The newest patch for MARVEL SNAP is live, bringing with it balance changes (although not the ones players were hoping for, details below), the promised Series Drop of cards from Series 4 and 5, and the all-new Friendly Battle Mode.

First, we have to address the elephant in the room. While it contains a few balance changes, this patch did not nerf two of the most oppressive presences in MARVEL SNAP: Zabu and Silver Surfer. Players were given an early heads-up; Second Dinner Game Designer Glenn Jones tweeted the following Monday afternoon:

Quote From Glenn Jones

The new patch includes balance changes, but not to Surfer or Zabu. They started overperforming after we locked the changes a few weeks ago. Fortunately we now have the ability to adjust balance without a new patch, and we are planning to adjust those cards in a week or so.

While it may be disappointing to know that those two are going to be as prevalent and powerful as before, it's nice to know that the devs know they're a problem, and that they now have the ability to deal with them quickly (and have promised to do so).

Anyway, on the actual patch. As always, we've covered the highlights, and the full patch notes have been quoted in full at the bottom of the article.

Balance Changes

REMINDER: If you bought one of the changed cards from the Token Shop, you WILL NOT receive any compensation. All sales are final, as you can see for yourself:

Nerf

  • Leader: [6/7], "On Reveal: Copy all cards your opponent played to the location to the right, but on your side." (Was: [6/3], "On Reveal: Copy all cards your opponent played this turn, but on your side.")

Buff

  • Wolverine: [2/2], "When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location with +2 Power." (Was: [2/3], "When this card is discarded or destroyed, play it at a random location.")

Friendly Battle

Friendly Battle is a new way to play MARVEL SNAP - with your friends! Both players start with 10 Health, with the Snap mechanic determining how much damage the loser takes at the end of a match. The player who reduces their opponent's Health to 0 is the winner.

To start a Friendly Battle, tap on the Game Modes button on the bottom bar (just to the right of the Main button).

Series Drop

MARVEL SNAP's first-ever Series Drop has moved five Series 5 cards down to Series 4, and four Series 4 cards down to Series 3.

The Series 5 cards moving to Series 4 are: Bast, Black Panther, Shuri, Super Skrull, and Valkyrie.

The Series 4 cards moving to Series 3 are: Absorbing Man, Luke Cage, She-Hulk, and Titania.

Other Tidbits

  • Players can change their name once every 30 days.
  • Zabu has been added to Series 5.
  • Hela and Jubilee have had their texts change to better reflect their effects.

Full Patch Notes

Quote From MARVEL SNAP

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

NEW FEATURE: Friendly Battles! You can now play against friends via an in-game code. Tap the new “Game Modes” icon on the navigation bar and then tap “Friendly Battle” to get started!

GENERAL UPDATES

  • You can now change your name within the Avatar menu once every 30 days.
  • Zabu has been added to Series 5 in the Token Shop.
  • Updated Player Support conversations now have a red dot notification to let you know a response is waiting.

🔈AUDIO 🔈

  • A Voice Over Volume slider has been added to the settings menu.

🎨ART & VISUAL EFFECTS 🎨

  • Added new effects for Ghost Rider when there’s no card to play.

CARD UPDATES

  • Leader: [6/7] On Reveal: Copy all cards your opponent played to the location to the right, but on your side.
    Dev Note: Leader is a prominent “finisher” in the current Snap meta, and we're not happy with some of the card choices and play patterns he encourages, especially his strength against other cool 6-cost cards. We're changing Leader to only copy cards played at the location to his right, with more base Power to compensate. We hope that this change will reward clever predictions and reduce the frustration of playing against him.
  • Wolverine: [2/2] When this is discarded or destroyed, regenerate it at a random location with +2 Power.
    Dev Note: Wolverine sees virtually no play at the moment, which is a bummer given how iconic he is. We’re giving him a substantial buff to reward players for activating his effect and create new deckbuilding options at both low and high collection levels. Note: We have updated his text from “play” to “regenerate” to better reflect his gameplay functionality. This is purely a flavor and clarity choice.

Text-Only Updates:

In addition to Wolverine, a few cards use the word “play” in their text but don’t actually play anything. This small update aims to avoid players misinterpreting how these cards interact with triggers that specify playing a card:

  • Hela
  • Jubilee
  • Sentry: Using more consistent language for similar effects.

⛰️LOCATION UPDATES ⛰️

  • Text-Only Updates to:
  • The Raft: Removing the word “draw” for accuracy.
  • Vibranium Mines: Removing “a card” for brevity.

🐛Bug Fixes 🐛

  • Killmonger no longer has the incorrect translation in non-English languages.
  • [Android] Pinning a Token card then tapping the device Back button or ESC on PC should no longer un-pin the card.
  • [iOS] UI elements no longer clip with the card ability info at the bottom of a card when a card is focused.
  • Fixed an issue that could freeze the game when interacting with the Season Pass Spotlight Card.
  • Fixed several avatars that were not centered.
  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes allow cards other than Shocker to be removed from the deck during the deck edit tutorial.
  • News items should now show in date order.
  • Fixed an issue that caused some artist credits to clip out of the UI frames.
  • The Ping Ring should no longer show in the incorrect places in the Card Upgrade tutorial.
  • End Turn button should no longer switch between Turn 1, Turn 0, Turn 1 at the start of a match.
  • Murderworld no longer causes a delay at end of turn 3.
  • Maria Hill should no longer have a chance to spawn unreleased cards.
  • Fixed an issue where Wakanda’s VFX could show in the wrong location if Mirror Dimension turned into Wakanda.
  • Vormir’s text should no longer grey out when the opponent plays a card there but you haven’t yet.
  • Armor’s VFX disappears correctly if Isle of Silence spawns at her location after she’s already active there.
  • [iOS] Season Pass splash screen UI should no longer clip under notches.
  • Ebony Maw’s VFX should now move when the card moves.
  • Fixed an issue with Odin/Absorbing Man that could cause turns to take too long.
  • Updated the Fast Forward VFX so it appears with correct VFX on Android.
  • Improved the UX of moving a card to Cloak’s location for the first card you move when Cloak activates.
  • Updated a Venom and She-Hulk variant avatar that were not correctly aligned with the background.
  • [Windows] Mousing over variant or upgrade buttons on the card detail view no longer highlights both buttons together.
  • [Windows] The Filter menu no longer displays fullscreen instead of to the right side of the UI.
  • [Localization] Fixed multiple missing/incorrect translations.