeptical, but we’re going to find out fast after Moondragon comes out.
Lin Lie Iron Fist
- [Old] 2/2 On Reveal: Add the Sword of Fu Xi to another location.
- [Change] 2/2 > 2/3
Sword of Fu Xi
- [Old] Ongoing: If Lin Lie Iron Fist is here, he has +7 Power.
- [New] Ongoing: If Lin Lie Iron Fist is here, he has +8 Power.
Wow! This is a big buff. I already thought Lin Lie was fine in a handful of decks as a potential 2/11, but pushing him up to a potential 2/13 is pretty big. Marvel Snap is very Point-sy right now, so it’s nice to see acknowledgement of that when they’re trying to make an interesting card with a complicated payoff more appealing. Lin Lie can slot into any deck that already has a Ghost Spider or Madame Web. Is it a risk this might be too strong? No. The card asks a lot of the player and a card like that should be powerful when you achieve its objective.
- [Old] 3/5 - After you play a card here, move it to the middle location.
- [Change] 3/5 > 2/3
I’ve played around with Topaz quite a bit and she really did feel awkward. Ideally, you want to play multiple cards onto Topaz and then move them even more later, but at 3-Cost that play line never came together. A classic Move deck with a lot of movers like Vulture, Dagger, Human Torch, and Spider-Punk will love the new Topaz. Also, she’s a solid upgrade over Xorn in decks that are playing either Human Torch or Redwing in addition to smaller movers like Dagger or Vulture.
Final Rating - 4/4 Arrows
This is a masterful OTA. Opponents are going to argue Shou-Lao was hit too hard, but a lot of people are overestimating how strong that card is on its own and underestimating how powerful Maverick, Merlin, and Deafening Chord were. I would have preferred they tap Agony could go back down to 1/2 over the Spider-Ham nerf, but that is nitpicking. The ideal is to hit Shou-Lao while leaving it a strong and viable deck. It's a tough needle to thread, but I believe these changes will achieve their goal. The exciting build-around here is Lin Lie. He’s a fun deck-building and playline challenge and at 11 Power, he’s going to be worth the effort. I’m looking forward to all kinds of fun with Topaz as well.