The Developers at Second Dinner have been answering player's questions over on the Marvel Snap Discord. We've gone through to find the most interesting answers from the past week and summarized them for you here.

  • This recap covers answers given on the Discord from July 4 through July 10.
  • This is not an exhaustive recap of every answer. We've picked out answers to questions that we either felt were the most interesting, enlightening, or provided additional context to previous answers.
  • The transcript below covers the full answers given to the points we've summarized; for the full experience you'll have to scroll through the Discord and see what we haven't covered.
  • Eat lots of vegetables.

Nexus Events

  • Each Nexus Event has a fixed pool of rewards; you will get everything within a certain number of "opens."
  • There is a timer (pity timer!) for the focus cards - i.e.: Jane Foster and Destroyer for the upcoming Event.
  • If you already have a base copy of one of the focus cards, it is removed from the rewards pool and you get other rewards faster.
  • Rewards in a Nexus Event work on a star-based rarity system, with 5-star (we assume) being the highest.
  • The next Nexus Event will release with the upcoming patch, likely in a week or two.
  • They will be dropping a blog post soon with all the details and drop rates.
  • We've got a recap of the initial Nexus Event announcement here.

Boosters

  • The Daily Booster Limit has been increased to 1000.
  • They have data that suggests boosters are desirable to certain types of players (mostly casual).
  • They are working on making boosters more desirable for more players.
  • Boosters were originally designed to be used for any card; they found this led to hoarding as players would save them for new cards instead of using them to engage in the upgrade system.
  • Wild boosters could be introduced as a new reward type in the future.
  • If you put Agatha Harkness in your deck, she "steals" boosters (meaning that instead of random boosters you get Agatha boosters).
  • They did this on purpose because they don't want playing Agatha to be the most effective way to grind boosters.

Targeted Card Acquisition

  • They like the idea of taking it slow and enjoying the collection journey.
  • They have been collecting a lot of player feedback on their current acquisition model.
  • Nexus Events are one way for them to address acquisition problems.
  • They have been discussing other solutions internally.
  • There will be iteration and new features to aid card and currency acquisition.
  • However: changes require careful thought and development time.
  • They will have an update soon.

Other Game Modes

  • It's too early for them to talk about specifics of the upcoming game mode.
  • Competitive game modes will have their own rewards if it makes sense.
  • Challenge a Friend and Practice Mode will not give rewards.
  • They have some interest in creating a game mode like Hearthstone's Tavern Brawls.

Bots

  • Bots exist at all ranks (including high ranks) to keep matchmaking times down.
  • Speaking of matchmaking, there are some big changes to the matchmaking system coming in the next patch.
  • Bots help make it so the cube system is not zero-sum (e.g., there's not a finite amount of cubes being passed between players).
  • Higher level bots can see what you play, no bots can see what's in your hand.
  • There are AI improvements coming to make bot games more fun.

Hand Size

  • They went with seven as the max hand size because a higher number could make cards too small to tap on phones; there's also precedent from TCGs for that number.
  • Cards do not get "burned" if you draw with a full hand. If your hand is full, you do not draw cards from your deck until you have space in your hand.

How Discard Works

  • A card that goes to the discard pile is in the discard pile until an effect brings it out. It is then no longer in the discard pile.
  • For example, if Ghost Rider brings back a discarded card, that card is no longer available for Hela.
  • Apocalypse "undiscards" himself, so he won't be in the discard pile for an effect like Hela.

Miscellaneous

  • They hope to eventually bring Marvel Snap to consoles.
  • They are not planning on implementing VR support for the game.
  • They'll add "match history" features at some point down the line.
  • They'd love to someday add short character descriptions for each card.
  • BenBrodeGrilledCheese is an imposter, but Ben approves of their name choice.
  • Ben's preferred breakfast is an iced latte.
  • Several of the developers saw Thor: Love and Thunder together; Ben thought it was a lot of fun.
  • He especially liked the part where Thor flew to the Philippines so he could download Marvel Snap on his phone, then spent ten minutes of real time playing some games.

Team Answers Transcript

Quote From Snap Developers

Are Nexus Events a fixed pool of rewards, where you'll get everything after X pulls? If so, does already having one of the rewards mean that you'll need fewer pulls (since you can't get the same card twice)? If not, will there be a pity timer to guarantee rewards? I would be a lot more likely to buy into it if there was a reasonable maximum cost to get what I want.

