The most annoying deck in the meta was eliminated by a recent Marvel Snap OTA update

The adjustments might have merely killed its primary tactic. Bounce has evolved into one of the metagame's most powerful decks since the release of Kitty Pryde in May.

The most annoying deck in the meta was eliminated by a recent Marvel Snap OTA update, Credit: Marvel Snap (Twitter)
By Shubham Dalal | Jul 21, 2023 | 7 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Today, July 20, the most recent Marvel Snap OTA balance update went live, bringing several nerfs and buffs to various cards. But bounce decks were the one deck archetype that received the most nerfs. And the adjustments might have merely killed its primary tactic. Bounce has evolved into one of the metagame’s most powerful decks since the release of Kitty Pryde in May.

Its main tactic entails bouncing low-cost cards from spots while gaining a lot of Power. If you need more information about The most annoying deck in the meta that was eliminated by a recent Marvel Snap OTA update, then read carefully, and don’t forget to share with your friends.

The most annoying deck in the meta was eliminated by a recent Marvel Snap OTA update:

The most crucial cards in the deck, primarily Pryde, Hit-Monkey, and Spider-Ham, have all received nerfs as a result of the most recent OTA balance update. Kitty Pryde’s plus two-power bounce bonus has been changed to a plus one-power bonus, and she now has a base Power of two rather than zero. However, since Beast can reduce Hit-Monkey and Spider-Ham to one and zero costs, respectively, both of their costs have been altered to make them more challenging to play.

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Bounce is “the undisputed best deck,” according to game developer Second Dinner, so the cards’ nerfs might result in a more balanced meta. Other adjustments from the July 20 OTA balance update included buffs for Move mainstays like Phoenix Force (the current season pass card), Ghost Spider, Living Tribunal, and Magik. Second Dinner attempted to increase their usefulness by improving each of their stats.

Here is the full list of changes in the Marvel Snap July 20 OTA balance update.

Bounce nerfs:

Note from the developer: “Let’s start by talking to the Beast/Falcon in the room. It’s no secret that for the past few weeks, Bounce has been one of the most popular decks in the metagame. Due to the startlingly high number of sixty percent matchups in its matchup spread and the fact that many of its cards rank high on win percentage charts even when not drawn, which suggests the deck is successful using a variety of card combinations, we believe Bounce is the undisputed best deck.

The skill edge that the deck offers, which may be the largest in the game, also means that for the most skilled Bounce players, that edge may grow. We will therefore strike the deck hard. Additionally, you don’t need to be playing the Beast/Falcon game to have a very strong deck because the strongest shell in the deck is fairly transferable. This indicates that the cards used in other iterations of the archetype will be our primary focus.

Kitty Pryde

  • [Old] 1/0 – When this returns to your hand, plus two-Power. Returns at the start of each turn.
  • [Change] 1/0, +2 on return -> 1/2, +1 on return

Kitty is the best-performing card in every Bounce deck, making her a prime target for attack. Because of her dominance, other decks are now approaching the matchup differently, which has pushed combos like Invisible Woman and Killmonger into the metagame. Her maximum power will significantly decrease as a result of this change; previously, Kitty had eight Power, but now she only has six. The change does raise her floor, adding Power or saving you Energy when drawn on turns five or six, so that’s a nerf.

Hit-Monkey

  • [Old] 2/0 – On Reveal: Gain plus two-Power for each other card you played this turn.
  • [Change] 2/0 -> 3/2

“We’re tagging a nerf onto Hit-Monkey as well,” the developer wrote. “He’s been the next strongest card in Bounce. Several factors led us to add an Energy to Hit-Monkey. The first is simply to weaken him; frequently, you would use that Energy to play a one-Cost on the last turn, which would have two or more Power in addition to the buff it gave Hit-Monkey, so this is simply taking that away. Additionally, he becomes much less effective early in the game, largely eliminating the early Hit-Monkey you can Beast back for more value later. We opted for this execution because it is more elegant than weirder alternatives like buffing plus one-power or minus two-power while adding some base Power.