Stephen: Each Nexus Event has a fixed pool of rewards where you get everything in a certain number of opens. There is also a timer for the focus cards (i.e. Mighty Thor/Destroyer or Valkyrie/Hela) to make sure you get them.

In addition, if you have one of the base cards (i.e. Hela or Destroyer) already then their base card is removed as a potential reward meaning you get the ones you dont have faster and in less opens. (Source)

I already have destroyer, will the new nexus event offer a different random card rather than only the 2 mentioned?

Ben Brode: no, you'll just get all the 5-star rewards faster than folks who don't have Destroyer (Source)

Do we have a expected release date for either the first Nexus event or the blog post talking about it? I'm very excited about it.

Ben Brode: Should begin around when the next patch hits, still about a couple weeks out (Source)

Will Nexus Events have some sort of RNG pity system? Given my experience pulling 60+ mystery packs in a row without a variant, I am concerned that nexus events will easily replicate this scenario.

Ben Brode: yes, the details and drop rates will be in a blog post we are currently working on (Source)

I know there is a “competitive” mode coming soon. Will this include ranks and a leaderboard? PS - I have huge respect for the work you’ve done in previous games and now here. I’ve not seen a Dev this high up in a game take so much care about their community. It’s a breathe of fresh air. You’re a legend lol

Ben Brode: hey thank you! Too early to talk about the details of the new mode. sorry! (Source)

When the booster cap is extended to 1000 later today, will that be the new time it resets at daily or will it start resetting at 8pm PT every night when the day rolls over for everything else?

Stephen: Is is still at 5pm PT for now. It will change to the server reset time in a future client update (Source)

Is there any specific reasons for boosters being in the reward tracks? Right now it feels so bad to reach a level and get filler boosters for cards I already have tons of anyway.

Ben Brode: right now boosters are desirable by players who are just logging in to do dailies and perhaps spending on credits. We have some ideas on how to make boosters more desirable for more types of players eventually (Source)

Just wondering if the team looked into having the boosters as a general currency so players can upgrade whichever card they want as appose to having to only upgrade the cards you have the specific boosters for?

Stephen: The system originally worked this way but we found that it made us less likely to try new cards, actively hoard wild boosters instead of use them, and forget to engage in the card upgrade system in general.

It’s always possible we add some wild boosters as a new reward type at some point in the future (Source)

Random Question. I just grinded an Agatha deck to infinite, but because she steals the boosters I have waaayyy too many now (1000+). I think the flavor of stealing the boosters is fun, but after a while it gets in the way. Is there the possibility of the option to toggle the booster stealing off in some way? I'm trying to optimize the deck but all of the boosters landing on Agatha is Kinda forcing me to play other things in the long run.

Ben Brode: no we don't mind folks playing agatha but we don't want it to be the most effective way to play, this restriction is there on purpose! (Source)

Were there any members within the progression system design team that had competitive card game experience? If so, what is the reasoning behind card acquisition being completely luck based when it is clear there are certain "staples" that form competitive decks and players that don't have access to those staples are at a great disadvantage and have no recourse?

Ben Brode: yes, and we knew this would be one of the biggest risks we took with the game. We love the idea of taking it a little more slow and focusing on the collection journey. Our data shows that there are a variety of competitive decks, even if you don't have access to every card. At the same time, with the advent of Nexus Events, there will an even greater ability to buy more credits/boosters as they drop in Nexus Events as well. And then finally, we are getting this feedback a lot so we have been talking about whether we'd want to have some amount of additional "targeting" available to get a card you really feel like you need. (Source)

could you provide any recent updates as to the team's thoughts on targeted acquisition and/or time to collect pool 3 cards in the game?

Stephen: We have been discussing it internally for a while. We should have an update soon. This is an area that will continue to evolve over time. The game has been in beta a very short time (about 6 weeks) and we will be actively iterating and adding new features to aid in card acquisition and currency acquisition. Changes take time, careful thought, and development time (Source)

With the introduction of new modes, will additional reward tracks be introduced? Being able to gain cubes from friend matches is obviously not fair to those that grind it normally, but will there be any rewards to chase for those of us that only want to match against friends or bots?
I've mentioned it in other channels how my MMR is really messed up at the moment, and if the interesting rewards to chase only come from ranked, I don't see myself playing for much longer after the release of the aforementioned mode(s).

Stephen: Future game modes will have their own rewards if it makes sense. Friend matches or practice wouldn't have rewards but something more competitive or challenging would (Source)

Any plans to have something akin to a tavern brawl mode from hearthstone. For example, having ego as a guaranteed location for a week in a separate mode. Whacky things like that.

Ben Brode: perhaps! (Source)

What is the purpose of having high ranked bots? Are they exist only so the players get easy wins from time to time?

Stephen: We have a goal to keep matchmaking quick (less than 5 seconds). We may extend matchmaking times for players over a certain rank at some point in the future (Source)

Is matchmaking still being worked on, today I faced an opponent who was 20+ ranks higher than myself (it was a streamer so I could check) Is this expected or is this a factor of the beta still being fairly small so you have to play a wider range on players? Watching streams I'm seeing players in infinite and near getting bots, so I'm confused?

Ben Brode: yes, we have some big matchmaking changes coming in the next patch. (Source)

Question about ranked. Cubes seem to be zero-sum, but the presence of bots at lower ranks add cubes to the system because they’re not as good as the average player. Is the final cube system intended to be zero-sum, or will there still be bots to farm? I’m mostly interested in the design thinking, cuz I could see it going either way.

Ben Brode: yeah the system is definitely not zero-sum. Partially because of bots, and partially because of ranked floors at 10 and 100. (Source)

Can bots see what you play/what's in your hand?

Ben Brode: only some bots can see what you play, but I don't believe what's in your hand. There are LOTS of AI improvements coming that will make bots more realistic and fun to play against. (Source)

How did the team end up with 7 as the hand size? Does it just look the best in the vertical phone layout, or was there a gameplay or technical reason? It just seem like a wierd number to me

Ben Brode: much bigger than 7 and the cards might be too small to tap on the smallest phones. Also traditional TCGs all use 7 cards as their number, so we felt there was some precedent. (Source)

What happens to the cards you were supposed to draw if you have a full hand? Are they burned or do you just not draw them?

Ben Brode: you do not draw them (Source)

Hi Second Dinner Team, I know a few people are wondering about Ghost Rider and how he brings back a card from the discarded card pool. Am I correct in saying this? (Useful to know as many people are wondering why Ghost Rider doesn't bring back the same card twice once played at Sinister London or if Odin is played at the same location)

"From my testing, I believe that Ghost Rider will bring back a card from the discard pool, but once that card has been brought back it is then removed from the discard pool I think. Or at least it will only bring back a specific card once from the discard pool."

Stephen: Once a card is brought back by Ghost Rider or Hela it is no longer in the discard pile and cannot be brought back again (Source)

Could someone explain why the Hela/Apocolypse interaction doesn't work like I would think after reading the cards? Hela does not play Apocolypse no matter how many times he was discarded. He should count as a "card discarded from your hand." If the current interaction is intended you may want to reword Hela's effect.

Ben Brode: he "undiscards" himself, basically. But we'll take a look at the wording. Funny story, it used to work the way you describe, but someone figured out that if you just discard only Hela, that she summons copies of herself infinitely (since each copy runs the On Reveal again) (Source)

Will marvel snap ever come to console? (Ps4, nintendo switch, xbox)

Stephen: Haha I hope so. We will see! (Source)

Will there be a VR version of the game where we will able to see the card board in front of you, and you will be able to place cards down like the usual game, with animations and all that? Would be cool to see implemented sometime down the line!

Ben Brode: not currently planned, sorry! (Source)

Could you add a feature that allows us to take a look at our opponents deck after a game?

Ben Brode: yeah we might do something like this at some point when we get to match history (Source)

hi are you thinking for the future to the possibility to add short cards description? I’m Marvel fan but for lot of the characters I don’t have idea of who they are… a short description would help

Ben Brode: yeah it's something we'd love to do some day (Source)

A few days ago I played against a user with the handle "BenBrodeGrilledCheese" and a Cosmo avatar. I was just curious if I had the honor of playing against the face of Marvel Snap himself?

Ben Brode: No, my handle is just "Ben Brode", but this person sounds quite excellent if you ask me (Source)

What's the team's thoughts on unrelated questions in this discord channel? And whoever reads this, what's your favorite breakfast 

Ben Brode: I suppose it's fine? uhh just an iced latte (Source)

Have you all watch Thor love and thunder together? What did you think ?

Ben Brode: A bunch of us did! It was a lot of fun! I especially enjoyed the Second Dinner reference (Source)