Spider-Ham

  • [Old] 1/1 – On Reveal: Transform the highest-cost card in your opponent’s hand into a Pig, keeping its Power and Cost.
  • [Change] 1/1 -> 2/2

In some decks, Spider-Ham has been a strong general-purpose card, so it might surprise you to see it grouped with Bounce here. But that is the deck that has seen the most use, and it is also the deck’s third-strongest card.

This is our smallest change to Bounce, but we have other reasons for changing the card because it has several logical replacements. We disapprove of the extent to which Spider-Ham has hurt a few archetypes centered on fun high-cost cards, such as She-Hulk, Death, and especially Apocalypse. We’ll make a change to Spider-behavior Ham’s in the future that specifically addresses that, but for the time being, we’re just going to make him a little less effective and see how much that affects his play rate.

Phoenix Force

  • [Old] 5/6 – On Reveal: Revive one of your destroyed cards and merge with it. That card can move each turn.
  • [Change] 5/6 -> 4/5.

Developer note: “It’s relatively unusual for us to make a change to a Season Pass card so soon, but Phoenix decks have been a lot weaker than we wanted overall. That may be due to the complexity of its building in part, but another reason is that we made a relatively late buff to Phoenix, moving it from five-cost, five-Power to five-cost, six-Power. Unfortunately, that ultimately introduced more weakness than strength to the Multiple Man plan by making him vulnerable to Shang-Chi, which has been seeing plenty of play as a primary answer to Lockjaw locations and Evolved Hulk specifically. This change should heat Phoenix for players in a big way and return Multiple Man to that sweet spot at eight-Power. If it’s a little too much gas, we’ll look at cooling her down but keeping the Cost at four.”

Ghost-Spider

  • [Old] 2/3 – On Reveal: The last card you played moves here.
  • [Change] 2/3 -> 1/2

Developer note: “We were a little gun-shy on the strength of some of our recent Move cards, as the deck can be potent in addition to occasionally melting brains over the sheer number of possible moves you can make. Ghost-Spider was one of those cards, and having seen the dust settle we’ve decided to push her efficiency a bit. Other than Human Torch, Move isn’t a deck historically vulnerable to Killmonger, so this change should ultimately net Power for Move players. It also makes her a more interesting potential companion for Phoenix, letting players curve Shuri into Phoenix + Ghost-Spider efficiently.”

Living Tribunal

  • [Old] 6/6 – Ongoing: Split your total Power evenly among all locations.
  • [Change] 6/6 -> 6/9

Developer note: “Living Tribunal has successfully spun up a fringe deck that pushes loads of Power, but that deck could use a little lift. That three-power would be a huge buff to most cards, but for Living Tribunal it plays a lot more like one-power. This change does open the Living Tribunal up to Shang-Chi, but his effect of being active from any location helps him stay nimble against that threat. If this buff doesn’t get him where he wants to go, we’ll be back.”

Magik

  • [Old] 5/3 – You can’t play this on turn six. On Reveal: Change this location to ‘Limbo’.
  • [Change] 5/3 -> 3/2

Developer statement: “Since the nerf that drove Magik from her throne defining the metagame into the game’s darkest corners, we’ve been looking for a safe time to reintroduce her at a more aggressive rate because both her fantasy and impact are intriguing. With a hot new variant hitting the market via the Season Pass, this Season seemed like the perfect time to do that. We’re going to make a minor change to Magik’s behavior in our upcoming patch, making her playable again on turn six but disabling only her On Reveal in that circumstance. To commemorate her time spent as a member of the Phoenix Five during the appropriate season, we’re releasing this stat change a little early.

The Great Web

After each turn, move one card to the Web for a random player.

  • [Change] “We’re making this location appear less frequently.”

The Great Web has been drawing players into a bigger conflict than they may have anticipated, much like Miles Morales himself. We find the setting to be quite fascinating, and we especially like how it incorporates various cards and archetypes in interesting ways, but we are aware that the level of frustration is a little higher than we had anticipated. Great Web was one of our most prevalent location rarities out of a wide range that we have. By using the tier that is second only to that of Ego and Worldship, we’re changing it up to be one of our more uncommon locations.

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